Allerton is a village within the

metropolitan borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of districts of England, local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan distr ...

of the

City of Bradford Bradford (), also known as the City of Bradford, is a metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Bradford, but covers a larger area which includes the towns and villages of Keighley, Shipley, Wes ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England, now increasingly part of the Bradford

conurbation A conurbation is a region consisting of a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ...

. With a population of around 12,000, the village is situated 3 miles west-north-west of Bradford. Allerton was recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

as Wilsden-cum-Allerton. The local residents of the suburb pronounce it as ''Ollerton'', using 'Ol' rather than 'Al'.

Geography and history

Allerton derives from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

, and means an alder tree at a farm or settlement. Allerton is mentioned as a settlement worth 2 pounds, 10 shillings to the Lord, Ilbert of Lacy, in 1066. It is also known that the settlement was waste in the 11th century, probably due to the

Harrying of the North The Harrying of the North was a series of military campaigns waged by William the Conqueror in the winter of 1069–1070 to subjugate Northern England, where the presence of the last House of Wessex, Wessex claimant, Edgar Ætheling, had encour ...

that was led by

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

as a retaliation to Viking-influenced rebellions in the North of England at the time. Chellow Dean is a local beauty spot at the north of Allerton. It is a wooded valley with two Victorian reservoirs, and is a haven for local wildlife. A significant amount of the village, mostly towards the south, was built in the decades following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...

and thus it contains over half of the population of the Thornton and Allerton ward, towards the western periphery of

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

. In 1825, on the eastern fringes of the village with Bradford, the Bradford Public Dispensary opened at Darley Street, moved to Westgate as the Bradford Infirmary in 1843. The hospital became the Bradford Royal Infirmary (known as BRI to locals) in commemoration of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

's Diamond Jubilee. This joined the National Health Service in 1948. Seabrook Potato Crisps was founded in 1945 in Bradford, and the company opened its first factory in Allerton in 1956 when Charles and Colin Brook converted the old Allerton liberal club into their factory. The company's Allerton factory closed in 2004 and was finally demolished in 2015 following a fire, in 2016 an Aldi store was built on the site, production then moved to the company's Princeville site, also in Bradford. Thornton Labour Club was situated in the south-west of Allerton until it was demolished in the 1990s or 2000s. A new housing development on the immediate western edge of the village - known as Heron's Reach - consisting of nearly 300 houses, began construction at the end of 2016. The development had previously been cancelled following opposition from local ward councillors and residents, and remains controversial, due to its situation on a green belt site, and its overbearing reliance on the rural road adjacent to its eastern edge.

Education

There are a number of primary schools in the village; these include the Academy at St. James at the southern edge of the village, Beckfoot Allerton on Allerton Road, St. Matthew's Catholic Primary School and Ley Top Primary School in close proximity at the top of Bell Dean Road, as well as Sandy Lane Primary School in the village of Sandy Lane attached to the immediate north-west of Allerton. Dixon's Allerton Academy is situated at the far eastern edge of the village, close to the Rhodesway estate.

Governance

Allerton has been within the boundaries of the

since 1974 as part of the Thornton and Allerton electoral ward. It falls within the parliamentary constituency of

Bradford West Bradford West is a constituency in West Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Naz Shah of the Labour Party. Constituency profile Bradford West covers the Bradford city centre, Manningham, Allerton an ...

, a Labour

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing h ...

. Allerton currently has three Labour councillors, who preside over the entire of the Thornton and Allerton wards, whose population primarily are within the village. Allerton was formerly a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in the parish of Bradford, in 1866 Allerton became a separate

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, on 25 March 1898 the parish was abolished and merged with Bradford. In 1891 the parish had a population of 3916.

Chellow Dean

A local beauty spot to the northern edge of Allerton is Chellow Dean. Chellow Dean is a long, narrow woodland which surrounds two reservoirs. It is highly popular with dogwalkers, who frequent the paths that loop around the reservoirs, however the route can be more treacherous further north and upland towards the golf course adjacent to Chellow Heights and Heaton. Chellow Dean is just over thirty-three acres in area.

Notable people

* Dean Cavanagh (born 1966), writer for screen, film and theatre *

Nicky Evans Nicky Evans (born 20 April 1979) is an English actor who is best known for playing the roles of Shane Maguire on Channel 4's hit comedy drama '' Shameless'' and Roy Glover on the ITV soap opera, ''Emmerdale''. He has also played roles in vari ...

(born 1979), actor appearing as Roy Glover in ''Emmerdale'' and Shane Maguire in ''Shameless'' *

Kimberley Walsh Kimberley Jane Scott ( Walsh; born 20 November 1981) is an English singer, dancer, television presenter and actress. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the reality series ''Popstars: The Rivals'' on ITV (TV network), ITV. Th ...

(born 1981), singer from

all-female band An all-female band is a musical ensemble, musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universa ...

Girls Aloud Girls Aloud are a British-Irish pop music, pop girl group that was created through the ITV (TV network), ITV talent show ''Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The line up consisted of members Cheryl (singer), Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, N ...

References

External links

* * {{authority control Areas of Bradford Former civil parishes in West Yorkshire