In 1769, a Tax Collector was killed on a dark, cold night on the outskirts of Halifax.  In March I am hoping to lecture on the reason for this murder – and its consequences – at Square Chapel. In this brief article, and it successor, I can only set out some basic facts.

Bell House

During the 1760s, the clipping and counterfeiting of gold coins was becoming a problem for the authorities in greater Halifax parish; and the activities of the so-called Cragg Vale coiners did not go unnoticed by William Dighton, Supervisor of Excise for Halifax district since 1759. For some years he had attempted to take action against such practices, with the support of Halifax attorney Robert Parker, but they were unable to produce firm evidence to bring any major culprits to justice.  The coiners’ leader was known to be David Hartley of Bell House, Erringden, called by his friends “King David.”  A few on the edges of his gang were taken, but no-one of significance.

  In 1769, things changed, when Dighton was approached by a certain James Broadbent of Mytholmroyd, also on the fringes of the gang. He was to inform on some other minor members, resulting in various arrests during that year.

Unable to obtain direct evidence against David Hartley, Dighton again enlisted the help of Broadbent, allegedly promising 100 guineas for him to betray Hartley and another close associate, James Jagger. At a meeting in Bradford, Broadbent swore his statement before a magistrate, Edward Rookes Leedes of Royds Hall, in the presence of Dighton, stating that he had witnessed the two men clip four Guineas at Bell House.  This statement was all Dighton needed to arrest Hartley and Jagger, which he did on 14^th October, with the help of attorney Robert Parker. Hartley was arrested at the Old Cock Inn, Jagger at the Cross Pipes Inn, both in Halifax. The two men were committed to York Gaol, where they joined other alleged coiners to await trial at the Spring Assizes.

However, Hartley’s arrest did not deter the other coiners; and Broadbent was angered at not receiving his bribe.  The clipping men wanted revenge; and the days of William Dighton were numbered. But first, the coiners attempted to secure the release of their leader from York Gaol.  

An unhappy Broadbent, spilled the beans as to his ‘treachery’ to another coiner, and the two went to visit Isaac Hartley, David’s brother. Despite Isaac’s explicable fury, he was persuaded that Broadbent now believed David was innocent, and could retract his statement made to the magistrate.  The men travelled together to York, where they met with the prisoners while they exercised in the gaol courtyard. With David Hartley’s agreement, a revised statement was given to a York attorney, which it was hoped cleared the two prisoners of their crimes. But it did not work; bail for David was not forthcoming, so Isaac Hartley and Broadbent reluctantly returned to Cragg Vale. At attempt to retract the statement given to magistrate Leedes was also made, but it brought no success; for the latter believed the original account. David Hartley and Jagger remained in prison until their trial, yet took an active role in plotting the events that followed.   

Isaac Hartley now held a meeting with other coiners at an alehouse in Mytholmroyd, but not The Dusty Miller as has often been claimed. They agreed there was no alternative but for Dighton to die. Yet to find men willing to carry out such a dreadful act would not be easy; and they would expect to be well paid.

Coiner Thomas Spencer was tasked to seek men willing to accept 100 guineas to carry out the dastardly deed. Two names, Matthew Normington and Robert Thomas, recognised as being sufficiently desperate for the money, were put forward. They were engaged for the job.

Following several unsuccessful visits to Halifax in search of their prey, Normington and Thomas finally brought William Dighton’s life to an end. Shortly after midnight on 10^th November 1769, the exciseman was shot near his home, the site being approximately where Swires Road joins Savile Park Road, Halifax.  The killers also rifled his pockets and stole the valuables he was carrying. Hearing gunshots nearby, Dighton’s daughter Susannah, and their servant Mary, rushed outside.  The dead body of the exciseman lay in the roadway, his body showing clear marks of having been trampled on by boots post mortem.

To be continued in April 2019…    David C Glover

FUNDRAISING TALKS !

ALL NEW ILLUSTRATED HISTORICAL TALKS AT SQUARE CHAPEL, SPRING 2019

BY DAVID GLOVER 

2 p.m.  Wednesday 6^th March

THOSE CRAGG VALE COINERS!

CLIPPED GOLD – AND MURDER!  BODIES HUNG IN CHAINS ON BEACON HILL!

DAVID ATTEMPTS TO RETELL THIS EXTRAORDINARY TALE,

250 YEARS AFTER WILLIAM DIGHTON THE EXCISEMAN WAS MURDERED

2 p.m.  Wednesday 13^th March

MYSTERY!  GRAND DUCHESS ANASTASIA or ANNA ANDERSON?

THE YOUNGEST DAUGHTER OF RUSSIAN TSAR NICHOLAS II

WAS BELIEVED MURDERED IN 1918. 

BUT IN 1920 A YOUNG WOMAN IN BERLIN CLAIMED TO BE HER! 

THE MOST ABSORBING 20^TH CENTURY ROYAL MYSTERY

2 p.m.  Wednesday 20^th March

OLD HALIFAX PHOTOS – PART 8

A FRESH SELECTION:

SEE PAST VIEWS OF WOODSIDE MANSION AND WOODSIDE BATHS;

OLD HOUSES SUCH AS CASTLE CARR AND UPPER SALTONSTALL;

AND BE AMAZED AT FORGOTTEN BUILDINGS IN SOUTHOWRAM BANK,

CLAREMOUNT, AND LEE BANK!

BOOK VIA SQUARE CHAPEL BOX OFFICE 01422 349422 OR ONLINE

Tickets £6.00 [£5.00 Concessions]

This month’s poem is by Anne Caldwell, a poet I had the pleasure of meeting when we performed a reading together in Bradford. I have warm memories of that evening and am delighted to include this beautiful and uplifting poem which is aptly entitled ‘March.’ We can start thinking about spring at last!

MARCH

You’re kneeling in the borders.

Above your hat, four terracotta pots like coronets.

Snowdrops are sucked mints,

Narcissi shoots spiking the flower beds.

The underside of everything’s turned over:

fresh earth, worm casts, spiders’ nests.

Water shimmies in the trough

and pirouettes all over your yard.

The bench is too wet to sit on yet.

The broom is bright with yellow buds.

The lavender’s wired with dried-up heads

but it’s re-sprouting.

You’re quick as a vole. Giddy with lengthening

daylight hours as you clip the yew.

The lane winds up the hill –

ribboning the unfenced moors.

Taken from Painting the Spiral Staircase, published by Cinnamon Press.

Anne Caldwell is a freelance writer and education specialist. She currently works for the Open University as an Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing and is doing a PhD. More information about Anne can be found here http://annecaldwell.net/

It’s almost that wonderful time of year again and you’re probably trying to work out where the best place to take your significant other would be. Halifax offers a wonderful selection of restaurants that cater to a variety of tastes and cuisines, so you’ll be able to find the best place to celebrate your love.

TripAdvisor has a great tool that allows you to select different properties for the type of restaurant you are looking for. One of these selections is titled “Good For” with options like “Bar Scene” and “Business meetings” but the one that suits this day is “Romantic”. This will curate the list of restaurants based on how romantic customers have reviewed them to be.

Below are the top 10 romantic restaurants in Halifax, where they are, when they’re open and what kind of food they serve (this list does not reflect the views of Skircoat Green Directory or its staff). 

1. Towngate Brasserie

European, Italian

2 Townsgate, Hipperholme, Halifax, HX3 8JB

Open: 17:30 – 21:30

Reserve a table: 01422 207929

2. The Hare and Hounds

International, Grill

Denholme Gate Road, Hipperholme, Halifax, HX3 8JQ

Open: 17:00 – 21:00

Reserve a table: 01422 751995

3. Sapore

Italian

5 Central Street, Halifax, HX1 1HU

Open: 17:30 – 21:00

Reserve a table: 01422 320434

4. Pollino

Italian

Warley Road, Halifax, HX1 3SU

Open: 17:00 – 22:00

Reserve a table: 01422 354440

5. Julio’s Italian Restaurant

Italian

Princess Street, Halifax, HX1 1TS

Open: 17:00 – 21:00

Reserve a table: 01422 349449

6. Brasserie at the Bull

European, British

5 Bull Green, Halifax, HX1 5AB

Open: 12:00 – 23:00

Reserve a table: 01422 330833

7. 22 The Square

Italian

Black Clough, Northowram, Halifax, HX3 7HW

Open: 17:00 – 23:00

Reserve a table: 01422 200022

8. Restaurant at Holdsworth House

European, British

Holdsworth House Hotel & Restaurant, Halifax, HX2 9TG

Open: 18:00 – 21:00

Reserve a table: 01422 240024

9. Denman’s Restaurant

British, Seafood

14 Wade House Road, Halifax, HX3 7PB

Open: 18:00 – 21:00

Reserve a table: 01274 447925

10. Restaurant at Shibden Mill Inn

British, Pub Food

1 Shibden Mill Fold, Halifax, HX3 7UL

Open: 12:00 – 23:00

Reserve a table: 01422 365840

Winter can be a difficult time of year to feel motivated to do anything, let alone sit in a cold shed-studio making work! Some tactics I fall back on when feeling unmotivated and uninspired include doodling in my sketch pad (in the warmth of the house), reading and watching artists’ lectures on youtube. The idea of ‘productivity‘ as churning out work that is exhibition-ready is not sustainable and often counter-productive. Sometimes a quieter period of reflection, learning and ‘messing about’ is a better use of time.

Last year I took part in the 64 Million Artists January Challenge of creating something everyday – with a mini brief of a theme or a challenge to use a new material. This was great to play around with new ideas and techniques, plus be inspired by others’ contributions. Maintaining a self-motivated art practice is sometimes literally about practising or repeating a process or skill that is pushed into new directions or becomes more advanced. I notice that my ideas or focus on certain objects and materials can go in cycles and that’s interesting to me in terms of recycling; ideas and materials can be recycled in art practice just as waste materials can be recycled.

Mark Twian thought everything was recycled. He wrote, “For substantially all ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources, and daily use by the garnerer with a pride and satisfaction born of the superstition that he originated them; whereas there is not a rag of originality about them anywhere except the little discoloration they get from his mental and moral calibre and his temperament, and which is revealed in characteristics of phrasing.”

Although originality is a contentious point, being aware of other artists’ practices as a frame of reference but not duplicating them or plagarising them is important to me. Sometimes aspects are similar with common artistic concerns, but finding my own voice and what is important to make and do for me is my main concern. In reviewing my practice and previous work, I can see recycled ideas or obsessions with types of objects and materials. Currently it’s toilet rolls and these have previously appeared in my work in 2006 and 2012. Perhaps I’m on a 6-yearly cycle!

My recent work-in-progress includes an adapted/dysfunctional object of a toilet roll tube fitted onto a child’s paint roller (titled Toilet Roller), and some daily drawings that I’m calling Daily Constitutional. The drawings are made using an upended toilet roll tube as a stencil and I’m using leftover coffee and beetroot juice as colour washes before overlaying with pen. By making art out of waste, I’m playing around with ideas of value and questioning what is rubbish/waste/cr*p. I’m making these drawings every day as something that is ‘good for my constitution’ – fulfilling a creative need – and also playing around with euphemism. This comes full circle to the ‘feeling cr*p’ at this time of year and making questionably cr*p art out of cr*p materials.

Alice Bradshaw http://www.alicebradshaw.co.uk/

Museum of Contemporary Rubbish http://museumofcontemporaryrubbish.blogspot.com/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/alicebradshawartist/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/alicebradshaw.co.uk/

Twitter https://twitter.com/alicebradshaw

Upcoming:

Dwell Time, Huddersfield – Sheffield, Spring 2019
http://www.alicebradshaw.co.uk
http://dwelltimepress.wordpress.com
http://buttonitstories.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MWMHalifax/

The Piece Hall will be hosting a free event on January 25 to celebrate the launch of their new season of sculpture on Burns Night, which falls on his birthday this year.

Burns Night celebrates the life and works of poet Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796). Suppers are usually held on or around his birthday and it is occasionally called Robert Burns day.

This tradition follows celebrations by his close friends in 1801 and has been established as a national day of celebration for Scottish people and has spread across the globe.

The courtyard will be illuminated by fire lanterns surrounding the installation of David Murphy’s ‘The Blanket’.

Attendees will be able to enjoy foot-stomping music and hoedown classics from the Last Chance Saloon band while fire-breathing performers wow and amaze.

Of course, all of the Piece Hall’s resident bars and restaurants will be open to provide some brief respite from the cold.

Additionally, in celebration of Burns Night, there will be several pop-up food stalls providing traditional foods for the occasion, as well as hands-on activities to keep your children entertained.

Well Head Mansion Part 4 

Following the death of Mrs Doherty Waterhouse in 1916, Well Head’s contents were sold off, but the mansion and grounds were sold separately.  They were purchased by Frank Lee, of Lancastrian heritage, though his wife Kate Ingle was from Bradford.  For many years Frank Lee was chairman and director of W and R K Lee, Ltd, of Lock Hill Mills, Sowerby Bridge and of Triangle, cotton spinners and doublers. W and R K Lee were the sole suppliers of yarn to the Crossley mercerising plant at Dean Clough. In the early 1930s, Frank joined John Crossley and Sons, very soon becoming chairman of the Board. In 1936, the Lee Company was reconstituted and Crossleys obtained a controlling interest. It was during these years, as a consequence, that Crossleys started making new fabrics Duravel and Karvel.

Frank Lee died in 1956; listed building status for Well Head had been achieved in 1954.  In 1958, John Crossley and Sons Limited purchased the whole of the share capital of W and R K Lee, the firm’s name being changed to John Crossley and Sons (Croslee Yarns) Limited. The firm was later known as Croslee Yarns Limited.

Mr Lee’s widow Kate lived on at Well Head until 1968.  She died in 1973 aged 98, leaving one daughter, Frances Joan, Mrs Edward Hoyle.  The house – which had deteriorated badly – was sold.

From the early 1970s, Halifax Corporation (later Calderdale MBC) decided to develop the Well Head estate saving the house but not preserving it. The delay proved fatal. Even its Listed status could not save this ‘John Carr’ house; neglect led to damage beyond repair, and its dire condition meant that it had to be demolished in 1975.  Before long its site was occupied by new houses; and its grounds were slowly re-developed.

Changes ahead at Halifax Antiquarian Society

Halifax Antiquarian Society enters a new era in 2019.  From January, we shall be holding our Lectures in The Caygill Room at the south-east corner of The Piece Hall.  This is on the second floor, and fully accessible by lift; parking is easily available nearby, and the area is well lit after dark.  To hold events in such a great heritage location is quite an honour.

Halifax Antiquarian Society was founded in 1900, and is our oldest Local History group, and covers Calderdale as well as Halifax. A series of lectures on various aspects of our past is held throughout the year, on Tuesday evenings.  You do not have to be a member to attend.  However, members receive a fine volume of historical research articles – The Halifax Antiquarian Society Transactions – each autumn.

Each of our Lectures begins at 7.30 pm, and the first three scheduled for 2019 are:

Tuesday 15th January

William Priestley, Mrs Sunderland and friends – Music in early 19^th Century Halifax

By David Glover, President

Tuesday 19th February

Paternalism in 19th century Halifax – particularly Col Akroyd and the Crossleys

By Chris Toole, member

Tuesday 5th March

Locked Away: Unlocking the lives of women in the West Yorkshire Asylums 1818 – 1918

By Jennie Kiff, HLF Heritage consultant

We would be delighted if you can join us! Why not take a look at our website?  Membership is only £25 a year.  Perhaps your friend might appreciate a gift membership for Christmas?  If you do not have an internet connection, you can write to our Membership Secretary, David Jennings, at 115 Siddal Lane, Halifax, HX3 9JS.

Hope you all enjoy a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Best wishes

David C Glover

President, Halifax Antiquarian Society

https://sites.google.com/site/halifaxukhistory/home

The month of January is named after Janus, the Roman god of doorways and new beginnings. It’s a time to look to the future with hope even when times are hard (and it’s dark and cold outside). The poem I’m hoping will brighten your New Year is by Gaia Holmes.

Gaia Holmes is a Halifax-based writer who has published 3 collections of poetry and won many prizes and awards for her work. She runs ‘Igniting The Spark’, a weekly writing group at Dean Clough and many of my own poems have been inspired by these wonderful workshops https://gaiaholmes.wordpress.com/igniting-the-spark-creative-writing-workshops-in-halifax-2/

Hope 

Though it seems so dark

and the ceiling of the world’s a wound

and so many hours have been bruised,

and so many lives have been broken,

there are stars up there tonight

and we must name them,

we must love them,

we must whistle them down like dogs

in faith of their shine

and they will be loyal.

They will show us where their bones are.

They will teach us

their soft, bright tricks of devotion.

 

And even on the blackest nights,

when hope and protest

are knotted in our throats,

when our smiles have been tarred

and buckled with the weight and stain

of shadows,

we have to remember they are there,

those glittering sky-hooked prayers,

prickling and humming,

embedded in that thick and lovely blue,

guarding us from spite,

keeping the moon from slipping,

herding the pale lamb-like dawns

into our sleeping houses

where they flow

through all our rooms

fluent and loving as milk.

To hear Gaia say her poem, please follow the link

http://<iframe src=”https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=C0ED2960C38AB7E3&resid=C0ED2960C38AB7E3%21235&authkey=AM4Q01aoB_ukJOg” width=”98″ height=”120″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”></iframe>

Gaia’s latest poetry collection, Where the Road Runs Out, is published by Comma Press https://commapress.co.uk/authors/gaia-holmes/ and can be purchased from Book Corner at the Piece Hall.

You’ve probably heard of the ‘Elf on a Shelf’ trend by now, but let’s catch you up just in case. The trend comes from the name of a book that features an elf that is sent by Santa to make sure children behave in the run up to Christmas. It involves a small elf toy which visits your home and you change its position each day. Usually, it will be getting up to mischief in your home.

As Christmas is upon us, we thought we’d share 24 fantastic ‘Elf of a Shelf’ ideas we came across while browsing the web for inspiration for our own homes. Each morning your kids will wake up to new a surprise as they search the house to find out what the elf has been up to while they are sleeping. It’s the perfect family activity to get into this Christmas and could be a new tradition for you and your loved ones.

Check out the amazing ideas below…

Hi! I’m Raggedy Annie.  Although a ‘scouser’ by birth I have spent most of my life in Calderdale where I’ve had a ‘dual career’ working both as a qualified nurse and as a textile artist and running textile related courses. Until recently, I regularly contributed to this publication and have come out of retirement to tell you all about the amazing Textile Response to the We All Have a Story to Tell project that I led for the Calderdale Libraries, which was installed within a beautiful glass cabinet late last month.

Halifax Central Library Textile exhibit

The project to create the work has been funded by Arts Council England for Calderdale Libraries. The overall project is entitled ‘We All Have a Story to Tell’ and comprises of four elements – with written word, video and music being the other contributors. The Textile Response focusses on Halifax and comprises of three large banners plus a number of smaller pieces of work. It has been designed and worked by a group called the ‘Piecemakers’, of which I am a member and the Textile Artist lead.

The ‘Piecemakers’, sixteen women and one man, have worked for the past four years to create this piece. We looked at the geography, history, industry, architecture, culture and people of Halifax.

Notable buildings in Halifax

One side of each banner features many of the important buildings of Halifax including the Piece Hall, Shibden Hall, Dean Clough and the Halifax Building Society. The buildings have been worked in a variety of textile techniques including fabric applique, transferring photographs to fabric, and hand and machine embroidery. We also used techniques such as lino-print to create designs which we then embellished with stitch. Along the bottom of each hanging we used a technique known as dry-point etching to print images of three gates of the Piece Hall, onto which Goldwork embroidery was worked. The colonnades which flank the gates are also worked in Goldwork and surface embroidery. The backdrop to the buildings shows the local landscape with additional photographic images, plus the skyline, complete with a Stumpwork representation of The Beacon.

Notable Haligonians

The reverse sides of the banners feature some ‘notable Haligonians’, famous and infamous people of Halifax. Using a technique called Crazy Patchwork, we made panels relating to a number of these people including Violet Mackintosh and Percy Shaw. A horizontal banner stretches across the front of our work with the word HALIFAX in Goldwork over iconic images the town. The base of the display case has a flock of needle felted sheep grazing on a rag rug meadow! One of the exhibits may puzzle viewers – a knitted Dalek! This represents Mark Wright of Halifax who writes for Dr Who. There is also a tin of Quality Street which spills out into the display; each chocolate exquisitely recreated in tiny stitched beads.

Meet the Piecemakers

To complete the display, we all had great fun making ‘mini-me’s’! These are little models of ourselves, and some more of ‘Halifax folk’, dressed in tiny hand-stitched clothes. They sit on cotton reels as another reference to the rich textile history of this town. Do go and have a look if you get chance. Postcards are also available of some of the pieces.

Love from Annie

Raggedy Annie runs course in all the techniques used in this project, plus many more, from her studio at Croft Myl, Halifax. For more information visit www.RaggedyAnnie.co.uk, or www.facebook.com/annie.lancaster.948. Courses can be arranged to suit you, for groups of between 2–12 people.

This Sunday, November 11, people across the United Kingdom will commemorate the 100^thanniversary of the end of World War 1 with Remembrance Sunday events. There is plenty going on around Halifax and across Calderdale for those who want to take part in this special day.

There have already been several events this week leading up the centenary that you may have missed but we have you covered for the weekend ahead.

Halifax

At 10.05am members of the council and public will gather at the Town Hall ahead of the Remembrance Day parade that will be led by the Mayor and Mayoress of Calderdale Council. The parade will leave the Town Hall at 10.20am and make its way to the Cenotaph Service and Act of Remembrance. Finally, it will arrive at Halifax Minister for the Remembrance Day Service at 11.15am.

Brighouse

A Service of Remembrance will be held at St Martin’s Parish Church at 3.00pm. This will be followed by a wreath laying service at Ryding Park.

Elland

Members of the public will gather at John Street at 9.25am in preparation for the procession that will leave at 9.35am towards Hullen Edge Memorial. Following the service that will take place at the War Memorial, the procession will reform on Hullen Edge Road where a salute will take place before heading to All Saints’ Church for a Remembrance Service.

Hebden Bridge

The procession will gather at St George’s Square at 9.45am and will leaves towards the Memorial Gardens on New Road at 10.00am. A Service of Remembrance will follow at St James’ Church at 10.45am to wrap up the events in Hebden Bridge.

Illingworth and Bradshaw

There will be a service at St John’s Church in Bradshaw at 9.45am followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at 11.00am.

Mytholmroyd

In Mytholmroyd, people will assemble at Elphaborough Close on Cragg Road at 2.00pm and proceed to the Memorial Gardens at 2.15pm. Following this, a service will take place at St Michael’s Church at 2.45pm as part of the day’s Remembrance events.

Northowram

At 10.00am there will be a combined service at St Matthew’s Church in Northowram. People will then assemble at the Memorial Stone in Northowram Village at 10.50am for the laying of the wreaths.

Ovenden and District

People are invited to meet at St George’s Chuch at Lee Mount at 9.30am where a service and wreath-laying ceremony will take place at 10.00am.

Shelf

Remembrance events will start at Witts car park at 10.40am, where people will gather before the parade begins towards the Memorial Gardens. There will be a short service and wreath laying at 10.45am before proceeding to St Michael’s Church where the Service of Remembrance will take place before a parade back to Witts car park.

Siddal

Siddal will host a Service of Remembrance at St Mark’s Church at 10.30am and will include a wreath-laying ceremony at the War Memorial.

Sowerby Bridge

People will gather at Bairstow Mount at 10.25am and the parade will leave at 10.40am for a service at the War Memorial in Crow Wood Park.

If you are unable to make it to any of these events, we hope you still take part in two minutes of silence at 11.00am in honour of Remembrance Sunday.