Fire In Halifax #2

Fifty years ago I took a series of photographs of a fire in Halifax. It was just a relatively small fire in one of the mills; none of the photographs actually show the fire itself. It was the fire engines, the hose pipes and, in particular, the watching crowds that fascinated me then, and still … Continue reading Fire In Halifax #2

Overlooking Halifax

This is a new scan of a negative I must have taken fifty or more years ago. It was taken from the churchyard of St Thomas' Church, Claremount, and shows the bottom part of Halifax back in the days when the buildings were still soot-black and the chimneys that made them so were still smoking. … Continue reading Overlooking Halifax

1738 : Lee Bank Mill, Halifax

A photograph of Lee Bank Mill in Halifax which I took in the early 1970s. It was an age of closed and crumbling mill buildings - an industrial heartland being reclaimed by vegetation.

Stone, Chapel And Chimney

In suspect that this photograph dates from around 1970. Whilst the precise date may be lost, the location is undoubtedly West Yorkshire and that part of the county characterised by stone walls, chapels and mill chimneys.

That’s History For You

It started as the Wheatsheaf, way back when. The current building is part of Halifax Borough Market and dates from the 1890s, but it seems that a Wheatsheaf pub was on Market Street before that. In the 1970s, the pub name was changed to The William Deighton, in memory of the excise officer murdered by … Continue reading That’s History For You

Drainpipes At The Charity Gala

I took this photograph over fifty years ago at the Halifax Charity Gala. Even though it was the infamous "swinging sixties"; times were simpler then, and high-tech entertainment consisted of a hardboard bowing alley and some half drainpipes.

Back Street, Halifax

All I have about this old negative from my collection is the hint of a caption which is "Back Street, Halifax"; and even this I suspect I invented 20 years after taking the picture. This makes it about as reliable as stories of Robin Hood written in the 19th century.

Restoring Fixby To Its Rightful Place In The World

I live in Fixby, which today is in Huddersfield. According to Wikipedia, "Fixby is traditionally part of Huddersfield". This is not the case at all - the township of Fixby was traditionally part of Halifax. It was only transferred to Huddersfield (and Kirklees) when the M62 motorway was built and someone decided that the motorway … Continue reading Restoring Fixby To Its Rightful Place In The World