Saltaire

Infobox World Heritage Site
WHS = Saltaire


State Party =
Type = Cultural
Criteria = ii, iv
ID = 1028
Region = Europe
Year = 2001
Session = 25th
Link = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1028Location map
West Yorkshire
label =
background = white
lat = 53.84
long = -1.79
caption = Map showing location of Saltaire in West Yorkshire
float = right
width = 185

Saltaire is the name of a Victorian era model village in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. UNESCO has designated the village as a World Heritage Site, and it is a so-called Anchor Point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

History

Saltaire was founded in 1853 by Sir Titus Salt, a leading industrialist in the Yorkshire woollen industry. The name of the village is a combination of the founder's surname with the name of the river. Salt moved his entire business (five separate mills) from Bradford to this site near Shipley partly to provide better arrangements for his workers than could be had in Bradford and partly to site his large textile mill by a canal and a railway. Salt employed the Bradford firm of Lockwood and Mawson as his architects.

A similar project had been started a few years earlier by Edward Akroyd at Copley, also in West Yorkshire. The cotton milling village of New Lanark, which is also a World Heritage site, was founded by David Dale in 1786.

Salt built neat stone houses for his workers (much better than the slums of Bradford), wash-houses with running water, bath-houses, a hospital, as well as an Institute for recreation and education, with a library, a reading room, a concert hall, billiard room, science laboratory and gymnasium. The village also provided almshouses, allotments, a park and a boathouse.

Sir Titus died in 1876 and was interred in the mausoleum adjacent to the Congregational Church. When Sir Titus Salt's son, likewise Sir Titus Salt, died, Saltaire was taken over by a partnership which included Sir James Roberts from Haworth who had worked at the mill since the age of twelve, and who would travel to Russia each year, speaking Russian fluently. James Roberts came to own Saltaire, but chose to invest his money heavily in Russia, losing some of his fortune at the Russian Revolution. He endowed a Chair of Russian at Leeds University and bought the Brontë's Haworth Parsonage for the nation. He is mentioned in T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land". Roberts is buried at Fairlight.

altaire today

In December 2001, Saltaire was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This means that the government has a duty to protect the site. The buildings belonging to the model village are individually listed, with the highest level of protection being given to the Congregational Church (since 1972 known as the United Reformed Church) which is listed grade I. The village has survived remarkably complete, but further protection is needed: the village is somewhat blighted by traffic, as the Aire valley is an important East-West route. A bypass is proposed to relieve traffic pressure somewhat (see below). There is also a need to restore the park which has suffered from vandalism.

Saltaire is also a Conservation Area. Victoria Hall (originally the Saltaire Institute) is used for meetings and concerts, and also houses the Victorian Reed Organ Museum. The village is served by Saltaire railway station.

Saltaire has been called a "village of parliamentarians" as it was uniquely home to members of three different assemblies: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (House of Lords), Richard Corbett MEP (European Parliament) and, until 2005, Chris Leslie MP (House of Commons). Titus Salt was himself an MP for three years.

The Saltaire Festival, which first took place in 2003 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the foundation of Saltaire, is now held every year over eleven days in September.

Proposed bypass

Saltaire is surrounded by a Buffer zone established to protect the context of the World Heritage Site. Concerns have been raised over plans recently announced by Bradford Council and Action Airedale to run a bypass through the buffer zone either side of the World Heritage Site and to tunnel beneath the village itself [ [http://www.saltairevillagesociety.com/bypass/index.html General information on the proposed bypass] ] . Within sight of the mill, the tunnel will follow the line of the railway and exit behind the United Reformed Church [ [http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=116169194717293747992.00000112bde3ce150dea8&t=h&om=1&ll=53.838146,-1.78957&spn=0.032008,0.080338&z=14 Google Maps] with proposed tunnel and protected areas.] . As it then runs alongside the adjacent portion of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, it is also likely to have an impact on this Conservation Area. The current route will also impact on an ancient semi-natural woodland and the Woodland Garden of Remembrance at Nab Wood Cemetery. [ [http://www.sweeble.com/story/view/1530 Saltaire World Heritage Site in Danger] , Sweeble, 20 Jun 2007.]

alts Mill today

Salts Mill closed in 1986, and renovation to the complex began the following year. Today it houses a mixture of business, commerce, leisure and residential use.In the main mill building are:
* The 1853 Gallery: several large rooms given over to the works of the Bradford-born artist David Hockney: including paintings, drawings, photomontages and stage sets.
* Industrial companies including the electronics manufacturer Pace plc.
* Various shops. In 2006 there are shops selling books, art supplies, jewellery, outdoor wear, antiques, suits, bicycles, and housewares; the last includes pieces by internationally known designers such as Alvar Aalto and Philippe Starck.
* Restaurants and cafes.

The "New Mill", on the other side of the canal, is divided between offices for the local National Health Service Trusts and residential apartments, and the TV host Paul O'Grady owns an apartment in the building.

Photographs

Other model villages

*Woodlands
*Port Sunlight
*Akroydon
*Stewartby
*Champagnole
*Bournville
*New Lanark
*Crespi d'Adda

References

External links

* [http://www.saltairevillage.info Saltaire Village website]
* [http://www.saltaireonline.co.uk Saltaire community website]
* [http://www.visitsaltaire.com Saltaire Tourist Information site]
* [http://www.saltairefestival.co.uk Saltaire festival site]
* [http://www.towpathtreks.co.uk/LLC/stockbridge_shipley.html#saltaire Photographs of Saltaire and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal]
* [http://db.bbc.co.uk/legacies/work/england/bradford/audio_1.shtml BBC radio interview with a worker from Saltaire]
* [http://cgi.bbc.co.uk/legacies/work/england/bradford/index.shtml Extensive information on Saltaire] with links to other relevant sites
* [http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/e9bc/4ab44/c/ Photographs and descriptions of various points of interest in Saltaire]
* [http://www.andycarrington.co.uk/shipleysaltaire Saltaire Today: Photographs of Salts Mill and the Area]
* [http://www.florin.ms/sirjamesroberts.html Sir James Roberts and Saltaire]
* [http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1028 UNESCO] World Heritage Centre
* [http://www.wardsbookofdays.com/20september.htm The genesis of Saltaire @ "Ward's Book of Days"]