Sitting on the south-eastern edge of Bradford in West Yorkshire, Broomfields occupies gently sloping ground that faces north and west, draining down towards Bowling Beck. Wakefield Road defines its eastern boundary, while Manchester Road runs along its western edge, also marking the boundary of the historic township of Horton. To the south lay the small estate of Broom Hall, with Spring Fields lying beyond that southern limit. Broomfields was never a formal administrative area – it was always a geographical expression rather than an official district, with most of the land falling within the township of Bowling and only a small northernmost portion within the township of Bradford itself.
From Rural Wasteland to Industrial Quarter
The thin clay soils of Broomfields were poorly suited to arable farming, and for centuries the land formed part of the local wastes. By the late 17th century most of it had been divided into enclosed pastures known as “closes”, and flowering broom took hold across the poor ground, giving the district its name. The area was known to the people of Bradford as a place for country walks and fishing for trout in the becks. The spring at Lady Well had a reputation for curative properties and attracted visitors on holidays. That rural character began to shift after 1774, when the opening of the Bradford Canal made commercial extraction of coal and iron deposits more practical. In the final years of the 18th century, Sir Francis Lindley Wood – owner of Bolling Hall and lord of the manor – sank coal mines across Broomfields, much of which formed part of his estates. Management of the mines was handled by his land agent, Isaac Wright, who operated the New Heigh pit directly and sublet others. Broomfield Colliery stood near the junction of Hall Lane and Wakefield Road, close to the old Wheatsheaf public house, and a row of single-storey miners’ cottages from that period still survived into the 21st century.
Population Rise and Decline
In 1840, Broomfields remained largely rural with only a few hundred residents. By 1880, the picture had changed completely – the district had around 1,500 houses, a population of roughly 8,000, and numerous commercial premises, making it one of the most densely populated parts of Bradford at the time. From 1882 the area fell within the wards of West Bowling and East Bowling. A programme of slum clearance and commercial regeneration began in 1932, and by 2014 Broomfields had returned to something closer to its pre-industrial character in terms of population – down to approximately 200 residents – though the land is now given over almost entirely to commercial use rather than pasture.