Piece Hall
| Piece Hall | |
|
Yorkshire | |
|---|---|
 The Piece Hall | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SE09542507 |
| Location: | 53°43’19"N, 1°51’25"W |
| City: | Halifax |
| History | |
| Built 1779 | |
| Information | |
| Website: | www.thepiecehall.co.uk |
The Piece Hall is a grand Georgian building in Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire, of tiers and collonades enclosing a courtyard of 66,000 square feet, and which today serves as a multi-let commercial building for small business, with shops, cafés and offices. It is a Grade I listed building, and the only surviving 18th Century cloth trading hall in the United Kingdom.[1]
The hall was built as a cloth hall for handloom weavers to sell the woollen cloth "pieces" they had produced.[2] It opened on 1 January 1779, with 315 separate rooms arranged around a central open courtyard. As factories started up in the early nineteenth century the trade in handwoven wool declined and around 1815 the rules were changed to allow the sale of cotton goods.
In 2016 – 2017 the Piece Hall was redeveloped, reopening in July 2017.[1]
Construction
An 1831 description of the Piece Hall says:
The Piece Hall was erected by the manufacturers and is a large quadrangular building of freestone occupying an area of ten thousand square yards with a rustic basement storey and two upper storeys fronted with two interior colonnades which are spacious walks leading to arched rooms where goods in an unfinished state were deposited and exhibited for sale to the merchants every Saturday from ten to twelve o clock. This structure which was completed at an expense of £12,000 and opened on 1 January 1779 unites elegance convenience and security. It contains three hundred and fifteen separate rooms and is proof against fire.—Lewis, Samuel: A Topographical Dictionary of England[3]
Redevelopment
The Piece Hall closed on 16 January 2014 for redevelopment work; for repair and conservation and installation of new services. A three-storey extension was built too at the south-eastern corner of the building, between the Square Church spire site and Square Chapel.
On reopening, the Piece Hall will be a centre of trade, culture and heritage – continuing a tradition stretching back well over two centuries. The courtyardw as levelled to provide an open-air piazza of 66,000 square feet with bars, restaurants, shops, cafés and creative businesses, and available to hold events. The hall now contains an art gallery, a heritage centre and interpretation spaces.
The Hall is managed by the Piece Hall Trust, a charity.[4]
Miscellany
On the exterior of the Piece Hall close to the West Gate is a pair of handprints (of which one has since disappeared), which have given rise to modern folklore, especially given the failed attempts to eradicate.
The 1996 film, Brassed Off featured a scene set and filmed on location at the Piece Hall. In the film it is the location of the National Brass Band Championships - Yorkshire Area Qualifying Contest.[5]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Piece Hall) |
- Piece Hall
- Halifax Town: Halifax Piece Halll (18th May 2017)
- Robert F. Gatje: 'Great Public Squares: An Architect's Selection' (Norton, 2010) ISBN 978-0-393-73173-6
- National Heritage List 1273056: Piece Hall, Westgate, Halifax
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 'Halifax Piece Hall opens after £19m regeneration' – BBC News, 1 August 2017
- ↑ National Heritage List 1273056: The Piece Hall, Westgate, Halifax
- ↑ Lewis, Samuel: A topographical dictionary of England
- ↑ The Piece Hall Trust - Registered Charity no. 1156948 at the Charity Commission
- ↑ "Halifax's Piece Hall restoration plan approved". BBC. 5 December 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-20616083. Retrieved 21 August 2016.