Cow Green

Cow Green, Halifax: Cattle Fairs, Preachers and a Lost Town Centre

Cow Green may be best remembered by some Halifax residents for its former multi-storey car park, but the area’s history reaches back centuries — to a time when it was known as Halifax Green.

A place for cattle and commerce

Cow Green was once an important gathering place for farmers and cattle dealers. Halifax’s Winter Cattle Fair was held there before being transferred to the Victoria Cattle Market on Gibbet Street in the mid-nineteenth century, around 1856–1858.

The trade brought people into the town and supported a cluster of inns and beerhouses. Historical records name establishments including the Old Brown Cow and the Lord Nelson. These were not simply places to drink: public houses around Cow Green served the farmers, dealers and other visitors who came for the market.

The name itself needs a little caution. One local-history explanation suggests Cow Green may have been associated with a cattle market, while nearby Bull Green has its own traditional story linking it with bull-baiting. The exact origins of both names are not conclusively established.

An early home for Methodism

Cow Green also has a place in Halifax’s religious history. In 1749, the town’s first Methodist preaching room opened there. The meetings attracted enough interest for a small chapel to be opened in Church Lane in 1752.

It is a striking contrast: the same area that hosted livestock fairs and market-day drinkers also became an early meeting place for a growing religious movement.

From old streets to modern roads

Cow Green’s older street scene changed substantially as Halifax expanded and modernised. Buildings on the west side were demolished when the road was widened in 1971, part of the wider transformation of the town-centre road network.

That same year, Halifax’s first multi-storey car park was built at Cow Green. It provided hundreds of parking spaces but was eventually closed in 2013 after structural inspections found it to be in very poor condition. The concrete structure was demolished in February 2016.

Today’s Cow Green is very different from the former cattle-fair ground. Its story, however, connects several layers of Halifax life: agricultural trade, public houses, early Methodism and the post-war drive to reshape town-centre traffic.

Editorial status: The former name Halifax Green, the cattle fair, the 1749 Methodist preaching room and the twentieth-century road and car-park changes are documented in local-history and council sources. The origin of the name “Cow Green” remains uncertain.

This is a rare view that captures the area between the Crown and Anchor and the view below. Sutcliffe's can be seen on both pictures which helps. On the far left once stood the White Hart Inn and was demolished in 1897. The building with the large gable end was once the Golden Plough Inn, which also closed in 1897 to make room for the trams.

Glass and China rooms

Businesses here around the time of this photo of Cow Green

1 - Miss Marjorie Shaw - modiste

3 - Edward Goodall & Son - hardware store

5 - C. Watson - hardware factor

7 - Kings Head - pub

9 - J.W Birch - saw maker

11 - Newsagent Supply Co.ltd

13 - A. Sutcliffe - blind specialist

15 - George P Wilkinson

The Craven Heifer was called the 'Globe' in 1785

Cow Green. This block of buildings eventually gave way to a 3 storey car park until it was also recently demolished.

Mount Street

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Back in the 1980's Jack Redfearn did loads of sketches which appeared in the courier. Unfortunately unlike those of Arthur Comfort or John Berbiers they were not, as far as I know, reproduced in book form. This one of Jack's, is of Back Lane which ran parallel to Cow Green linking Lister Lane to Mount Street. You are looking towards Lister Lane, Bull Green in the distance.

Steve Gee

Cow Green Industrial Society

In 1851, the Halifax Working Men's Co-operative and Provident Society moved into premises at Cow Green. This was part of the early development of the co-operative movement in Halifax. The organisation later became the Halifax Industrial Society, which eventually operated numerous shops throughout the district.