Halifax, West Yorkshire, England
1895 - Halifax

Halifax, hal'e-fax, a parliamentary borough, large manufacturing town, and township of England, co. of York, West Riding, on the navigable Calder, and on two railways, 14 miles W.S.W. of Leeds. . It is picturesquely situated on a declivity, surrounded by lofty heights, and, with the exception of a few ancient streets, is mostly built of stone. It is well paved and lighted. Chief buildings, the Piece Hall, a vast and handsome stone-built quadrangle, containing warehouses in which the manufacturers keep their cloths for sale; and the parish church, a fine structure of the fifteenth century, and to which about 18 other churches and chapels are subordinate. All Souls' church is one of the handsomest in England. Here are also numerous meeting-houses and schools, several of which are well endowed, a blue-coat hospital, founded in 1642, a handsome modern infirmary, a jail, a fine town hall, a large orphanage, almshouses, a people's park, a theatre, assembly-rooms, public baths, library, literary society's hall, with library and museum, mechanics' institute, and several banks. The woollen-manufacture was introduced here early in the fifteenth century, the abundance of water-power being probably the great attraction. Since the use of steam, this manufacture has immensely increased, coal being plentiful in the parish, and the river Calder forming a means of communication with Hull on the one side and Liverpool on the other. The principal staples are carpets, shalloons, camlets, figured vestings, moreens, bombazines, crapes, russets, serges, baizes, coatings, broad and narrow cloths, kerseys, cottons, and silks. Most of the goods are sold in an unfinished state. Halifax sends two members to the House of Commons. The manor was remarkable in the Middle Ages for its strict laws against thieves, and exercised the power of jurisdiction in capital cases, so late as the middle of the seventeenth century. Pop. in 1871, 65,510; in 1881, 73,630; in 1891, 82,864.

Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World Containing Notices of Over One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Places ... Joseph Thomas January 1, 1895 J.B. Lippincott

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