Bradford City Hall #1

Bradford City Hall is 150 years old this year and was opened for a heritage tour, so I went to visit. Although I used to work for the City Council many moons ago and often had to go to offices in the building itself, I'd never really seen the grand civic spaces before. It was interesting to explore. 

Lockwood and Mawson, the architects who also designed Saltaire, won a competition to design it and took inspiration from the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Opened in 1873, it was extended in 1909 to accommodate a new Council Chamber and Banqueting Hall, and the Grand Staircase (below) was added in 1914.

Light floods down the staircase from a magnificent glass dome, which has white roses, for Yorkshire, on the plasterwork frets:

The entrance area holds many treasures and commemorative items. There is a rather wonderful model of City Hall, made in 1980: 

There are boards commemorating Bradford citizens who have received military and civilian honours for acts of bravery, and a bell commemorating those who lost their lives or were injured in the Bradford City football ground fire in 1985. 

There are books signed by Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III when they visited the city:

There are cases full of ornate civic silverware and items like the ceremonial mace, also 150 years old, that represents the authority of the council. 

The Bradford Horn (below) is associated with the legend of the Bradford Boar. It's said that in medieval times a wild boar terrorised the people of the town. The Lord of the Manor, John of Gaunt, offered a reward to anyone who could kill the boar and provide proof. A local man, John Northrop, lay in wait, killed the boar and cut out its tongue as evidence. A rival hunter came across the carcass and cut off its head, arriving at the Manor House first and claiming to have killed the boar. However, he could not explain its missing tongue and when Northrop arrived with it, he was able to confirm his claim to the reward. There are many references to the Bradford Boar in coats of arms, stained glass and carvings throughout the city. The horn was blown by John Northrop's descendants every St Martin's Day (11 November) to mark their ancestor's feat.