Bradford on Tone is an attractive village perched on a ridge above the River Tone. The village complete with shop and the White Horse Inn, retains much of its rural character with thatched cottages.Bradford is the major settlement in the City of Bradford Metropolitan District, in the county of West Yorkshire in the north of England. It officially became a city in 1897.Bradford was long a centre of the West Riding wool industry. The name is derived from the "Broad Ford" at Church Bank by the site of Bradford Cathedral, around which the city was founded sometime around the time of the Norman Conquest. The stream, called Bradford Beck, now passes through underground tunnels to the River Aire near Shipley.
Bradford was one of the many English cities which really came into its own in the Industrial Revolution. Bradford's textile industry dates back as far as the thirteenth century, but it was not until the nineteenth century that it became world famous. Yorkshire boasted plentiful supplies of iron ore, coal and soft water which were used in cleaning raw wool, and a coal seam which stretched as far as Nottingham provided the power that the industry needed. Sandstone, Bradford's local stone, provided an excellent resource for the building of the mills, and the large population of West Yorkshire meant there was a readily available workforce.
To support the textiles mills and machinery a large manufacturing base grew up in the city, leading to diversification with different industries thriving side by side. Today most of the older textile mills and some of the heavier industries have closed, but Bradford remains one of the north's important cities, with modern engineering, chemicals and financial services replacing the "dark satanic mills" of the revolution.
Bradford was one of the contenders for 2008 European Capital Of Culture, eventually losing to the city of Liverpool. In 2004, the Bradford Urban Regeneration Company commissioned flamboyant architect Will Alsop to create a vision for the City's future and indeed the role of a "City Centre" in the 21st century. Alsop's celebrated plans envisioned four regenerated quarters within the heart of the city — The Bowl, The Channel, The Market & The Valley — each creating new public spaces for commerce, education, leisure and showcasing Bradford's setting within the Pennine mountains.
