Sitting roughly three miles west-north-west of Bradford, Allerton is a village of around 12,000 people within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire. It has gradually been absorbed into the wider Bradford conurbation, though it retains a distinct identity – locals typically pronounce the name as “Ollerton”, using a short “Ol” rather than the written “Al”. The southern portion of the village is largely made up of council housing built in the decades after the Second World War, and Allerton contains over half the population of the Thornton and Allerton ward, which sits towards the western edge of Bradford.
History and Origins
The name Allerton comes from Old English and refers to an alder tree at a farm or settlement. The village appears in the Domesday Book as Wilsden-cum-Allerton, recorded as a settlement worth two pounds and ten shillings to its lord, Ilbert of Lacy, in 1066. By the 11th century, however, the settlement was recorded as waste – likely a consequence of the Harrying of the North, William the Conqueror’s campaign of destruction carried out in response to Viking-influenced rebellions in the region. On the eastern fringe of the village, the Bradford Public Dispensary opened at Darley Street in 1825, later relocating to Westgate as the Bradford Infirmary in 1843, before becoming the Bradford Royal Infirmary – still known locally as the BRI – to mark Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. It joined the National Health Service in 1948. Allerton also has an unexpected connection to a well-known snack brand: Seabrook Potato Crisps, founded in Bradford in 1945, opened its first factory here in 1956 when Charles and Colin Brook converted the old Allerton liberal club. That factory closed in 2004, was demolished in 2015 following a fire, and an Aldi store was built on the site in 2016.
Green Spaces and Local Life
At the northern end of the village lies Chellow Dean, a wooded valley with two Victorian reservoirs that attracts local wildlife and walkers. It is one of the more popular green spaces in the area. To the immediate north-west, the village of Sandy Lane is closely attached to Allerton. More recently, a housing development called Heron’s Reach – comprising nearly 300 houses on a green belt site at the western edge of the village – began construction at the end of 2016, having previously been cancelled due to opposition from residents and local councillors. Several primary schools serve the community, including Beckfoot Allerton on Allerton Road, St. Matthew’s Catholic Primary School, Ley Top Primary School near Bell Dean Road, the Academy at St. James in the south, and Sandy Lane Primary School to the north-west.