Discover 15 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Halifax (United Kingdom). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Halifax Borough Market, Halifax Town Hall, and Shibden Hall. Also, be sure to include Bankfield Museum in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Halifax (England).
Table of Contents
Halifax Borough Market
Market in Halifax, England. Borough Market is a Victorian covered market in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. The market occupies a town centre site between Southgate, Albion Street and Market Street. The glass and wrought iron covered marketplace, surrounded by stone built shops and accommodation, was built between 1891 and 1896 and opened by the future King George V and Queen Mary. The design included three public houses on the Market Street side and fishmongers' shops on Albion Street with the remaining exterior shops all being butchers' shops. The award-winning market is open six days a week with some 125 market stalls.[1]
Address: Market St, HX1 1DZ Halifax
Halifax Town Hall
Halifax Town Hall is a grade II* listed, 19th century town hall in the town of Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It is notable for its design and interiors by Charles Barry and his son, Edward Middleton Barry, and for its sculptures by John Thomas.[2]
Address: Town Hall Crossley Street, HX1 1UJ Halifax
Shibden Hall
600-year-old medieval manor and grounds. Shibden Hall is a Grade II* listed historic house located in a public park at Shibden, West Yorkshire, England. The building has been extensively modified from its original design by generations of residents, although its Tudor half-timbered frontage remains its most recognisable feature.
One of its most notable residents was Anne Lister who inherited the hall from a relative. Lister has been described as being the "first modern lesbian" due to her "love.. the fairer sex" that she documented in her diaries.[3]
Address: Lister's Rd, HX3 6XG Halifax
Bankfield Museum
Museum in Halifax, England. Bankfield Museum is a grade II listed historic house museum, incorporating a regimental museum and textiles gallery in Boothtown, Halifax, England. It is notable for its past ownership and development by Colonel Edward Akroyd, MP, and its grand interior.[4]
Address: Boothtown Rd, HX3 6HG Halifax
Rochdale Canal
Run. The Rochdale Canal is in Northern England, between Manchester and Sowerby Bridge, part of the connected system of the canals of Great Britain. Its name refers to the town of Rochdale through which it passes.
The Rochdale is a broad canal because its locks are wide enough to allow vessels of 14 feet (4.3 m) width. The canal runs for 32 miles (51 km) across the Pennines from the Bridgewater Canal at Castlefield Basin in Manchester to join the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire.
As built, the canal had 92 locks. Whilst the traditional lock numbering has been retained on all restored locks, and on the relocated locks, the canal now has 91. Locks 3 and 4 have been replaced with a single deep lock, Tuel Lane Lock, which is numbered 3/4.[5]
Halifax Minster
Gothic-style minster with pastoral care. Halifax Minster is the minster church of Halifax, Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. The church is dedicated to St John the Baptist. Formerly the parish church of the town, it was granted minster status in 2009. Halifax Minster is one of three churches in the county of West Yorkshire to be given this honorific title; the other two are Dewsbury Minster and Leeds Minster.
Halifax Minster, which stands on the site of an earlier Norman church, was built during the 15th century, although the Rokeby and Holdsworth Chapels were not completed until around 1530. The organ was built by John Snetzler in 1763 and installed in 1766. Other notable features of the church include a medieval font cover, Jacobean box pews, and the tombstone of 19th-century diarist Anne Lister.[6]
Address: Church Street, Halifax
The Piece Hall
Shops and cafes in a historic cloth hall. The Piece Hall is a Grade I listed building in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It was built as a cloth hall for handloom weavers to sell the woollen cloth "pieces" they had produced.[7]
Address: 1 Blackledge, HX1 1AF Halifax
Victoria Theatre
Theatre in Halifax, England. Victoria Theatre in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, is a large theatre that opened in 1901.[8]
Address: Halifax, 2 Fountain Street
Dean Clough
Business park in Halifax, England. Dean Clough in Halifax, Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England, is a group of large factory buildings built in the 1840s–60s for Crossley's Carpets, becoming one of the world's largest carpet factories. After years of declining production it closed in 1983, when it was bought by a consortium led by Sir Ernest Hall which developed the Grade II listed site for various commercial and cultural uses. It is now seen as a leading example of successful urban regeneration. Dean Clough is located on the north side of Halifax near the Victorian North Bridge and the modern flyover sections of the Burdock Way relief road system. The converted mills now house about 150 large and small businesses and arts venues including Crossley Gallery and several other art galleries and the Viaduct Theatre, home base for the Northern Broadsides theatre company. Phoenix Radio 96.7 FM has its studios in D Mill and Lloyds Banking Group has offices in G Mill.[9]
Address: 139 Dean Clough, HX3 5AX Halifax
Eureka! Museum
Museum in Halifax, England. Eureka! The National Children's Museum is an interactive educational museum for children in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, with a focus on learning through play. It is run as an educational charity and not-for-profit organisation. Eureka! is based on the North American model of children's museums, aimed at families with children aged 0–11 and encourages hands-on inter-generational learning.[10]
Address: Discovery Rd, HX1 2NE Halifax
Shroggs Park
Park in Halifax, England. Shroggs Park is a park in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It covers 9.7 hectares and is Grade II listed with Historic England.[11]
Address: Shroggs Road, HX3 5BX Halifax
Wainhouse Tower
Tower in Halifax, England. Wainhouse Tower is a folly in the parish of King Cross, on the south west side of Halifax, Calderdale, West Yorkshire, in England. At 275 feet, it is the tallest structure in Calderdale and the tallest folly in the world, and was erected in the four years between 1871 and 1875. The main shaft is octagonal in shape and it has a square base and 369 steps leading to the first of two viewing platforms which is open to the public, and a total of 405 to the top viewing platform which is usually closed to the public. The tower is open to the public during bank holidays, and is a Grade II* listed building.[12]
Address: Wakefield Gate, Halifax
All Souls' Church
Church in Halifax, England. All Souls Church, Halifax, is a redundant Anglican church in Haley Hill, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church is open to visitors at limited times.[13]
St Mary's Church
Parish church in Halifax, England. St Mary's Church or St Marie's Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Halifax, West Yorkshire. It was built from 1836 to 1839. It is situated on the corner of Gibbet Street and Clarence Street, next to Burdock Way. It is the first Post-Reformation Roman Catholic church built in Halifax.[14]
Shibden Valley
Scenic spot in England. Shibden Valley is to the east of Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, where the community of Shibden lies. The name of the Shibden valley comes from scepe dene meaning "sheep valley" or "Sheep Vale". The area was heavily involved in wool production but was also a site of much coal production and flagstones from Northowram, Southowram and Hipperholme areas.
The Red Beck stream flows down the valley, joining the River Calder at Brookfoot. It runs for 6 miles and drains an area of 6 square miles.
Southowram stands on the southern side of the valley, and Northowram stands on the northern side of the valley. Shibden Valley stretches from Halifax through to Queensbury in the south-west of Bradford. A medieval road, the Magna Via, crosses west to east in the lower part of the valley over Beacon Hill. This was an ancient road between Halifax and Wakefield and the road still retains its Hollow way character with stone setts for some of the route. The A58 also crosses the valley as does the Caldervale line between Bradford Interchange and Halifax, though this is in a 1,105-yard tunnel under Beacon Hill.
Shibden Hall lies in the valley set in the grounds of Shibden Park which is accessible to the public and has walks, a boating lake and a miniature railway.[15]