HALIFAX, a town and large parish in the wapentake of Morley, of the west riding of the county of York, 196 miles from London. The town is situated in a valley, through which the river Calder runs in its course to join the Aire at Wakefield. It is an ancient borough, and once had criminal jurisdiction even in capital offences, the punishment of which was inflicted by a machine called the Maid of Halifax, which was copied in Scotland, and afterwards by Dr Guillotin in France, whose name it has since borne. As the town is the centre of the woollen trade of the whole extensive parish, a magnificent building, called the Piece Hall, for the sale of goods, has been erected, covering more than 10,000 square yards, and containing upwards of 300 separate rooms, in which individuals deposit and dispose of their goods. This, and a venerable church, distinguished by its size and its numerous monu-
ments, are the only public buildings which merit notice. The streets are narrow, some of them steep, and have rather a gloomy appearance, though the houses, mostly of stone, are large and well built. The population amounted in 1801 to 8886, in 1811 to 9159, in 1821 to 12,628, and in 1831 to 15,382.
The parish is nearly sixty miles in length, and has a medium breadth of seven miles. It contains twenty-three townships, whose population amounts to upwards of 100,000 persons, by whom are carried on extensive manufactures of woollen, and, latterly, of cotton goods, which commerce disperses over every country of the globe; and the extent and value of the machinery by which the operations are executed are beyond calculation. By the law of 1832 Halifax was erected a borough, and elects two members. The number of voters is about 530. The population of the parish amounted in 1821 to 92,050, and in 1831 to 109,899.