BRADFORD. It is curious that both of the well-known towns of Bradford owe their im portance to the woollen manufacture. Brad ford in Wiltshire has for many centuries been noted for its fine broad-cloths, which have at all times formed its principal manufacture. ' The tonne of Bradford stondith by clooth making,' Leland said three centuries ago ; and this is still true.
Bradford, in the West Riding, is how ever the greater town of the two ; for its recent progress in wealth and importance has been astonishingly rapid. The chief manufacture of Bradford and the neighbourhood is of worsted stuffs. The spinning of worsted yarn employs many thousands of workpeople, in some of the largest mills of Yorkshire, and the stuffs are woven from the yarn. Woollen yarn for the manufacture of cloths, broad and narrow, is also spun and woven at Bradford in considerable quantities ; but the worsted ma nufacture is the staple employment of the place, Leeds and its dependencies being the more immediate seat of the woollen manufac ture. The piece hall, which is the mart for stuff goods, is 144 feet long by 36 feet broad, and has a lower and an upper chamber. The business which is transacted. in the piece hall at the Thursday's market is very great, and forms one of the most animated commercial scenes in the kingdom. Many proprietors of worsted mills supply the small manufacturers with yarn, besides employing a great number of looms themselves. Machinery, worked by steam, has almost superseded manual labour in the stuff manufacture, the weaving being now generally done by power-looms. The stuffs manufactured in Bradford are chiefly dyed in Leeds, the proprietors of the dye houses being among the largest purchasers in the Bradford market. It is however under stood that at the present time (1851) Brad ford is rapidly rising at the expense of Leeds. Many of the woollen and wool merchants have lately left Leeds, and opened warehouses in Bradford. Several of the large firms of Manchester and Huddersfield have also re cently opened warehouses in this flourishing town. Several new worsted mills have been
erected between 1846and 1850, and others are now in course of erection. The central situation of Bradford, with reference to the other clothing towns, has probably been a chief cause of this recent advancement.
The iron trade has long flourished in the neighbourhood of Bradford ; indeed it is sup posed that the Romans worked iron mines near this spot. There is an abundant supply of iron-ore and coal, both of excellent quality; and the well-known ironworks at Bowling and Low Moor are only a short distance from Bradford. At these foundries some of the most ponderous works in cast-iron are exe cuted. Vast numbers of workmen are em ployed in different departments of the esta blishments—from the raising of the ore and coal, to the various marketable states of the metal. These ironworks have the reputation of being carried on with great skill ; the provements of modern times having been suc cessfully introduced in the different branches of the manufacture.
The principal merchants and manufacturers in the trades of Bradford are wool-staplers, wool-combers, worsted-spinnners and manu facturers, worsted-stuff manufacturers, and woollen-cloth manufacturers. Several of the trades which are carried on are dependent upon the woollen and worsted trade ; among them are the manufactures for combs, shut. ties, and machinery.
Bradford is preparing with much vigour to take part in the Industrial Exhibition of 1851. -The manufacturers require 2,000 square feet of space for their appropriation ; and they have appointed a committee by whom the articles to be exhibited are grouped in five classes : viz., worsted stuffs, cotton stuffs, iron, machinery, and miscellaneous. One inde fatigable weaver, it is said, has woven the four Gospels on cloth, to exhibit as a speci men of his skill.