This is another image from fifty years ago, taken in the Shaw Lane area of Halifax. It has been a bit of a challenge to pin down where I was when I took this photograph, because - as far as I can work out - it doesn't exist anymore. However, it appears that this is … Continue reading The Halifax Entrance To The Channel Tunnel

Some of this isn't there any more. Some of it is. I can't be entirely sure what is, and what isn't, because it is a long time since I walked up this narrow cobbled street in Halifax. This photograph was taken over fifty years ago, and I don't think I have been up this little … Continue reading Some Of It Is, Some Of It Isn’t

You could still walk down Shaw Lane, Halifax, today and see little change to this view I took over fifty years ago. The mill buildings are still there, the cobbles are still set into the street. The wooden shed and railings are gone, the stone is a bit cleaner and there has been a bit … Continue reading Change

As with all of my old photographs of Halifax, the two questions that arose as soon as I scanned this old negative were time and place. Place, in the broadest sense, is relatively easy: that is clearly Halifax in the background, and using a similar approach to the way forensic scientists track a bullet's trajectory, … Continue reading Burdock Way Wasn’t But Mack’s Offices Were

The origins of large-scale public sculpture in Halifax go back even further than the magnificent Striding Concrete Man (aka Burdock Way). Who can forget the monumental plastic bowling pin of a decade earlier? Built on a scale to rival Charles Barry's town hall, for much of the sixties it stood like a beacon to cultural imperialism in … Continue reading Pin OK Oh!

Burdock Way Flyover Under Construction (c. 1971) (Alan Burnett) In recent years, large scale outdoor public sculptures which create enduring landmarks have become popular. Examples are Antony Gormley's Angel of the North in Gateshead and Andy Scott's The Kelpies in Grangemouth, Scotland. Few people realise that Halifax was a pioneer of this artistic movement, with … Continue reading We Called It Burdock Way

I can't quite pin down the exact location of this photograph I took back in 1974. It is Halifax, without a doubt; that is Beacon Hill, more than likely: but the scene must have changed over the decades, and I can't pinpoint it on Google Earth. It might be that I have scanned the photograph … Continue reading A Different Time, A Different Place

JOHN MACKINTOSH & SON, ALBION MILLS, HALIFAX (c1974) My father worked at Mackintosh's in Halifax. Every so often, he would bring a bag of what were known as "Throw-Outs" home; misshapen chocolates which were sold off cheap to the factory workers. Whilst this meant a plentiful supply of chocolates for me as a child, you … Continue reading Quality Street

GEORGE SQUARE, HALIFAX (1960s) This is a photograph of George Square in Halifax, taken - as far as I can remember - in the mid 1960s. You don't get to see much, just a few neon signs and fuzzy shop windows, but you don't need to see much to spark a memory. This is Halifax's … Continue reading Neon Memories