Stravaiging

Glimpses of the Past

Last week I had the good fortune to be in Halifax.

Yorkshire is packed with textile history from wool to cotton to silk and I have only explored a fraction of it so far.

Let me share my visits to The Piece Hall and to Shibden Hall with you...

The Piece Hall is 'a rare and precious thing' as it is the sole surviving eighteenth century cloth hall. It opened in 1779 to enable the trading of 'pieces' of fabric. A piece denoted a 30 yard length of handwoven wool cloth and the building was designed to enable the whole length of a piece to be examined by the purchaser. This Georgian hall was proudly constructed to display the wealth and ambition of the cloth manufacturers and they chose to reflect the columns and colonnades of Italian architecture. Wealthier traders had one or more of the 315 rooms to work from and to secure their bolts of cloth (it is just one room deep at any point). Individual weavers and the like would keep their stock on wagons in the grassed central square and if it rained...

Perhaps the most surprising fact is that the Piece Hall was only ever intended to trade for two hours per week!

By the 1820s the industrial revolution had changed the trade forever and the hall's uses became more varied. In 1868 it was gifted to Halifax Corporation and within a few years was a recognised marketplace for produce, fish and game.

Today the building is restored to its full glory and the central square has been configured to host performances and fairs of all types as well as acting as a public meeting place. A guided tour is well worth taking - so much to learn and see.

Coat of Arms on The Piece Hall gates

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Shibden Hall is something quite different. The house is set in parkland a mile from the centre of Halifax and the earliest parts date from 1420. A self-guided tour through the rooms is fascinating (and the website lets your explore in 3D too).

This was the home of Anne Lister for many years. She is immortalised in the 'Gentleman Jack' TV series (HBO/BBC) which I have not yet seen. An assiduous diarist who recorded every detail of her daily business, domestic life and travels abroad, she was a force to be reckoned with.

The Hall is rich in detail. The 'housebody', the main section of the building, has fascinating stained glass which was reused from another property. The fishy one denotes the devil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Red Room is named after the frieze around the top of the walls.The bed dates from the 1630s and you can perhaps just see a section of rope across the footboard. Mattresses were supported by ropes laced tightly across a bedframe - which is where the expression 'good night, sleep tight' originates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't see any text about the little log cabin quilt in the cradle but it was vintage at least, given the shredded state of some of the silk strips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hall has been a museum since 1934 and externally there are a collection of reconstructed craft workshops as well as a workers' cottage, apothecary and ancient aisled barn. The proggy/proddy rug hangs on the wall in the cottage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The description of typical 'cures' in the apothecary was enough to make you shudder. I think I remember reading of powdered woodlice and a wine of worms.

I will leave you with this image taken on an early morning walk. I reckon it sums up Yorkshire - industry and the good green earth.