| Halifax, West Yorkshire |
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Halifax is a town in the County of 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 . __TOC__ 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 waterways 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. 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/km&2. 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 The North Halifax Grammar School in Illingworth, Halifax, is a selective 11-18 school that is highly ranked nationally. Recently selected as a "Specialist Science College" under Educational Reforms, it produces excellent GCSE and A-level results in Arts and Sciences. It is also home to the Crossley Heath Grammar School near King Cross, a specialist language college that is one of the best performing mixed-sex state schools in Yorkshire, and in the top 500 in the nationwide league tables. Originally two schools, one which dates back to the Tudor Period and the other an orphanage founded by the Crossley Family (who helped with many of the structures in the town today), the school has a long and prestigious history. There are other less successful but above-average schools in the area. 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. 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 is 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, is also located in the town. Shibden Hall , once home to the diarist Anne Lister , is located just outside Halifax in the neighbouring Shibden Valley. 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. SPORTS The town has 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 . 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. FAMOUS HALIGONIANS
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