Halifax, England

Halifax is a town in the county of West Yorkshire, northern England, with a population of about 90,000. It is well known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward. Halifax Piece Hall[?] was the cloth hall where the trading of the woollen cloth pieces was done. It was opened on January 1, 1779, was only open for business for two hours on a Saturday morning, and contained 315 merchants' trading rooms. After the mechanisation of the cloth industry, the Piece Hall was used as a public market and still is today. The Calderdale Industrial Museum[?] is housed within the Piece Hall.

Since 1974 Halifax has been the centre of the metropolitan district of Calderdale[?], until 1986 a part of the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire. Halifax has given its name to a bank which started as a building society in the town.