I must admit that sometimes I have to really motivate myself to visit the Industrial sites on the list, after a few dull visits I wasn’t imagining this one to be much different. The website didn’t give me much hope, displaying adverts for the shops that now inhabit Salt’s Mill selling lots of expensive things that you don’t really need. However I really quite enjoyed my visit.

The main site is Salt’s Mill, which is an impressive building, when it was built it was the largest factory in the world, and its on a strip of land between the railway, one of the worlds first and the hugely important Leeds-Liverpool canal give a great idea of how the industrial infrastructure at the height of the industrial revolution worked. The Mill now houses an extensive collection of David Hockney’s art, including his own paintings of Saltaire, which were nice I really liked his photomontages and opera sets. Although the rest of the mill was given over to some fancy shops it was actually interesting to walk around and you got to see the architectural details, such as the Iron frame of the building. The shops themselves were actually pretty decent and the restaurant is supposedly one of the best in the area.

Next to the mill is the village of Saltaire, this was one of the earliest examples of housing designed for employees of large industrial factories. The average life expectancy in Bradford at the time of building was very low; 36 years old (I may be wrong). In an attempt to improve the situation the village provided very adequate housing with the latest developments such as outside toilets, to help improve sanitation. There were also a hospital, almshouses, theatre/community hall, church and parkland. This was a revolution and has an effect throughout the world on the planning of living conditions, it reminded me very much of the city I grew up in and the houses behind where I currently live are almost identical to the ones pioneered at Saltaire. They still look like very nice places to live; a little small but very nice, walking around the village reminded me a lot of the Begijnhofs in Flanders.

Saltaire is a very easy place to visit as it has its own train station on the Leeds/ Bradford metro line about 20 minutes from either city. Bradford is a great place to get a curry, whilst Leeds is, I feel, one of England’s more underrated cities, and very good place to go out for some nightlife. It is also possible to visit from the magnificent cathedral city of York, 1 hour by train changing in Leeds.

It is certainly worthy of its place on the list as it shows not only the great achievements of the industrial revolution but puts it in a context along with infrastructure and urban planning that have had a world wide impact. This is one of the better Industrial sites I have visited and the lovely weather made this a very rewarding visit, worth a visit even if Industrial heritage is not your usual idea of fun.