Baildon | |
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Baildon, Browgate roundabout |
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Baildon shown within West Yorkshire | |
Population | 15,360 |
OS grid reference | SE155395 |
• London | 185 mi (298 km) south-east |
Civil parish |
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Metropolitan borough | |
Metropolitan county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Shipley |
Postcode district | BD17 |
Dialling code | 01274 |
Police | West Yorkshire |
Fire | West Yorkshire |
Ambulance | Yorkshire |
EU Parliament | Yorkshire and the Humber |
UK Parliament | |
Baildon is a civil parish and town in Northern England. It is part of the Bradford Metropolitan District in the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire and within the historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It lies 3 miles (5 km) north of Bradford city centre. Other nearby suburbs include Shipley to the south and Saltaire to the west. As of the 2011 census, the Baildon ward has a population of 15,360
Baildon is known to have been inhabited for many centuries; several cup-and-ring stones on Baildon Moor has shown evidence of Bronze Age inhabitation. Baildon Moor has a number of gritstone outcrops with numerous prehistoric cup and ring marks. A denuded and mutilated bank represents the remains of an Iron Age settlement known as Soldier's Trench, sometimes mistaken for a Bronze Age stone circle. A Bronze Age cup-marked rock is incorporated in the bank.
Baildon had two manor houses: one on Hall Cliffe, the other in lower Baildon. In the 1960s the Hall Cliffe house was demolished and replaced with the Ian Clough Hall.
During the industrial revolution, Baildon developed a wool industry; Westgate House was built in 1814 by the Ambler family who were prominent in the wool trade and the warehouse part of the building was Feathers Bakery now Nine Café adjacent to the mill which is now the Westgate Bar.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, conditions in Bradford deteriorated and poverty and ill health became widespread; Baildon began developing as a commuter town along with neighbouring Shipley. In the latter years of the 20th century, the West Riding suffered from economic decline through the gradual closure of its textile and engineering industries. Bradford was particularly affected by this; however, Leeds grew as a major administrative and financial centre and Baildon with its rail links to Leeds has become a strategic commuter town.