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Newsletter August 2020
Greetings from your Saltaire History Club team
We hope all is well with you and yours – and here’s the latest Club news.
As you’d expect, we’ve been battered by Covid-19.
Battered, but not beaten. Read on!
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THURSDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 2020 - CLUB QUARTERLY MEETING AND AGM
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Sorry – but we’ve had to pull the plug on this one. But there is a silver lining. Titus Salt’s statue is not going away and neither is our speaker Dr David Pendleton or the question Should Salt return in triumph to the city centre?
David will be with us on Thursday 9 September 2021. Forward planning or what?!
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THURSDAY 1 OCTOBER 2020 at 19.00: EXTRA-SPECIAL CLUB MEETING
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In response to the Covid challenge, this will be a special meeting indeed. We’re going to have our first, remote Club meeting using Zoom technology!
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You are all invited and we’ll be in touch soon with a ‘How to’ mailing - but, in a nutshell, several days before 1 October we’ll send everyone local historian Derek Barker‘s presentation on the Northcliffe Heritage Project together with instructions for joining a discussion/Q&A session that will start at 19.00.
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THURSDAY 10 DECEMBER 2020 - CLUB QUARTERLY MEETING
AND
THURSDAY 4 MARCH 2021 - CLUB QUARTERLY MEETING
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Both events: 19:00. Exhibition Building, Saltaire
A great double bill! The subject: the Crossleys of Halifax, a family which, from humble beginnings, became the world’s largest carpet manufacturers. Fellow liberals and Congregationalists, they were intimates of the Salts and cemented their alliance in the marriage of Catherine Crossley to Titus Salt jnr.
Our very own Pauline Ford leads off in December introducing us to the Crossleys with a strong focus on Catherine and Titus jnr’s daughter Isabel. In March, we’ll welcome President of the Halifax Antiquarians, David Glover. Through pictures, he’ll tell us the story of John Crossley & Sons of Dean Clough.
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WORLD HERITAGE DAY APRIL 2021: TWO JOURNEYS: SALT & ROBERTS
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You’ll recall that we had to cancel our 2020 World Heritage Day event at Salts Mill. Our ambition now is to re-present it on World Heritage Day 2021. Cross your fingers!
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OUR BRAND-NEW HISTORY CLUB WEBSITE
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will be coming soon. Watch this space! Meanwhile why not explore…
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THE NEW LOOK SALTAIRE VILLAGE WEBSITE
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The Saltaire Village website has over 1000 biographies, street and house histories, Saltaire during the wars, a monthly diary of events 100 years ago, Saltaire Journals and much more.
Not to be missed! https://saltairevillage.info/
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THE LOCKDOWN IS GREAT FOR HISTORICAL RESEARCH!
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As we told you in the last newsletter, the internet’s packed full of history and freebies, and there’s no social distancing! Here’s the latest research news:
David King, one of the Club’s most respected researchers, has been asking Sir Titus Salt “Who was your Grandmother?” – and coming up with a very surprising answer! You can find read David’s excellent, short article on the Saltaire Village website: https://saltairevillage.info/saltaire_history_0070_Debunking_myths_concerning_Sir_Titus_Salt_050620.html
Roger Clarke, another of our excellent researchers, is a former psychiatric social worker so it’s appropriate that he’s been studying the history of suicide. He documents the tales of Saltaire folk who took their own lives but also summarises sociological, psychological and other theories of suicide in addition to saying a few words about suicide today. Roger’s empathy shines through. Roger’s paper is available online: https://bit.ly/313aKV2
Les Brook, a mere apprentice by comparison with David and Roger, has been digging up ‘Salt before Saltaire’. Where exactly were those Bradford mills Salt occupied before 1853? Where did he learn his trade? Where did he live and where did he attend chapel? And whilst Les was ‘inhabiting’ Bradford in the C19th, he couldn’t resist documenting the earliest steam-powered factories and the wonderful mediaeval goit around which they were clustered. The final draft of 'Salt before Saltaire' is available online: https://bit.ly/3iJo4nw
Victorian author John James: In the last (May 2020) newsletter, we wrote about downloading a book by James. We gave you a link which was inaccurate and we apologise. To access two of his books from the Internet Archive, use these links:
History of Worsted: https://bit.ly/2Q4W8y00
The History of Bradford and its Parish: https://bit.ly/2Q2kuIQ
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TITUS SALT'S ORIGINAL FEATURES
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The Club is continuing to ask everyone to help with a research project that truly is close to home. Using Facebook and email we're collecting images of original features from Saltaire houses to document this poorly recorded aspect of the village. They should help us understand Salt's priorities.
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You can see the images we have collected on our Facebook Group. Images shared so far suggest that the same model of bedroom fireplace was used over many years and across several building contracts, while many internal doors were surprisingly plain and simple, perhaps a compromise to allow money to be spent elsewhere.
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Do share anything you can, ideally including the street name please. We're interested in everything from fireplaces and ranges, gas lighting locations and signs of original paintwork:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaltaireHistoryClub
Email: historyclub@saltairevillage.info
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YOUR CLUB’S FACEBOOK GROUP: JOIN IN!!
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We are delighted that the Club's Facebook Group has taken off over the last few months.
The Group is fast approaching 300 members with active discussions about Saltaire's history and lots of interesting historical photographs of the area.
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The Group complements our Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/SaltaireHistoryClub) which is the Club’s formal presence. The Page regularly shares historical snippets (and quiz questions!) with over 800 followers.
Join in at https://www.facebook.com/groups/SaltaireHistoryClub
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PROTECTING WORLD HERITAGE SALTAIRE
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We’re proud of the fact that our Club’s constitution commits us “to support the integrity of the World Heritage Site”. In reality, what does that mean? Well, amongst other things, we need to keep our eye on planning applications. And recently there have been three that needed our attention, the most prominent being one to build a very large mast only ~150m from the boundary of the World Heritage Site. That application’s not settled yet – but be assured that your Club’s Co-ordinating Group is on that case and the others.
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NEWS FROM THE SALTAIRE COLLECTION?
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The Saltaire Collection (formerly the Saltaire Archive) housed in Shipley College’s Exhibition Building is looking forward to the easing of Covid restrictions and re-opening to visitors on two days each week.
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But Covid has not stopped the project advancing. The Collection has submitted to the Arts Council an application to be recognized as a museum. Saltaire is one of only two World Heritage sites in Yorkshire but is without a museum and heritage centre!
And even in these dark times, you can still contact the Collection at saltairestories@gmail.com
Or explore their website: https://www.saltairecollection.org.
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ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?
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