HALIFAX, a municipal and parliamentary borough and market-town of England, West Riding of Yorkshire, 36 miles W.S.W. of York. It stands on a gentle acclivity rising from the Hebble, a tributary of the Calder, and is almost entirely surrounded by hills. Though in some parts the streets are narrow and irregular, the improvements of late years have been so great that the town generally presents a new and handsome appearance. A few old plaster houses with carved oak framework, of the reign of Henry VIII., still remain, otherwise the buildings are of stone supplied from quarries in the neighbourhood. The town is well-paved and lighted with gas, and is plentifully supplied with water. It has a number of elegant buildings, principally of modern date. The parish church of St John is a large and handsome edifice of Gothic architecture, erected at different dates, and surmounted by a highly ornamented tower 117 feet in height. Trinity Church, erected in 1795, is a handsome Grecian building with Ionic pilasters, and an elegant tower with dome at its west end. St James's, built in 1831, is in the pseudo-Gothic style, with turrets at the west end. Besides the Episcopal places of worship there are chapels belonging to the Independents, Baptists, Wesleyan and other branches of Methodists, Quakers, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics. It has a number of day, evening, and Sunday schools, including a national, Lancastrian, and a grammar school. There are a number of literary and scientific as well as of charitable institutions. The infirmary is a large and elegant building, with excellent accommodation, and affording medical and surgical aid to outdoor as well as indoor patients. There are also public baths, assembly-rooms, theatre, savings bank, and mechanics' institute. The Piece Hall is a magnificent quadrangular structure occupying more than two acres of ground, and having 315 rooms for the lodgment of goods which are open for sale once a-week.
Halifax derives its importance from the manufacture of cloth, which was commenced here in the beginning of the 15th century. It now ranks next to Leeds and Bradford as a seat of the woollen and worsted manufactures. The principal staples are shalloons, camlets, figured vestings, moreens, bombazines, crapes, russels, serges, baizes, coatings, broad and narrow cloths, kerseys, cottons, and silks. A considerable number of persons are employed in making machinery. The situation of Halifax is also favourable to the development of its industry, having canal communication with the River Calder and the Rochdale Canal, and being connected by railway with Manchester and Leeds. According to an old law, the magistrates of Halifax were invested with the power of inflicting capital punishment on any thief taken "hand-habend," "back-berend," or "confessand," to the value of 13½d. The execution took place on the first market-day after conviction, by means of an instrument somewhat resembling the guillotine. Halifax is governed by a mayor, ten aldermen, and thirty councillors, and returns two members to Parliament. The parish of Halifax is one of the largest in the kingdom, having an area of 75,740 acres, and containing (1851) 149,257 inhabitants. Pop. (1851) of borough, 33,582. Registered electors, 1200.