DISCLOSURE: This page may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, we may receive a commission.
UK Genealogy Archives logo

Baildon

BAILDON, a chapelry, under Gilbert's act, in the parish of Otley, Upper division of the wapentake of Skyrack, W. riding of York, 4½ miles (N. by W.) from Bradford; containing 3280 inhabitants. This chapelry, which is divided into Upper and Lower Baildon, and includes the hamlets of Moorside, Charlestown, Gill's-Mills, Trench, and the Green, comprises 1378a. 2r. 37p., whereof 546 acres are inclosed, 700 common, and the remainder wood. The lands are chiefly arable, with a due proportion of meadow and pasture. The substratum abounds with coal, of which a mine, now in operation, is supposed to have been one of the first opened in this part of the country; and with stone of good quality, which is quarried for building purposes and for flags. The surface is boldly varied, and the scenery in many parts strikingly picturesque. The village of Baildon is situated on an eminence, overlooking the valley of the Aire, in which is a waterfall; the inhabitants are chiefly employed in the worsted manufacture. In the centre of the village is an ancient cross; and fairs are held on the 2nd of March, and the 4th of November. The Leeds and Liverpool canal borders on the chapelry. The chapel, dedicated to St. John, is a very ancient structure, and from the similarity of some of its details, is supposed to be coeval with the foundation of Kirkstall Abbey: it contains 500 sittings, and has an old font, curiously sculptured. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Otley; net income, £148, arising from a glebe of 110 acres allotted at the inclosure. There are places of worship for Primitive Methodists, Moravians, and Wesleyans.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

Advertisement

Advertisement