Editing Baildon (section)

== History ==
{{anchor|Baildon Moor}}
[[Cup and ring mark|Cup-and-ring stones]] on Baildon Moor have shown evidence of [[Bronze Age]] inhabitation.<ref name="BV:H">{{cite web |last=Marfell |first=Paul |title=History |work=Baildon Village |access-date=29 September 2013 |url=http://www.baildon.org.uk/content/view/98/44/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120718174629/http://www.baildon.org.uk/content/view/98/44/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 July 2012}}</ref>

Baildon Moor has a number of [[gritstone]] outcrops with numerous prehistoric [[cup and ring marks]]. A denuded and mutilated bank represents the remains of an [[Iron Age]] settlement known as Soldier's Trench, sometimes mistaken for a Bronze Age [[stone circle]].<ref name="MP:STSC">{{cite web |title=The Soldiers Trench Stone Circle |work=The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map |access-date=3 March 2011 |url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=691}}</ref>
A Bronze Age cup-marked rock is incorporated in the bank.<ref name="P:ST">{{PastScape |mname=Soldiers Trench |access-date=25 July 2012 |mnumber=49552}}</ref>

Baildon is recorded as ''Beldone'' and ''Beldune'' in the [[Domesday Book]]. In 1066 it belonged to a Gospatric, son of Arnketil, and had passed to Erneis of Buron by 1086.<ref>{{OpenDomesday|SE1539|baildon|Baildon}}</ref>

Baildon had two [[manor house]]s: one on Hall Cliffe, the other in lower Baildon.

During the [[Industrial Revolution]], Baildon developed a woollen industry; Westgate House was built in 1814 by the Ambler family who were prominent in the wool trade and the warehouse part of the building was Feathers Bakery now Nine Café adjacent to the mill which is now the Westgate Bar.<ref name="BV:WH">{{cite web |last=Marfell |first=Paul |title=History: Westgate House |work=Baildon Village |access-date=24 July 2012 |date=5 April 2007 |url=http://www.baildon.org.uk/content/view/98/44/1/4/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120082934/http://www.baildon.org.uk/content/view/98/44/1/4/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 November 2008 }}</ref>

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, conditions in Bradford deteriorated and poverty and ill health became widespread; Baildon began developing as a [[commuter town]] along with neighbouring Shipley. In the 1960s, the Hall Cliffe manor house was demolished and replaced with the Ian Clough Hall, named after a [[#Notable people|local mountaineer]]. In the latter years of the 20th century, the West Riding suffered from economic decline through the gradual closure of its textile and engineering industries.{{citation needed |date=July 2012}} Bradford was particularly affected by this; however, Leeds grew as a major administrative and financial centre and Baildon with its railway links to Leeds has become a strategic commuter town.{{citation needed |date=July 2012}}

=== Gypsy parties ===
Baildon was an important location for the British [[Names of the Romani people#Gypsy and gipsy|Gypsy]] community. A report of 1929 stated that annual Gypsy Parties had started two to three hundred years before – records were said to go back to 1770 when it was reported to be an ancient custom. In 1881, up to 5,000 people are said to have paid for admission. Gradually the event was taken over by local residents, who dressed up as Gypsies and formed 'tribes'. Proceeds went to the local horticultural society.
After 1897 the tradition died out, apparently because the 'real Gypsies' had disappeared. However, in 1929 it was revived to raise funds for Baildon Hospital.
A local resident, John Keen, then contacted the so-called [[King of the Gypsies]], [[Xavier Petulengro]], and they re-established large Gypsy gatherings at Baildon, recorded on [[Pathe News]] films and shown nationally in cinemas.<ref name=GRTL>{{cite web|last=Matthews |first=Freda |title=Gypsies in Local History |work=Gypsy Roma Traveller Leeds |access-date=26 February 2011 |year=2007 |url=http://www.grtleeds.co.uk/History/Leeds.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008021824/http://www.grtleeds.co.uk/History/Leeds.html |archive-date=8 October 2011 }}</ref><ref name="BP">{{cite web|url=https://www.britishpathe.com/video/a-romany-wedding-on-yorkshire-moors|title=A Romany Wedding on Yorkshire Moors|work=British Pathe|access-date=12 January 2020}}; {{cite web|url=https://www.britishpathe.com/video/double-gypsy-wedding/query/Double+Gypsy+Wedding|title=Double Gypsy Wedding|work=British Pathe|access-date=26 February 2011}}</ref>

The Gypsy Parties ended with the start of the [[Second World War]], and were never revived.<ref name=GRTL/>

=== Pleasure Grounds ===
[[File:Shipley Glen Railway - geograph.org.uk - 17666.jpg|190px |thumb |right |[[Shipley Glen Tramway]]]]
In northern Shipley off Prod Lane there was a small fairground with [[Bumper cars|dodgem cars]], booths and a historic "Aerial Glide" [[suspended roller coaster]] that for a short period had listed building status.<ref name=AAB3>{{cite web |title=Shipley Glen |work=All About Bradford Three |access-date=27 February 2011 |url=http://sites.google.com/site/allaboutbradfordthree/shipley-glen}}</ref><ref name=TPG>{{cite web |last=Radice |first=Gary |title=A Tale of Shipley Glen: The Mike Short Interview |work=themagiceye |access-date=27 February 2011 |date=November 2003 |url=http://www.joylandbooks.com/themagiceye/articles/taleofshipleyglen.htm}}; {{cite web |title=Shipley Glen Aerial Ride |work=www.ukrides.info |access-date=27 February 2011 |url=http://www.ukrides.info/shipley_glen.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303123812/http://www.ukrides.info/shipley_glen.htm |archive-date=3 March 2011}}; {{cite web |title=The Aerial Glide, Shipley Glen Pleasure Grounds, Shipley |work=joylandbooks.com |access-date=27 February 2011 |date=September 2000 |url=http://www.joylandbooks.com/shipleyglen/}}</ref>
In earlier years the fairground attractions at Shipley Glen were much more extensive.<ref name=TET>{{cite web |title=The Eldwick Tragedy 1920 |work=The Eldwick Tragedy |access-date=27 February 2011 |url=http://sites.google.com/site/theeldwicktragedy/}}{{dead link |date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>
The fairground closed and is now dismantled and newly built (2015/6) private housing now covers the site.<ref name=SWHS>{{cite web |title=Saltaire World Heritage Site |work=saltairevillage.info |access-date=27 February 2011 |url=http://www.saltairevillage.info/saltaire_history_0005_shipley_glen_fun_fair.html}}</ref>
The only working remnant of the Pleasure Grounds is the [[Shipley Glen Tramway|Shipley Glen Cable Tramway]], a [[funicular railway]] carrying passengers from just north of [[Roberts Park, Saltaire]] up the hill side through Walker Wood to the location of the Pleasure Grounds at the top of Prod Lane.