The Bradford Canal - Page 2

Bridge 2

At the top of the first lock, the canal passes through what is now an office car park (Fig. 2.1) and immediately underneath the Shipley to Leeds road Briggate. Bridge No. 2 is still in place and it's blocked up entrance can be seen from the car park. On the right of the picture you can see the ramp that takes the towpath over the road. I suspect any restoration would involve remodelling of the bridge, as crossing the road is now impractical with the amount of traffic that uses it. It could be seen as an opportunity to widen the road slightly to allow for two lanes of traffic up to the nearby traffic lights.

On the other side of the bridge, the ground level reaches the road. But signs of the canal are not lost. The ground dips away and sitting in a hollow is a brick electricity substation right where the canal used to go (Fig. 2.2).

Windhill

The canal now runs south, parallel with Bradford Beck and the railway line on its way to Bradford passing by Windhill on the left, and signs of the canal are difficult to spot. Its route passes into derelict industrial land and is hidden beneath a mass of concrete and tarmac.

Once again, red shows the railway, purple the route of Bradford Beck and blue the route of Bradford Canal. You can just make out lock 1 at the top of the picture, and bridge 2 below it.

The split on Bradford Beck at the bottom of the map is a weir and mill race, now vanished from modern maps. It may still exist running under the buildings which now cover the land.

Further on the land is now a derelict spinning works (photo below) - nothing more than a pile of bricks and falling down sheds, this would make the ideal location for a chandlery or boat yard mooring should the canal be revived.

The Girder bridge once ran over the canal, on the same level as the now concrete base. The arch bridge to the right runs over Bradford Beck, which is much lower down in a cutting.

Fig. 2.4 above - Windhill, the weir location is slightly further back and to the right of this shot.

Fig. 2.5 above - A good location for moorings and chandlery?

Fig. 2.6 left - Looking back towards Shipley from Crag Road Bridge (the B6149). Bradford Beck is on the left, and the route of the canal on the right. The gates in the top left hand corner lead onto Crag Road.

From the opposite side of the Bridge the scene is peculiar (Fig. 2.7). The big arch can clearly be seen, but a smaller bridge can be spotted in front of it. It appears to cross the river, but there is nothing on the other side. Looking down onto it from above it is almost as if they have extended the site across the river to use the space and nothing more! I suspect is was the original crossing for the beck, but as the canal was put in the bridges were raised, however it seems much lower than the road on the other side of the river.

Fig. 2.8 - It's difficult to spot the road bridge over the canal in summer, due to the trees, but here you can just make it out, the arch from the beck bridge just visible on the left of shot.

Many locks in the Shipley area are staircase locks (Bingley 5 & 3 Rise, Dowley Gap, Dobson Lock) and indeed were most on the Bradford Canal. Pricking Locks are separated with a staircase either side of what is now the road bridge. There is no sign of Lock 2 due to the siting of industrial warehouses located on the derelict ground shown above (Fig. 2.6). On the opposite side of the Bridge stood Lock 3 Here a stone wall can be seen holding back the woodland to the left of the canal (Fig. 2.10). It is not clear though whether this is part of the original canal-side itself, or simply uses stone from the canalside

Meanwhile the canals route takes it through scrubland past the location of the former Pricking Mill, hence the name of the lock. (Below right). There is little evidence of the canal here, probably due also to the demolition of the Picking Mill, which has also completely vanished. Although a comparison of maps and aerial photos shows the canal hugged the edge of the woodland to the left of the picture. By the "P" of the work Pricking (Fig. 2.9), you can see the site of Lock 3. Incidentally this map is from the 1850s, later maps suggests that Pricking mill was demolished to make way for a larger mill just south of the old buildings. The mill may have gone, but the name remained as they are labelled Pricking Locks on the 1906 map.

Fig 2.10 - Stonework on the edge of the woodland, by the site of the Pricking Mill & Fig. 2.11 - looking down from Crag Road with the woodland (left) and Bradford Beck (right). The lock would have been situated in the bottom left of the picture. You can see below in Fig. 2.11 that the ground rises away and then flattens out hence the need for a lock.

Fig 2.11 - The current view, and Fig. 2.12 - the state of things to come, could this view once more be possible along Canal Road?????

The canal is cut Along this section the canal hugs the side of the woodland, and it passes through a narrow gap, just off shot in the above picture (Fig. 2.11) between the woodland and Bradford Beck.

Fig. 2.13 shows the view looking back from this point towards Shipley and Crag Road Bridge, whilst Fig. 2.14 shows the view if you turn through 180 degrees to look towards Bradford.

Fig. 2.15, Bradford Beck's natural route has been altered along much of its course for building work. On early maps it meanders for much of its length along the valley floor. Here we see a brief section of natural beck where it squeezed the canal against the woodland before being forced left to hug Valley Road where the site of the Pricking Mill was built. The tunnel, is obviously a more modern addition. Note - As you can see, the beck is a lot lower down than the surrounding land, so access is difficult. Also, the author has made no attempt to explore the route of the beck in detail as there are still ongoing issues with pollution of the course, which I believe is due to leaking Victorian sewers somewhere under the centre of Bradford.

Fig. 2.16 shows the gap from the other end, where the back meanders away from the canal and the grass opens out in to parkland.

Crag End Locks 4 (Staircase)

Shortly further on, the canal's route is cut across by Poplar Road, a more recent addition which crosses from Valley Road (A6037) up to Crag Road, which can be seen on the below map / aerial photo (Fig. 2.12) labelled "Crag End". Immediately before this stood the three-rise staircase Locks No.4 (2 pounds). The road appears to cross just after the top lock gate. A footbridge crossed at the top pound, probably in line with the front door on Bridge cottage, shown here on the left (Fig. 2.17).

Just to the right of the lock running alongside Valley Road is a Mill, sandwiched between Valley Road and Bradford Beck (Fig. 2.18), which cannot be found on the 1852 map being a more recent addition. It is clear however that the course of Bradford Beck was altered at this point to allow the building of the mill. The 1852 map below (Fig. 2.19), shows the beck meandering across Shipley Fields, however the modern beck runs in a straight line through a man made cut.

The map / aerial photo overlay (Fig. 2.19) suggests that the canal's route now runs along the road in front of the houses (Poplar Crescent). As the ground slopes down substantially in front of the road, any attempt to restore the canal could get round this problem by leaving the canal at the lower level and moving locks 4 & 5 further towards the Bradford end. Thus also solving the issue of height levels where Poplar road crosses over the canal. Crag End Locks could then be positioned in the large green field on the left of the aerial shot below (Fig. 2.21).

Fig 2.20 - The trees mark the route of Poplar road as it climbs up towards Crag End.

Fig 2.21 - A suitable new site for the canal in front of Poplar Crescent.

Fig. 2.22 - Poplar Crescent itself, the actual route of the old canal.