epw036847 ENGLAND (1931). Gibbet Street, Hampden Place and environs, Halifax, 1931

Murder of Emily Pye - Location of shop in 1957 White-haired 80-year-old Emily Pye had run her grocery shop in Gibbet Street, Halifax. Until Saturday, June 8th, 1957; when she was found dead by her niece and her husband. Emily had been murdered; battered about the head with a fireside companion set and the shop’s till had been emptied. Today, years on, the murder is still a mystery and looks likely to remain so.

The People's Park. Still there in all it's magnificence (2013).

End of Park Road. In the 1970s the end house here was a doctor's surgery.

The Gibbet Street branch of the Halifax Industrial Society Ltd. (the local Co-op). This is the large building on the left in the attached photo. The wall of Lister Lane Cemetery can also be seen just beyond the Co-op. On the right are the streets of West Hill Park, John Crossley's model housing scheme. Gibbet Street took its name from the local 'gibbet', a guillotine which executed local felons. This stood about half a mile from this point, closer to Halifax Town Centre. The local gibbet had executed criminals since 1280 and in fact Dr. Joseph Guillotine visited Halifax while researching a method of official punishment during the French Revolution.b The last local executions took place on April 30th 1650. The original gibbet mound still stands (2013) and a replica gibbet has been constructed on it.

Gladstone Road at the heart of West Hill Park, standing between Hanson Lane and Gibbet Street. West Hill Park was a "model housing scheme" of 185 houses built between 1863 & 1868 by John Crossley, founder of Crossley Carpets, a major Halifax employer. The houses had small yards and were of a much higher quality than many of the surrounding 'back-to-back' streets. A public Turkish bath (just out of shot in this photo) was part of the scheme. The only bomb to fall on Halifax in World War II fell close to here (just out of shot). West Hill Park still stands and is a popular residential area with the local Pakistani community. (2013)

Sir Francis Crossley's Almshouses, Margaret Street. Homes for 22 people "of good charcter". Each almsman received eight shillings and sixpence (42 and a half pence) a week and almswomen received six shillings (thirty pence) a week. The attached photo shows the almshouses in 2010.

Belle Vue Mansion (formerly Crossley House). Built in the French Renaissance style in 1857 for Sir Francis Crossley, head of the huge Crossley Carpets empire. He sold it to Halifax Corporation in 1890 and they built on an extension which became Halifax Central Library. Another part of the mansion became Belle Vue Museum and a Children's Library. The library moved a to a new building in the town centre in 1983 and the mansion became the HQ of a financial company. It is currently (2013) a wedding venue.

Hopwood Lane

Lister Lane

Gibbet St

Lister Lane grave yard

crossley house later Bellview libary

Belle View with war memorial