Greengrocers & Fruiterers
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Chief among the greengrocers and fruiterers of Bradford was George Brown, who went on to build up a large business that eventually outgrew its premises and moved to Trowbridge. The advertisement is from 1911, when he was selling from two of what are now known as Pippet...
Read MoreCanal Quarry, Frome Road
Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Canal Quarry had a special significance in the history of science. It was one of the places in the area where the Bradford Clay was found and the fossils that were collected there in the early nineteenth century found their way into collections all over the world. It has gone now,...
Read MoreThe Hall, Holt Road
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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The west front of The Hall, from Conigre Hill
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The Hall, situated on the eastern outskirts of the town, is one of the most important of Bradford on Avon’s buildings.
A...
Read MoreThe Memorial Baths, Bridge Street
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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As a memorial for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, it was decided to erect a building containing a public swimming pool and baths, for the many people who then did not have...
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Old Photographs: Events
Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
In the photographic record on Bradford in the 20th century are numerous processions and parades. In the days before television and internet, instead of being able to see great events in London, the people would hold their own versions to mark such occasions as royal funerals and coronations. Then there were the...
Read MoreBradford Quarries
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Stone quarries can be found all round Bradford town, including extensive underground workings.
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Bridge Street Quarry had an area of open working, with an adit that went into the hillside under St Margaret’s Hill. These workings must have been cut through by...
Read MoreBradford Voices
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A new edition of the oral history book “Bradford voices” by Margaret Dobson has been published. It has been expanded to cover the years from 1997, when the previous version came out, and the first decade of the 21st century and contains many new illustrations including several from Bradford on Avon Museum’s collection.
It...
Read MoreJ. Alex Brown: ironmonger and hardware shop
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Silver Street, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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The shop in Silver Street was started as an ironmonger in what had been a Georgian house by John Brown in 1853 and continued under his son John Alexander Brown (1863-1937). It is still known...
Read MoreOld Photographs: Fire Brigade
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Click on the thumbnail pictures for a larger view
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Bradford’s volunteer firemen turned out for the opening of Bradford Waterworks in 1883, formed part of a procession and demonstrated that the new water supply had enough pressure for them to direct jets from their hoses over...
Read MoreOld Photographs: Church Street
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Click on the thumbnail pictures for a larger view
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Bradford commemorated the death of King Edward VII in 1910 with a parade and a service at the parish church. On the right, the buildings of Church Street Mill are unoccupied and windows have been smashed. They were still at...
Read MoreOld Photographs: Bowls
Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Bradford Rowing Club laid out a two-rink bowling green next to their boathouse for non-rowing members in 1912. The green was enlarged to three, then to four rinks. In 1957 the Rowing Club Bowls Section became Bradford on Avon Bowling Club and in 1966 moved to the new green that was provided on the other side of...
Read MoreOld Photographs: Cricket
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Group photographs of cricket teams seem to be less common than those of football teams.
On 26th June 1880 The Wiltshire Times reported a meeting was held at the Swan Hotel for the purpose of forming a town cricket club.
Bradford Manor Map
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The area that was included in the Manor of Bradford that was given by King Æthelred II to Shaftesbury Abbey in 1001 is within the thick line. The dashed lines are the boundaries of the present parishes.
Click on the thumbnail picture for a bigger...
Read MoreGarages
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Gerald Stamper had his garage in the yard that is now the St Margaret’s car park, in buildings that had been part of the wool dyeworks that centred on the present St Margaret’s Hall. As...
Read MoreSt Laurence School Roman Villa
It had long been known that there was significant Roman building in the Budbury area, on the plateau just north of the centre of Bradford. An excavation in 1976, when new houses were being built, found a bath house, so the villa house had to be nearby.
A fragment of plaster that had fallen from the walls of the bath house. Many of these pieces were conserved in a...
Read MoreExplore Bradford: Junction Road
Junction Road was made in the late 19th century to join Frome Road and Trowbridge Road.
The building now known as Fitzmaurice Place was formerly Fitzmaurice Grammar School. The school was founded as the County Technical School, occupying temporary premises in Frome Road until this building opened in 1896. Its main funders, besides the County,...
Read MoreChrist Church graveyard
Christ Church was built in the 1840s to serve the northern fringes of the town.
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Holt Road Cemetery, Bradford
Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Holt Road Cemetery was set up by the Bradford Improvement Commissioners in 1856 as a non-denominational burial ground to relieve pressure on those in the town under the Burial Act of 1853. The original area, two mortuary chapels (Anglican and Nonconformist...
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