Category: Old Halifax

Simply Halifax

This is a photograph of Old Lane in Halifax I took almost fifty years ago. I was following the footsteps of the great photographer Bill Brandt, who had walked the same streets in Halifax thirty years before that. This remains one of my favourite photographs of Dean Clough - the simplicity of the shapes are … Continue reading Simply Halifax

Greetings From Elland

When you go to Paris, you take a photograph of the Eiffel Tower, in New York it's the Statue of Liberty .... and when you visit Elland it has to be the Calder Valley from Hullen Edge. I must have taken this photograph in the late 1970s: the bypass looks as though it is still … Continue reading Greetings From Elland

A Lazy S

Whenever I look at my old photographs of Halifax from the sixties and seventies, I am reminded of just how much it was a period of change for the town. Roads were being built whilst others were being demolished, chimneys were coming down whilst tower blocks were going up. And the trees were coming back: … Continue reading A Lazy S

Where Houses Weren’t And Mills Still Were

Here is the second of the photographs taken from the top of Beacon Hill, Halifax in the early 1970s. My camera has swung around, so now I am looking in the direction of The Shay and Savile Park. You can just make out the three graces - St Jude's Church, Crossley Heath and Wainhouse Tower … Continue reading Where Houses Weren’t And Mills Still Were

Back On Top Of Beacon Hill

Looking back at my old photographs, it would appear that I spent much of my youth stood on top of Beacon Hill, Halifax! If it were true, such behaviour can be partly justified by the fact that the top of Beacon Hill was the nearest we had to drones fifty years ago. From there, you … Continue reading Back On Top Of Beacon Hill

Brighouse And The End Of The American Civil War

Bethel Street, Brighouse c. 1966 The last of the four photographs from Brighouse back in the 1960s shows the busy pavements of Bethel Street with the unmistakable facade of the Prince of Wales Pub (now The Old Ship) in the background. The renaming of pubs is normally a retrograde process, but in the case of … Continue reading Brighouse And The End Of The American Civil War

The View From The Other Side

Thornton Square, Brighouse c. 1966 What else is there to do? Once you have taken a photograph looking down Briggate in Brighouse, the obvious thing to do is to walk to the other end of the street and take a photograph looking up Briggate. As with so many of the photos I took over fifty … Continue reading The View From The Other Side

Life Before Wilko

Briggate, Brighouse c. 1966 This is a photograph I took of Briggate in Brighouse over half a century ago. It seems like only yesterday, but the fact that the right hand side of the street no longer exists proves that it was a lot of yesterdays ago. This was Brighouse before Wilko, before Tesco, before … Continue reading Life Before Wilko

Come Back Soon

COMMERCIAL STREET, BRIGHOUSE (c1968) This is a photograph I took in the 1960s of Commercial Street, Brighouse. Looking at it again as it emerges from the negative scanning machine, I am struck by the changes. Not the physical changes - the buildings are just about the same as they were fifty years ago; Brighouse has … Continue reading Come Back Soon