Little Germany in 2012, part of Bradfords Industrial History and Heritage. Part One.

Back in 2012 Dawn and I had a photographic day out around an area of Bradford called Little Germany. We had heard that although the area was protected, many of these historic buildings were still under threat and falling into a state of disrepair. So we took a camera apiece and spent a day there photographing what we saw. Some pictures were taken by Dawn, some by myself, just don't ask me which.

Unusually for this Blog, the photographs are digital! Still, the buildings shown in these images are very much from a long gone age. What has caused me to put these images on a post 14 or so years after we took them you may well ask. Well, firstly Dawn recently found them and secondly this week I have been reading a series of posts by Jim Grey Blogging in the AI era, part 2: The difference between answers and authors - Down the Road

in which he looks at the future of blogs, and I suppose in particular photographic blogs. As a result of which, I concluded I would try and diversify a little, this post being part of that diversification!

Why a random trip to Bradford? Well, not so random really, both of our families originate from the Bradford area, industrial history is a great interest to me and one branch of the family were mill owners years ago, others were weavers and worked in the mills, so we have always had a close interest in Mills and Mill Towns and Bradford was the City of Mills! So lets have a look around.

The area of and around Little Germany was built with the wealth and money from the textile industry and the fact that many German immigrants had come to the area at the start of the Industrial Revolution. Many of the German immigrants were of Jewish origin. The wealthy merchants and those that made their wealth from cloth and textiles, built their warehouse's and offices here in Little Germany. The area started being built up from around 1855 onwards up until around the 1890's.

Textiles, most prominently wool, and a very high quality wool called Worsted was the main product that created all this wealth. Bradford produced about two thirds of the countries Worsted by the time little Germany started being built. Nearby Halifax most likely produced the bulk of the remaining third. Of course none of it would have been possible without sheep! Hence the carving above! Now in this mad crazy country it costs the farmers more to shear the sheep than they get paid for the fleece! How crazy and utterly stupid is that?

One thing you must do whilst looking around Little Germany is look up! To see the Victorian architecture in all is splendour, look towards the sky! All the fine detail is there.

The carvings in the local Millstone Grit is second to none. Forget ancient Italy, forget ancient Greece. We have it all here, in Victorian Bradford.

Look at the detail in this carved bunch of flowers.

And these noble faces. Who needs Rome when you have The West Riding of Yorkshire!

Overlooking all this Victorian opulence is of course Bradford Cathedral with its stumpy little tower, yet it somehow fits in with its surroundings.

On the edges of Little Germany some of the buildings were looking a little worse for wear, like the one above, all boarded up. I hope it has survived.

Just look at the work that has gone into this building. Victorian England ! Not down south, somewhere posh, no here in Northern England, where there is some of the finest architecture in the land.

We will look around a little more in part two if you want to join me!

Phil