Halifax From Beacon Hill

Much of my early life seems to be in this old picture postcard. My father worked at the factory on the left; for a time I worked in the mill on the right. My school is on the horizon, my youth on the soot-coated streets around the market.

Halifax As I Almost Remember It

Postcards From Home : Southgate and Town Hall, Halifax Mock-marble Burtons; the line of Armstrong Siddeleys outside the White Swan; polished pianos in Pohlmann's window: Halifax as I almost remember it if I let my imaginations stretch back far enough.

A Halifax Melodrama

North Bridge, Halifax (1905) This old postcard features a view of North Bridge, Halifax which must have been taken in the first decade of the twentieth century. The building on the left of the photograph is still there but the one on the right, the old Grand Theatre, is long gone. The theatre was built … Continue reading A Halifax Melodrama

Dalemore, Halifax

A house featured on an old vintage postcard seems vaguely familiar. Did I walk past it on my way home from school half a century ago?

Bottoms Mill, Ogden

As far as I can make out, Bottoms Mill in Ogden, near Halifax, no longer exists. Why you would want to buy a picture postcard of it, I am not too sure; but during the great postcard boom of the early twentieth century, postcards would be made of anything that stood still for long enough … Continue reading Bottoms Mill, Ogden

Postcards From Home : Siddal’s Comet

My relationship with Siddal is somewhat akin to the relationship between the earth and Halley's Comet. Very occasionally we are in close proximity: as a teenager I sought out a pub there that was reputed to have a liberal interpretation of the licensing laws, and many years later my brother lived there for a few … Continue reading Postcards From Home : Siddal’s Comet

What Is Picturesque About Halifax?

Here's a challenge for you! If you had to put together a postcard featuring five views of Halifax and entitled "Picturesque Halifax", which views would you choose? Probably not the ones featured on this vintage postcard from 100 years ago.

Postcards From Home : Southgate Setts

Picture postcards from the first decade of the twentieth century are relatively common: that was when postcards were the text messages of their day, and picture postcard collecting was the hobby of choice. By the 1920s new picture postcards were becoming harder to find.  ​This wonderful colour photograph of Southgate in Halifax dates from that … Continue reading Postcards From Home : Southgate Setts

Postcards From Home : Halifax’s Hospital On The Hill

No doubt the transport engineers who have spent a lot of time and money widening the road outside what is now Calderdale Royal Hospital would be jealous of the wide open spaces on this real photographic postcard from the early twentieth century.  The hospital was opened in 1901 and went under a variety of names … Continue reading Postcards From Home : Halifax’s Hospital On The Hill