An Exploration of Halifax - Part 1

 

The Duke of Wellington's Regiment Memorial

My main reason for visiting Halifax was to continue my investigation of mediaeval churches at Halifax Minster, but I was also very interested in seeing its historic buildings, which like Huddersfield reflects its prosperity at the height of the textile manufacturing industry here. Although most of the buildings in the town centre had been photographed by others, I had prepared a British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge that would give me a good introduction to the town. 

 

Listed buildings in the centre of Halifax

 

Leaving Halifax bus station and heading down Wade Street, the early C19 former Syon Congregational Church, with its Greek Doric columns supporting an entablature and plain frieze, now forms part of the recent award winning refurbishment of the station. 

 

The former Syon Congregational Church

 

From the end of Wade Street, I continued down Winding Street and turned down King Street to Duffy's Park, where Halifax Cenotaph is now sited, having been moved from its original location in Belle Vue Park c.1980 on the west side of Halifax. 

 

Halifax Cenotaph

 

Designed by the architect H. Scott Davis and buiIt with a medium grained gritstone, this was not part of my Photo Challenge but, since being commissioned by the National Inventory of War Memorials to photograph several war memorials in Lancashire back in 1994, I always photograph those that I encounter on my travels. 

 

A detail of Halifax Cenotaph

 

After spending just 50 minutes having a look around the exterior and interior of Halifax Minster, I proceeded to the east end of the churchyard. From here I had a view of the railway viaduct, the Grade II listed Bailey Hall Mill (1879) – which was built as a flour mill and is now occupied by Nestlé UK - and the landscape to the east. 

 

A view towards the railway viaduct and Bailey Hall Mill

 

Making my way back to the town centre, the Grade I listed Piece Hall (1779) by Thomas Bradley was my next stopping point, but again it wasn't part of my Photo Challenge. I had visited this wonderful cloth market several years earlier during a very brief visit to Halifax to see Dean Clough, when I spent time having a look at the individual trading rooms, but on this occasion I just took a few general photos. 

 

The north entrance to the Piece Hall

 

Historic England (HE) state that it is built with fine grained sandstone, which was presumably obtained from quarries working the Elland Flags to the east of Halifax, although the massive dressings, columns and lintels are made with Rough Rock. 

Views of the Piiece Hall

I didn't spent any time examining the stonework, but I can see from my photo of the north entrance that the walling is yellowish, thinly bedded Elland Flags sandstone and it strongly contrasts with the stone used for the door surrounds. 

 

The quarry face above the site of the former Beacon Fireclay Works

Taking a moment to look at the high ground that rises steeply to the east of the Hebble Brook, I could see a face of the old quarry that worked the mudstone beneath the Elland Flags to supply the raw material for the Beacon Fireclay Works. 

 

The Duke of Wellington's Regiment Memorial

 

Making my way through the Woolshops shopping centre to Woolshops and continuing up to Market Street, I came across the Duke of Wellington's Regiment Memorial, which was made by Andrew Sinclair - a sculptor whose work I had not seen before. 

 

Halifax Conservation Area

Since arriving in Halifax, I had not left the town centre Conservation Area and the area around Market Street had been densely developed by the time the 1854 Ordnance Survey map was published. Looking around me, although many of the Victorian buildings were demolished in the C20, I could still see many examples of fine architectural sculpture. 

 

The 1854 Ordnance Survey map of Halifax town centre

My day out to Halifax was undertaken on the August Bank Holiday, when the buses between Treeton and Sheffield operated a Sunday service, so I was very conscious that at 1 o'clock in the afternoon I hadn't even started my Photo Challenge consisting of 40 listed buildings. 

 

The entrance to the Borough Market

Nonetheless, I was very curious to have a quick look at the Borough Market on Russell Street, considered by HE to have been built in 1895 to a design by Leeming and Leeming, and the Old Arcade, which HE surprisingly says is only probably by the same architects – even though their façades quite obviously mirror each other. 

 

The entrance to the Old Market

From the photograph that I took of the inscription at the entrance of the Old Arcade, I can see that the sandstone used here is medium grained and uniformly buff in colour. It is quite unlike the coarse grained and often pebbly Rough Rock that I had seen at Halifax Minster or the yellowish Elland Flags at the Piece Hall and it wouldn't surprise me if it was obtained from one of the quarries at Crosland Hill in Huddersfield.

 

The inscription at the Russell Street entrance to the Old Market