East Bowling

East Bowling is an area of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England located to the south of Bradford city centre. It forms the eastern half of the historic township and manor of Bowling. Bowling became a ward of the newly created Borough of Bradford in 1847. In 1882 the ward was split into the wards of East and West Bowling. The boundary between the two wards was along the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway from Bradford to Low Moor - which itself followed the ancient geographic marker of Bowling Beck. This is now the division between Bradford 4 and 5 postal districts and the western boundary of East Bowling.

The southern/southeastern boundary follows Rooley Lane and Sticker Lane. The northern boundary follows Bowling Back Lane. East Bowling forms a roughly triangular area with its southern apex near Croft Street about 350m from the city centre. Wakefield Road is its main thoroughfare.

East Bowling is now a part of the Bowling and Barkerend ward

The industrial Revolution

Bowling in 1831 Source: Parliamentary map.

East Bowling in 2014. Source: Open Street Map.

In the 19th century East Bowling contained two of Bradford's biggest employers. The Bowling Iron Works occupied a site between Bowling Back Lane and Wakefield Road. Its mines, linked by tramways, were scattered throughout Bowling and later through Bierley and Tong. After iron production ceased the site was taken over by the engineering company Hepworth and Grandages - who still maintain a (reduced) presence there. The other major employer was the Bowling Dye Works. Established about 1808 the company was expanded by Henry Ripley. By 1880 it employed over 1000 people and was said to be the biggest dye works in Europe. As part of the Bradford Dyers association it continued in production into the last quarter of the 20th century.

Houses and land use

Most of the 19th century and earlier housing of East Bowling was demolished under the 1951 "Bradford Development Plan". The existing housing stock in the area is mainly late Victorian Terrace houses, built around 1900, with some more modern houses. Most of these houses are concentrated in the relatively small area between Wakefield Road and Bolling Hall Drive and south of Paley Road. The area was developedat a time when the city was thriving and it was a quite well-to-do part of Bradford. In recent years East Bowling has become rather run-down.

There are smaller but more recently built concentrations of houses in two other areas; between Fenby Avenue and Wakefield Road and a around Broad Lane.

Most land in East Bowling is either in commercial or industrial use or forms part of the "green area" around Bowling Park.

Landmarks

Bowling Park fossil tree. Copyright Betty Longbottom. Creative Commons c.by3.0

In the centre of East Bowling is Bowling Park, Bradford with its fossil tree, and the nearby Bolling Hall museum. Bowling Cemetery is situated to the south on the ring road.

Churches of several faiths fall within the area. These include St John's Anglican, and New Hey Road Methodist. St

Ann's Roman Catholic Church was closed in 1996 and the parish amalgamated with St Joseph, Manchester Road. St Ann's was the centre of the Irish community of Broomfields, once one of the most densely populated areas of Bradford and with some of the worst slums. By contrast in the north of Broomfields was the model village of Ripley Ville with spacious four bedroom houses for the upper levels of the working classes.

Pictures of East Bowling

• Children in Bowling Park.1950
  Children in Bowling Park.1950
• 
  Bolling Hall south front.
• 
  Cover of the first catalogue of Bolling Hall museum. 1914
• St John's Church Bowling. Built 1844
  St John's Church Bowling. Built 1844
• 
  St Ann's (RC) church, presbytery and school.

.

• 
  14.2 Middle class villa No. 237 Hall Lane built c 1851
• 
  Coal miner's cottages in Hall Lane built c 1800.
• 
  13.1. (left) Ladywell (right) Hall Lane & Globe mills
• 
  13.2 Site of the Lady Well and Ladywell mills
• 
  13.3 Ivy Mills and coal drops on the site of Bowling corn mills.

Musicians

East Bowling is also home to X Factor's Zayn Malik who is a member of boyband One Direction. Gareth Gates also grew up in East Bowling.

Transport links

East Bowling lies approximately 1 mile north-east from the end of the m606 motorway. Public Transport is provided by the 634 First Bus service to and from Bradford Interchange, also connecting with West Bowling, and in the evenings, service 620.

Notable residents

• John Wroe. 1800-1863. "Religious Leader and profit" and successful confidence trickster.

sources of information and bibliography

• Bradford Corporation (1856) The Acts relating to the Transfer of the Bradford Waterworks to the Corporation of Bradford.
• Bradford Directory (1872) Smiths Directory of Bradford 1872. Republished by Bank House Directories 2009 ISBN 9781904408482
• Bradford Directory (1912) Kelly's Directory of Bradford 1912. Republished 2011 TWC Publishing
• Bradford Libraries and East Bowling History Workshop. 1978 "Bowling Tidings"
• Caffyn, Lucy (1986) Worker's Houses in West Yorkshire 1750–1920. HMSO ISBN 0 11 300002 2
• Cudworth, William (1882) Historical Notes on the Bradford Corporation. Republished Old Bradfordian Press
• Cudworth,William (1888) Worstedopolis .Republished Old General Books Memphis
• Cudworth,William (1891) Histories of Bolton and Bowling. Thomas Brear & Co Bradford
• Cudworth, William (1891) Condition of the Industrial Classes. Collected articles from the Bradford Observer. Republished by Mountain Press 1977
• Firth, Gary (1990) Bradford and the Industrial Revolution. Ryburn Publishing ISBN 1-85331-010-7
• Firth, Gary (2006) J.B. Priestley's Bradford. Tempus Publishing ISBN 978 0 7524 3865 8
• Firth, Gary (2001) Salt and Saltaire. Tempus Publishing ISBN 0 7524 1630 8
• Green, Edward (2005) Prophet John Wroe - Virgins, Scandals and Visions. Sutton Publishing Group ISBN 0 7509 4077 8
• Hole, J. (1868)The Homes of the Working Classes with suggestions for their improvement. Longmans Green & Co. London
• James, David (1990) Bradford. Ryburn Publishing ISBN 1-95331-005-0
• James, John (1841) The History and Topography of Bradford, Longmans. Republished Mountain Press 1967 Centenary edition.
• James, John (1866) Continuations and Additions to The History of Bradford, Longmans. Republished E.J Morten 1973. ISBN 0 901598 69 0
• Jennings, Paul (1995) The Public House in Bradford 1770–1970, Keele University Press. ISBN 9781853311130
• Jennings, Paul (2004) Bradford Pubs. The History Press. ISBN 9780752433028
• Jowitt J. A. (editor) (1986) Model Industrial Communities in Mid Nineteenth Century Yorkshire. University of Bradford. ISBN 1 85143 016 4
• Jowitt J. A.& Wright D.G (editors) (1986) Victorian Bradford. University of Bradford. ISBN 0-907734-01-4
• Keighley, Mark (2007) Wool City. Whitaker and Company ISBN 978-0-9555993-1-6
• Pickles,Derek (1966) The Bowling Tramways. Unpublished dissertation available at http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/3499098/bowling-tramways-doc-january-30-2012
• Rhodes, J F. (1890) Bradford Past and Present. J.F.Rhodes and Sons, Bradford
• Richardson C. (1976) A Geography of Bradford. University of Bradford ISBN 0 901945 19 6
• Scruton, William (1889) Pen and Pencil Sketches of Old Bradford. Republished Mountain Press 1968
• Sheeran, George (1986) Good Houses Built of Stone . Allenwood Books ISBN 0 947963 03 0
• Sheeran, George (1990) The Victorian Houses of Bradford. Bradford Libraries ISBN 0-907734-21-9 (First published in 1986 in volume 2, pp. 47–53, of the third series of The Bradford Antiquary, the journal of the Bradford Historical and Antiquarian Society)
• Sheeran, George (1993) Brass Castles. Ryburn Publishing Ltd ISBN 1-85331-022-0
• Shepherd, Val (1994) Historic Wells in and Around Bradford. Heart of Albion Press. ISBN 1 872883 31 1
• Thornhill, John (1986) "All Change – Bradford's through railway scheme"' Bradford Antiquary 3rd series vol. 02 1986. Available at http://www.bradfordhistorical.org.uk/antiquary/third/vol02/allchange.html
• Walker, R. L. (2008) When was Ripleyville Built? SEQUALS, ISBN 0 9532139 2 7