Plaque 1 sponsored by Bradford LiveBradford Beck, our beck, runs unseen beneath the very heart of Bradford. Some cities have managed to bring their hidden streams back
into the daylight. Unfortunately in central Bradford, the Beck runs mostly under buildings so “daylighting” the beck is not an easy option. However, if we can’t see the Beck, a good start is to know where it is.

We have marked the Beck’s route through the city centre with 15 plaques in the pavement.  Each plaque carries a couplet from a poem about the Beck.  The first plaque is at the side of the old Odeon cinema, soon to be “Bradford Live” and as you walk the route, you follow the flowing Beck across the city centre. The map shows where you can find the plaques in Bradford’s pavements.

There are several ways to take the tour:

You can go to the Beck Poem below, where each couplet in the poem will take you to its plaque.

If you prefer to walk with paper in your hand, scroll down and print off a walk guide.

Fouled by industry detritus
Sky just a dream

Under our city lies
A misused, abused stream

Awaiting a rebirth
Whispering in the dark

Water sighs, eddies, races
Unseen, unremarked

So small a waterway
For Bradford dale drained

Beck fed the canal basin
Its miasma ill-famed

Skip across the broad ford
Bradford is named

Jane Callaghan
FOBB © 2015

Download printable guide to the Plaques Walk

Printable Guide to the Plaques Walk: very detailed version

15 voices read ‘Beck’

 

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