Holme Wood (sometimes written as Holmewood) is a

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States ...

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Geography and administration

Holme Wood is situated off Wakefield Road in the south-east of the

City of Bradford The City of Bradford () is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. It is named after its largest settlement, Bradford, but covers a large area which includes the towns and vi ...

and borders

Tyersal Tyersal is a village east of Bradford and west of Leeds and has a population of 2,605 according to Bradford Community Statistics Project. The district is split between both City of Bradford metropolitan borough and the City of Leeds metrop ...

. It is part of Tong ward. The estate is managed by Incommunities and Bradford Council. In 1996, it was one of the largest council-housing estates in

. Most of it consists of low-rise buildings, there are only two tall blocks of flats, namely Ogden House and Kelvin House on Dane Court Road. The estate is rambling; however, there are many pleasant green areas dotted around the estate, among them Valley Natural Play Park along the upper course of Holme Beck and Pit Hill Park at the boundary to the nearby village of Tong in the green belt.

History

Grazing land off Ned Lane towards Holme Wood - geograph

A small hamlet named ''Holme Shaw'' existed on Ned Lane, west of a forest called ''Holme Wood''. Later it was simply known as ''Holme'' and was part of the civil parish of Tong. It is now part of Tong ward. The etymology of ''Holme Shaw'' was identified by

Albert Hugh Smith Albert Hugh Smith OBE (24 February 1903 – 11 May 1967) was a scholar of Old English and Scandinavian languages and played a major part in the study and publication of English place-names. Hugh Smith was the son of Albert John Smith, a butler ...

Old English Old English (, ), 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 was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''holegn'' ('holly-tree') and ''sceaga'' ('copse'); ''Holme Wood'' means the same. Residents refer to it as Holmewood (all one word). The present housing estate between Dudley Hill and Ned Lane was built in the 1950s, officially opening in 1957. The history of the estate in the twentieth century was characterised by the ''

Bradford Telegraph and Argus The ''Telegraph & Argus'' is the daily newspaper for Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is published six times each week, from Monday to Saturday inclusive. The newspaper has offices in Newhall Way, Bradford, from where its journalists work ...

'' as beginning as a 'pioneering housing estate', becoming 'a hot-bed of crime' around the 1980s, but undergoing 'a full regeneration programme' in the 1990s.

Taxi boycott

In September 2016, it was reported that several taxi companies had listed the estate as a 'no-go' area, due to anti-social attacks being carried out on drivers throughout 2016. Some incidents left drivers with black eyes, while others were subjected to being harassed for money after their windows were smashed in. Subsequent to the taxi boycott, concerted efforts by Bradford South policing district, and by youth workers, have claimed some success in reducing anti-social behaviour on the estate. Some work has been funded by

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic epis ...

and has involved partnerships with Bradford City football club and Bradford Bulls rugby league club.

Population

Pockets of Holme Wood are in the top 5% and 1% of the Governments Index of Deprivation (2015). Voluntary sector groups, churches and schools work tirelessly to address the issues of poverty and deprivation on this 1950s housing estate. The ethnic origin of most of the population of the estate is white British; however, the number of residents belonging to ethnic minority groups has increased over recent years. Of the residents of Tong Ward, to which Holme Wood belongs, 82.8% were born in the United Kingdom, 0.4% in the Republic of Ireland, 3.1% in other EU countries, and 13.6% outside the EU.

Notable people

Holme Wood is the birthplace of actresses

Sophie McShera Sophie McShera (born 17 May 1985) is an English actress known for her roles as Ros McCain in the fifth series of the BBC television series '' Waterloo Road'', as Daisy Mason in the ITV television series ''Downton Abbey'', and as Drizella ...

and

Jennifer Metcalfe Jennifer Joanne Metcalfe (born 4 September 1983) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles of Jade Nicholls in Emmerdale and Mercedes McQueen in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', which she has appeared in since 2006. Her port ...

Appearances in popular culture

Holme Wood is the setting of much of the 2021 film ''

Ali & Ava ''Ali & Ava'' is a 2021 British drama film written and directed by Clio Barnard. The film stars Adeel Akhtar and Claire Rushbrook in the lead roles. ''Ali & Ava'' had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors Fortnight se ...

''.

References

External links

{{Bradford Areas of Bradford Housing estates in England