Halifax, a thriving market-town, municipal, parliamentary, and county borough, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, is situated on the river Hebble, a feeder of the Calder, on the slope of an eminence, and is almost wholly surrounded by hills. It is 43 miles SW. of York, and 194 miles NNW. of London. Dr Whitaker derives its name from the four ways travelled by pilgrims converging towards the parish church, called Holy Ways; fax (as in Carfax) being Norman-French for 'forks' or ways. A more popular derivation is that it means 'Holy Face,' from a representation of the head or face of John the Baptist having been at a remote period kept in a chapel where now stands the parish church of St John the Baptist. Its situation is pleasing, and its general appearance handsome; while its ample supply of water-power and of coal, its facilities for transport both by water and by leading lines of railway, and its position in proximity to many of the great towns of the north of England contribute materially to its manufacturing and commercial importance. Some Flemish artisans had settled here in the reign of Henry VII. The ecclesiastical architecture of Halifax strikes every visitor. The parish church of St John, restored in 1879, is a fine specimen of Perpendicular Gothic; 'All Souls,' built at the expense of Edward Akroyd from designs by Sir G. G. Scott, is one of the best and most elaborate of all the churches of which he is the architect. The 'Square Church,' belonging to the Congregational body, was erected in 1855, and there are in all about forty Non-conformist churches. The town-hall, opened by the Prince of Wales in 1863, is a very ornate Renaissance edifice, from designs by Sir Charles Barry; the new post-office was opened in 1887. Another important building is the Piece Hall, erected in 1779 for the reception and sale of manufactured goods; it was presented to the corporation by Sir S. Ibbetson in 1868, and is now used as a Market Hall. Among the numerous public and private educational institutions of Halifax are the Heath grammar-school, founded in 1585, and the Blue-coat School. The school-board has the control of fully two-thirds of the school-children. The Crossley and Porter Orphan Home and School was built by the Crossley brothers at a great cost, and has an endowment of £135,894. In 1887 Mr J. Porter of Manchester (formerly of Halifax) augmented the endowment fund by a gift of £50,000. Halifax has four parks—Savile, Shrogg's, Akroyd, with free library, museum, and art-gallery, and the People's Park. The last, the gift of the late Sir F. Crossley (q.v.), is tastefully laid out from designs by Sir Joseph Paxton, and cost about £40,000. There are two theatres (one dating from 1888). The Public Libraries Act has been adopted; there are also a Mechanics' Institute and the Dean Clough Institute erected by the Crossleys for their work-people. There is a strong co-operative society (Halifax Industrial), with central stores erected in 1861 at a cost of £17,400, and twenty-eight branch stores.
The worsted and carpet trades are the staple industries. Crossley's carpet-works, the largest in the world, employ more than 5000 hands. The manufactured goods, other than carpets, are chiefly worsted coatings, fancy dress goods, damasks, and merinos. Cotton fabrics and wool-cards are manufactured, while dyeing and hosiery trades are on an extensive scale. There is also some trade in corn; iron, chemicals, boots, and mill-machinery are manufactured, and freestone is quarried. The water-works, which are very complete, have cost the corporation about £675,000. Pop. (1851) 33,582; (1871) 65,510; (1881) 73,633; (1891) 82,864. The borough since 1832 has returned two members to parliament.
A strange old local law, relinquished in 1650, known as the Halifax Gibbet Law, was enacted here at an early period of the woollen manufacture, for the protection of the manufacturers against the thievish propensities of persons who stole the cloth when stretched all night on racks or wooden frames, called tenters, to dry. The Gibbet Law provided that all persons within a certain circuit, who had stolen property of or above the value of 13½d., were to be tried by the fifth-burghers within the liberty; and, if found guilty, they were handed over to the magistrates for punishment, and were executed on the first market-day following by means of an instrument similar to the guillotine. See Watson's History of Halifax (1775; ed. by Leyland, 1869).