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Allerton, West Yorkshire

Coordinates: 53°48′N 1°50′W / 53.80°N 01.83°W / 53.80; -01.83
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Not to be confused with Chapel Allerton, Moor Allerton, Northallerton, or Allerton Bywater.

Allerton
Stepping stones at Pitty Beck, south Allerton
Allerton is located in West Yorkshire
Allerton
Allerton
Location within West Yorkshire
Population12,000 
OS grid referenceSE1134
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBRADFORD
Postcode districtBD15
Dialling code01274
PoliceWest Yorkshire
FireWest Yorkshire
AmbulanceYorkshire
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire
53°48′N 1°50′W / 53.80°N 01.83°W / 53.80; -01.83

Allerton is a village within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, now increasingly part of the Bradford conurbation.[1] With a population of around 12,000, the village is situated 3 miles west-north-west of Bradford.

Allerton was recorded in the Domesday Book as Wilsden-cum-Allerton. The local residents of the suburb pronounce it as Ollerton, using 'Ol' rather than 'Al'.

Geography and history

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Allerton derives from Old English, and means an alder tree at a farm or settlement. Allerton is mentioned as a settlement worth 2 pounds, 10 shillings to the Lord, Ilbert of Lacy, in 1066. It is also known that the settlement was waste in the 11th century, probably due to the Harrying of the North that was led by William the Conqueror as a retaliation to Viking-influenced rebellions in the North of England at the time.[2]

Chellow Dean is a local beauty spot at the north of Allerton. It is a wooded valley with two Victorian reservoirs, and is a haven for local wildlife.[1] A significant amount of the village, mostly towards the south, was built in the decades following the Second World War as council housing and thus it contains over half of the population of the Thornton and Allerton ward, towards the western periphery of Bradford.

In 1825, on the eastern fringes of the village with Bradford, the Bradford Public Dispensary opened at Darley Street, moved to Westgate as the Bradford Infirmary in 1843. The hospital became the Bradford Royal Infirmary (known as BRI to locals) in commemoration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. This joined the National Health Service in 1948.

Seabrook Potato Crisps was founded in 1945 in Bradford, and the company opened its first factory in Allerton in 1956 when Charles and Colin Brook converted the old Allerton liberal club into their factory.[3] The company's Allerton factory closed in 2004 and was finally demolished in 2015 following a fire, in 2016 an Aldi store was built on the site, production then moved to the company's Princeville site, also in Bradford.[4] Thornton Labour Club was situated in the south-west of Allerton until it was demolished in the 1990s or 2000s.

A new housing development on the immediate western edge of the village - known as Heron's Reach - consisting of nearly 300 houses, began construction at the end of 2016.[5] The development had previously been cancelled following opposition from local ward councillors and residents, and remains controversial, due to its situation on a green belt site, and its overbearing reliance on the rural road adjacent to its eastern edge.

Education

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There are a number of primary schools in the village; these include the Academy at St. James at the southern edge of the village, Beckfoot Allerton on Allerton Road, St. Matthew's Catholic Primary School and Ley Top Primary School in close proximity at the top of Bell Dean Road, as well as Sandy Lane Primary School in the village of Sandy Lane attached to the immediate north-west of Allerton.

Dixon's Allerton Academy is situated at the far eastern edge of the village, close to the Rhodesway estate.

Governance

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Allerton has been within the boundaries of the City of Bradford metropolitan borough since 1974 as part of the Thornton and Allerton electoral ward.[6] It falls within the parliamentary constituency of Bradford West, a Labour safe seat.[7] Allerton currently has three Labour councillors, who preside over the entire of the Thornton and Allerton wards, whose population primarily are within the village.

Allerton was formerly a township in the parish of Bradford,[8] in 1866 Allerton became a separate civil parish, on 25 March 1898 the parish was abolished and merged with Bradford.[9] In 1891 the parish had a population of 3916.[10]

Chellow Dean

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A view of Chellow Dene reservoir from atop the slope of a hill
Chellow Dene Reservoir, Allerton

A local beauty spot to the northern edge of Allerton is Chellow Dean. Chellow Dean is a long, narrow woodland which surrounds two reservoirs. It is highly popular with dogwalkers, who frequent the paths that loop around the reservoirs, however the route can be more treacherous further north and upland towards the golf course adjacent to Chellow Heights and Heaton. Chellow Dean is just over thirty-three acres in area.[11]

Notable people

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Allerton". Eagle Media Publishing Limited. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  2. ^ "Domesday Online: Thornton (West Riding)".
  3. ^ "CAC". Archived from the original on 24 August 2007.
  4. ^ Watson, Elaine (1 July 2007). "Crispy business". Food Manufacture. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  5. ^ "Keepmoat breaks ground on £43m Heron's Reach". Bdaily. 13 December 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Thornton and Allerton ward" (PDF). bradford.gov.uk. Bradford Council. March 2016. p. 1. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  7. ^ "Elections 2015". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  8. ^ "History of Allerton, in Bradford and West Riding". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  9. ^ "Relationships and changes Allerton CP/Tn through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  10. ^ "Population statistics Allerton CP/Tn through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  11. ^ "Chellow Dean". Woodland Trust. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
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