Bradford, or Bradford-on-Avon, a town and a parish in Wilts. The town stands on the river Avon, on the Kennet and Avon Canal, and on the G.W.R., 97 miles from. London, and 3 1/2 NW by N of Trowbridge. It was known to the Saxons as Bradenford, and it is now usually called Bradford-on-Avon. A battle was fought at it in 652 between Benwalf and Cuthred, and St Dunstan in 954 was elected here to the See of Worcester. Its site is partly hollow, partly slopes and acclivities, encompassed by hills. The older portion is on the N side of the river, and rises in a series of ten-aces to a crowning point with an extensive view. Two bridges span the river—the upper one a very ancient structure with nine arches; the lower, a more modern structure with four. An ancient square edifice with a pyramidal roof, supposed variously to have been a chapel, an almonry, and an ecclesiastical toll-house, and now used as a storage for gunpowder for volunteers, stands on one of the piers of the upper bridge. Water-works, the property of the Town Improvement Commissioners, were erected in 1883 at a cost of, £12,000. The parish church is Norman and Early English; consists of nave, north aisle, chancel, and chapel, with western tower and small spire; and contains many curious tombs and a fine altar-piece. Christ Church was built in 1840, is in the Perpendicular style, and has a tower and lofty spire. There are Congregational, Baptist, Wesleyan Methodist, Primitive Methodist, and Lady Huntingdon's Connexion chapels; a free school with £53 a year; another school, in a very handsome edifice of 1850 ; and two almshouses and other charities, with jointly £168 a year. The town has a head post, money order, and telegraph office, of the name of Bradford-on-Avon, and a railway station. There is a handsome town-hall and market-house in the centre of the town. The market day is Saturday, and there is likewise a fair on Trinity Monday. An important woollen manufacture is still successfully carried on. The town never was incorporated but it sent members to Parliament in the time of Edward I. and it thence is called a borough. Acreage of the urban sanitary district, 1962 ; population, 4943. The parish includes also the chapclries of Holt and Limpley-Stoke, and the tithings of Trowie, Winsley, South Wraxall, and Leigh and Woolley, and it is sometimes called Bradford-on-Avon and Great Bradford. Acreage of the civil parish, 1750; population, 7687; of the ecclesiastical parish of Christchurch, 1766, and Holy Trinity, 3522. Much of the surface consists of fine chalk hills. the living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £228 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury. Christ Church is a separate benefice, a vicarage of the net value of £300 with residence, in the patronage of the Vicar of Bradford. The perpetual curacies of Holt, Atworth with South Wraxall, and Winsley with Limpley-Stoke also are separate benefices. There are many good residences in and about Bradford, also some large and ancient mansions, one being Kingston House, the residence of the notorious Duchess of Kingston. There are also the remains of many ancient edifices, such as the Saxon Chapel, Priory, Chantry House, and Tory Hermitage. Of these, the most interesting are the Saxon Chapel and Hermitage, both being well preserved and kept in good condition. The Saxon Chapel has been completely restored.
