Saltaire Collection

Items

• Fairbairn, William

  William was a leading British engineer and was contracted by Titus Salt to design the interior of Salts Mill. William's significant engineering skills enabled the mill to operate smoothly and perform all the functions that took raw materials through the series of processes required to make high quality cloth. William was responsible for the Mill's iron structure, the lay-out of the machinery, the design and manufacture of the boilers, steam engines and line-shafting. He also designed a tubular-girder bridge over the river Aire that runs through the village. Fairbairn published his plans for the mill in a book that ran to four editions and was translated into French and Spanish. He was justly proud of Salts Mill, his largest work of mill construction.
• F1a-007a-b: Death of William Fairbairn

  2 photocopies of newspaper article on the death of William Fairbairn, the leading nineteenth century who helped design Salts Mill.
• 2024.36: Descriptive Index Catalogue of the Library of the Saltaire Club and Institute

  A full catalogue of the contents of the Library of the Saltaire Club and Institute. Has brief details in the front of the volume of the operation of the LIbrary. Most of the 1665 pages consist of an alphabetical listing of the items held in the Library.
• 2020.21: Sir William Fairbairn

  A portrait drawing of Sir William Fairbairn, the leading Victorian engineer, published in the Supplement to the Illustrated London News 29 August 1974 following his death.Farirbairn helped to design Salts Mill
• B1-220a-m: On the Construction of Fire-proof Warehouses

  Extract from 'On the Construction of Fire-proof Warehouses' by William Fairbairn. Fairbairn was the chief engineer employed by Titus Salt when designing Salts Mill.
• B1-425: On the Application of Cast & Wrought Iron to Building Purposes

  Copy of 'On the Application of Cast & Wrought Iron to Building Purposes' by William Fairbairn (US edition). Fairbairn was a leading Victorian engineer who helped to design Salts Mill.
• B1-459: On the Application of Cast Iron to Building Purposes

  The Saltaire section of: 'On the Application of Cast Iron to Building Purposes' by the leadign Victorian mill engineer William Fairbairn. Fairbairn helped to design Salts MIll.
• 2026.3: Saltaire: the making of a model town A critical appraisal of the analysis of the 16 building contracts

  A 20 page document with text and images of newspaper cuttings. This document critically analyzes the historical building contracts and tender processes involved in the development of Saltaire village, as detailed in Jackson, Lintonbon and Staples' book 'Saltaire: the making of a model town'. A particular issue addressed is that the term 'building contract' is used, both historically and by the book authors, to refer to a range of items, including invitations to tender as well as actual contracts. Another problem considered is that often contracts were advertised for both public buildings and housing but then subsequently separated.
• 2018.68: On the Application of Cast and Wrought Iron to Building Purposes

  An excerpt from the famous book by William Fairbairn discussing the construction of Saltaire mills.
• C3b-272a-b: The Land Acquisitions of Titus Salt in Shipley & Baildon

  2 copies of booklet: 'The Land Acquisitions of Titus Salt in Shipley & Baildon' by Ian Watson
• 2026.1: John Ives timeline and notes

  A 78 page document with notes, newspaper exceprts and some excerpts from plans and maps all relating to the life and activities of John Ives. John Ives was a major builder during the mid to late nineteenth century in Bradford and surrounding areas. He built Bradford's new town hall, and many buildings in Saltaire.
• 2026.2: A history of the New Mill Estate, Saltaire

  A 71 page document with notes, photographs and some excerpts from plans and maps all relating to New Mill. part of the Salts Mill complex. The document covers the history of the site fom the seventeenth century to the early twenty first centiury, including: - Dixon Mill, a corn and fulling mill built in 1635, occupied the site where New Mill was later constructed. - As part of the building of the original Salts Mill, a gas works on teh same site was proposed in 1852, serving both the mill and the village. - The Mill was expanded in 1868 by builkding New Mill, with a notable campanile chimney. - The estate experienced significant events such as a major fire in 1881 and a breach in the weir in 1884, causing mill shutdowns. - By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the estate saw further extensions, infrastructure improvements, and the introduction of electric power. - In the mid-1990s, the estate was repurposed for offices and apartments, with remnants of its industrial past still visible today.
• B1-375a: Salts Mill A Collection of photocopies of items relating to Saltaire from the 'Engineers' magazine 1859-1904

  Fairbairn'€™s girders at Saltaire