Sitting within the Bradford district of West Yorkshire, Eccleshill is a former village that has grown into a largely residential urban area. Substantial open land lies directly to the east, though the built-up parts of Eccleshill leave little open space within the area itself. The ward’s population was recorded at 17,540 before rising to 17,945 at the 2011 Census. Two Roman lanes once crossed the area – one along what is now Norman Lane and another heading towards Apperley Bridge along the road known as Bank.
The Name and Early Ownership
The origins of the name Eccleshill are uncertain. At the time of the Domesday Book it appeared as Egleshill, which could mean ‘eagles hill’, or might refer to a Saxon landlord named Aikel or Eckil, or possibly derive from ‘Ecclesiastical Hill’. After the Norman Conquest, the lands passed to William, Earl of Warren. Ownership then moved through several families – the Sheffields from 1274, the Bolling family of Calverley from 1407, and then through the Scargills, Saviles, Wyatts, Zouches, Stanhopes, Hirds, and finally Jeremiah Rawson. A local legend from the Middle Ages holds that a preacher or monk was stoned to death on the main road through the village, and that this incident gave Stony Lane its name – though the road may simply have been stony, or led to Stone Hall.
Eccleshill Hall and Church History
Eccleshill Hall was built in 1713 for Dr Stanhope, positioned east of Stony Lane on what is now Victoria Road. It was demolished in 1878, and all that remains today are fragments of stone gateposts set into a roadside wall. The religious history of Eccleshill began with nonconformist congregations. Before 1775, the only place of worship was The Quaker Meeting House on Tunwell Lane. In 1775, Prospect Chapel – also known as Bank Top Chapel – was built on Lands Lane off Norman Lane, and Methodist preacher John Wesley spoke there in 1776. A doctrinal split in 1823 led to the founding of Salem Independent Chapel on Dobby Row, a street subsequently renamed Chapel Street. Salem Chapel’s burial ground remains on Chapel Street. The Congregational Church on Victoria Road near Harrogate Road, built in 1889, replaced the Chapel Street building and was itself demolished in the 1960s, with a single-storey United Reformed Church built on the site in 1967.