Historic England in Bradford 2025: Celebrating Heritage, Empowering Youth

As the UK's youngest city, Bradford represents an exciting opportunity to connect young people with their heritage.

Historic England's work here supports Bradford 2025's aim to celebrate the district's rich history whilst empowering the next generation to shape its future. Through the targeted programmes and investments described below, we are using Bradford 2025 as a catalyst to ensure young people feel the long-term benefits of their heritage for years to come.

• Bradford Heritage Action Zone
• History in the Making
• STRIKE: an outdoor art event
• Heritage Schools activity in Bradford
• New Blue Plaque to Esmé Church

Bradford Heritage Action Zone

The Bradford Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) focuses on the historic heart of the city centre, working to preserve and repurpose important buildings that tell the story of Bradford's remarkable transformation from a small market town to the woollen textile capital of the world.

The HAZ programme, running until 2028, will transform Bradford's historic core through:

• Physical regeneration: restoring and repurposing historic buildings, including magnificent Bradford City Hall, grand Victorian commercial buildings, and one of Bradford's oldest streets, Ivegate
• Cultural programming: celebrating Bradford's diverse history through events and activities that engage local communities
• Community involvement: ensuring local people, particularly young Bradfordians, have a key role in shaping the future of their historic areas

This initiative forms part of a city-wide approach to attract businesses, drive economic growth and encourage regional investment, creating new spaces for living, working and leisure while addressing environmental challenges through heritage-led solutions.

History in the Making

As part of Bradford 2025, Historic England is funding 4 creative youth-led projects through our 'History in the Making' programme. This initiative empowers under-represented young people to discover and celebrate hidden local histories in ways that matter to them.

The 4 Bradford projects, each receiving grants of up to £15,000, are:

• Summat Creative: young people with learning disabilities will explore the overlooked history of people with learning disabilities who worked in Bradford's mills in the 19th and early 20th centuries, creating a mill model filled with their creative responses
• Manningham Heritage Project: young people will explore local Bangladeshi heritage, working with artists and craftspeople to create place markers that incorporate elements of Bangladeshi culture, art, language and traditions
• Shipley Glen Tramway accessible place marker: young people with additional needs will explore the social history of Britain's oldest cable tramway, creating a fully accessible, multi-sensory place marker
• Shared Stories: young people will celebrate musical and cultural histories across Bradford district through interviews, research and creating their own musical and audio responses, shared via QR codes around the local area

Previous History in the Making projects have shown that participants gain confidence, develop new skills, learn about their local area and feel more motivated to engage with their communities.

STRIKE

STRIKE is a spectacular outdoor art event planned for autumn 2025 at the historic Lister Mills in Manningham, funded by Historic England and produced as part of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.

This ambitious project celebrates the radical women who shaped modern Bradford, drawing inspiration from the Manningham Mills Strike of 1890, which led to the foundation of the Independent Labour Party.

Young women and girls from Manningham are co-creating new artworks with professional artists, working with 5 local schools and community groups to create new banners and develop projection and sound artwork inspired by the mill's heritage.

The participants are working with archival material from Bradford Industrial Museum, The Peace Museum and West Yorkshire Archive Service to explore how women used their voices to demand change more than 100 years ago. The project invites today's young women to use their voices on issues that matter to them now.

The celebration will culminate in 3 nights of spectacular projections featuring new artwork at the Grade II* listed historic mill site, bringing the community together to witness this powerful intersection of heritage and contemporary expression.

For more information on STRIKE, visit the Bradford 2025 website.

Heritage Schools activity in Bradford

Through our Heritage Schools programme, Historic England has worked with schools across Bradford for many years to embed local heritage in their curriculum. This initiative helps young people understand their local heritage, develop a sense of place, and feel proud of where they live.

We are supporting our City of Culture partners to help teachers and schools use the historic environment in their teaching, making lessons more engaging while meeting curriculum requirements.

Our work is helping ensure that the benefits of Bradford 2025 reach the city's youngest residents, providing them with the tools to become the heritage champions of tomorrow.

Our work in Bradford, both as part of the City of Culture and through our wider Heritage Schools programme, exemplifies Historic England's commitment to making heritage accessible and relevant to all communities.

New Blue Plaque to Esmé Church

As part of our commitment to recognising diverse heritage stories, Historic England has unveiled a national blue plaque honouring actress and director Esmé Church, who made a significant cultural contribution to Bradford.

In 1944, Church was appointed Artistic Director at Bradford Playhouse, where she presented a diverse range of productions. She established the Bradford Civic Playhouse Theatre School in September 1946, initially using the Playhouse premises for classes serving both adults and children.

Church's vision extended further when in May 1947 she founded a children's theatre, realising a long-held ambition to nurture young theatrical talent in Bradford. Her pioneering work laid foundations for creative education that continue to influence Bradford's cultural landscape today.