| Halifax, West Yorkshire |
Article Index for Halifax |
Website Links For Halifax |
Information AboutHalifax, West Yorkshire |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT HALIFAX, WEST YORKSHIRE | |
| towns in west yorkshire | |
| calderdale | |
Halifax is a town within the Metropolitan Borough Of Calderdale , in West Yorkshire , England , with a population of 82,056.1 It is well known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward. HISTORY 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. (The oldest written mentions of the town have the spelling ''Haliflax'', apparently meaning "holy Flax (field)", the second ''l'' having been subsequently lost by Dissimilation .2) 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 went on to discover 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. GEOGRAPHY Topographically, Halifax is located in the south-eastern corner of the moorland region called the South Pennines . Halifax is situated about 4 miles from the M62 Motorway close to Huddersfield and Bradford . The Tees-Exe Line passes through the A641 road, which links nearby Brighouse with Bradford and Huddersfield, The town lies 65 miles from Liverpool and Kingston Upon Hull , and about 200 miles from the cities of London , Edinburgh , Belfast , Dublin and Cardiff as the crow flies. The major waterway is the River Calder . DEMOGRAPHICS As of 2004, Calderdale had a population of 192,405, of which 82,500 live in Halifax. The main ethnic group in Halifax is Caucasian (87%), followed by Pakistani (10%). Over 90% of people aged 16-74 were employed, mostly full-time. 64% of residents had qualifications. In the 2001 census, 5% stated they were Muslim , 16.3% of no religion, and 63.8 % of Christian background. 12.8% did not disclose their religion. The population density of Halifax is 530/km&2. 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. Punishment 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 the only two selective schools in West Yorkshire, which are the coeducational North Halifax Grammar School in Illingworth 3
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 schools in the area, including the Holy Trinity Church Of England Senior School and St Catherine's Catholic High School , both of which are located in Holmfield. In January 2006 Holy Trinity was designated a Specialist College for Business and Enterprise, whilst the neighbouring Catholic school, St Catherine's, was also successful in its bid for Specialist Technology Status. Calderdale College is the local further education college on Francis Street just off King Cross Road, to the west of the town. Educational development In December 2006 it was announced that Calderdale College, in partnership with the University Of Leeds , would open a new higher education institution in January 2007 called 'University Centre Calderdale'. CULTURE Halifax is home to a vibrant South Asian community mainly of Pakistani Muslim s from the Kashmir region. The majority of the community lives in the west central Halifax region of the town, which was previously home to immigrant Irish communities who have since moved to the outer suburbs. 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 contrast to west central Halifax's ethnic diversity, consists mostly of white Protestant residents. Halifax has benefited from SRB and URBAN money through Action Halifax who have a vision for "a prosperous, vibrant and safe centre where all sections of the community can access opportunities to enhance their quality of life." 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. To help with those who become vulnerable whilst enjoying and using Halifax's night life, Street Angels was launched in November 2005. Street Angels patrol the town centre on Fridays and Saturdays between 9pm and 3am. In the first year police report violent crime has fallen by 42%. Street Angels work in partnership with St John Ambulance, Nightlife Marshals, Police Community Support Officers, Police and doorstaff as well as the Halifax Ambassadors who patrol in the daytime. Halifax is also home to the oldest continually running amateur choral society in the country and possibly the world. 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 neighbouring town, Huddersfield. The Halifax & District Organists' Association , is one of the oldest organists' fellowships in the country. 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 Metro, The West Yorkshire PTE . Bus es First Calderdale & Huddersfield operate most of the services in Halifax, while Arriva operate services that link Halifax with Dewsbury and Wakefield . Halifax is well connected to the nearby towns of Bradford, Leeds and Huddersfield, with the First services 576, 508 and 503, serving these destinations every 10-20 minutes during Monday to Saturday daytimes. First also run services into other counties, including 528 to Rochdale via Ripponden and Littleborough , 590 to Rochdale via Todmorden and Littleborough and 592 to Burnley via Todmorden. Other bus operators in the town include T.J. Walsh (Also known as The Halifax Bus Company) and Halifax Joint Committee which use the livery of the old Halifax Corporation buses, used on the town's buses until 1974. Unlike many other bus stations, Halifax is noted for having much character, with many listed buildings being incorporated on the site. This does mean though that facilities are slightly lacking compared to more modern bus stations in West Yorkshire. Trains Halifax is a Railway Station on the Caldervale Line . 200 yards from the station south, the line diverges for a link to Huddersfield. Trains operate to Manchester every 30 minutes, Bradford and Leeds every 15 minutes, Blackpool hourly and Brighouse and Huddersfield hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes. All services are operated by Northern Rail and are branded as Metro Train 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 railway 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 The cloth hall was 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 former Calderdale Industrial Museum (now closed) was housed within the Piece Hall. In winter 2006-07 the Piece Hall hosted an outdoor temporary ice rink. Town Hall This was built by 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. Museums The was converted into an educational school in 2005 . Former 1945 . Eureka! Children's Museum This notable attraction was inspired and opened by Prince Charles in the summer of 1992, and which is located in part of the railway station. Shibden Hall Once home to the diarist Anne Lister , Shibden Hall is located just outside Halifax in the neighbouring Shibden Valley. Other attractions The Square Chapel Centre for the Arts offers music, dance, plays, comedy as well as community events such as Tea Dance s. 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 . In the 1960s Halifax Town played Millwall in a Fourth Division match that had the lowest attendance ever recorded for a professional match in England. The Crossley Heath Grammar School normally excel in nationwide school Rugby union competitions.567 Motorcycle speedway racing has been staged at two vwnues in Halifax. In the pioneer days of 1928 to 1930 a track operated at Thrum Hall. A Halifax team took part in the English Dirt Track League of 1929. Speedway returned to Halifax at The Shay Stadium in 1949 and operated until 1951. The team operated as the Halifax Nomads in 1948 racing three away fixtures. The Halifax Dukes, the name they took once The Shay was opened, operated in the National League Third Division in 1949 before moving up to the Second Division in 1950. Riders including Arthur Forrest, moved on to Bradford. The Dukes re-emerged in 1965 as founder members of the British League and operated there for many years before the team moved en bloc to Odsal Satdium in Bradford. The steeply banked bends of the track at The Shay have been buried under stands at either end when the spectator facilities were squared off. FAMOUS HALIGONIANS
SEE ALSO
NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
Arts
Museums |
|
|