Heritage

The first record of the town of Halifax. In some records referred to as hālig feax gives rise to a legend. Meaning “Holy Hair” it is thought that the head of St John the Baptist was buried by missionaries in the town. Accounts tell us that John the Baptist was executed at the request of Herod’s daughter, his head delivered on a plate. Whilst his body was entombed by John’s disciples, could his head have been later recovered and given burial here? The town’s coat of arms carries an image of the Saint, whilst the Minster – dating back to the twelfth century – has always been dedicated to him.

Cloth making can be traced all the way back to the twelfth century, when it was made on a small scale in and around Halifax. A medieval grave cover in the south porch of Halifax Minster dated 1150, depicts a pair of cropper’s shears, and is the earliest evidence for the textile industry in the area.

Halifax produces the largest amount of cloth of any town in the West Riding: 4.5 times that produced by Leeds, and 8 times that of Bradford.

Two sites were under consideration for the building of The Piece Hall, and the manufacturers were split into two camps depending on their preference. There was considerable public contest. Eventually, the Manufacturers’ Association settled on a parcel of land called Talbot Close, at that time standing in open fields, just to the south of the town centre. The land belonged to the wealthiest citizen of Halifax at that time, John Caygill, and the incentives he put forward no doubt influenced the final outcome. Caygill was obviously a shrewd business man and realised that locating the new Cloth Hall on his land would place the town’s major commercial centre next to his adjacent properties and businesses. His vision represents an early example of planned town centre development. It was agreed that Caygill would lease his land ‘to the merchants and manufacturers of Halifax for 5 shillings a year to be paid for 5000 years, on the condition that a hall of accommodation for manufacturers of worsted and other woollen goods is built on it within five years’.

The Piece Hall opens its doors for the first time on New Year’s Day, Friday 1 January 1779. The opening, by The Piece Hall committee, involved “much fanfare and public ceremony”. A large crowd from all over Halifax and beyond congregated to proudly participate in the opening celebrations. After the North Gate was ceremoniously opened with a silver key, a grand procession of local tradesmen with bands of music marched from The Piece Hall through the streets of Halifax. In the evening there was a thrilling firework display by the “celebrated Signor Pietro, consisting of a beautiful Egyptian Pyramid illuminated with spiral wheels, globes and vertical wheels to be set on fire by a pigeon!” Cloth trading began the next day on Saturday 2 January. Trade would take place every Saturday between the hours of 10am and 12noon only. The Piece Hall would trade for just two hours each week.

As the industrial revolution gained pace, ways of manufacture and trade changed significantly. The old cottage industries died out, and the need for the central market halls died with them. As the nineteenth-century moved on, use of The Piece Hall became much more varied. In 1824, with hot air balloons still a novelty, The Piece Hall was packed with people eager to witness man’s first foray into space. The ‘intrepid aeronaut’ was Charles Green – he had made his first ascent in 1821 and would go on to complete 500 flights. At a little after 4.30pm Green’s balloon rose into the air, and to the delight of the ‘immense crowd’ of onlookers, remained visible from The Piece Hall for fifteen minutes.

The 1872 Ballot Act introduced secret voting. From 1832, when the Parliamentary Reform Act was introduced until now, residents of Halifax who had the right to vote would assemble at hustings in The Piece Hall to publicly nominate their Members of Parliament.

By the late 1920s there was a growing awareness that The Piece Hall merited better use than as a wholesale market. In 1928, the Halifax Rotary Club began agitation to remove the market and find a more fitting use for the building. Suggestions in the correspondence columns of the Halifax Courier ranged from converting The Piece Hall into an open air swimming pool to a home for old soldiers or cheap accommodation for the unemployed. In 1928, The Piece Hall becomes the first commercial/industrial building to be scheduled an Ancient Monument – but it’s life as a wholesale market would continue for decades to come. In 1954, The Piece Hall becomes a Grade I listed building – a category reserved for buildings of only the most exceptional interest, and accounting for just 2.5% of the UK’s listed sites.

We of the West Riding. The Life of a Typical Yorkshire Family

A young Yorkshireman describes the life led by his family, who all work in the great woollen mills of the district. Their work is shown and their recreations, which include football, music, amateur theatricals and cycling over the beautiful countryside. They all love singing, and the film ends with the annual performance of Handel’s Messiah which is traditional in the West Riding.

(Films of Britain – British Council Film Department Catalogue – 1946)

Release year: 1945, Director: Ken Annakin, Production company: Greenpark, Producer: Ralph Keene, Screenplay: Phyllis Bentley, Cinematographer: Peter Hennessy, Composer: Leighton Lucas, Narration: Norman Shelley, Editor: Julian Wintle, Sound recording: W.S. Bland, Running time (minutes): 21 mins 06 secs, With thanks: British Council

In a 1972 Council meeting in which the fate of The Piece Hall was to be decided, Cllr Keith Ambler, Chair of the Development Committee spoke passionately against the recommendation of the committee not to submit a grant for The Piece Hall’s restoration. With his foresight, the decision taken was to save the building and bring it back into public use. Over the coming years, the wholesale market buildings were removed, stonework cleaned and restored and wood and metal repainted. Infrastructure and services were improved.

On 3rd July 1976, The Piece Hall was officially re-opened for public use. Although there were still large areas of the building left unconverted and used for storage, it became for a time a bustling centre of activity, with many small shops, an Art Gallery and Museum and a Tourist Information Centre. Once again The Piece Hall staged a wide range of events and entertainment.