About CottingleyCottingley was part of Bingley Urban District Council until 1974. In April of that year it became part of the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council. In 1861 Cottingley had 667 inhabitants Farms in Cottingley in 1861 Stocka Gate Farm - John Booth farmer Stocka Close Farm - Isaac Booth farmer - 60 acres Main Street Farm - Joseph Sowden farmer - 27 acres Cottingley was then a small village with only three main streets. There were 142 houses, some thatched cottages without chimneys and a mill, a tannery and five or six farms. Manor farm had a room filled with straw called Christie or Christy, for the itinerate Irish labourers at harvest time, and a field called Butcher Bill. In 1921 Cottingley parish had 751 inhabitants. In 1991 Cottingley had 4847 inhabitants 2001 Census Present Population - 4492 (Note: The mid-year population figures for Bradford District used in official documents is 200 higher than these Census day (29th April 2001) populations) Present Number of properties - 1954 Owner occupied - 1463 Council tenancy - 276 Other tenancy - 137 Detached Houses - 329 Semi-detached Houses - 1000 Terraced Houses - 412 Flats, conversions & shared dwellings - 213 Census (Bradford area)1991 & 2001 It's boundaries are: River Aire from Beckfoot to Branksome Drive, Nab Wood School, Cottingley Cliffe Road as far as Long Lane, Cottingley Moor Road, Stocka House, Lee Lane up to March Cote Farm, it skirts Blackhills Scout Camp then meets Harden Beck making its way down to Beckfoot. It includes such places as Noon Nick, New Brighton, Quebec, Fairy Dell, Shipley Golf Course, Cottingley Moor, Shipley High Moor, Bankfield Hotel, Cottingley Hall Nursing Home, Yorkshire Clinic Geologically the area consists of millstone grit with the lower slopes covered with boulder clay and some alluvial deposits. Cottingley beck cuts a deep narrow channel flowing north to the River Aire. It rises in a patch of boggy ground in Allerton Road and flows down under Sandy Lane/Haworth Road. At Sandy Lane Bridge it enters an area of deep Glacial Till. Into this the beck has dug a twenty to thirty feet deep narrow gorge crossed by a road bridge at Lee Lane. It then flows through a wooded area, with the waterfall at the rear of Lynwood Terrace, past the Cottingley Town Hall, under the road at the bottom of main Street and down to the river. We also have the signs of a glacial drift. Crow Coal mixed with Galliard of approximately 75 ft in thickness was found in the area. Rough rock runs down the valley to the north of Cottingley. To the south it again had coal measures. Old mine shafts litter the fields either side of Cottingley Cliffe Road. These are shown as either Old Coal Pits or Coal pits on the 1852 map of the area, which seems to suggest that some were still being worked in 1852. Two articles regarding Old Cottingley, written by Harry Pratt for The Bingley Guardian in 1947, are available in pdf format. Articles in PDF form You will need Acrobat Reader to access this file. To download Acrobat Reader free go to www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. |
