Nabbed in Nab Wood

Saltaire's housing was built between 1854 and 1868, mainly for workers at the mill.  It was a time of huge expansion in industry and population and, just as Sir Titus chose to move his workforce from the slums of Bradford, so the middle classes also desired to move to more spacious properties outside the city. There were some fine, grand Edwardian houses built in the Moorhead and Nab Wood areas, across the turnpike road from Saltaire. The area was then steadily infilled in the 1920s/30s and onwards. It's now a pleasant residential suburb, still retaining some of the large detached properties, though some have been converted to flats and residential care homes, and some of the land has been been sold off for smaller houses in and amongst, with a few low-rise apartment blocks too. 

I spent a happy time exploring the 1911 census records for Nab Lane and Staveley Road, their large houses then newly built and occupied by the likes of engineers, chemists, merchants, works managers, a surgeon, a dentist, a bank manager, a master dyer, a solicitor and those 'of private means'. Most of them list domestic servants: housekeepers, cooks, housemaids and several of them record visitors staying - relatives from Canada, a musician from Australia, a jeweller. Fascinating glimpses into a bygone time. 

It's not the best area for taking general 'view' photos - lots of foliage and high walls obscure the houses. I came across some rather grand gates (not the originals, I don’t think), and a delightful Edwardian porch, which I took the liberty of 'nabbing' in photos. 

As I discovered from the 1911 census records, the initials above the door of this semi-detached Edwardian house are those of Isaac Lindow, a clerk aged 54, who lived here with his wife Jane and his son Edwin.