HALIFAX, a town in the west riding of Yorkshire in England, seated on the river Calder, in W. Long. 2. 0. N. Lat. 53. 45. It has the title of an earldom, and is very eminent for the clothier trade. The parish is said to be the most populous, if not the most extensive, in England: for it is above 30 miles in circumference; and, besides the mother church at Halifax, and 16 meeting-houses, has 12 chapels, two of which are parochial. What is a little singular, all the meeting-houses here, except the quakers, have bells and burying grounds. The woollens principally manufactured here are kerseys and shalloons. Of the former it is affirmed, that one dealer hath sent by commission 60,000 pounds worth in a year to Holland and Hamburg; and of the latter, it is said, 100,000 pieces are made in this parish yearly. The inhabitants here and in the neighbouring towns are so entirely employed in these manufactures, that agriculture is but little minded. Most of their provisions of all sorts are brought from the north and east ridings, and from Lancashire, Cheshire, Nottinghamshire, and Warwickshire. The markets are very much crowded for the buying and selling provisions and manufactures. The cloths, at the first erecting of the woollen manufactures in these parts, having been frequently stolen off the tenters in the night, a law was made, by which the magistrates of Halifax were empowered to pass sentence on and execute all offenders, if they were taken in the fact, or owned it, or if the stolen cloth was found upon them, provided also the crime was committed, and the criminal apprehended, within the liberties of the forest of Hardwick. These found guilty
were executed in the following manner: an axe was drawn by a pulley to the top of a wooden engine, and fastened by a pin, which being pulled out, the axe fell down in an instant, and did its work. If they had stole an ox, horse, or any other beast, it was led with them to the scaffold, and there fastened by a cord to the pin that held up the axe; and when the signal was given by the jurors, who were the first burghers within the several towns of the forest, the beast was driven away, and the pin plucked out, upon which the axe fell and did its office. This severe and summary course of justice gave occasion to a kind of litany, which, it is said, is often in the mouths of the beggars and vagrants who usually frequent these places, viz.
From Hell, Hull, and Halifax, good Lord deliver us:
though neither the engine, nor manner of proceeding against them, are now in use. The Maiden of Scotland, and the Guillotine of France, were similar instruments. See MAIDEN and GUILLOTINE.