Important dates in Claytons history
1086 Domesday Book "CLAITONE". Ilbert (de Lacey) hath it, it is waste.
1160 - 1316 During this time, Clayton belonged to the following Lords of the Manor, Hugh Stapleton, William de Stapleton, Jordan de Birill and Hugh de Leaventhorpe.
1324 - c1624 Clayton held by the Manor of Bolling and their successors. Bolling's, Tempest's and Lacies of Cromwell Bottom.
1740 Mary and Martha Midgley bought the Manor of Clayton for £100.
1778 Manor of Clayton was willed to Rev George Cooke of Everton.
1795 Clayton House was built by Mr Thomas Hirst, whose original ancestral home was Brightwaters, Clayton Heights.
1798 Manor of Clayton bought by Richard Hodgson of Whetley and then passed to his neice Sarah Jowett.
1801 Census Population 2040
1811 Census Population 2469
1819 Village school built by public subscription, on land given by Richard Hodgson
1821 Census Population 3609
1822 Land and buildings at Brow Top transferred to Timothy Wood, who built Brow Mill.
1828 (August) Clayton Baptist's recognised as a separate church by Queenshead Baptist's.
1830 (April 1st) Timothy Wood declared bankrupt. All property transferred to Samual Priestman of Kirkstall and Richard Ecroyd Payne of Leeds. Property leased to David Smith for 14 years.
1830 First Baptist Chapel built. Opened 22nd October. George Andrews pastor.
1831 Census Population 4459.
1831 (September) Indentures on sale of land at Bailey Stile, list Francis Simes, James Ridehalgh and William Sharp as Lords of the Manor of Clayton.
1834 (3rd October) Wesleyan Chapel, Clayton Lane, opened.
1838 Brow Mill Estate conveyed to Mr Joseph Fawthrop of Queensbury.
1840 Cousin of Sarah Jowett, George Baron inherits Clayton, then passed to the James Jowett family.
1841 Census Population 4347
1842 Dr Scoresby Vicar of Bradford, appoints Rev W Kelly to be curate in charge of Clayton, followed by Rev Galvin and Rev Francis Earle.
1844 Baptist Church extended.
1845 Press advert offering land for sale at Reva Syke.
1845-6 Beck or Holme Mill built by James Milner.
1846-8 Holme House built by James Green. Sold to Ezra Milner son of John Milner on 22nd Feb 1850. Ezra married James Greens daughter Martha on 25th May 1844.
1849 (29th May) Foundation stone of Parish Church laid.
1851 (19th January) Clayton Parish Church opened for worship.
1856 Vicarage built.
1858 Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School built in Clayton Lane.
1858 (18th October) Meeting in village school to form Co-operative Society.
1858 North Bierley Union Workhouse opened to serve 6 parishes and house 250 paupers and destitutes. Workhouse Fold now Ramsden Place was the old workhouse.
1859 (23rd October) Clayton National School opened. Built in Gothic Style like the recently completed Church and Vicarage.
1860 Clayton Industrial Society in Co-op Fold.
1860 Part of Brow Mill leased to J Benn and Co
1860 (21st January) School bell tower damaged by gale.
1860 (14th August) First Court Baron of James Atkinson Jowett held at the Old Dolphin Inn, before Mr A B Hooper who, with the Jury perambulated the boundaries with 200 inhabitants of Clayton.
1861 Census Population 5656
1862 (1st July) Beck Mill leased too J Benn and Co and too Soloman Barsdorf and Co. Brow mill now vacant. 1863 (5th May) Rev J.C.Hyett moved that Queenshead should be renamed Queensbury. Prior to 1702 it was known as Causeway End
1864 (July) New Co-op building
1864 New organ installed at Wesleyan Chapel
1865 Allerton Clayton and Thornton Gas co established in Low Lane.
1865 (6th April) Beck Mill Cricket Club formed by employees of J Benn and S Barsdorf
1865 (September) English Cholera still very prevelent in the village.
1866 ( 10th January) The Local Board adopt the Local Government Act.
1866 April, First meeting of the Local Board.
1866 Consent given for sale of Cowgill field for a mill.
1867 Cowgill Field sold by James Atkinson Jowett to messrs Benn, Wallis and Briggs.
1867 (25th November) Committee formed to protect village school. James Jowett wanting to demolish school and build elsewhere, to enable him to quarry stone under school.
1868 (April) Formation of Clayton Working Mens Club.
1868 (October) Scarletina very prevalent in village. Several reported deaths.
1868 - 1869 Construction of Oak Mills.
1871 Building of Horton Bank Reservoir commenced.
1871 National School extended for infants. Heating installed.
1871 -1872 Baptist school built opposite todays library.
1871 Bradford and Thornton Railway Act passed.
1872 (14th February) Formation of the Clayton Consrvative Association. House rented next to the Black Bull on the 27th September. Clayton Constitutional Club. First president Lt Col Henry Sagar Hirst.
1872 Formation of Clayton Liberal Club, at premises on Druids Street.
1872 Watermain laid in Pasture Lane by Bradford Corporation.
1873 Baptist Infant School opened. Taken over by Board School in 1891.
1874 Horton Bank Top reservoir completed.
1874 (June) Work commenced on Queensbury Tunnel.
1875 Some paupers were housed in a small workhouse at Sharket Head off Thornton Rd, Queensbury.
1875 (21st August) The ceremonial removal of the first sod on Jacobs Croft, in readiness for the building of the new Liberal Club
1876 (March) Clayton Conservative Club pulled down. Anybody know where this was?
1877 (22nd December) Formal opening of the Liberal Club. Built in the Italian Style. Mr John Drake Architect.
1877 First trains run to Clayton.
1877 (3rd April) Streets in the village given names. Resolved that street name plates should be white lettering on blue background.
1878 (May) Wesleyan shool opened opposite side of the road to the chapel. Built in the Gothic style. Mr John Drake, Architect.
1878 (October) Queensbury Tunnel opened to Halifax.
1879 (30th December) Brow Mill Estate sold to Abraham Kershaw.
1879 Clock built into church tower.
1879 (February) John Milner dies aged 91
1879 (March) John Foster of Queensbury dies
1880 Julius Whitehead starts his Fire Clay business. Residence Ashby House, Cockin Lane.
1881 Amalgamation of Conservative and Liberal Unionists.
1881 (6th September) Samual Barsdorf dies while visiting Germany. Interred at Undercliffe cemetry.
1882 West View built by John Kershaw son of Samual Kershaw.
1882 Baptist Church demolished (Dry Rot)
1882 (28th September) Dissolution of partnership between Joseph Benn on one part and Asa Briggs and Alfred Wallis.
1884 (February) Foundation stone for new Baptist Chapel laid.
1888 Wesleyan Chapel rebuilt .Opened 22nd May 1889.
1890 Foundation stone for Baptist school laid by Mr Edward Hirst. Opened 31st October 1891.
1892 ( January) Land bought from Mr J.H.Ward and Mrs Sarah Riley on which to build Clayton Conservative and Unionist Club in Station Road.
1893 (17th May) New Conservative Club opened by Lord Randolf Churchill.
1894 (April) Local Government Act passed.
1895 Under the above act The Local Board ceased to exist and was replaced by the Urban District Council.
1895 ( January) First council meeting.
1897 (March) Council Meeting. Proposal to buy village green and turn it into a park.
1897 Tenders requested for drainage and sewage works. Land House Farm purchased and sewage works opened in 1899.
1897 - 1898 Board School built. Opened 3rd October 1898.
1898 Dissolution of partnership between Asa Briggs and Alfred Wallis. Alfred Wallis became sole owner of J Benn & co. Oak Mills.
1900 (7th July) Largest fossil tree ever found, discovered at Fall Top Quarries. 1904 (30th June) Public Auction of Brow Top Estate. including West View.
1904 ( 23rd August) Brow Mill Estate sold to Mathew Stansfield.
1906 Clayton Golf Club inaugurated
1907 Wesleyan Sunday School extended.
1907 Brow Top Farm sold to Sam Priestley by Fred Briggs of 409 Southfield Lane, who had bought it by auction on 11th June 1907. Sam Priestley was already occupying the farm.
1907 (26th July) Brow Mill sold to James Ogden and Daniel Bateman, Worsted Coating Manufacturers. Mill unoccupied between 1907 - 1918.
1907 (9th December) West View sold to Lucy Sowden, of Ferncliffe House.
1913 (13th March) Death of Alfred Wallis aged 84 at Glenholme.
1918 (4th November) Brow Mill with all fixtures and fittings sold to, William Wallace Firth, Metal Broker of 3 Ryan Street, Bradford.
1921 (2nd November) Application granted to Mr Derby Burnley, to run bus services between Lidget Green and Clayton.
1922 - 1923 The Avenue built, from Town Gate to Bailey Stile
1922 Bus service begins.
1926 Bradford Corporation bus service begins to Clayton.
1928 (10 March) Gospel Hall opensed by senior elder Mr Richard Stammers.
1930 ( 1st April) Clayton incorporated into Bradford.
1933 Brow Mill demolished by Thomas Pickles. Stone sold for building.
1933 St Johns Church clock refurbished and new clock face added, to face up the Avenue.
1947 Lidget Grange purchased by Catholic Church.
1952 Larchmont First School built.
1954 St Anthony`s Shool built. Opened 4th May 1954.
1955 ( May) Bradford to Thornton Railway closed to passengers.
1959 Clayton House demolished.
1960 - 1961 St Anthony`s Roman Catholic Church built. Opened 27th July 1961. 1968 St Johns Vicarage demolished. Replaced by new one.
1968 Fire destroys large part of Beck Mill.
1970 Wesleyan Sunday School closes. New chapel opened 30th January 1971. 1971 Church of England first school built in Bradford Rd
1978 2nd April The Gospel Hall is gifted to a brethren assembly from Girlington who had lost their tenancy of Kensington Hall. Closed for refurbishment prior to reopening on Sunday 22nd October.
1979 (October) The Church Hall becomes Clayton Village Hall The Building was sold to the newly formed Clayton Community Association by Patchetts.
1981 New clubhouse built at Clayton Golf Club
1982 Methodists decide that the present Church is too old, too large and not suitable.
1982 - 1984 Baptist Church demolished and a new chapel built. Opened 1st September 1984.
August 1983 The foundation stone of Clayton Conservative Club replaced because the inscription had become illegible. Two cannisters containing copies of The Bradford Daily Telegraph, Yorkshire Post and the Bradford Observer, dated 20th August 1892 were discovered behind the stone.
May 1986 Permission obtained to demolish and rebuild the Methodist Church.
December 1987 New Methodist Chapel completed. The first service was held on Christmas Day.
1989 Thornton View Hospital closed and was put up for sale, but failed to sell .Grade 11 listed building.
October 1989 Tenth anniversary of Clayton Community Association and Village Hall.
March 1990 Clayton District Ward Profile; Village of Clayton, Fairweather Green, Lower Grange Estate, Crossley hall, and Scholemoor. Population 14,465, with the population of Clayton 5,566
August 1990 three arched viaduct at Queensbury station demolished for safety reasons.
1991 Thornton view put up for sale again at a price of £600,000
November 1991 Thornton View purchased by Islamic Muslim Trust. To become a private Muslim girls school.
March 1992 Clayton Methododist. All debts regarding new church have been repaid.
June 1997 New Country Park completed at the site of Horton Bank Top Resevoir. Created and paid for by Yorkshire Water.
September 1997 Proposal to demolish Oak Mills, now owned by The britsh Wool marketing Board. A new estate comprising 60 three and four bedroom houses to be constructed.
July 1998 Urgent repairs required at Clayton Village Hall, expected to cost £ 50,000.
23rd July 1998 Centenary celebrations at Clayton Victoria Park.
October 1998 Clayton Middle School celebrates its centenary.
November 1998 Louis Flower celebrates 80 years as a choristor at St John's Parish Church.
June 1998 Demolishion of Oak Mills. Jacobs Croft and Pinfold estate built. Named after the land on which Clayton Liberal Club was built, and the location of Clayton's Pinfold.
April 1999 Valuable plate and cross stolen from the Parish Church. Recovered as they were offered for sale at John's St market.
April 1999 Clayton Middle school to be sold next year, because of switch to two tier education system. Clayton C of E school will be similarly closed and sold.
April 1999 Clayton population 6,996.
August 1999 Upper Syke and its grounds advertised for residential development by Bradford Council. Agitation and appeals by Clayton History Group managed to secure Upper Syke as a grade II listed building. Upper Syke was built by Joseph Benn in the 19th century.
March 2001 Proposal to develop GLENHOLME Alfred Wallis's victorian mansion into 8 two bedroomed flats and to build houses in the grounds and create a new doctors surgury.
June 2003 Plans submitted by United Cooperatives to demolish the former Clayton Board school and build a supermarket. Plans withdrawn after fierce opposition.
May 2005 Plans unveiled to build a housing project for the elderly in Clayton. A joint venture between Bradford Counciland the Methodist Homes Housing Association on the site of greenacres in Baldwin Lane.
April 2006 First viewing of the new appartments in development of former Board School now known as Chrisharben Court.
February 2006 The story of Albert Pierrpoint to be made into a film called The Last Executioner. See The Pierrepoint Page.
2013 Extension to Parish church OPENED
CLAYTON HISTORY GROUP ARE KEEN TO ADD ANY RELEVANT DATES TO THIS LIST THAT ANY ONE WOULD CARE TO SUPPLY. PLEASE FORWARD TO ANY MEMBER OR THOSE LISTED ON THE WELCOME PAGE.