[1] Historically in Lancashire, after the closure of its heavy industries Bradford was for many years an economically deprived area but has undergone regeneration with the building of the City of Manchester Stadium which hosted the 2002 Commonwealth Games and is now home to Manchester City F.C.

Wolves and eagles once inhabited the woodlands and honey production was part of the local economy.

From Tudor times (1485–1603), sufficient coal was mined to supply most of the needs of Manchester and with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, Bradford Colliery provided fuel to power steam engines in the new cotton mills that were springing up in the district.

When deeper pit shafts were sunk, seams of fireclay were discovered and consequently a brickworks was built on the north side of the colliery site to manufacture firebricks for use in lining furnaces.

Coal from the mine was fed to the nearby Stuart Street Power Station via an underground conveyor system.

In 1869, a gasometer was built at the new Bradford Gasworks and this, along with the adjacent colliery, ironworks and cotton mills, was a dominant feature of the landscape.

From 13 April 1850 the village was a member of the Prestwich Union, constituted by order of the Poor Law Board in 1850.

the underlying rocks are the sandstones and shales of the Middle Coal Measures of the Manchester Coalfield.