Esholt is a village and former civil parish in the metropolitan district of the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is situated east of Shipley town centre, south-west of the A65 in Guiseley, north of Bradford City Centre, and north-west of Millennium Square, Leeds.
The name "Esholt" indicates that the village was first established in a heavily wooded area of ash trees.
History
In the 12th century, the Esholt estate was owned by Syningthwaite Priory, and Esholt Priory, a Cistercian nunnery dedicated to St Mary and St Leonard was established at Lower Esholt. When the nunnery was dissolved in about 1547 the estate was granted to Henry Thompson by Edward VI. In the 17th century Frances Thompson, the heiress of Henry Thompson married Walter Calverley (1629–1694). In 1709 their son Walter Calverley built Esholt Hall, a Queen Anne style mansion house, on the site of the old nunnery. In 1775 the Calverleys sold the estate to Robert Stansfield whose family remained in possession until 1906 when it was sold to Bradford City Council.
To the north of the village was Esholt railway station opened in 1876
and closed in 1940. In 1892 a notable rail crash occurred nearby at Esholt Junction on the Otley and Ilkley Joint Railway.
From 1912 to 1915 Nanson, Barker & Co manufactured the Tiny cyclecar in Esholt. In 1919 after the First World War the company made larger cars under the Airedale brand but went into liquidation in 1924.
Just before the First World War land on the estate was used for Airedale Aerodrome. The current owner of the estate, Yorkshire Water, operates a waste water treatment plant on what was the location of the aerodrome. Home farm on the estate is used as a conference and staff learning centre and many buildings have Grade II star listed building status.
Civil parish
Esholt was formerly a township and chapelry in the parish of Otley. From 1866 Esholt was a civil parish in its own right. In 1931 the parish had a population of 496. On 1 April 1937 the parish was abolished, with most of the area, including the village itself, being added to the parish of Idle in the County Borough of Bradford, with smaller parts going to Aireborough and Baildon. Since 1937 the village has been administratively part of Bradford, although it remains outside the built up area of the city.
Landmarks
The manor house, Esholt Old Hall at Upper Esholt is medieval in origin, probably 16th century, and possibly once had a moat. It is well-preserved and has Grade II* listed building status.
Esholt has one public house, The Woolpack a listed building in Main Street.
The Church of Saint Paul was built at a cost of £800 in 1839 by William Rookes Crompton-Stansfield for use as a private family chapel. Historically part of the parish of Guiseley, the Church of St Paul is a successor to the private chapel in the old manor house. It was consecrated in 1853 and the chancel added in 1895. Since 1983 it has been in the combined parish of Guiseley with Esholt.
There are many listed buildings on Esholt Lane, Cunliffe Lane, Chapel Lane, Church Lane, Main Street, St Leonard's Farm, Upper Esholt, The Avenue, and Esholt Hall.
Esholt Waste Water Treatment Works
Esholt Waste Water Treatment Works is located on a site on the former estate of Esholt Hall, and serves 750,000 people in Bradford and North Leeds. It is Yorkshire Water's second largest waste water treatment plant, exceeded only by Knostrop in Leeds.
History
As Bradford's population and the textile industry grew in the early 19th century most human waste and industrial effluent drained into Bradford Beck, to the canal basin and on to the River Aire flowing past Esholt.
In 1862 a sewage system was begun in Bradford but Bradford Beck was still polluted. In 1869 William Stansfield of Esholt Hall obtained an injunction requiring Bradford Corporation to improve the sewage system so as not to pollute the beck. Bradford Corporation built a treatment works at Frizinghall to treat sewage before the water was put in the river.
When Frizinghall works could not cope with the waste the Esholt estate was acquired for more than £239,000 as the site for a new sewage works. A three-mile long tunnel between Frizinghall and Esholt to connect the sites was completed in the 1920s. Frizinghall works closed in 1926. The tunnel has ventilation shafts in Frizinghall, Wrose and Idle.