Halifax, UK

During our visit to Eureka! and the Minster, we also visited some of the city of Halifax. The town has had a long history in the textile industry, thanks in part to the local wool trade in the Pennines. Much of the development in the town comes from the 18th and 19th centuries when cloth merchants were quite wealthy.

A central part of their work is Thomas Bradley's 18th century Piece Hall, where wool merchants did their trading ("piece of cloth" being the origin of the name). The courtyard is amazingly large and hosts the town market.

Entrance to Piece Hall

The courtyard goes slightly uphill, allowing only two stories on one side

The other side with three stories, a stage, and the steeple just outside (more on that below)

The 315 rooms on three levels now contain a few shops. We were there on a Saturday and walked up to the comic shop on the first floor. Walking over to the used book store, we passed several rooms where tabletop miniature war games (like Warhammer 44,000) were in progress. We bought a book at the store. The fellow gave us a plastic bag that happened to be from WH Smith, a stationery/bookselling chain in England. I said, "You're using bags from the competition?!?" He said, "Oh, they're no competition." We had a good laugh.

Just outside the market is a rather tall and isolated structure. It looks like the remains of a church steeple. A little research shows it is the tower of a Gothic congregational church built in the 1850s. The church was closed in 1969 and arson caused substantial damage in 1971, leading to the demolition of the church. The spire remains.

Wreckage from another time

Back of the spire

In the center of town are several covered areas full of shops and restaurants. We had a nice lunch here. I worked my nerve up and had a jacket potato with savory cheese. It wasn't quite blue cheese (which I don't like) and was, in fact, delicious. Adding ham and mushrooms helped it out.

Arcade looking out to a pub across the street

Covered with glass to let the sun in!

Looking across to another set of shops

They had another building from a bygone era.

Don't see very many of these anymore!

The locals must be very patriotic, for we saw this on the hillside.

Yay English flag!

Visiting Halifax was a lot of fun.

Eureka! The National Children's Museum, Halifax

One weekend on the advice of the parents of J's best friend at school, we drove down to Halifax to visit Eureka!, the National Children's Museum in Halifax (the same trip where we visited the Minster). The drive wasn't too long and a parking lot is conveniently placed right next door. We could see the museum as we walked under the railroad tracks.

Eureka! Children's Museum, Halifax

Outside we discovered an obstacle course and a xylophone-type musical instrument, which were a lot of fun for the children.

Tubular tunes!

Peekaboo!

Building across the lawn billed as a nursery (that's pre-school in American English)

We went inside and looked around the sound exhibit, which had several more musical instruments and other noise making devices that J loved.

Looks like a sci-fi set if you ask me

L enjoyed making colored bubbles in a long tube. The sciencey bit of it was how the lights at the bottom changed color and that made all the bubbles change color.

Okay, maybe she just looked at them

The museum has a lot of areas that are like shops in town--there's a grocer's, a bank, etc. J's favorite was the post office where he played quite a while as the desk worker. He took packages and letters, telling us how much it cost to send them all across the world. For example, a package back to America was five pounds (that's £s), but a letter to a nearby town was twenty-four pounds. Something about the pricing is pretty wonky, if you ask me!

J the Postman

Further on was a garage with many different vehicles, mostly tot-sized, and many different work stations, including a fueling station, wheel-changing station, and safety inspection station (called a MOT in British English).

L the Lorry Driver (that's truck driver in American English)

Front view of the lorry (L is in there!)

Kid-sized wheels for L; I think this was an electric car

J makes an inspection

L loosens left lugs lazily!

Water exhibits were also fun. I was gratified to see this rain barrel display on how good it is to collect rain water and use it for the garden. The house we are renting has just such a rain barrel collecting water from the roof of the rabbit hutch (which is currently unoccupied). The children, especially L, use the water to water plants in the back garden.

Water collection from a roof!

The name of the museum, Eureka!, is from the old story of Archimedes. He shouted "heureka" or "I have found it" when he stepped into his bath and noticed how the water level had risen. He realized he could measure the volume of any object, including odd shapes, by measuring how much water was displaced when the object was submerged. He was so excited by this discovery that he jumped out of the bath and ran through the streets of Syracuse naked telling people about his discovery. This was back in the 200s B.C., so it probably wasn't as scandalous as it would be today. The incident is memorialized at the front of the museum.

Archimedes' screw, delivering water to...

Archimedes's bath and statue

Children can turn the screw at the bottom and fill the tub with water. Archimedes' statue then falls in splashing out the water in a childishly delightful way.

Outside, around back they have a railway passenger car that we explored. L pretended to be a passenger while I was the conductor.

One happy customer

Also outside a large dragon adorns one of the back walls. I guess since he's mythological he doesn't get to be inside the science museum.

Waiting for unsuspecting visitors snacks to come by!

The museum has rotating exhibits and admission includes a year-long pass, so we may go back again to see new things and other exhibits that we didn't make it to this time around.

Halifax Minster

The Minster Church of St. John the Baptist in Halifax has been in existence for almost a thousand years. The current church was built in 1438 on the site of two previous churches. Many slight additions and alterations were made throughout the years. A major restoration happened in 1879 under Sir George Gilbert Scott. The church is in daily use.

The exterior is a bit blackened, which is likely due to the heavy industry of the 1800s.

Halifax Minster

East side of the church

Mommy and L give a sense of scale

The minster does have some lovely gargoyles keeping the roof dry.

Dog or dragon?

A person

Visitors enter the church through a small porch that has some artifacts from the church's history.

Bits from the history of the Minster

The nave is dark, small, yet charming. While light doesn't flood in like it does in other churches, there is a sense of peace and security.

Nave

Pews with kneeling cushions

Several chapels adorn the side aisles of the church. On the right is the Holdsworth Chapel. Robert Holdsworth was Vicar from 1525 to 1555. The altar table is from the 17th century.

Holdsworth Chapel

Further up the right aisle is the chapel dedicated to the Duke of Wellington's Regiment (now the 3rd Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment). The flags are the colors of the regiment. Above the entrance is a coat of arms which I presume is Wellington's.

Chapel of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment

Coat of arms flanked by lion and unicorn!

In the center of the church is the main altar with a 19th century pulpit off to the right.

Main altar

Pulpit

The three misericord stalls in the sanctuary are thought to come from Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds during the dissolution of the monasteries (1500s). 

Misericord stalls

More recent stalls are found in the choir leading up to the high altar at the far end of the church.

Carvings in the choir area

The high altar at the back of the church

The ceiling is decorated with coats of arms from various vicars of Halifax, local families, and the tribes of Israel.

Ceiling with coats of arms

The organ is also located here. The first organ was a Snetzler installed in 1766. Some of the original pipes are still in use, but the current organ was rebuilt by Harrison and Harrison in 1928.

Organ

The Rokeby Chapel is on the left aisle. Built in memory of William Rokeby, Vicar form 1502 to 1520, it is now used as a cry-room. They had some toys and books which kept J and L busy while we parents looked around.

Rokeby Chapel

Altar piece detail

The baptismal font is located at the back of the church. The font cover dates from the 15th century. Originally it was painted green, red, and blue. During the 1600s it was removed to a private residence and eventually restored to the church.

Baptismal font

Just behind the font is the tomb of Archdeacon Musgrave, who was Vicar from 1827 to 1874.

Musgrave's tomb

Close up of the tomb

On the walls around the tomb are various memorials and bequests to the church. One panel includes the brass pew labels from when families would rent the pews they occupied for services.

Bequests around the west door of the church

Brass pew labels

Right by the entrance is the shop and "Old Tristam." He was a licensed beggar who asked for alms in the church porch at the end of the 1600s. He continues his work in effigy, collecting for the poor.

The minster shop

"Old Tristam" asking for donations

By the shop is a very impressive memorial to Doctor John Favour, Vicar from 1593 to 1623. He founded a local grammar school in 1585 that still runs today.

Favour Memorial

Several other memorials line the walls of the church.

Rawson Family memorial

Other memorials

For more on what makes a minster a minster, check the wikipedia article. Nowadays, the status is granted to churches in England with a long historical tradition, especially cathedrals and collegiate churches. Halifax's parish church was granted minster status in November 2009.