[4] Baildon Moor has a number of gritstone outcrops with numerous prehistoric cup and ring marks.

[8] During the 19th and early 20th centuries, conditions in Bradford deteriorated and poverty and ill health became widespread; Baildon began developing as a commuter town along with neighbouring Shipley.

In the latter years of the 20th century, the West Riding suffered from economic decline through the gradual closure of its textile and engineering industries.

[9] In northern Shipley off Prod Lane there was a small fairground with dodgem cars, booths and a historic "Aerial Glide" suspended roller coaster that for a short period had listed building status.

[14] The only working remnant of the Pleasure Grounds is the Shipley Glen Cable Tramway, a funicular railway carrying passengers from just north of Roberts Park, Saltaire up the hill side through Walker Wood to the location of the Pleasure Grounds at the top of Prod Lane.

The civil parish does not cover nearby Esholt, part of the Baildon Ward at District level, but includes the area North of the River Aire along Coach Road and Higher Coach Road (Baildon South West) which is within the Shipley Ward at District level.

[16] Baildon ward is represented on Bradford Council by three Conservative councillors, Valerie Townend, Mike Pollard and Debbie Davies.

Baildon has a modest town centre with most everyday amenities including independent traders, estate agents and family law solicitors.

Notable companies established in Charlestown include Manor Coating Systems[19] and Denso Marston Radiators.

[20] Further north east in Charlestown there are plans for a 'Baildon Business Park' and hotel on a green field site near Buck Lane, at a cost of £25 million but there is opposition to the move.

One of the main monuments in Baildon is the Frances Ferrand memorial fountain, known locally as the 'potted meat stick'.

In the 1960s the monument was removed and dismantled; however, in 1986 the Mechanics Institute raised funds to take it out of storage and restore it.

The railway takes passengers between the valley floor near Titus Salt School to the bottom of Prod Lane, a short walking distance from Shipley Glen.

Rotten timbers were replaced and underground heat pump system installed to make the building more eco-friendly.

The Church of St. John the Evangelist designed by Mallinson & Healey, was built in 1848 though the south tower was not added until 1928.

[30] The village is served by Baildon railway station on the electrified Wharfedale Line with connections to Bradford Forster Square and Ilkley.

[41] After he was killed on an expedition to the Himalayan mountain Annapurna in 1970, Ian Clough Hall, a meeting-place and arts venue, was established in Baildon in his memory.

In the 1960s, Clough and close friend Chris Bonington were known to have practised their climbing techniques on Baildon Bank – a 1,000-foot-long (300 m), 50-foot-high (15 m), ex-quarry rock-face that looks out towards Bradford.

In 1962, Clough and Bonington were the first Britons to successfully scale the treacherous north face of the Eiger in the Swiss Alps.

Ex-Yorkshire & England cricket captain Brian Close, born in nearby Rawdon, settled in the village, and died there in 2015 after a long battle with cancer.

[43][44] The explorer James Theodore Bent (1852–1897) spent his boyhood at Baildon House on Station Road.

Geoffrey Brindley, known locally as the Jesus Man of Bradford lived in Baildon until his death in 2015 and there were plans to erect a statue of him in the town.