A VERY SHORT HISTORY OF SALTAIRE

 

Riverside Court's location is steeped in history. The use of water to power mills on this stretch of the Aire can be traced back to the thirteenth century.

 

But around 1850, a canal and a railway also occupied the bottom of the Aire valley and Bradford woollen manufacturer Titus Salt chose this place to construct the largest industrial building in the World by total floor area together with a village to house the operatives and their families.

 

Salts prospered, and extended to the land between river and canal. Now RC's neighbour, New Mill was built in 1867. The area east of New Mill was redeveloped in 1907-1909. Where the gas works had been a five-storey building was erected. This building – one block of the present day Riverside Court - had stone facing, sympathetic to that of New Mill, but its construction was in fact an early example of the use of reinforced concrete.

 

Salts closed as a working woollen mill in 1986 but re-opened not long after as home to shops, offices, manufacturing facilities, restaurants and art galleries. For more see www.saltsmill.org.uk

 

In the early 1990s, the buildings between canal and river were converted. New Mill now houses NHS offices. The neighbouring buildings became Riverside Court.

 

In 2001, Saltaire was inscribed as a World Heritage Site.

 

For a fuller history, go to THE RC LIBRARY [3.1] or just Google!