Bowling, West Riding

Description
Bowling (anciently Bolling) a township within the municipal and parliamentary borough of Bradford, W.R. Yorkshire. It has a station on the Leeds and Halifax railway. There is a post and money order office at Bowling Old Lane (T.S.O.), under Bradford. The Bowling Ironworks are adjacent. Bowling Hall, the ancient seat of the Bollings and Tempests, stands on high ground, commands extensive views, and was the headquarters of the Earl of Newcastle in 1643 on occasion of his victory over Fairfax on Adwalton Moor. The inhabitants are employed in the ironworks, in the cloth trade, in stone quarries, and in coal and iron mines. Bowling contains the ecclesiastical parishes of St Bartholomew, population, 4827; St John, 5278; and St Stephen, 17,050. The livings of St John, St Stephen, and St Bartholomew are vicarages in the diocese of Ripon; net value of St John, £250 with residence; of St Stephen, £310 with residence; and of St Bartholomew, £200 with residence, the latter being in the gift of the Bishop of Ripon. The church of St John is a fair specimen of lancet Gothic style of architecture, comprising nave, transepts, aisles, and chancel, with spire 130 feet in height, which, from its lofty position, forms a landmark over a considerable distance. The chief peculiarity about the structure is that it was the first church in England in which iron was used in combination with stone, the construction being entirely of iron and stone, and it has stood the test of half a century without a flaw. St Stephen's was built in 1861, and is in the Early Decorated style, with tower and spire. St Bartholomew church was built in 1872. A Congregational chapel, in the Romanesque style, was built in 1865, and there are other dissenting chapels.