Thornbury is an area 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

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 on the border with the

City of Leeds Leeds, also known as the City of Leeds, is a metropolitan borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in West Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Gar ...

. Thornbury is located in the

Bradford Moor Bradford Moor is an electoral ward within the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council. The population of the ward at the 2011 Census was 21,210. The ward includes the areas of Laisterdyke and Thornbury. History Bradford Moor Bar ...

ward and the Bradford East parliamentary constituency. Thornbury is contiguous with

Pudsey Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it has a population of 25,393. History T ...

– part of the City of Leeds conurbation and borders

Laisterdyke Laisterdyke is an area of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, situated to the east of the city on the border with the City of Leeds and located in the Bradford Moor ward and in the Bradford East parliamentary constituency. Laisterdyke borders ...

, and Fagley in Eccleshill ward.

History

Former Thornbury Tramsheds - Leeds Road - geograph

Thornbury was originally a distinct village, in 1894 Thornbury became a

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 ...

, being formed from the part of the parish of Calverley with Farsley in the

County Borough of Bradford The County Borough of Bradford was a local government district with city status in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, from 1847 to 1974. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and a county borough in 1888, making it administrative ...

, on 25 March 1898 the parish was abolished and merged with Bradford. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Thornbury was the seat of various enterprises such as Crofts Engineering and John Sharp & Co textile manufacturing machine engineers and the

Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company Limited of Hubert Street, Leeds Road, Bradford, Yorkshire, electrical engineers, manufactured small and large motors, alternators and generators at their Thornbury works. They briefly manufactured major aircra ...

. On Leeds Road there were some large former tramsheds and former bus depot dating from when Bradford had its own

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

and

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

services. Bradford Corporation Trams had their own works in Thornbury where over 150 tram cars were built.

Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most famous figures of the American Old West, Cody started his legend at the young age ...

staged a performance of his

Wild West Show Wild West shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe that existed around 1870–1920. The shows began as theatrical stage productions and evolved into open-air shows that depicted romanticized stereotypes of co ...

in Thornbury when touring England in 1903. The Kozey Picture Hall on Leeds Old Road was converted from a boxing stadium and

gym A gym, short for gymnasium (: gymnasiums or gymnasia), is an indoor venue for exercise and sports. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasion". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learn ...

nasium starting operation as a cinema in 1912. The cinema closed in 1920 principally due to competition from the larger Lyceum Cinema that opened in 1919 in nearby

, and became a weaving shed.

Economy

On Gain Lane are British Bakeries' Hovis bakeries, and the headquarters of

Wm Morrison Supermarkets Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, and one in Gibraltar. The company is head ...

. Off Leeds Old Road in the Woodhall Retail Centre are supermarkets and the Thornbury Medical Centre. On Leeds Old Road is the Thornbury Centre - a conference centre, library and church opened in March 1999, built on the site of the demolished St. Margaret's Church with £1.19 million funding from the

Millennium Commission The Millennium Commission, a United Kingdom public body, was set up to celebrate the turn of the millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery to assist communities in marking the close of the second millennium and celebra ...

. There is only one working public house remaining in Thornbury. The Thornbury Centre-1200

On Dick Lane in the Gallagher Leisure Park is the

Odeon Leeds-Bradford Odeon Leeds-Bradford Odeon Leeds-Bradford is a multiplex cinema at Gallagher Leisure Park, Thornbury, West Yorkshire, between the cities of Leeds and Bradford in England. It has 13 auditoria, ranging from 126 to 442 seats. All screens hav ...

a 13 screen multiplex cinema.

Education

On the edge of old Thornbury village is Laisterdyke Leadership Academy. Thornbury has a public lending library in the Thornbury Centre on Leeds Old Road.

Transport

The main roads through the area are the

A647 The A647 is an A road in West Yorkshire, England that begins in Leeds and ends in Halifax. The road is long. Route The road begins at the Armley Gyratory and goes via Armley, by-passes Stanningley and Pudsey, then onwards via Thornbury to ...

Leeds Road, the B6381 Leeds Old Road, Gain Lane and Dick Lane. Leeds Road, Leeds Old Road, and Dick Lane meet at Thornbury roundabout, the biggest roundabout in Yorkshire, where Leeds Road, Gipsy Street, and Dick Lane encircle a roughly triangular green space. New Pudsey east is the nearest railway station. Thornbury is served by First Bradford's 72, 508, X11, 671 and X6 bus services and TLC Travel's 660 service.

Sport

To the east of Thornbury is the Phoenix Park Golf Course. Thornbury Trojans reached the national final of the Amateur Baseball Cup in 1937, along with Birmingham side Durex, a final that was never played.'Team Failed to Arrive: Baseball Wait at Bradford'. ''Bradford Observer''. 30 August 1937. p.9 - retrieved via British Newspaper Archive

Notable people

The poet and novelist

Joolz Denby Joolz Denby (born Julianne Mumford, 9 April 1955) is an English poet, novelist, artist and tattooist based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Early life Born to an Army family at Colchester Barracks in Essex, England, Julianne Mumford moved with ...

lives in Thornbury.

References

External links

The Thornbury Centre
{{City of Bradford Areas of Bradford Former civil parishes in West Yorkshire