Cup-and-ring stones on Baildon Moor have shown evidence of
Bronze Age inhabitation. Baildon Moor has a number of
gritstone outcrops with numerous prehistoric
cup and ring marks. A denuded and mutilated bank represents the remains of an
Iron Age settlement known as Soldier's Trench, sometimes mistaken for a Bronze Age
stone circle. A Bronze Age cup-marked rock is incorporated in the bank. The name Baildon derives from the
Old English bēgeldūn meaning 'bend hill' or 'circle hill'. Baildon is recorded as
Beldone and
Beldune in the
Domesday Book. In 1066 it belonged to a Gospatric, son of Arnketil, and had passed to Erneis of Buron by 1086. Baildon had two
manor houses: one on Hall Cliffe, the other in lower Baildon. During the
Industrial Revolution, Baildon developed a woollen industry; Westgate House was built in 1814 by the Ambler family who were prominent in the wool trade and the warehouse part of the building was Feathers Bakery now Nine Café adjacent to the mill which is now the Westgate Bar. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, conditions in Bradford deteriorated and poverty and ill health became widespread; Baildon began developing as a
commuter town along with neighbouring Shipley. In the 1960s, the Hall Cliffe manor house was demolished and replaced with the Ian Clough Hall, named after a
local mountaineer. In the latter years of the 20th century, the West Riding suffered from economic decline through the gradual closure of its textile and engineering industries. Bradford was particularly affected by this; however, Leeds grew as a major administrative and financial centre and Baildon with its railway links to Leeds has become a strategic commuter town.
Gypsy parties Baildon was an important location for the British
Gypsy community. A report of 1929 stated that annual Gypsy Parties had started two to three hundred years before – records were said to go back to 1770 when it was reported to be an ancient custom. In 1881, up to 5,000 people are said to have paid for admission. Gradually the event was taken over by local residents, who dressed up as Gypsies and formed 'tribes'. Proceeds went to the local horticultural society. After 1897 the tradition died out, apparently because the 'real Gypsies' had disappeared. However, in 1929 it was revived to raise funds for Baildon Hospital. A local resident, John Keen, then contacted the so-called
King of the Gypsies,
Xavier Petulengro, and they re-established large Gypsy gatherings at Baildon, recorded on
Pathe News films and shown nationally in cinemas. The Gypsy Parties ended with the start of the
Second World War, and were never revived. In earlier years the fairground attractions at Shipley Glen were much more extensive. The fairground closed and is now dismantled and newly built (2015/6) private housing now covers the site. The only working remnant of the Pleasure Grounds is the
Shipley Glen Cable Tramway, a
funicular railway carrying passengers from just north of
Roberts Park, Saltaire up the hill side through Walker Wood to the location of the Pleasure Grounds at the top of Prod Lane. == Geography ==