Wilsden Park

One of the leading figures among the growing number of entrepreneurs to arise in Wilsden in the early days of its phenomenal 19^th century growth was George Hanson who joined George Tweedy’s spinning company at Albion Mill as book-keeper in 1810. 

Hanson also prospered by building cottages to house the numbers of people moving into the area to find work. While workers’ cottages were generally built as terraces, two of his houses, built in a field called Royd Butts, were semi-detached and housed two widows of local manufacturers, Elizabeth Bentley whose husband had been a partner in Birkshead Mill, and Isabella Anderson, widow of John Anderson of Spring Mill. These ladies were living there in 1837 when the houses were valued for rating purposes. 

Later, Samuel Ambler of Prospect Mill converted the two houses into one and named it Royd House. In 1919 the house and its garden were given by Mr Fred Ambler and Mr George Saville Ambler, in memory of their parents Mr & Mrs Samuel Ambler who had lived there for many years, for the use and benefit of the inhabitants of Wilsden.

The garden, featuring an attractive circular flower bed, formed the nucleus of Wilsden Park. Churches, chapels and other local organisations were happy to use it for rose days and garden parties. The house served the community in a variety of ways, providing rooms for meetings, a library and reading room and a baby clinic. For a while it provided a base for local Meals on Wheels deliveries.

There are still Wilsden mums who will remember taking their babies to be weighed and getting their orange juice and rosehip syrup at Royd House but there is unlikely to be anyone who remembers how welcome it was when four baths for public use were installed in a building behind the house at a time when few houses could boast a plumbed bathroom – even the soap was provided.  

Until the mid 1960s, the house and park were almost Wilsden’s hidden assets, as the whole of the area between 134 Main Street and Krave at 126 was occupied by two streets of cottages, Spring Terrace and King Street, covering what is now a broad path into the park between lawns and flowerbeds and the whole of the car park.

Under Bradford Council’s care, the park was maintained but the house fell into some disrepair and became unfit for public use. At a time before Wilsden had its own Parish Council, it fell to Wilsden Village Society to enter into discussions about the future of the house and to ensure that proceeds from its sale continued to be available in the terms of the Amblers’ original gift for the use and benefit of the inhabitants of Wilsden. 

To this end the Royd House Trust was registered in 1997. Information regarding applications for grants from the trust can be found here – Grants for Community Groups >