a market-town in the county of Essex, on an acclivity rising from the river Colne, 46 miles E.N.E. of London. The town, though irregularly built, has a neat appearance, and the streets are generally wide and clean. The parish church, a fine Gothic building in the perpendicular style, has been recently almost wholly rebuilt. The Church of the Holy Trinity is also a handsome building, in the early English style, erected in 1844. Halstead possesses a grammar and other schools, mechanics' institute, savings bank, market-house, and several charities. Market-day, Friday. Manufactures of silk and velvet and straw-plaiting are chiefly carried on. Pop. (1851) 5658.