BOWLING Maps & plans, c1850

2.117: BOW c1850 CAR

Street development east of Manchester Road & Bowling Old Road (future Ripleyville), described as ‘Bridle Roads’. Richard Carter & Sons, Halifax

Material: tracing paper  Scale: 2 chains per inch  Size: 90*60 cm

Condition: very poor

Keywords: Bowling, Ripley, Dyeing, Ripleyville, 1850s

This plan centres on an intended new street which became Spring Mill Street and a new mill shed which became part of Ripley’s Dye Works. Sir Henry Ripley (1813-1882), owner of the cloth dyeing concern, was among the most famous of Bradford’s textile business magnates. The dye works had been established by his grandfather in the early nineteenth century. In the 1860s Sir Henry began the construction of model housing for workers, which became known as Ripleyville. The plan clearly pre-dates the 1871 Bradford map and the 1852 OS map of the area, but the Bowling Dye Works and the railway tracks are present. The most obvious features ‘missing’ from this plan are the reservoir and dye pits which were sited between the two tracks, adjacent to the Dye Works itself. The Old Red Gin was a public house and a nearby colliery had the same name. The ‘gin’ was probably not the spirit but a contraction of ‘engine’, the means by which coal and colliers were removed from a colliery shaft. The plan has been given an estimated date of 1850 on the advice of Ripleyville historian Bob Walker.