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Ever
fancied having a whole town or city named after you? Well, that's
exactly what happened to Victorian philanthropist and millowner
Sir Titus Salt (1803-1876) in the mid-1800s right here in Bradford.
But,
he DID have to build the place first..!
His
thinking was sound: After all, if you're wanting your workers to
turn up at the factory on time without fail every day, the best
way to achieve this must surely be to build their homes outside
the mill's front door!
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Sir
Titus Salt's statue in Roberts Park
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So,
with that thought in mind by the early 1870s Sir Titus had a workforce
literally living on his doorstep.
And,
as a side-effect the fact that he had built the Victorian era's
best-known 'model village' also meant that his reputation as a benefactor
and an all-round nice chap must certainly have been enhanced.
Nearly
a century and a half after the famous terraced streets were completed,
Saltaire is still very much in existence and the houses are as sought-after
now as they must ever have been.
And,
in what must be a final symbol of just how special Saltaire is,
it has now been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status which puts
it in the same league as the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon, the Pyramids
and many other global landmarks!
Clearly,
whatever Sir Titus' motives were - financial, philanthropic or both
- his memory lives on even into the 21st century!
Ìý
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