The heavy rain added to years of wear and tear by the tyres of buses and cars last week exposed old stone cobbles beneath the tarmac in Bridge Street outside Bradford Interchange.

They were a reminder that this is one of Bradford's oldest roads which used to be part of the highway which ran east to west between Wakefield and Pontefract into Lancashire. Until 1804 it was known as Godmanend. In that year its name was changed to Bridge Street by the Town Commissioners, who ran local government in Bradford before the Corporation was formed.

In Godmanend until 1695 stood the vicarage house for St Peter's Church (later Bradford Cathedral). It was linked to the church by a track which was then known as Dead Lane but later became Vicar Lane. There was at that time no Leeds Road for it to cross. That was built at the beginning of the 19th century when the turnpike-road network was being created. The vicarage ceased to be used when a replacement was bought in Church Bank.

At the top of Vicar Lane was a route known as Boggard, or Eastbrook Lane, crossing the East Brook at the bottom of what later became Adolphus Street.

The nature and use of land flanking Bridge Street has changed dramatically over the years. Within the living memory of older Bradfordians, pre-Interchange, there was Exchange Station on one side of the street and, on the other, the British Railways goods yard which by the 1960s had largely been demolished and turned into a car park of sorts.

A century and a half earlier, though, that goods-yard land was occupied by a spinning company run by one John Wood. The business later developed into cloth manufacturing and finishing using water drawn from Bowling Beck. The firm grew steadily, changing its name to Wood and Walker and later to Walkers and Co, eventually employing about 3,000 people.

When the goods yard was built, in a large-scale redevelopment, several streets disappeared and the character of the area was changed.

The Zion Baptist Chapel was built nearby in 1824 following a meeting held two years earlier at which the vicars of Bradford, Calverley and Christ Church plus representatives of other denominations discussed their alarm at the appearance in town of a Roman Catholic priest, the Reverend Father Ryan, who had taken a room in Commercial Street for worship.

It was agreed that the churches weren't providing enough places of worship for the rapidly-growing population. The upshot was the building of Zion Chapel in Bridge Street.

So there you are. It's amazing what can be unearthed through a spot of research inspired by the sight of a few old cobbled in a pothole in a modern road!