Piece Hall

Today’s the day ....................... to explore

 We found ourselves rather stuck today because one of the locks further eastwards along the canal was broken.  They were waiting for a diver to come to inspect the damage, but in the meantime, it was impassable.  So we took the chance to leave the boat and take the train to nearby Halifax and do a bit of exploration there.

And what a lot there was to see there.  We went straight to the awe-inspiring Piece Hall – a unique monument to an age when cloth manufacture was domestically based.  The huge square, surrounded by buildings served as a central market place where buyers and sellers could meet to exchange goods and merchandise.  The name refers to the lengths of cloth that were sold – a ‘piece’ being a length of cloth some 30 yards long.  It was built around 1779 and was a highly visible statement of the great wealth, pride and ambition of the cloth manufacturers.

Today, after a huge restoration programme costing many millions of £s, it looks more like something you would find in Italy or Greece than in Yorkshire.  But back in early 70s, it was in a state of disrepair and it came perilously close to demolition.  It was saved by just one Council vote!  The extra shows the interior of the equally magnificent Halifax Town Hall, where no doubt the voting took place.  It is notable for its design and interiors by Charles Barry (architect of the Houses of Parliament, Westminster) and his son, Edward Middleton Barry ...................