I have just added a new vintage postcard to my collection which shows "St Luke's Hospital and Salterhebble Hill, Halifax" The card was posted in May 1917, but I suspect that the photograph dates from at least a decade before that. St Luke's Hospital was the original name for what later became Halifax General Hospital, … Continue reading Roadworks On Salterhebble Hill
Category: Old Halifax
Moral Condiments
Another of my photos from 1969, and it shows the two cooling towers - Salt and Pepper - at Halifax Power Station next to North Bridge. Between them can be seen the hill rising to Claremount, with, I believe, St Thomas Street Methodist Church at the top. It is said that it cost more to … Continue reading Moral Condiments
Remains And Foundations
A photograph of mine from the late 1960s shows Halifax in transition. It’s the area around Gaol Lane and Ann Street, caught between the remains of pubs, chapels and debtors prisons, and the foundations of stores, colleges and bus stations.
Water Is Best
An article in the Illustrated London News of the 13th August 1859 reminds us of the gift of a water fountain to the people of Halifax by Joseph Thorp. The fountain was erected in People's Park, where it stands to this day. Whilst such a gift, two or three centuries earlier, might have been mainly … Continue reading Water Is Best
Nuts And Sweets And A Trip To The Dentist
Here is another of those wonderful old picture postcards of Halifax from the turn of the twentieth century, which provides an insight into both the public persona of the town and, at the same time, the private persona of its citizens. The public persona is provided by the front of the card, posted in May … Continue reading Nuts And Sweets And A Trip To The Dentist
Mad Dogs And Englishmen Go Out In The Midday Snow
This is a familiar scene to anyone who knows Halifax, and many of the buildings remain little changed to this day. The clothes are different, the shops are different, and the buildings at the bottom of the street are long gone, but the fine looking neo-gothic building on the right of the photograph is still … Continue reading Mad Dogs And Englishmen Go Out In The Midday Snow
Wainhouse Tower And The Sea Of Truth
Jacob D Saddleworth in his seminal book "The Principles And Practices Of Pointlessness" stated that the abandonment of objectives need not necessarily lead to the rejection of purpose; especially in the context of linear progression. He used the memorable example of a river in its progress towards the ocean - an example I couldn't help … Continue reading Wainhouse Tower And The Sea Of Truth
Trees And Screens
Here is another of my photographs from the same walk around Brighouse fifty odd years ago. This one was taken from Brighouse Bridge looking down at the River Calder. Brighouse Gas Works and a variety of old industrial units can clearly be seen lining the river banks. So what has changed in half a century? … Continue reading Trees And Screens
A Commercial Death
A strange coincidence brought together a photograph and a story. The photograph was one of my own, and was taken over fifty years ago, just a mile or so from where I now live. It shows Huddersfield Road as it emerges from the town of Brighouse and the junction with Aire Street and Lords Lane. … Continue reading A Commercial Death
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