Market celebrates city’s wool heritage

THE PATRON saint of woolcombers, Bishop Blaise, and the history of wool in Bradford will be celebrated at a special market day held at the city’s industrial museum.

Taking place on Sunday, February 3 between 10am and 4pm to coincide with the feast day of St Blaise, the market will feature stalls selling woollen yarns, textiles and hand looms.

Bradford was once known as ‘Worstedopolis’ because of its high number of mills and wool processing plants.

Up until 1825 the district’s wool-combers held a parade through the city to celebrate their patron saint.

Part of a four-day festival, one of the wool-combers would dress up as Bishop Blaise and parade through the town.

This heritage will be celebrated at Bradford Industrial Museum’s first ever wool market next month which will also feature live performances by a choir and a brass band, as well as alpacas and a pop-up pub.

Maggie Pedley, inset, libraries, museums and galleries manager at Bradford Council, said: “We have two ‘Bishop Blaise’ coats that were worn in the parades in our collection. One from Bradford and one from Keighley, as well as some other memorabilia from these parades and we will be putting some of this on display.

“I would encourage anyone with an interest in Bradford’s woollen history to visit the museum for this event.”

Bishop Blaise was a physician and bishop in Sebastea, Armenia and was believed to have lived around the end of the 3rd or early 4th century.

People sought him out for cures of both spiritual and bodily ailments and he was reported to have healed animals, however he is also said to have been tortured – flayed using pins from a woolcomb – and beheaded for refusing to renounce his faith.