This 1904 postcard shows a view that will still be familiar to any Halifax resident: the grand facade of the Old Market Arcade, looking towards Market Street and the Woolshops area. The buildings at the bottom of Old Market have changed since this photograph was taken - and are changing again - but the gloroious … Continue reading Old Market, Halifax
Across North Bridge
A vintage postcard of North Bridge, in Halifax, back in the days when it was the main route out of town to the north. Back then, the buildings hugged the side of the road at both ends of the bridge, and it did not have to live under the concrete shadow of the Burdock Way … Continue reading Across North Bridge
The Shaw Syke Redemption
The final two negatives from a 35mm strip shot almost forty years ago show what was left then - and I suspect, what still exists now - of the very first Halifax Station. Built at Shaw Syke in 1844 as the terminus for a branch of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, it survived less than … Continue reading The Shaw Syke Redemption
Two Gentlemen Of Brighouse
If Shakespeare had been around in the days of Brexit, he might have written a play called Two Gentlemen Of Brighouse, in which two friends, Herbert and Wilfred, travelled to Bradford in pursuit of the same girl, Ethel. This lovely little Victorian photo from the studio of the Brighouse photographer, Martin Manley, would have made a perfect … Continue reading Two Gentlemen Of Brighouse
Looking On
Hidden away at the corner of a throw-away old photo is a haunting image that transcends time and place. The child looks on and, in turn, we look on, whilst the supposed subjects look at us.
Snow, Grit And Cold Stone Steps
Two more from the same strip of negatives from thirty-nine years ago; two more from the area around Union Street and Hunger Hill, Halifax. Snow, back in those monochrome days, was a different entity: always dirty, layered with grit. These houses are built on a hillside, with their own terraced pavements up a flight of … Continue reading Snow, Grit And Cold Stone Steps
Fireworks At The Wes
There is something quite captivating about fireworks: no matter how many times you have witnessed their extrovert performance, their momentary ostentatiousness, you are still drawn to them. This particular display was at Almondbury Wesleyans Cricket Club last night. A cracking good night.
Back Hope
The second of the six negatives from 1980 : this was taken in Back Hope Terrace, Halifax, when standpipes provided drinking water and monochrome snow clung to the rooftops. It all seems so long ago.
Hope Clings On
This is a scan of the first of six 35mm negatives I must have taken in about 1980: which to me sounds like only yesterday, but I am alarmed to realise is almost forty years ago! It was taken in that strange little segment of Halifax that is bounded by Prescott Street, Clare Road, Hunger … Continue reading Hope Clings On
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