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Wednesday 12 January 2011

Heritage Trail 10 - Caroline Street


'Turn right onto Caroline Street...'  Caroline Street, named after Sir Titus Salt's wife (1812-1893), is one of the long, wide streets pointing east-west through the village.  The village plan mostly follows a grid pattern, apart from where the main Saltaire Road, which predates the buildings, cuts through diagonally.  The grid pattern was chosen to use the land efficiently but the streets are carefully planned to ensure that each house receives ample daylight.  The whole village really is a masterpiece of design, with a symmetry and repetition that pulls the whole together and yet sufficient variety to avoid it looking uniform and dull.

Right at the far end of the road you can see modern semi-detached houses, part of the Hirst Wood estate, built much later than Saltaire itself.  When Saltaire was founded in the second half of the 19th century, this whole area was open countryside.  Sir Titus Salt deliberately bought up greenfield land to move his mill and his workers out from the city to a healthier environment.  Saltaire formed a recognisable and discrete village and the houses on the edge looked out over open countryside. But of course over the years it has become just part of the urban sprawl along the Aire river valley.

[Photo taken from the junction of George Street with Caroline Street, see the street plan]

10 comments:

  1. How interesting it would be to be able to go back to Victorian times and stroll around Saltaire on an ordinary working day.

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  2. The ranks of houses give a feeling of harmony and security; each house seems solid and wide enough for a family.The idea of preserving dailight is fantatstic for the Sir Titus 's years!

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  3. I know I've said it before, but I cannot resist repetition here - that man was a genius ahead of his time - and we could certainly use several of his ilk to help us out of the woes of the 21st century! Quite remarkable, he was - I'd never even have known he existed, without your blog and all you've shared with the rest of the world! Kudos to you, Jenny!!!

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  4. Quite grand houses, but the old sash windows lok as though they will let quite a lot of those northern drafts through.

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  5. The angle you shot this one from is just perfect to envision how it must have overlooked the wide open countryside. Sir Titus Salt thought of everything wonderful in his day. ~Lili

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  6. Once again I'm impressed. Great b&w series, nice job, Jenny.

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  7. I keep expecting Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage to step out of one of those buildings. Nice perspective.

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  8. He sure was ahead of his contemporaries. Oops I'm getting left behind just as well I have a map to help me catch up.

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  9. just spent 4 hours in saltaire what a wonderful,interesting site .we did a 3 mile walk along the canal ,had a good look in the mill,fantastic selection of books in there could have bought a lot finances pemitting .then went on to look in the church and mausoleum. finished of with a super meal in titus salts bakery .parking is very reasonable and easy to find .hats off to sir titus for his vision and concern for his workforce

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