My photo dates back to the 1960s and shows the junction of Cripplegate and Mulcture Hall Road in Halifax. There's a textbook-full of history in the buildings and a library's worth in the names of these two historic streets that run next to Halifax Minster. From healing wells to tolls for grinding corn, there's history … Continue reading Picture History
Tag: Halifax
The Cauldron
On countless occasions in my youth, I would walk through Northowram village, along Howes Lane to the point where the earth ends and Shibden Valley begins. I would focus my camera on the lip of the cauldron that was Halifax, on the other side of the valley, and try to capture the smoke, soot and … Continue reading The Cauldron
A Beacon Hill Timeline
I sometimes think that one of my most useful contributions to history would be to produce a Beacon Hill timeline. So many old photographs of Halifax feature Beacon Hill as an ever-present dramatic backdrop, and the changing degree of vegetation on the hill could provide a useful timestamp in dating such photos. After consulting the … Continue reading A Beacon Hill Timeline
Film Sets
Shaw Lane in Halifax back in the 70s and 80s was a bit like a vacant film set: spectacular backgrounds waiting for a drama to unfold. You could have made any number of films or gritty TV series with those granite sets in the foreground, those sooty walls in the background, and the occasional mill … Continue reading Film Sets
Paris Pub
I've always been attracted to this part of Halifax: the steep hills, cobbled streets, brooding mills ..... and, of course, the delights of the Shears Inn, whose stone-tiled roof features in this photo of mine from 40 or 50 years ago. There's a story which says the area's name - Paris Gates - came about … Continue reading Paris Pub
More Shapes
Some shapes are instantly identifiable: the distant sweep of the moor-lined hills and the grand lines of a dye-works chimney that had ideas above its industrial station. The whole scene viewed from a promenade that, even after global warming has done its worst, will never see the sea. Sunset behind Wainhouse Tower, viewed from Albert … Continue reading More Shapes
Nostalgic Thoughts
When Greenwoods was on't corner, and Marks at top of town; when one day you could wait up, and next day you'd wait down. When sun was always shining, and it'd never, never rain ...... why did folk wear thick coats and rain hats, perhaps you'd care to explain.
Pinball Wizard
The colours aren't particularly real, and you can't make out much of the scene (it was taken in Akroyd Place, Halifax). It is the lines, however, that are fascinating: the way they bounce your eye around the scene like a ball bearing in a pinball machine.
Rainy Days And Sundays
The photograph of Crown Street in Halifax is from a few years ago, and some of the shops have changed since it was taken. It is still raining however. Rainy days and Sundays - not to mention Mondays - always get me down.
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