HALIFAX, a parish in the wapentake of MORLEY, West riding of the
county of YORK, comprising the market-town of Halifax, the
chapelries of Elland with Greetland, Heptonstall, Rastrick,
and Sowerby, and the townships of Barkisland, Erringden,
Fixby, Hipperholme with Brighouse, Langfield,
Seal and Arms. Midgley, Norland, Ovenden,
North Ouram, South Ouram, Rishworth, Shelf, Skircoat,
Soyland, S.tainland, Stansfield, Wadsworth, andWarley,
and containing 93,850 inhabitants, of which number,
12,628 are in the town of Halifax, 42 miles (S.W.) from
York, and 197 (N.N.W.) from London, on the road
between those two cities. This town, though now of
great magnitude and importance, is not of great antiquity;
its name is not found in Domesday-book, nor is
it mentioned in any ancient record before the early part
of the twelfth century, when its church was granted by
William, Earl of Warren, then lord of the manor, to
the priory of Lewes, in Sussex. The name is supposed
to have been derived from Halifax, according to some
signifying the holy face, in allusion to a relic called
the, face of St. John, preserved in a hermitage, which
anciently occupied the site of the present church; or,
as others think, implying the holy ways, in reference to
the roads leading to the hermitage; for fax, -in Nor-
man French, is an old plural noun denoting highways-
The woollen manufacture, for which the town andneighbourhood
have been distinguished for ages, prevailed so early as
the year 1414, though on a very limited
scale, and continued to increase from that period to
1540, during which the number of houses was gradually
augmented from fifteen to five hundred and twenty. The
manufacturers in the Spanish Netherlands seeking refuge
from the persecutions with which they were assailed under
the government of the Duke of Alva, repaired in great
numbers to England, and many of them are supposed
to have settled at Halifax; a conjecture which derives
strength from the similarity of dialect existing between1
the labouring classes here and in the Low Countries, particularly
Friesland. In 1642, during the great civil war,
the town was garrisoned by the forces of the .parliament,
and the inhabitants seem to have been strongly attached
to their cause. At that period an obstinate engagemen
took place on Halifax bank, adjoining the road to Wakefield,
from which the place still retains the name of Blood
Field: there are also, in different parts of the parish, ves
tiges of intrenchments; and tradition states it to have
been the scene of various skirmishes.
For many ages a mode of trial and execution, styled
the Gibbet Law, existed in the Forest of Hardwick,
which was co-extensive with the parish of Halifax, The
inhabitants within this forest had a custom, observed from;
time immemorial, that if a felon were taken within their
liberty, with goods stolen either out of or within the liberty
of the said forest, of the value of thirteen-pence half-
penny, he should, after three markets, or meeting-days,
within the town of Halifax, next after such apprehension,
be tried, and if condemned, be taken to the gibbet arid
have his head.cut off. The following is the process o
the gibbet-Jaw: when the felon was apprehended hewağ-
immediately brought before the lord's bailiff, at Halifax
who kept the common gaol in the town, had the custody
of the axe, and was the legal executioner. The bailiff
then issued his summons to the constables of four several
townships within the liberty, to require four .frith-burgesses
within each to appear before him on a certain
day, to examine into the truth of the charge. At the
trial the accuser and the accused were confronted before
this unsworn jury, and the goods stolen were produced.
If- the accused party was acquitted, he was instantly
liberated; if condemned, he was either executed immediately,
if that was the principal market day, or placed
in the stocks on the less meeting-days, with the stolen
goods on his back, if portable, otherwise they were
placed before him. The last executions took place in
1650, forty-nine delinquents having suffered during the
preceding century; and after that period the custom
was disused. The gibbet, of which some remains may
still be seen at the gaol, appears to have been an enginevery
similar to the guillotine used in France after the
Revolution.
The town is nearly three quarters of a mile in
length, from east to west, but narrow and very irregular;
in general it is well built, partly of brick, but principally
of stone, which is very abundant in the neighbourhood.
It is situated on the south-eastern declivity
of. a gentle eminence, but being enclosed by a chain of
hills, which stretches from east to south, it seems, on
being approached in that direction, to lie in a deep valley.
From the boundary of Lancashire to the valley which
separates the townships of Halifax and Ovenden from
North Ouram, the whole substratum of the parish is
grit-stone. Immediately to the east of this valley, argillaceous
strata, with their general concomitants, stone
and iron, appear; and to this cause, added to the abundant
supply of fuel, and the rapid descent of its numerous
brooks, so important in manufactures before the.
introduction of the steam-engine, the vicinity of Halifax
is greatly indebted for its wealth and population. The
parish is the largest in England, including an area of
one hundred and twenty-four square miles, or seventynine
thousand two hundred acres. The town is abundantly
supplied with pure water, lighted with gas, and
paved throughout. The theatre, built by subscription,
is neat and commodious; and the dramatic performances
take place in the months of January, February,
and March. The new assembly-rooms, recently erected
by subscription, are handsome, and the interior is finished
\yith considerable taste, and with due regard to comfort;
subscription assemblies are held at stated periods
during the winter season; attached to the rooms are
a public library, news-room, &c. There are also public
baths, in a delightful valley a short distance from the
road to Huddersfield, affording every accommodation
for warm and cold bathing, and for swimming.
The principal articles of manufacture in the town
and neighbourhood are shalloons, tammies, duroys, calimancoes,
everlastings, moreens, shags, kerseys, baizes,
woollen cloth (narrow and broad), coatings, and carpets.
Several mills have also been erected in connexion with
the cotton manufacture, which is rapidly increasing;
and wool cards of superior quality are made in the neighbourhood,
which abounds with coal mines and freestone
quarries, the produce of the latter being shipped in considerable
quantities to the metropolis. The Rochdale
canal affords a medium of communication with Liverpool,
Manchester, and the western district; and the
Calder navigation with Hull and the eastern district.
The market, which is one of the best in the north of
England, is on Saturday; and there are two annual fairs
for live stock, viz., on the 24th of June, and the first
Saturday in November. The piece-hall, erected a few
years ago by the manufacturers, is a large quadrangular
building of freestone, occupying an area of ten
thousand square yards, with a rustic basement story,
and two upper stories, fronted with two interior colonnades,
which are spacious walks leading to arched rooms,
where goods in an unfinished state are deposited, and
exhibited for sale to the merchants every Saturday, from
ten to twelve oclock; this structure, which was completed
at an expense of £ 12,000, and opened on the
1st of January, 1779, unites elegance, convenience, and
security; it contains three hundred and fifteen separate
rooms, and is proof against fire.
This town was represented in two parliaments during
the Commonwealth, but the privilege was withdrawn
at the Restoration; it is governed by two constables,
nominated by the inhabitants, and sworn in at the court
leet of the lord of the manor of Wakefield, within which
fee the town is situated. A court of requests is held
under an act passed in the 33d of George III., for the
recovery of debts under 40s., by the title of the " Court
of Requests for the parishes of Halifax, Bradford, Keighley,
Bingley, Guiseley, Calverley, Batley, Birstall, Mirfield,
Hartishead cum Clifton, Almondbury, Kirkheaton
Kirkburton, and Huddersfield, and the lordship or liberty
of Tong, in the West riding of the county of York,"
with a reservation of the rights of the courts baron.
The petty sessions for the wapentake of Morley are held
here; and the magistrates attend at their office at
Ward's End every Saturday, for the transaction of business
relating to the district.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese
of York, rated in the king's books at £84. 13. 6.,
and in the patronage of the Crown. The present parish
church, with the exception of part of the north wall,
which appears to have been built in the time of Edwardl.,
was erected between the years 1450 and 1470; it is
fine building in the later English style, having a nave,
chancel, aisles, and two chapels, one founded by Archbishop
Rokeby, who was sometime vicar of the parish,,
and the other by another vicar named Holdsworth: it
has an embattled tower surmounted by eight pinnacles,
and underneath the church, towards the east, is a crypt:
the ceiling is adorned with the armorial bearings of all
the incumbents, from the ordination of the vicarage, in
1274, to the present time, with those of the early benefactors
to the church: several large handsome modern
monuments adorn the interior. There are twelve chapels
of ease in the parish, to which the vicar appoints the
curates. A handsome new church of Grecian architecture
was erected in 1798, by Dr, Coulthurst, then vicar,
and dedicated to the Holy Trinity; the living is a perpetual
curacy. Here are places of worship for Baptists,
the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyan Methodists,
and Unitarians.
The free grammar school, situated in Skircoat, was
founded by letters patent of Queen Elizabeth, in 1585,
under the superintendence of twelve governors selected
from among the most respectable of the parishioners:
they have the appointment of the head master ahd.usher,
the former of whom must have been a student for a
period of five years at one of the Universities. The
present school-house, with six acres of land contiguous
to it, was given by Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury, Edward
Savile, Esq., and Sir George Savile, Knt., in 1598; and
several benefactions have since been added to the original
endowment, among which is one by the Rev. Thomas
Milner, who, by will in 1722, assigned to the Master
and Fellows of St. Mary Magdalene's College, Cambridge,
a reversionary grant of £1000, for founding
three scholarships, for the benefit of the schools at
Haversham, Leeds, and Halifax; and, in 1736, his sister
added £200 for the same purpose. The master receives
£80 per annum, out of which he pays an usher of
his own appointment. A Blue-coat hospital was founded
pursuant to the will of Nathaniel Waterhouse, in 1642,
for twenty poor children, who are maintained, educated,
and trained up to some useful employment, by an overseer,
or master: the same benefactor founded an almshouse
for twelve poor and infirm widows, to be chosen
out of the town and parish of Halifax. The property
left for the support of this charity produces £1181. 3.4.
per annum, out of which the schoolmaster receives about
£80, the ahnswomen £2 each, and about £50 is,expended
annually in clothing the women and children;
£40 per annum is applied to the augmentation of the
stipends of the ministers of the. chapels within the
parish, and the surplus, after some deductions for other
specific purposes, is paid to the master and governors
pf .the workhouse, for the benefit of the poor. A schpol-
house was erected in 1726, by John Smyth, Esq., of
Heath, who settled an annual stipend on the schoolmaster
for teaching six poor children; and subsequent
benefactions having raised the income to £18. 16.
per annum, the number of scholars has been augmented.
There are also schools on the National and
Lancasterian plans. Almshouses were founded in 1610,
by Ellen Hopkinson and Jane Crowther (sisters), for
eighteen poor widows of the town of Halifax, and one
master to teach a certain number of poor children:
these have been rebuilt, with the addition of six more
rooms. Jane Crowther also, by will dated January 18th,
1613, gave a rent-charge of £8, for teaching poor
children, but this design has been frustrated. There
are also several institutions for the relief of the sick
land destitute, among which are the dispensary, affording
medical and surgical aid; and the Benevolent
Society, for the distribution of food and clothing to
the poor. The workhouse was originally established
by Nathaniel Waterhouse, in 1635, and thirteen of the
most respectable inhabitants of the town were incorpo-
rated by charter of Charles I., to superintend its concerns:
this, house being found inconvenient for the purpose of
putting children to spin worsted, and make bone-lace,
A .new one was purchased in the year 1700, and from
1707 to 1720 the old house was used as a sessions-house
by.the magistrates for the West riding; after which it
was thoroughly repaired and restored to its original
purpose. Several remains of British and Danish antiquities
have, at different times, been discovered in the
parish. About half a century ago, a countryman digging
peat on Mixenden-moor, near Halifax, struck his
spade through a black polished stone, near which lay a
most beautiful brass celt, in excellent preservation, four
arrow-heads of black flint, a light battle-axe of a beautiful
green pebble, and a hollow gouge, or scoop, of hard
grey stone, evidently intended for the excavation of
wooden vessels: the last is unique, and the whole seems
to have formed part of the armour of a British soldier,
who .perished, perhaps two thousand years ago, among
these wastes, where all remains of the body, together with
the handles of the weapons, had long been entirely destroyed.
Among the renowned characters who were born
in this parish may be enumerated Henry Briggs, an emi-
nent mathematician, who made discoveries relative to
logarithms, born at Warley about 1556; Archbishop
Tillotson, born in 1630, at Haughend, in the township
of Sowerby,, where his father was a considerable clothier
Sir Henry Savile, one of the most accomplished
scholars of the seventeenth century, born at Bradley, in
the township of Stainland; and Dr. David Hartley, a
celebrated metaphysical writer, born in 1705, at
Illingworth, in the township of Ovenden. Daniel Defoe the
author of Robinson Crusoe; and Sir William Hersehel,
the celebrated astronomer, were, residents at Halifax,
the latter having been organist in the church.