November

The weather here has been incredibly dreary for the past week or so - at least when I have been able to notice it (that is, not stuck in an office with my back to the window).  I'm running very short of bloggable photos so I went out today with my camera. It was a misty, damp morning (of the kind that always gets that Steeleye Span song running through my head. 'One misty, moisty morning...') and the view over the Aire valley towards Bradford was decidedly moody.  Look closely at the skyline on the right and you can see the huge chimney of Listers Mill, as visible as it has been for the past 140 years since it was built... once the largest silk factory in the world.

Listers Mill stands guard

The other end of the panorama started yesterday (missing out a significant proportion of what lies between the two images). This is the camera swung round 180º from the first picture.  The dominant feature is Listers Mill, now apartments. Unlike Salts Mill, it sits on a hill and can be seen for miles around. Around it clusters Manningham, once a smart residential area for Victorian gentry, now an interesting, racially-mixed area of bedsits, flats (in the large Victorian villas) and large terraced houses. The green area of trees in the middle is where Lister Park nestles; you can perhaps pick out the large building among the trees that is Cartwright Hall, the art gallery in the park.

To the left is the edge of Bradford city centre, which sits in a bowl surrounded by hills. I'm not too sure which church the tall spire on the left belongs to. I think it might be St Paul's Church in Manningham.

Red splash

A more arty, edgy composition showing Lister's Mill chimney alongside some of the modern glass and steel structures that have been added as part of Urban Splash's transformation of the Victorian mill buildings.  The chimney is a massive 255 feet (78m) high, with a very ornate top.  The mill complex sits on top of a hill and so the chimney is a landmark for miles around.

Saltaire's Salts Mill chimney is a similar size, though it sits low down in the valley so it is not a landmark in the same way.  It also lacks a fancy top, as that had to be dismantled in the 70s for safety reasons.  (I'm pretty sure that nowadays they would have made efforts to restore it, not dismantle it.  I still meet older local people who remember it and are really quite cross at its loss!)

Urban Splash are gradually transforming Lister's Mill into very smart apartments. Consequently you can't get into the complex now unless you live there.  Their website has more photos from inside the compound and inside the apartments - worth a look if you didn't peek at it yesterday!

Lister's Mill, Manningham

You're used to seeing the huge bulk of Salts Mill, Saltaire, from all angles on this blog.  There is, however, an even bigger mill in Manningham in Bradford called Lister's Mill.  In its heyday it was the largest silk mill in the world, employing 11000 workers.  Built by Samuel Cunliffe Lister in 1873, in Italianate style (like Salts Mill), it replaced an earlier mill that was destroyed by fire.  It manufactured high quality silks and velvet, including the velvet robes for King George V's coronation and new velvet curtains for Gerald Ford in the White House.  In WWII it made parachute silk.

Unlike Saltaire, it is simply a mill complex and has no associated 'company village', so it is not as interesting or as well-placed for tourism. Nevertheless it has always been a dominant feature on Bradford's skyline and is a place that the city is justifiably proud of.

Lister's Mill struggled on as a business into the early 1990s but then had to close.  There were many suggestions for using the buildings but the sheer size proved problematic.  Local people campaigned very hard to save them and they are now Grade II listed.  Eventually they were bought by a company called Urban Splash and are being converted into luxury apartments, in phases.  Sadly, the private use means you can't get into the complex to look round (though there are some great photos and videos on Urban Splash's website).  It's hard to appreciate the sheer grandeur of the mills from the perimeter.  In many ways you get more of an idea of the size from a long way away; the huge mill chimney, sitting right on top of a hill, is visible for miles.