506 



HALIFAX HAMMERSMITH. 



the place of devotion, and hence the name of Hali- 

 fax, or Holy Ways, fax being in Norman-French, 

 an old plural noun denoting "highways." Halifax 

 owes its prosperity to the vast increase ot its 

 woollen manufactures from the reign of Henry 

 VII., when the manufacturers in the Spanish Ne- 

 therlands, seeking refuge from the tyranny of the 

 duke of Alva, settled in Halifax. Within a cen- 

 tury, this place became so populous, that 12,000 

 men were sent from hence to join Queen Eliza- 

 beth's troops during an insurrection in the north. 

 In 1U42, the town was garrisoned by the forces of 

 the parliament, whose cause the inhabitants seem 

 to have espoused. Some idea may be formed of 

 the extent and value of the woollen trade by the 

 institution of a law for protection to the clothiers 

 of Halifax against the depredations their goods 

 were exposed to during their manufacture. The 

 clothes being of necessity left all night in the fields 

 to dry, were often stolen. By this local enact- 

 ment, the magistrates were empowered to try and 

 punish all persons stealing property valued at Is. 

 Hd., within the precincts of the forest of Hard- 

 wick. The offenders were taken before the bailiff 

 of Halifax, whose business it was to summon the 

 constables of four townships within the liberty to 

 require four free burgesses to appear and proceed 

 to trial ; if the accused was found guilty, he was 

 executed on the principal market-day, by means of 

 a machine resembling the guillotine. This was 

 called " Gibbet Law," under which it is ascer- 

 tained that, on an average, one execution took 

 place every two years in the century preceding 

 1650 : but on that year, the bailiff of Halifax being 

 threatened with a prosecution, relinquished the 

 custom, and the scaffold was taken down. The 

 jurors, under this law, were not sworn ; and bishop 

 Hall, in his " Satires,'' insinuates that they were 

 not impartial: 



" Or some more straight-laced juror of the rest 

 Impaunellcd on an Halifax inquest." 



The earl of Morton, afterwards regent of Scot- 

 land, while in England in 1566, directed a model 

 of the instrument to be taken, and, on his arrival 

 in Scotland, had one of similar construction made 

 from it. The instrument was so long unused as 

 to obtain the name of the " Maiden ;" but, in 1581, 

 the earl himself was brought to the block, and suf- 

 fered by the machine he had caused to be erected. 



The chief articles of manufacture at Halifax are 

 shalloons, taminets, moreens, shags, serges, baizes, 

 coatings, and carpets ; with narrow and broad 

 cloths and kerseymeres, both for domestic use and 

 for the army. It was some years ago computed 

 that 10,000 pieces of shalloon alone were manu- 

 factured in this parish, considerable quantities of 

 which were exported to Turkey and the Levant. 

 The cloth-hall, or Piece-hall, as it is called, is a 

 handsome edifice of free-stone, containing 315 

 apartments for the reception of goods in an unfin- 

 ished state, which are exhibited for sale to the 

 merchants every Saturday from ten to twelve 

 o'clock. The manufactories are situated in the town 

 and surrounding country, which is covered with 

 villages, the poorer inhabitants of which are em- 

 ployed in spinning, carding, weaving, &c. Sev- 

 eral cotton manufactories have been erected here, 

 and succeed very well ; and wool-cards of superior 

 quality are made in the neighbourhood, which 

 abounds with coal and free-stone. The Rochdale 

 canal affords a medium of commercial intercourse 



with Liverpool, Manchester, and the western 

 district ; and the Calder navigation with Halifax 

 and Hull. 



The parish of Halifax is very large, being seven- 

 teen miles in length, and averaging eleven in breadth. 

 It comprises 124 square miles, or 79,200 acres. The 

 soil is naturally sterile, but it has been highly im- 

 proved. We find in our authorities conflicting 

 statements as to the population of Halifax, which 

 may arise from different views of its boundaries. 

 In the population return of 1841, the figures 

 stand thus : Halifax town, 26,694 ; town and 

 parish, 130.743. 



HALSTEAD; a market-town in Essex, seated 

 on the slope of a gravelly eminence, at the foot of 

 which the river Colne runs, and which is crossed 

 by a bridge at the southern side of the town. It 

 is forty miles distant from London, and has a 

 weekly market on Fridays. The name Halstead 

 is Saxon, denoting a healthy place. A college was 

 founded here in the reign of Edward III., for a 

 provost and eight priests, by Robert Bourchier, 

 lord chancellor of England ; this institution re- 

 mained until the dissolution of the religious houses. 

 The church is an ancient edifice and has its tower 

 surmounted by a wooden spire, which is the third 

 that has been raised upon it : the first was de- 

 stroyed by lightning; the second was erected in 

 1717, at the expense of an apothecary of the name 

 of Firk, on which occasion Prior wrote some verses, 

 but the spire they commemorate was, like its pre- 

 decessor, destroyed by lightning ; after which the 

 present was built. Population of Halstead in 1841, 

 6230. 



HAMMERSMITH; a populous district in the 

 county of Middlesex, on the north bank of the 

 Thames, three and a half miles west from London. 

 Hammersmith comprises Brook-Green, Stanbrook- 

 Green, and Shepherd's-Bush, and its population in 

 1841 amounted to 13,453. Its streets (with the 

 exception of that which extends along the turn- 

 pike road,) are narrow, but the houses have a good 

 appearance, and there are many handsome seats and 

 villas in the vicinity.- .Brandenburgh house stood 

 in this village, on the banks of the Thames. Near 

 the church is a mansion said to be of the same anti- 

 quity with Hampton-court. 



The most remarkable object in this place is the 

 suspension-bridge over the Thames to Barnes and 

 Surrey, commenced in 1825 and finished in three 

 years. The Hammersmith bridge exhibits an ex- 

 ample of construction not common in suspension- 

 bridges ; part of the road-way being supported on, 

 and not hanging from, the main-chains. There 

 being no natural rock on either bank of the river 

 to which the main-chains could be secured, as is 

 the case with most of those bridges to be found else- 

 where, abutments of masonry were required, which, 

 by their weight and magnitude, might be equally 

 effectual. These are built of brick, faced with 

 stone, and measure forty-five feet from back to 

 front, forty wide, and fourteen deep, their top 

 being on a level with the road-way : the weight of 

 each of these masses is about 2160 tons, to resist 

 the pull of the chains. These chains are carried 

 through passages left in the brick work ; and, 

 entering the face of the abutment, proceed to 

 chambers where they are bolted by powerful bolts, 

 at the back of massive cast-iron plates, bearing 

 against the front face of the chambers. The dis- 

 tance between the abutments is divided into three 

 openings, by two suspension towers, or piers, form- 



