The first of a little Easter mini-series, "Looking Up At Halifax". This building on Silver Street is one of my favourite buildings in the town. It is sad and empty now, but I remember it in the 1950s and 60s as a thriving furniture store. If I won the lottery, I'd buy it tomorrow and … Continue reading G-Plan Style
Category: Home
A Pre-Burdock Prospect
Scanning some of my old negatives from fifty-plus years ago, I come across one I haven't featured before. You could run an entire pub quiz for folk of a certain age who grew up in the Halifax area on this image alone. It is pre-Burdock (as we say in these parts) but only just so: … Continue reading A Pre-Burdock Prospect
1st April 2025
So many of my photographs of Halifax were taken 50 or 60 years ago, so for a change, I thought I might post a more contemporary view. So today, I went to the top of Beacon Hill and took a photograph of Halifax as it is now. You would hardly believe the changes that have … Continue reading 1st April 2025
Decapitating Shadows
We are quite proud of our gibbet here in Halifax. For those unfamiliar with the town and its somewhat unique approach to the punishment of petty criminals, a gibbet was an early form of guillotine used in Halifax to decapitate thieves between the 13th and 17th centuries. The gibbet featured in the photo I took … Continue reading Decapitating Shadows
Sometimes
Sometimes there is no point to be made, no memories to be revived, and no surprises to be released. Sometimes there is just a nice view and the chance to step back and appreciate it. This is just down the road from where I live. This is grand.
Gog Hill
Gog Hill used to be an important thoroughfare in Elland, cobble-climbing from Elland Bridge up the steep hillside to the top of the town. It was lined by houses that clung to the hillside with stoney determination. For many years it has been abandoned by everything but empty lager cans and cheap thrills. The signs … Continue reading Gog Hill
Soul, Grace And Majesty
Stand on any hillside surrounding Halifax, and you should be able to make out the town's three great spires: Square Church, the Town Hall, and All Soul's Church. Perhaps the most majestic of the three is Sir George Gilbert Scott's graceful All Soul's which stands on Haley Hill just north of the town centre. Scott … Continue reading Soul, Grace And Majesty
Monochrome Home
There is something about old black and white photographs - the way they flatten and simplify scenes; the way they mask so much and reveal even more. I'm sure we saw scenes in black and white as soon as we looked through the viewfinder back in those days - we had monochrome eyes. Colour was … Continue reading Monochrome Home
Copley Conversation
Extracts From A Conversation 60 Years Ago: Someone Else : "Why are you taking a photograph of Copley Bridge?" Me: "I don't know, perhaps it wont be there one day and it will be interesting to look back and see a picture of what it used to look like". SE: "Don't be silly!"
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