The geological conditions in the valley also allowed some coal mining to take place, but a greater emphasis was upon the noted stone found on the valley floor (Elland Flags and Gaisby Rock), which as a hard sandstone, was found to be good for buildings and in use as a harbour stone due to its natural resistance to water.

[7][note 4][8] Previous to the industrial Revolution, the dale was the name that united the various communities that were situated within it, and also of some on the outer edges.

Backfilling of water also created lakes further up in Bradford Dale; one at Fairweather Green was estimated by Kendall to be at least 525 feet (160 m) deep.

Kendall claims that this was a natural cutting carved by water spilling over to the south east from the glacial lakes across the area.

In the same century, further outbreaks of various plagues in 1362 and 1369 and the marauding of the valley by Scots raiders, caused mass migration from the dale, which until that point had seen immigration.

[24] In 1642, during the English Civil War, wool bales were hung from the church to protect it from cannon fire and the parish was besieged a year later.

[25] The civil wars in the 17th century played little part in the development of the dale, but Bradford suffered afterwards in what was seen as punishment by the monarchy for supporting the Parliamentarian cause.

[26] Some actually stated that a period of 50 years of "impeded trade" elapsed which had allowed nearby Leeds to prosper at the expense of Bradford.

[28] By the end of the 18th century, the population of Bradford town numbered less than 3,000 inhabitants and the focus in the area was on agriculture with traditional wool working.

[29] At the turn of the 19th century, a map shows Bradford to still be a small market town with all of its becks and streams in the open air.

[31] In the second half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th, the lower reaches of the dale, especially its eastern edge and central section were worked intensively.

[32] The rise of the woollen trade, especially in the many new mills in the dale, had increased the population to over 100,000 by 1861, making Bradford the ninth largest town in England.

[34][35] The Borough of Bradford was created in 1847, adopting the motto of Labor Omnia Vincit (Latin: Work Conquers All)[36] (known locally as Where there's muck, there's money).

[7] The City of Bradford developed over some time and sits in a natural bowl[37] with hills to the west, south and east that rise to 1,200 feet (370 m) above sea level.

[53] As far back as 1790, various individuals with money and certain enterprises had joined together to establish a company which could bring fresh water into the town of Bradford from outside its immediate environs.

A spring was dammed and had a pipeline installed at Wibsey, which in turn fed a reservoir along Westgate which was capable of holding 15,000 imperial gallons (68,000 L; 18,000 US gal).

[61][62] The difference in elevation between Forster Square and Interchange stations (70 feet (21 m)) has proved to be the biggest stumbling block and several Bradford Crossrail schemes have been mooted since the railways first arrived in the dale.

[65] The hard millstone grit which is renowned across the north becomes more widespread further up the Aire Valley,[66] but certain areas within Bradford Dale were good locations for sandstone flags, such as the quarries at Bolton Woods.

[68] Elland Flags sandstone quarried at Bolton Woods has been used in the construction of the town halls in Bradford, Leeds and Manchester.

[65] The dale is known to be at the northern edge of the Yorkshire Coalfield, which yielded coal, fireclay, ironstone, sandstone and brick clay, most of which were quarried or mined in the Bradford area and contributed to its enormous growth in the 18th and 19th centuries.

[86] Egypt was also the location of four fireclay quarries, which between them produced so much spoil and overburden, that huge retaining structures lining one of the roads in the hamlet were built to secure the waste product.

[89] An influx of Flemish weavers into England during the reign of Edward III had a positive effect on the woollen and worsted trade in the dale.

[97] In the early part of the 19th century, Bierley, Bowling and Low Moor Ironworks were valuable sources of cannon shot for the British military who were engaged in the Napoleonic wars.