the town was originally a fording point over the once much-wider river calder where it joins the river ryburn. the town takes its name from the historic bridge which spans the river in the town centre. before the industrial revolution the area was divided between the parishes of sowerby, norland, skircoat and warley. the boundaries between them being the rivers calder and ryburn and warley clough, which is now largely culverted. textiles and engineering industry grew up around the bridge. by the mid-19th century the population had grown and the settlement became an urban district in the west riding of yorkshire in 1894.