MANNINGHAM: ITS HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT TO THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY
Manningham stands upon elevated ground at c. 175m O.D. overlooking the city of Bradford. It is geologically situated upon an island of Elland Flags and coal seams of the Lower Carboniferous period, surrounded on the lower levels by Glacial deposits of boulder clay which covers Bradford, to the south-east, and extends towards Cottingley and Shipley. Manningham, formerly set within a rural area, is now a suburb of Bradford, the former bounds of Manningham township extending towards Dean Beck to the west and Bradford Beck to the east. Thornton Beck and the common boundary with Heaton township respectively formed the southern and northern bounds. The township, which included Girlington, Four Lane Ends, Whetley Hill, Lilycroft and Daisy Hill, became part of the Borough of Bradford with the granting of a Charter of Incorporation in 1847.
The place-name Manningham could be indicative of Anglian settlement. Place-names can often indicate early settlement, and the name Manningham suggests English, rather than British, settlement since the terms -inga, or -ingas, and ham, are one of the oldest types of English place-name formation. Manningham likely evolved from the Old English personal name Maegen, subsequently adopted as the folk-name of the community to mean the homestead of Maegan's folk, the element ham, meaning a village, community, manor, or homestead (Smith 1961, 36; Faull and Stinson 1981, 181). One might surmise, therefore, that there might have been a 7th century Anglian farmstead here.
Manningham is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086, probably because it was one of the six unnamed outlying estates of Bradford. The De Lacy family were granted Manningham after the Conquest, and Edmund de Lacy was granted free warren (the right to hunt game animals and birds) here in 1249 and 1251. A survey of 1311 describes Manningham as a berewick (outlying estate) attached to the manor of Bradford. According to the survey, the inhabitants were mainly bondmen who were required to repair the dam of Bradford Mill as part of their service to the Lord of the Manor. The Manningham family held four oxgangs of freehold land in this period, an oxgang being the amount of land a single ox could plough within a year (Cudworth 1896). The measurement of an oxgang varied according to the nature of the soil, nominally believed to be between 8 and 15 acres in extent, although In Yorkshire could contain as little as 4 or as many as 28 acres (Faull and Moorhouse 1981, 241).
Little is known about medieval Manningham, but a map by Robert Saxton dated 1613 reveals Manningham as a small village or hamlet set within a landscape of cultivated fields. Common fields included The West Feilde, Midlefeilde and Highfeilde. The village is shown as comprising 12 buildings, nine of which stood on a parcel of land enclosed by roadways later known as Church Street, Carlisle Road and Conduit Street. The remaining three dwellings stood immediately west, east, and north of the settlement. The building to the east possibly represented Manningham Old Hall, although a sketch of the hall illustrated in The History of Manningham by W. Cudworth notes the hall was built in 1639 (Cudworth 1896, 129). A small group of dwellings were also situated at the northern end of Skinner Lane.
Settlement elsewhere within the township in 1613 comprised dispersed minor settlements connected by a network of routeways and tracks. Only two dwelling are shown situated at the north end of Manningham Lane, one standing on or near the site of Clock House, on the eastern side of the road. Two unnamed hamlets or farmsteads are depicted to the north of Manningham, identified on 19th-century maps as The Trees and Hill Top, the latter subsequently becoming the site of Manningham House (Saxton 1613, Manningham Township maps 1811 and 1839). Many of the routes connecting these early settlements have been incorporated into the present road system of today. Carlisle Road, formerly known as Back Lane, Church Street, Skinner Lane, Duce Lane (now part of Oak Lane), and Lumb Lane, originate from the 17th century or earlier. The main route in 1613 was the Kinges Hye Strete, now forming part of White Abbey Road.
There was little change to the settlement pattern of Manningham between 1613 and 1811 (Saxton 1613, Manningham Township map 1811). Development had occurred in the form of rows, or blocks, of housing by 1839 to the south side of Church Street and along Skinner Lane (Thomas Dixon's Township map 1839). St Paul's Church, immediately north of Church Street, was built in 1846, within an area of land formerly known as Stocks Green, derived from the site of the townships stocks (Cudworth 1896). To the east of the village, east of Manningham Lane, large villas such as Bolton Royd and Spring Bank were built between 1811 and 1849. Rows of terraced housing, for the less wealthy, were also constructed within this period, mainly concentrating to the south of the township on land between Manningham Lane and White Abbey Road. Development included Green Lane, Southfield Place, Park Square, Belgrave Place, and Hanover Square (Manningham Township map 1811, Tithe map 1849).
Census records of 1861 noted that many houses erected within Manningham were for the superior classes and were occupied by the principal families of the district. Proposed building plots to the west of Manningham Lane, to be called Mornington and Walmer Villas, Aspley Crescent, Marlborough Road, Marlborough Place, and Wellesley Terrace, were advertised for sale in 1853. The conditions of sale stipulating quality construction and that no buildings should be used for business or industrial purposes (Smith 1853). Two plots of building land situated adjacent to Eldon Place and Eldon Terrace were similarly advertised for sale in 1872 and described as within an area of high class property (Dixon and Hindle 1872).
There were no religious institutions within Manningham township until the 19th century when both churches and schools were built to meet the needs of a growing population. The earliest Wesleyan chapel was erected at White Abbey in 1838 and enlarged in 1858 with adjoining schools in 1878. Greenfield Chapel, the first Congregational to be erected in Manningham, opened in 1852, and St Jude's Church in 1843, its congregation mainly comprising the wealthier classes from Hanover Square and Peel Square. Later churches included St Marks church 1874 and St Lukes, on Victor Road in 1880-1 (Cudworth 1896). The confined area of Eldon Place contained three churches, including Christ Church and Hallfield Baptist Chapel (Dixon and Hindle 1872; O.S. 1932). Cottages were demolished in Golden Square, White Abbey, to make way for a Mission room, which subsequently in 1881 developed into St Mary Magdalene's church for the lower classes of the community (Dickinson 1971, 13).
Schools included Back Lane School, built in 1832, that was also used as a Sunday school. In 1883 the school was handed to Bradford Corporation for use as a public library and reading room. A National School was built between 1839 and 1846 to the west of Heaton Road, south of Manningham Mills, and St Jude's school erected in 1846. Nuns at St Jude's established a middle class school at Eldon Place for daughters of the wealthy, which eventually closed, subsequently becoming Bradford Childrens' Hospital (Dickinson 1971).
Institutions were also established to care for the sick and needy. The Bradford Tradesmen's Homes, Lilycroft, was built by the Tradesmens' Benevolent Society between 1868-70 as a home for pensioners/tradespeople who had fallen into poverty. The home contained a hall where religious services could be held. The education of poorer children was also provided by the nuns of St Jude's who established a school for 'ragged children' in 1873 on premises in Hanover Square (Dickinson 1971). Manningham had become densely populated by the end of the 19th century with the infilling of open spaces by rows of terraced housing. The area, however, continued to be fashionable and larger residences were also built for the wealthy. Between 1871 and 1893 remaining land to the east of Manningham Lane had been built upon, comprising larger scale housing with gardens (Willmott Map 1871; O.S. 1893). The overall large-scale development within this period subsequently involved changes and demolition of some older buildings to make way for improvements and road widening. Demolition within the village included a block of houses on Church Street which, according to a datestone, dated to 1625. Stocks Green, near St Paul's Church, and the area around Skinner Lane, had completely changed by 1896. Marlborough Road, established in 1854, and the widening of Carlisle Road in 1869, similarly involved the demolition of early housing. Elsewhere within the township, the original site of The Trees was destroyed to make way for modern development and road systems, similarly both Wheatley Hall and Whetley House were demolished, the land utilised for middle class housing. Lilycroft also had changed 'beyond recognition' by the late 19th century (Cudworth 1896).
The northern side of Manningham township remained virtually free of industrial development in the 19th century, apart from Lilly Croft Mill (worsted), established in 1838 to the west of Heaton Road. Subsequently known as Lister's Mill and Manningham Mills, it was later used for the spinning and manufacture of silk. Destroyed by fire in 1871 the mill was rebuilt and enlarged in 1873-4 to the design of Bradford architects Messrs Andrews and Pepper, the new fire proof building covering an area of c. 11 acres and comprised the largest and most complete mill in Europe, with a staff of 4000. Bradford Observer in November 1873 commented that it 'presented architectural features altogether superior to any other' (White's Directory 1881; Yorkshire Journal 1998, no.24, 67). A 19 week strike by workers at the mill, between December 1890 and April 1891, played a major role in the formation of the Independent Labour Party (Laybourn 1976, 7)
The Lister family resided at Manningham House to the east of the mill. Set within its own parkland, the estate was sold below its market value to Bradford Corporation in 1870. The house was demolished and replaced in 1898-9 by the Cartwright Memorial Hall, the grounds subsequently used as a public park known as Lister Park. An open-air swimming pool, with changing cubicles around three sides of the bath, opened in June 1915, and other facilities included tennis courts, bowling greens, and a botanical garden (Bradford library n.d; O.S. 1934). The park in now included in the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest (English Heritage, n.d.).
Lister's Park and mill are presently set within the designated Conservation Area of North Park. This CA, with other CAs within the township, help preserve the complexity and diversity of social development that occurred here from the 19th century. Similarly many of the rural bounds of field systems and trackways recorded by Saxton in 1613, and early 19th century maps, are reflected in the housing patterns and road systems of the present day.
K. Keith 14.07.2003
Bibliography
Birdsall, M., Szekely, G., Walker, P., 2002, The Illustrated History of Bradford Suburbs
Bradford City Library, n.d., Open Air Swimming Bath, B613.47LIS
Bradford City Library, c.1948, 'St Pauls: One Hundred Years, B283ONE
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Dixon, T., 1846, Map of the Borough of Bradford 1844, 1845 & 1846,
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Lister, G., 1847, Plan of an Estate in the Township of Manningham, Sale Plan, Bradford City Library MAN1847LIS
Ordnance Survey, 1852, Six inch to the mile series, Sheet 216
Ordnance Survey, 1909, Six inch to the mile series, Sheet 201SE
Ordnance Survey, 1909, Six inch to the mile series, Sheet 216NE
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Ordnance Survey, 1934, Six inch to the mile series, Sheet 201SE
Ordnance Survey, 1893, 25 inch to the mile series, Sheets 201.15
Ordnance Survey, 1893, 25 inch to the mile series, Sheets 201.16
Ordnance Survey, 1893, 25 inch to the mile series, Sheets 216.3
Ordnance Survey, 1893, 25 inch to the mile series, Sheets 216.4
Ordnance Survey, 1932, 25 inch to the mile series, Sheets 216.3
Ordnance Survey, 1932, 25 inch to the mile series, Sheets 216.4
Ordnance Survey, 1934, 25 inch to the mile series, Sheets 201.15
Ordnance Survey, 1934, 25 inch to the mile series, Sheets 201.16
Saxton, R., 1613, A Plan of all the Lands within the Township of Manningham, Bradford City Library MAN1613SAX
Smith & Gotthardt, 1865, Hallfield House Sale Plan, Bradford City Library MAN1865 SMI
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West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds, 1849, Map of the Township of Manningham (Tithe), 55D93/10a
Willmott, E., 1871, The Ryburn Map of Victorian Bradford (1987 copy)
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