City Guides
Halifax
History
Halifax receives no mention in the Domesday Book, but a parish church has stood on the site of the town since at least the twelfth-century. The town became involved in woollen manufacture in the fifteenth-century, when there were less than twenty households in the town. A hundred years later, the industry was thriving and households had increased to more than five hundred. By the eighteenth-century, local industry had branched out into the manufacture of various other types of textile materials, such as cotton.
The Piece Hall was built in the town centre towards the end of the eighteenth-century, and comprised three hundred retail units and a large courtyard for the trading of textiles on Sundays. The town hall was built a hundred years later, by the same architect as that of the Houses of Parliament, and Halifax was incorporated into the county borough. In 1974, the town became part of the Metropolitan Borough of West Yorkshire.
Halifax is home to a number of important historical buildings and monuments; not least, the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist that stands in the town centre. Believed to have been built originally in around 1120, the church has been altered, with parts rebuilt a number of times since, but it stands today more-or-less as it would have in the fifteenth-century. The church boasts a fifteenth-century font cover, Jacobean altar rails and a parish register with entries dating back to the sixteenth-century. The church’s historical library is now held by the university, but is still accessible to the public for historical study.
Eureka! museum is located next to the town train station, and is a science and technology museum for children, offering more than four hundred interactive exhibitions and displays. The museum explores subjects such as human biology, scientific development, ecology and gardening and work; there are also special exhibits and displays for the under-5’s. Ticket prices range from £2.75 to £7.25, and the museum is open seven days a week from 10am until 5pm. Contact the museum on 01422 330 069.
Bankfield Museum and Art Gallery is located in a Victorian mill owner’s home in Akroyd Park, and specialises in textiles and contemporary craft works. The venue is separated into ten smaller galleries, each displaying different sets of exhibits documenting the local and international history of the textiles and crafts industries. The galleries include ‘World of Textiles’, ‘Toy Gallery’ and ‘Costume Gallery’. Call 01422 352 334 for more information.
The Piece Hall was built in the town centre towards the end of the eighteenth-century, and comprised three hundred retail units and a large courtyard for the trading of textiles on Sundays. The town hall was built a hundred years later, by the same architect as that of the Houses of Parliament, and Halifax was incorporated into the county borough. In 1974, the town became part of the Metropolitan Borough of West Yorkshire.
Halifax is home to a number of important historical buildings and monuments; not least, the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist that stands in the town centre. Believed to have been built originally in around 1120, the church has been altered, with parts rebuilt a number of times since, but it stands today more-or-less as it would have in the fifteenth-century. The church boasts a fifteenth-century font cover, Jacobean altar rails and a parish register with entries dating back to the sixteenth-century. The church’s historical library is now held by the university, but is still accessible to the public for historical study.
Eureka! museum is located next to the town train station, and is a science and technology museum for children, offering more than four hundred interactive exhibitions and displays. The museum explores subjects such as human biology, scientific development, ecology and gardening and work; there are also special exhibits and displays for the under-5’s. Ticket prices range from £2.75 to £7.25, and the museum is open seven days a week from 10am until 5pm. Contact the museum on 01422 330 069.
Bankfield Museum and Art Gallery is located in a Victorian mill owner’s home in Akroyd Park, and specialises in textiles and contemporary craft works. The venue is separated into ten smaller galleries, each displaying different sets of exhibits documenting the local and international history of the textiles and crafts industries. The galleries include ‘World of Textiles’, ‘Toy Gallery’ and ‘Costume Gallery’. Call 01422 352 334 for more information.
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