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Halifax is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, northern England, with a population of about 90,000. It is well known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward.

The name Halifax is said to be a corruption of the old English words for Holy and Face, part of the local legend that the head of John the Baptist was buried here after his execution. The legend is almost certainly medieval rather than ancient, though the town's coat of arms still carries an image of the saint. Halifax Parish Church, parts of which go back to the 12th century, has always been dedicated to St John the Baptist. The church's first organist, in 1765, was William Herschel, who later discovered the planet Uranus.

Halifax was incorporated as a county borough in 1848 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835.

Since 1974, Halifax has been the centre of the metropolitan district of Calderdale, part of the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire. Halifax has given its name to a bank, Halifax plc which started as a building society in the town. Halifax is a twin town with Aachen in Germany. The A58 has a stretch called Aachen Way, with a plaque on the town-bound side of the road.

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Geography

Halifax is situated at , about 4 miles from the M62 motorway, and is situated in a conurbation close to Huddersfield and Bradford. The town is in a central part of the country. Indeed, the Tees-Exe line passes through the A641 road, which links nearby towns Brighouse with Bradford and Huddersfield, The town lies 65 miles from Liverpool and Kingston upon Hull, and about 200 miles from the "regional capitals" of London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin and Cardiff as the crow flies. The major waterway is the River Calder.

In summer 2005, the mean temperature was slightly below England averages: 15.1°C. The region experienced 44 hours less of sunshine and 16 mm more rain than the whole of England. Summer 2005 national averages. Met Office

Demographics

According to the Calderdale Council Ward Digest (2004), Calderdale has a population of 192,405, of which 82,500 live in Halifax. Nearly 50% of residents are of working age. The main ethnic group in Halifax is Caucasian (87%), followed by Pakistani (10%). Over 90% of people aged 16-74 are employed, mostly full-time. 64% of residents have qualifications.

In the 2001 census, 69.3% stated they were Christian, 16.3% of no religion, and 5% of Muslim background. 12.8% did not disclose their religion. Population density is 530/km².

Housing and land use

While certain areas of Halifax are in relatively poor condition such as Ovenden and Mixenden it is not without its desirable locations, namely Savile Park and Skircoat Green, which have many higher-priced, privately owned residences.

West Central Halifax has older stone terrace houses which have stood the test of time and are still standing, while North Halifax has many ex-council houses built in the 1950s and 1960s of varying standards; in recent years many houses in North Halifax have been demolished due to their uninhabitable conditions. A notable example of this are the Jumples block of flats, which were empty for over fifteen years before finally being condemned and razed to the ground. Abbey Park, an award winning development in the 1960s, was demolished in the late 1990s because the houses were unfit to live in. North and West Central Halifax are also known for their high levels of social deprivation and associated crime rates.

However, it is often misunderstood that north Halifax is a wholly deprived area. It is not without its desirable locations such as Wheatley, Bradshaw and Holmfield.

In addition to the two previously mentioned districts, there are many other areas stretching mostly down the Calder and Hebble valleys, passing over the Calder and Hebble Navigation near Burdock Way. Both areas follow normal trends, with higher class housing nearer the outskirts.

Law enforcement

Halifax was also notorious for the 'Halifax gibbet', an early form of the guillotine used to execute criminals by decapitation. It was last used in 1650. A replica of the gibbet has been erected in Gibbet Street. Law-enforcement in Halifax was notoriously harsh, as remembered in the Beggar's Litany, a prayer whose text was "From Hull, Hell, and Halifax, Good Lord deliver us!".

Education

Halifax is home to two selective, coeducational 11-18 schools, North Halifax Grammar in Illingworth and The Crossley Heath Grammar School on Saville Park. Both schools achieve excellent GCSE and A-level results with both schools usually achieving 100% A* to C grades at GCSE. In 2005, the Crossley Heath Grammar School was the highest ranking co-educational school in the North of England. They are the only two selective schools in West Yorkshire. Education/League Tables - The Crossley Heath School (19 October 2005). BBC News. The Crossley Heath School was formed when Heath Grammar School, an all boys school given its charter by Elizabeth I, and The Crossley and Porter School, a mixed school founded by the Crossley Family which started as an orphanage, were combined in 1985. There are other less successful but above-average schools in the area.

Calderdale College is the local further education college on Francis Street just off King Cross Road, to the west of the city.

Culture

Halifax is also home to a vibrant South Asian community mainly of Pakistani Muslims from the Azad Kashmir region. Most of the community lives in the West Central Halifax region of the town, which was previously home to immigrant Irish communities which have since moved to outer suburbs. Some also live nearer to Bradford, another settlement with a rather high Asian porportion.

North Halifax is noted for its local support of the far-right British National Party; the suburb of Mixenden became the first area in West Yorkshire to popularly vote in a BNP councillor, with Illingworth soon to follow. It is also home to the prestigious North Halifax Grammar School, one of the last of two remaining selective schools in Calderdale District. North Halifax, in constrast with West Central Halifax's ethnic diversity, houses mainly white Protestant residents.

Dean Clough a refurbished worsted spinning mill is the home of Barrie Rutter's Northern Broadsides theatre company and the IOU theatre company as well as providing space for eight art galleries.

Halifax town centre has a busy night life with lots of clubs and bars such as The Acapulco (commonly referred to as the "Acca"), The Colliseum ("The Colly"), Edisons, Bar 11, Barracuda and the Tramshed Zoo Bar that was raided at the end of 2005 causing it to be shut down.

Halifax is also home to the oldest continually running amateur Choral Society in the country and possibly the world. The Halifax Choral Society was founded in 1817 and has an unbroken record of performances. The Choral Society has a strong rivalry with the Choral Society of neighboring town, Huddersfield.

As well as conventional cultural attractions, the Calderdale area has also become a centre for folk and traditional music. The Traditions festival, held at the Piece Hall in Halifax town centre, is a celebration of traditional music and dance from around the world, whilst the Rushbearing, held in Sowerby Bridge and the surrounding villages, is a traditional festival which was restarted to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee and attracts Morris Dancers from all around the country.

Commercial enterprise

As well as the unforgettable significance of the Halifax Building Society (which merged with the Bank of Scotland in 2001), the town has associations with confectionery. John Mackintosh and his wife, Violet, opened a toffee shop in King Cross Lane in 1890. Violet formulated the toffee's recipe. He became known as The Toffee King. A factory was opened on Queens Road in 1898. A new factory at Albion Mill, at the current site near the train station, opened in 1909. John died in 1920, and his son Harold not only contimued the business but took it to the present size and range of confectionery it has today. Their famous brands, including Rolo, Toffee Crisp and Quality Street of chocolate and confectionery are not just popular in the UK, but around the world including the USA. It was merged with Rowntree in 1969, which was then bought by Nestlé in 1988.

Transportation

The transportation in Halifax is managed by West Yorkshire Metro.

Buses

First operate most buses, while Arriva operate services that serve Dewsbury. It is well connected to the nearby towns of Bradford, Brighouse and Huddersfield, with the 576, 570 and 503, serving respectively, regular buses. It has good connections with Leeds and Manchester. Buses depart to these destinations at least 3 times per hour. The bus station is noted for being one of two remaining non-refurbished stations, the other is in Brighouse.

Trains

Halifax is a station on the Caldervale Line. 200 yards from the station south, the line diverges for a link to Huddersfield. Trains operate to Manchester, Leeds and Blackpool regularly.

The Halifax High Level Railway was a branch line leading from Holmfield, near Ovenden, which ran across the Wheatley Valley on a ten arch viaduct past Samuel Webster's brewery and carried on to St Paul's Station at Queens Road.

This branch line was very useful in its day, particularly for the transportation of coal, but gradually fell into disuse.

The last goods train ran in 1960 and the line was then dismantled.

Notable attractions

Halifax Piece Hall was the cloth hall where the trading of the woollen cloth pieces was done. Opened on January 1, 1779, it was only open for business for two hours on a Saturday morning, and contained 315 merchants' trading rooms. After the mechanisation of the cloth industry, the Piece Hall was and continues to be used as a public market. The Calderdale Industrial Museum (now closed) was housed within the Piece Hall.

The Town Hall was built by Charles Barry, who also built the Houses of Parliament, in 1863. Wainhouse tower is an elaborate factory chimney or folly built for a dye house that was never used, and dates from 1871. It was designed by Isaac Booth, and is now capped with an observation platform reached by an interior spiral staircase.

The Duke of Wellington's Regiment Regimental Headquarters was based at Wellesley Park, on the junction of Gibbet Street and Spring Hall Road, in the old Museum Building. The Regimental Museum has been rehoused in Bankfield Museum on Haley Hill. The Barracks was converted into an educational school in 2005.

Other notable attractions include the 'Eureka!' family science museum, which was inspired and opened by Prince Charles in the summer of 1992, and which is also located in the town near the railway station. Shibden Hall, once home to the diarist Anne Lister, is located just outside Halifax in the neighbouring Shibden Valley. The Square Chapel centre for the arts offers music, dance, plays, comedy as well as community events such as tea dances.

Sports

The town has relatively successful sport teams. Its Rugby League team, Halifax RLFC (formerly known as the "Blue Sox"), plays in National League One, and the football team, Halifax Town A.F.C., resides in the Nationwide Conference, and are the only team to be relegated to the Conference twice. Both teams play at The Shay, the biggest ground for a non-league football club in England. The Crossley Heath Grammar School normally excel in nationwide school Rugby competitions.Crossley Heath upset Warwick (9 February 2005). The Daily Mail.In Focus: Crossley Heath (23 February 2005). The Daily Mail.Hooley, Jim (24 March 2005). Channing chips in. The Daily Mail.

Famous Haligonians

See also

Notes

External links

Arts

Museums

Towns in West Yorkshire

Halifax | Halifax (England) | Halifax (Angleterre) | Halifax, England | Halifax, England

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Halifax, West Yorkshire".

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