Lower Grange, 1967 (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Lower Grange, 1967

10:40am Thursday 11th December 2008 in From the Air By Mike Priestley

The houses and flats of the Lower Grange estate were steadily being created in the open space to the south of Allerton, making a marked contrast with the terrace cottages and mills of the old village, in this aerial picture taken by C H Wood in 1967.

With its neat roads and houses, the estate looks more like an architects’ model than the real thing – an impression reinforced by the relative absence of vehicles.

Was it really so easy to drive about 41 years ago?

Allerton Road cuts across the middle of the photograph, past the mills, churches and shops, many of which still remain.

The new shopping centre, including the Jack And Gill pub, was still to be built just off the right of the picture.

Cranford Drive doglegs across the bottom third of the picture. Then, as now, the backs of the houses overlooked green countryside with the land falling away to the Chellow Dean reservoirs (just out of the picture), with West Bradford Golf Course beyond.

Picture used by permission of Bradford Museums, Galleries and Heritage.