Bradford Industrial
Museum
Ground floor Galleries
First floor Galleries
Outdoors
Stables
Bradford was once the proud owner of two Clydesdales named Murdoch and Darcy who regularly pulled visitors around the museum in a wagon and could often be seen in the summer pulling a tank to water haning baskets in the city centre. .They were kept in the stables at the museum but after budget cuts they were found a new home at the Hillside Shire Horse Sanctuary in West Runton
The building now displays restored horse drawn vehicles.
Originally this building was a 1918 motor car garage before being turned into stables to keep dray horses.
The Adaptable Rotary Horse Broom
This vehicle was built by The Ames Crosta Sanitary Engineering Company of Nottingham for Bradford Corporation Street Cleansing Department. The fully restored and functioning machine has a large roller brush at the back which was pulled along the road by a heavy horse.
Until the "Adaptable" broom came along, standard brooms were made in one straight and rigid length. This meant the brushes could not clean out the dips and hollows of badly kept streets. This caused problems when roads were being treated with tar as it failed to stick where the brushes had missed. To get around this the "Adaptable" Broom was divided into sections ; each section working loosely on the axle independent, of the others. The sections oscillate and rise and fall according to the varying curvature of the road surface, effectually cleansing every portion of the street or road
Henry Bessemer the famous founder of the St. Pancras Iron Works was a prolific inventor and held at least 129 patents, spanning from 1838 to 1883, played a significant role in establishing the town of Sheffield as a major industrial centre . They were manufacturers of stable fittings, Harness room fittings, Cowhouse & Piggery fittings as well as railings, Iron Gates etc.
Garden Seat Omnibus
When George Shillibeer introduced a public Omnibus on to the Streets of London in the late 1820's it was the first time that members of the public could be moved in large numbers around areas of the city. Over time many differing designs were produced by a number of bus operators but eventually these designs gave way to the 'Garden Seat Bus'. Many of the features are still present in the public buses on the streets of London today; forward facing top seats and the curved rear staircase.
Brougham Carriage
A brougham was a light, four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage built in the 19th century. It was named after the politician and jurist Lord Brougham, who had this type of carriage built to his specification by London coach builder Robinson & Cook in 1838 or 1839. He wanted “a refined and glorified street cab, which would make a convenient carriage for a gentleman.
Horse-drawn fire tender
Bradfords primary weapon against a blaze was a horse-drawn fire tender bought from Shand-Mason & Co in Blackfriars on the south of the River Thames in London. The firm was one of the foremost developers of firefighting technology, thanks to the input of engineer William Joshua Tille
Dray Cart
This was built in 1914 by Brooksbank & Birch of Shipley. It would have been pulled by one or two draught horse or dray horse less often called a carthorse, work horse or heavy horse.