HISTORY
History of the Piece Hall - the 19th Century
The Colonnade, Piece Hall
Trade in the Piece Hall started to decline within a few years of the start of the 19th century.
The need for the Piece Hall disappeared as factories started to produce large quantities of cloth which merchants could purchase directly.
In 1815, in an attempt to boost business, the rules were changed to permit the sale of cotton as well as wool.
The Piece Hall was used for a number of special events, including a firework display by Don Pedro (1816),
the first balloon ascent in Halifax (1824), the first Yorkshire Band Contest (1854) and a visit from the famous Blondin,
who walked across the courtyard on a tightrope sixty feet above the ground (1861). From about 1832 the Piece Hall was also
used for political nomination meetings and celebrations. In 1838 it was the scene of a celebration of Queen Victoria's Coronation, in 1856
there was a celebration to mark peace with Russia and in 1863,
16,000 people gathered in the Piece Hall to welcome the Prince of Wales.
In 1836 the market day was changed from Saturday to Wednesday in a doomed attempt to stimulate more trade.
Crabtree's History of Halifax, published in 1836, describes the Piece Hall - then called the Manufacturers' Hall - like this:-
There is a boldness of conception of this building which produces an effect rather imposing than otherwise; it was erected in the years 1775 - 1779.
It is a large quadrangular stone structure, occupying a space of 10,000 yards, with a rustic basement storey on square cippi,
and above, two other stories fronted by two entire colonnades, within which are spacious walks leading to arched rooms,
intended as repositories for the goods of the several manufactories; the number of small rooms amounting to 315.
The distances of the columns is about eight feet and a half, equal to the width of the rooms, each of which has one sash window and a door to the galleries.
Situated on a descent towards the East, that side is three stories high; the first story has an arcade which is continued as far as the centre of the North
and South sides; the West side consists only of two stories.
The building is 110 yards in length, and 91 in breadth. The centre is occupied by a grass plot. It is proof against fire and thieves.
With respect to the first adds Dr Whitaker, nothing about it can be consumed but the roof; and as for the latter, had the portable goods
of the Foresters of Hardwic been so collected and so secured of old, the axe might have rusted and the gibbet have rotted down,
in the interval between two executions.
It was erected at the expence of the merchants and manufacturers of shalloons and other woollen goods within the Parish,
for the accommodation of themselves and the merchants and buyers frequenting the market of Halifax.
The hall was opened for business on the 2nd January 1779; and its total cost was upwards of £12,000.
Its internal arrangement is vested in a committee of the principal manufacturers who have an interest in the success of the undertaking,
and who have adopted a code of rules and regulations for the observance of all who frequent it: they are posted at the principal entrance.
Public meetings are held in the Hall, with the permission of the proprietors, the area being admirably adapted for the purpose.
It is also usual for the candidates for the representation of the West Riding to address their Halifax constituents in this place.
The hustings for the election of members for the Borough are also erected here, on the East side."
List of Occupiers 1850
By 1854, very little cloth trading took place but some of the shops were still occupied. In 1851
The porter was banned from keeping pigs in the former "South Low Room" because of the smell
and in 1857 Richard Mitchell asked for a gas fire. Permission was refused and the shops remained unheated.
This description of the Piece Hall, taken from White's Directory of Leeds and the Yorkshire Woollen District 1858, shows how the use of the building has changed:-
The Piece Hall, erected in the years 1775 - 1779, by the shalloon and other worsted and woollen manufacturers and merchants,
at the cost of £12,000, is a large quadrangular stone structure, occuping a space of 10,000 yards of land given by Mrs Caygill
in what was formerly called Price's Square. It is 100 yards long and 91 broad and the centre is occupied by a grass plot.
Being on a descent, the eastside has three, and the other sides only two stories, with a rustic basement story, or square cippi.
Each story is fronted by an entire collonnade within which are spacious walks leading round the whole square,
and having columns in front opposite the partitions of the rooms, each of which has a door and a sash window to the galleries.
The rustic story has an arcade on the east side, which is continued as far as the centre of the north and south sides.
There are 315 separate rooms, but many of them are now unoccupied, the factory system having greatly reduced the number of small stuff manufacturers
in the surrounding country, and most of the larger ones now having warehouses in various parts of this town, or in Bradford,
where the Piece Hall, after being long nearly deserted, was sold in 1853, and its site occupied by warehouses and shops.
Halifax Piece Hall is an excellent place for public meeting and entertainments [see What's On for modern entertainments in the Piece Hall], affording room and shelter for a large concourse of people.
The Saturday merket is well supplied with provisions and appears to be held by prescriptive right, as there is no record of it having been established by charter. Two annual fairs for the sale of cattle, horses etc. are held on June 24th and the first Saturday in November; the first is also the pleasure fair, being the festival of St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of the parish church."
In 1868 the Piece Hall was given to the Local Authority and in 1871 it became a wholesale fish, game, fruit and vegetable market.
This description from Kelly's Post Office Directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire was written in 1871:-
"The Piece Hall was erected in 1779, at a cost of £12,000: the site was given by Mrs Caygill on a lease of 5,000 years, at 5s per annum:
the building is a stone quadrangle, and occupies a square of 10,000 yards: the east side had three stories,
and the other side two stories; each story has a colonnade in front; there are 312 separate rooms but most of them are at present unoccupied.
Here, in the early part of the present century, the merchants of London and the Continent made large purchases.
The centre is lawn, where the hustngs for elections are erected; public meetings and entertainments take place here [see What's On for modern entertainments held in the courtyard].
In June, 1871, the Corporation, finding how much additional market room was required, resolved to convert it into a wholesale market
for the sale of vegetables. On the occasion of its re-opening for this purpose, the mayor re-named the building,
and it has since been known as the Market Hall."
Piece Hall in the 18th Century
Piece Hall as a wholesale market
© Stephanie Marriott,
www.piecehall.info
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