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Builders: the Long Family
Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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The building workers who were responsible for demolishing old industrial buildings next to the Town Bridge in preparation for constructing the Memorial Baths for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The man in the straw boater hat on the left was Albert William Long (1867-1952).
Members of the Long family were greatly involved in building Bradford from the middle of the 19th century until the end of the 20th.
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Some of Long’s workers preparing stone at the yard in the old Wilkins brewery in Newtown, Bradford on Avon. A painting by W. H. Allen © Hampshire County Council, provided by Hampshire Cultural Trust.
William Long was credited in the Wiltshire Times in June 1876 with building The County Lunatic Asylum, Devizes; Abbey Mill, Bradford; Blounts Court, Potterne; Beechfield, Melksham; Police Station Court Hall and Market Hall in Trowbridge; Baptist Chapel, Devizes; Albert and Victoria Terraces in Bradford. All were built with stone from Poulton Quarry in Frome Road, which he operated.
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Albert Terrace, built by William Long (1823-1892) in St Margaret’s Street in 1874, seen from Junction Road.
Albert Cottage, on the southern end of the Terrace and of St Margaret’s Street was already finished by 1871 as Long’s own house.
After modifications had been made, adding a single-storey canted bay on the right and a covered iron balcony across the whole façade. The balcony and the ivy have gone today.
1 and 2 St Margaret’s Villas under construction by Albert William Long in about 1905, on a piece of land called French Grass. They were to be let for £18 a year, according to a note on the back of the photo.
Long built Bradford’s Sewage Works in 1907. The original tanks are below the canal at the swing bridge. In the photograph the six chambers are being roofed over with brick. with soil and grass on top, they are not visible today.
Long’s men at work on the tower of the building that was, in about 1900, still Bradford’s Town Hall.
Albert William Long built this house, Underwoods, on Frome Road for himself. He is at the wheel of his Germain car in front of the house, in about 1912. It is now two semi-detached houses.
The same house, Underwoods, under construction by Long’s builders. It may have been designed by the architect Harold Brakspear.
Longs built outside Bradford too. This is the Market Hall, now called Castle Place, in Trowbridge, which William Long completed in about 1861.