Victoria's views

Usually when I'm inside the Victoria Hall, my attention is focused on what is going on in the rooms, and I rarely have the chance simply to look through the windows. When you do look, wow! The Hall is centrally placed as the focal point in the village, a little up the hill from Salts Mill itself. Opposite is what was originally the Factory Schools, still used educationally by Shipley College. The view stretches well beyond Saltaire, up to the moors, and demonstrates why Sir Titus Salt chose this healthy, green space to build his new mill and workers' village, away from the poverty and filth of the city. 

Looking north, you can see across the rooftops the vast south frontage of Salt's Mill, opened in 1853. At the time it was the biggest and most advanced factory in the world, employing almost 4000 people to produce 27kms of woollen cloth every day. It contained the world's largest room, equivalent to 6.5 full-sized football pitches and had (has) a rainwater reservoir in the basement with a capacity of 2,273,045 litres. (I didn't know that before!) 

Looking northwest, one is struck by the distinctive architecture of the houses immediately outside, on the corner of Lockwood Street and Victoria Road, as well noticing the dome of the church tower in the distance.