Shipley, West Yorkshire

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Shipley

Coordinates: 53.8337° N 1.7773° W
Population	28,487
OS grid reference	SE146375
Metropolitan borough	City of Bradford
Metropolitan county	West Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SHIPLEY
Postcode district	BD
Dial code	01274
Police	West Yorkshire
Fire	West Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
UK Parliament	Shipley
European Parliament	Yorkshire and the Humber
List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire

Shipley is a town in West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, north of Bradford and north-west of Leeds.

It is within the City and Metropolitan Borough of Bradford but is generally considered to be outside Bradford itself (it was outside the pre-1974 Bradford county borough boundaries, forming an urban district in its own right), although the town forms a continuous urban area with Bradford.

Shipley railway station serves the town.

To the North of Shipley, across the River Aire, is a wooded ridge called Shipley Glen (the word "glen" referring to the little valley beneath the ridge). This has long been a popular beauty spot, and in 1895 the Shipley Glen Tramway was built to carry visitors up to the top. The tramway has weathered periods of neglect and even closure, but at present (2005) it runs most weekends, staffed by volunteers.

Shipley also has a World Heritage Site in the village of Saltaire that was designed and built to house the industrialist Sir Titus Salt's workforce. Salt built his mill beside the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and was involved in the manufacture of alpaca and woollen cloth. Salts Mill is no longer used for textile production, but now contains the 1853 Gallery, dedicated to the work of David Hockney, along with a variety of shops, restaurants and local businesses, including Pace Micro Technology.

[edit] Famous Residents

Academy Award-winning film director, Tony Richardson was born in Shipley. He made such iconic British films of the 1950s & 1960s as Look Back In Anger (1958), Tom Jones (1963) and The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968). He was married to actress Vanessa Redgrave, with whom he had two daughters - actresses Natasha Richardson & Joely Richardson.

England spin bowler Jim Laker is from Shipley. He still holds the world record for the amount of wickets taken by one player in a single match of first-class cricket - 19 out of a possible 20, which he achieved at Old Trafford in an Ashes game against Australia in 1956.

TV actor Steven Hartley comes from Shipley. He has appeared in EastEnders, Holby City, The Bill (as Supt. Tom Chandler), and Doctors.

Sheila Ravenscroft, wife of the late John Peel, was born in Shipley.

Steve Huison, who has appeared in Casualty, The Royle Family(2006) and the well known British film The Full Monty, amongst other things, lives in Shipley.