Saltaire, West Yorkshire, Autumn
Building a business was very different in the Victorian era.
Building a business was very different in the Victorian era.
In 1850 a Titus Salt sought to build a textile mill big enough to consolidate all the textile manufacturing processes in one place. His competitors were running a variety of mills in Bradford and Salt did not approve of the appalling working conditions, unsafe practices, and level of pollution in the city.
So Titus Salt bought a plot of land in Shipley, three miles away from Bradford, and started building what became known as Salt’s Mill. The project was completed in 1853 and was opened on Salt’s 50th birthday, 20th September 1853.
The mill was the largest industrial building in the world by total floor area.
Titus Salt also built tidy stone houses for his workers—a vast improvement over the the slums of Bradford—wash houses with tap water, bath houses, a hospital, and an institute for recreation and education. This included a library, a reading room, a concert hall, billiard room, science laboratory, and a gym.
He provided a school for the children of the workers, almshouses for those in need, allotments, a park, and a boathouse. Titus Salt encouraged recreational activities, so a drum and fife band for school age boys and a brass band was set up.
Combining quality housing, fulfilling employment, recreation, educational facilities and social services, the village of Saltaire became a landmark example of enlightened 19th century urban planning.
Perhaps to some, providing people both their employment and their homes might seem too prescriptive or overbearing. But to me it feels more like a panoramic and holistic approach to business, work, employment, and personal development that modern capitalists and entrepreneurs have lost sight of.
All photos taken on a Fujifilm X-T2 with a Fujinon XF 18–55mm f/2.8–4.0 lens using a customised Classic Chrome film profile.
Salts Mill chimney, measuring 68 m (223 ft) high. An imposing sight from all directions.
Saltaire Club & Institute, now known as Victoria Hall. The building was opened in 1872 and cost Titus Salt £18,336 (roughly £2.3 million in today’s money). The Institute “was free from any political bias” and functioned as a social club and educational institute. Nowadays the building serves as a rather posh Village Hall with rooms available for hire. You can get married here too.
In front of the Hall are two sculpted lions representing War and Peace. They face two other sculpted lions that flank the school opposite the Hall, representing Determination and Vigilance. This lion is Peace.
The stone houses built for the workers of Salts Mill were a massive improvement on the living conditions experienced by mill workers in nearby Bradford.
This lion, flanking the old Salt School, represents Determination. Salt School is now part of Shipley College.
A view down, I think, Caroline Street and its rows of neatly built stone terraced houses.
The houses are still magnificently preserved and looked after by their current residents.
The view south on Albert Terrace, with Salts Mill chimney looming in the distance. I would imagine living here in the mid-1800s that seeing the chimney was a constant reminder of your place and purpose.
This was the Congregational Church, built between 1856–59 for around £16,000 (about £2 million in today’s money). Sir Titus Salt was a deeply religious man, believing that his talents and wealth were god-given, and thus felt a religious obligation to provide for the greater good. These days the Congregational Church is now the United Reformed Church.
Across the Leeds and Liverpool Canal is New Mill, built in 1868. The western end of the New Mill has been converted into offices for the Bradford Health Authority, whilst the canal side has been partitioned into 98 privately owned apartments.
Inside Salts Mill! It closed as working mill in 1986 after 133 years in operation. The following year it was sold to Jonathan Silver, a local entrepreneur, who began the process of transforming the mill into retail and commercial units and an art gallery.
Salts Mill is now a thriving commercial and creative centre, housing the 1853 Gallery, the work of artist David Hockney, the Salts Diner restaurant, a book shop, a café, an arts materials shop, several exhibitions, and many more shops.
There were lots of pretty things for me to gawp at.
The current exhibition by David Hockney: “The Arrival of Spring”. It comprises of a huge oil painting as well as 51 other drawings he made on his iPad. Featuring bold colours and simple shapes that are characteristic of Hockney’s style.
I also just really loved the space of this exhibition and the quality of light.
The views from almost any window in the mill are lovely. Here, looking west out of the exhibition with Victoria Hall plainly evident.
Exiting Salts Mill down the main yard. Back in the mid 1800s, hundreds of mill workers would’ve come streaming down this yard at the end of their shift.
Looking back down the yard from the railway bridge. I was attempting my own modern-day version of an old photo I saw displayed inside the mill, which depicted hundreds of workers finishing their shift and walking down this yard; a veritable sea of people. The quote attached to that photo was something like, “If you were last leaving the building, you may as well turn back and spend the night in the mill.”
Sir Titus Salt wasn’t dumb, and meticulously planned out his factory for the greatest access to travel routes, from roads and canals to the railway.