When was saltaire built?

Answer 1

Quoting from Saltaire Conservation Assessement, 2004, prepared by Bradford Metropolitan District Council.

In 1851, the site of the village was little more

than open fields, although the principal

communications network that made the area

such an attractive location for the construction of

a mill and company village was already

established. The River Aire was the first

naturally occurring line of communication that

passed through the site, which was

complemented during the eighteenth and early

nineteenth century by the Leeds and Liverpool

Canal, the railway and two turnpike roads. The

Leeds and Liverpool Canal opened through the

area during the 1770s, the Keighley and

Bradford Turnpike (Bingley Road) was opened in

1825; the Shipley and Bramley Road (Saltaire

Road) was opened in 1827 and the railway was

extended through the area in 1847. These

developments are in themselves significant as a

record of the rapid advances in technology and

communications that characterise stages of the

Industrial Revolution in Britain. The only building

on the site of Saltaire in 1851 was Dixon Mill,

accessed along Dixon Mill Lane, which ran

northwards form the Shipley and Bramley Trust

Road.

The area was to be transformed over a period of

just over 20 years and by 1876 a magnificent mill

with its associated housing and public buildings

had been constructed, changing the face of the

area forever. The mill itself was opened on 20th

September 1853, Titus Salt's fiftieth birthday. A

banquet was held in the combing shed, thought

to have been the longest room in Europe at that

time, which 3500 guests attended, the majority of

which were workers in the mill. The mill itself

was revered on any grounds:

"…the appropriateness of its architecture, the

notable excellence and ingenuity of the

machinery, and novel contrivances for

performing all the processes of the

manufacture, the admirable arrangements for

ensuring the health and comfort of the

workpeople, and preventing accidents from

the shafting and gearing, it certainly, as the

largest and best contrived of factories, stands

supremely at the head of those in the worsted

department (John James, 1857 History of the

Worsted Manufacture in England, from the

Earliest Times).

Workers were initially transported to the mill from

Bradford by train, but work quickly began on the

construction of terraced housing. The first

streets to be built were those closest to the

railway line: Albert Terrace (1854-61), Victoria

Road (1854-69), William Henry Street (1854),

George Street (1854-68), Amelia Street (1854),

Edward Street (1854), Fanny Street (1854),

Herbert Street (1854) and Titus Street (1854-68).

Victoria Road was built following the north-south

orientation of the old Dixon Mill Lane, to which

the other early streets run parallel. The village

then developed southwards towards what is now

Saltaire Road and Bingley Road: Whitlam Street

(1857), Mary Street (1857), Helen Street (1857),

Ada Street (1857), Constance Street (1861),

Shirley Street (1862), Lower School Street

(1868), Upper School Street (1868), Mawson

Street (1868), Katherine Street (1868), Jane

Street (1868), Dove Street (1868), Myrtle Place

(1868), Daisy Place (1868), Fern Place (1868),

Harold Place (1868), Gordon Terrace (1868) and

Albert Road (1868). The

streets are mainly named

after the Salt family, but

the royal family and the

architects of the village -

Lockwood and Mawson

are also remembered. A

station (1858),

Congregational Church

(1859), washhouse

(1863), New Mill (1868),

Factory Schools (1868),

Methodist Church (1868),

almshouses (1868),

hospital (1868), Institute

(1871), Saltaire Park

(1871) and a

Congregational Sunday

School (1876) were also

constructed. Titus Salt

was responsible for

commissioning most of the

buildings of the village, however he gifted the

land for the Methodist Church, which was

constructed using money from public

subscription. By the time of the 1871 census the

village of Saltaire occupied an area of 50 acres,

which included 40 shops and 824 houses with a

population of 4389 people. The village was an

independent community, based around the mill

and situated in the open countryside.