(Image: Barkers Estate Agents)
A cottage once home to a Victorian tunnel keeper is now on the market as a modern family home for a neat 250k.
Railway Cottage, now listed as 1 Elizabeth Avenue, is in Wyke, Bradford, and is believed to date from around 1847.
It was built to house the keeper of Wyke Tunnel during Britain’s railway boom.
Estate agents have conducted their own research
Railway Cottage in Wyke
Liz Cole, Area Manager at Barkers Estate Agents said: "Through our research, we understand that the original structure was constructed in or around 1847 by the railways, during the height of Britain’s railway expansion in the Age of Steam.
"At that time, Wyke train tunnel formed part of the essential railway infrastructure serving the area.
"The house was originally built to accommodate the tunnel keeper, whose role was to oversee the safe passage of trains through the tunnel."
The tunnel keeper’s duties would have included monitoring the tunnel’s condition and safety, managing train movements, and responding quickly to any incidents or maintenance needs.
Railway Cottage in Wyke
The earliest recorded land transaction was on May 31, 1847, when Yorkshire landowner Frances Mary Richardson Currer and Mathew Wilson conveyed it to the Manchester & Leeds Railway Company.
The deal placed the property at the heart of the Victorian railway boom.
Railway Cottage in Wyke
From railway boom to suburbia
Over time, the property and surrounding land transitioned from railway use to residential development.
By the mid-20th century, it was part of a growing suburban community.
Ownership records show the land passing to the Seed family and, in 1955, to Joseph and Elizabeth Birstow and Cyril Alice Yates.
Later, the property was owned by Oliver Bentley and subsequently by Phyllis Bentley after his death in 1968, marking a long period of family ownership.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, additional parcels of land were acquired from the City of Bradford and British Railways, helping to shape the property’s current boundaries.
In 1971, the Bentley family sold the home, then known as 1 Back Road, to developer Norman Ernest Littlewood, who later changed its address to 1 Elizabeth Avenue.
The home changed hands several times over the following decades.
Stanislaw and Eileen Matejak owned the home in the mid-1970s before Jeffrey and Susan Cullerton bought it in 1977.
The Cullertons stayed until the mid-1980s, followed by the Kwiatkowskis and then the Sharps, who have owned the property since 1987.
The home was formally registered with the Land Registry during this period.
Railway Cottage in Wyke
'More than just a home'
Mrs Cole said: "Today, 1 Elizabeth Avenue represents more than just a home - it reflects Victorian industrial heritage, linked to early railway expansion.
"Generational family ownership, particularly through the Bentley and Seed families.
"Evolution over time, with the plot shaped through multiple land acquisitions.
"A journey from rural landholding to established residential property."
Railway Cottage in Wyke
What do you get for your 250k?
The property occupies a large, gated corner plot with off-road parking, a detached garage and low-maintenance gardens.
The plot could be developed or extended, subject to planning permission.
The ground floor has a kitchen opening into a bright dining and sitting area, a spacious lounge with a wood-burning stove and access to a basement cellar.
Upstairs are three double bedrooms and a contemporary four-piece bathroom.
The home is within walking distance of shops, schools and transport links, and less than five minutes from Low Moor railway station, with direct services to Leeds, Manchester, London and Huddersfield.
Interested? Call Barkers Estate Agents Ltd on 0113 287 9344.