The mystery of Bradley Bar’s location is still helping to capture the imagination

THE location of Bradley Bar continues to prompt reader response.

Raymond Brooke, a retired farmer and haulage contractor who has lived in Bradley all his life, consulted two local history books: Bradley in Times Past by A Whitworth, and Huddersfield Past and Present by Brian Haigh.

Both place Bradley Bar as the junction of Bradford Road and Fixby Road.

He also recalls a building that was demolished many years ago, which was known as the Bar House, which stood on the opposite side of Bradley Road to Shepherds Thorn Lane.

Paul Bickerdike is also a long-time resident of the area and believes the main toll bar would have been near the junction of Bradley Road and Fixby Road. However, he adds a caveat. He suggests the toll house at Shepherds Thorn Lane could have been in place to collect tolls on a route that started from the Broad Canal at Canalside.

He says it could have run over Riddings through Spencer Terrace, on Wiggan Lane (which used to be Waggon Lane) and along Old Lane, up the side of Lower Fell Greave Wood to Bradley Road.

It then followed Shepherds Thorn Lane to Rastrick and on to Brighouse and Bradford.

”I’ve always thought that a lot of the old routes pre-date the current ones and were usually tied to the wool trade,” he says.

“Old pubs, no longer in existence, were The Woolpack and The Fleece.

“We have to remember that all these routes pre-date the railways and in some cases even the canals.

“The Huddersfield Broad Canal was not completed until 1776.

“The stone bridges over the canal in that area, including the one at the end of Red Doles Lane, must have been built to assist already existing routes, and they all show visible signs of use, presumably by carts.”

He adds: “It isn’t inconceivable that smaller toll houses or gates were there to help pay for the wear and tear of ‘industrial traffic’.”

Toll houses were also known as gates or bars and the farm at the bottom of Wiggan Lane, he says, is called Bradley Gate Farm. Was that one, as well?

Finally, the photograph is captioned Old Toll Bar House, Bradley. But where is it?