Square Road, Halifax —
The First Brick Houses in Town

Square Road, Halifax: the first brick houses, a newspaper’s birthplace and an electrical pioneer

Square Road sits beside Halifax’s historic Piece Hall and Woolshops, but its story reaches back to the town’s Georgian expansion. Its surviving buildings and old photographs reveal a place where handsome houses, wool warehouses, religious landmarks and early industry stood close together.

The name can be confusing: Square Road was associated with The Square, a nearby residential area, rather than a perfectly square street layout.

Georgian houses with an unusual setting

In the 18th century, the area was developed on land known as The Hartshorn or Sunderland Fold. John Caygill bought land there from the Sunderland family in 1714, and houses were subsequently built around a central garden. Some of the houses have been attributed to architect John Carr of York, although that attribution should be treated cautiously unless supported by firm documentary evidence.

The arrangement gave the neighbourhood a more spacious, planned character than many of Halifax’s tightly packed older streets. The Piece Hall later formed its southern boundary, while the nearby Talbot Inn and assembly rooms were important landmarks.

Much of the old Square was demolished for redevelopment in 1959, but Square Road still preserves traces of this earlier townscape.

Where the Halifax Courier began

One of Square Road’s most memorable claims to fame is its connection with local journalism. The first issue of the Halifax Courier was printed on 8 January 1853, and the newspaper’s early premises were at No. 9 Square Road.

The Courier would go on to chronicle the people, businesses and changes of Halifax for generations. Its early address is a reminder that the town’s public life was not confined to grand civic buildings: important institutions could begin in ordinary commercial premises.

Wool warehouses and a building saved by its history

A particularly important survivor is 31 Square Road, originally a pair of wool warehouses built in 1864 for wool merchants Isaac Cooper and John Crossley. Designed by John Hogg, the building has an unusual triangular plan and a façade of buff sandstone.

Its later life was less genteel: it became known as the Hughes Corporation, a bar and diner. When demolition was proposed as part of highway improvements, heritage campaigners objected. In 2019, Historic England gave the building Grade II listed status, recognising its architectural and industrial importance.

It is a striking example of how a building can outlast its original purpose and acquire new significance as the surrounding town changes.

The church spire that survived demolition

The skyline above Square Road is dominated by the spire of Square Congregational Church. The church was designed by Joseph James, with funding from the Crossley family. Its foundation stone was laid on 10 March 1855, and it opened on 15 July 1857.

Its tower and spire rise approximately 235 feet. The main body of the church was demolished in December 1976 after fires and storm damage, but the tower and spire were retained. They now form part of the setting of Halifax Central Library and Archives, which opened in 2017.

Nearby, Square Chapel dates from 1772 and is another important reminder of Halifax’s strong tradition of nonconformist worship.

An industrial street with several lives

Square Road’s history combines domestic architecture, journalism, wool trading, religion and industry. The surviving warehouse at No. 31 and the church spire tell very different stories, but both reflect the wealth and ambition that shaped Victorian Halifax.

The street has also been affected by road improvements and redevelopment, which removed some older buildings while leaving others in place. Its historic photographs are especially useful for understanding how the Square, the Piece Hall and the streets leading towards Woolshops once fitted together.

"The lofty brick houses at the Square, Halifax — among the first brick buildings in a town of stone. From a Halifax newspaper feature"

A New Era in Building

Halifax is a town of stone. Always has been. The dark gritstone of the Pennines runs through every mill, every terrace, every church. Stone is what Halifax was made of — literally and in the minds of its people.

So when two large blocks of three-storey brick houses appeared at the Square in the 18th century, people noticed. These were among the first brick buildings ever constructed in Halifax, and they looked like nothing else in town.

The red bricks used were no ordinary bricks. They were of a deeper hue than the common bricks of later years — and according to those who remembered them at their best, they glowed warmly under the rays of the sun.

Local historian Councillor T.W. Hanson, in his book "The Story of Old Halifax", wrote that the 18th-century brick "must have looked like sealing-wax" — the deep red wax used to seal every letter in those days.

The Square Road houses brought to life — the deep red brick that T.W. Hanson said 'must have looked like sealing-wax'                                                                                                    enhanced

---

"Halifax Is Made of Wax"

The sight of brick in a stone town made such an impression that Halifax boys and girls used to sing a rhyme about it:

"Halifax is made of wax, Heptonstall of stone; There's pretty girls in Halifax, In Heptonstall there's none."

The newspaper that recorded this verse added, with dry Yorkshire wit, that "no doubt residents of the hill-top village will stoutly deny that there is any foundation for it."

But the doggerel tells us something important. The arrival of brick — the substitution of the cheaper brick for the native stone — was so striking that it became part of Halifax folklore.

---

Why "Square Road"?

The two blocks of houses never actually formed a complete square. But the land behind them follows a broadly square plan — and that's how the name stuck.

The street sits at the junction with Woolshops, where the road narrows towards the station, opposite the top of Hatter's Fold. The aerial view reveals how the two blocks relate to each other and to the surrounding streets, with the Piece Hall visible along the top side.

---

Built Alongside Halifax's Finest

These brick houses weren't built in isolation. They were contemporaneous with some of Halifax's most important buildings:

• Square Chapel — the magnificent Nonconformist chapel nearby
• Stoney Royd — one of Halifax's grand estates
• The first Halifax baths at Lilly Bridge — the town's earliest public bathing house

This was a period of ambition and expansion. Halifax was growing, and the people building these houses were making a statement about the town's future.

The end block of Square Road's brick houses, with the spire of Square Congregational Church behind and a 1950s car in the foreground

Square Road brought to life — Halifax's first brick houses, built around 200 years ago and attributed to architect John Carr of York

---

Designed by John Carr of York

The design of the Square Road houses has long been attributed to John Carr of York — one of the most celebrated architects of 18th-century England.

Carr designed grand country houses, public buildings, and bridges across Yorkshire and beyond. If he truly was the hand behind these houses, it tells you something about the ambitions of whoever commissioned them. These weren't thrown up cheaply. They were built to impress.

When first completed, the houses came with frontal gardens that gave the street "a seclusion reminiscent of a cathedral close."

Imagine that. A quiet, elegant enclave in the middle of bustling, industrial Halifax.

Square Road from the air — the two blocks of brick houses clearly visible, with Piece Hall top right

---

Where the Halifax Courier Was Born

Here's a fact that stops most people in their tracks.

No. 9 Square Road was where the Halifax Courier was first printed — on January 8, 1853.

One of Yorkshire's most enduring newspapers took its first breath on this quiet brick street. The Courier has been reporting Halifax life ever since — more than 170 years and counting.

The area to the left was The Square

---

What Was Lost

Not all of the Square's brick houses survived.

Another row of brick houses was pulled down when the Woolshops improvements were carried out. The upper part of the Square estate underwent great changes over the years:

• Piece Hall was extended along the top side
• The abattoir was removed (1929)
• The old Assembly Rooms attached to the original Talbot Hotel were demolished

The frontal gardens disappeared. The wool warehouses fell silent. But the surviving blocks of brick houses — Halifax's first — kept standing through it all.

enhanced

---

The Wool Warehouses

Behind the houses, warehouses devoted to the wool merchanting trade lined the streets. Bales of worsted and wool passed through here daily. The merchants who traded here built the wealth that built the town.

Square Road sat right at the crossroads of Halifax's residential ambition and its industrial muscle.

Wool warehouses and The Square to the left

---

Square Road Mill — Powerhouse of the Electric Revolution

"By the mid-1800s, Square Road Mill had become something extraordinary — not just a place of industry, but a laboratory of invention."

Square Road Mill began life around 1810 as Halifax's last cotton mill, built by the Bates family — a prominent Quaker family with a passion for science and innovation.

But it was what happened here in the 1880s that changed Halifax forever.

Walter Emmott was, by common agreement, "by far the most important figure in the development of electricity in Halifax."

Working from Square Road Mill, Emmott formed a partnership with the firm of Binley, Emmott and Company — electrical engineers who would transform how Halifax was lit and powered.

He worked closely with Louis Crossley of the great carpet-manufacturing dynasty, and together they installed incandescent and arc lights at Dean Clough.

In November 1881, a rugby match at Hanson Lane was played under electric light — one of the first sporting events in England to be illuminated by electricity.

In 1882, Arthur Bates set up his first dynamo at Square Road Mill — generating electricity that would light not just the mill, but the buildings around it. This was the first electric lighting of a public building in Halifax — and possibly among the first in the entire West Riding.

Square Road Mill wasn't just making cloth. It was making history.

Square Road Mills in 2019

---

The Square Congregational Church

Dominating the skyline above Square Road is the soaring spire of Square Congregational Church — rising to 235 feet and visible from across the town.

Opened in 1857, the church could seat 1,240 worshippers — a measure of how large and confident Halifax's Nonconformist community had become by the mid-Victorian era.

That spire appears in almost every photograph of the Square Road area, a constant landmark above the rooftops.

Square Congregational Church was built by the Crossley family — Halifax's greatest industrial dynasty, whose carpet mills at Dean Clough made them one of the wealthiest families in Victorian England.

At 235 feet, the spire is the third highest in the county — and just one foot shorter than Wakefield Cathedral at 247 feet.

The second highest? All Saints, Boothtown — also in Halifax, built by Colonel Edward Akroyd, the great Crossley rival.

Two of the tallest church spires in Yorkshire, both in Halifax. Both built by competing industrial dynasties. Both within a few hundred yards of each other. That tells you everything about the ambition — and the rivalry — of Victorian Halifax.

---

Square Chapel — A Georgian Gem Reborn

"Of all the buildings on and around Square Road, none has had a more dramatic journey than Square Chapel."

Square Chapel as it looks now — the restored red brick Georgian facade with the blue door.

Square Chapel was built in 1772 — making it one of the oldest Nonconformist chapels in Halifax.

It was founded by Reverend Titus Knight, who laid the foundations of Congregationalism in Halifax and drew his first congregation as far back as July 1697. For over 170 years, Square Chapel was the spiritual home of Halifax's Nonconformist community.

By the 20th century, the congregation had dwindled. The chapel fell into disuse, then into dereliction. For years it stood empty — one of Halifax's finest Georgian buildings slowly crumbling.

Multiple attempts were made to find a new use. Each one failed.

Eventually, Calderdale Council and a dedicated trust took on the challenge. What followed was eight years of fundraising — raising hundreds of thousands of pounds — to bring the chapel back to life.

The restored Square Chapel Arts Centre opened to widespread acclaim. Described as "the finest Georgian building in Halifax", it was transformed into a performance venue, cinema, and community arts space.

If you haven't been inside Square Chapel recently — go. You'll be astonished.

Warehouse erected for William Walton, woolstapler in 1865 to the designs of John Hogg, one of three elaborate warehouse buildings designed by him and erected in Square Road. The premises were demolished c1980 as part of the Square Road widening. Photo. October 1979. Information by IHO

Abbott's Carpets on Square Road

The down-town street called Causeway shortly before demolition and the modification of the Halifax Parish Church precincts in the early sixties. 

The premises on the right, situated on Dispensary Walk, Halifax, comprised a former weaving shed of 1859 erected by William Brown, and converted in 1887 for the manufacture of screws, called Alhambra Works; only the ground floor now remains. A nearby site in Charles Street  was added in the 1890s when the business became the Automatic Standard Screw Company. View along Dispensary walk, April 2017. Info by IHO

Berwick Street

The two factories on the left have been demolished

Alfred Street East

Church Street

During the 1920s and 1930s, the Economic Stores erected a motor garage facility for the company's vehicles, together with a large model bakery on the former Central Works site. The company was very successful until the 1960s, but declined thereafter, closing in the mid 1970s. Harold Marshall, engineers, established in 1974, next occupied the premises until the 1990s. A branch of Burger King has since been erected on the site. View of the garage (top) with bakery beyond, January 1993. Info by IHO

“Among the many new and handsome structures erected of late years in the town of Halifax, this is one of the most conspicuous, inasmuch as it is almost the first that strikes the eye of the traveller as he enters the town from the railway. It has been built by the aide of the chapel erected during the last century in the old-fashioned style then in vogue ; and the contrast between the two chapels adds one more proof that the prevailing improved taste for ecclesiastical buildings is not confined to the Establishment. The new chapel of the Independents has been erected mainly through the instrumentality of Sir Francis Crossley and his brothers, to whose united liberality the town is in other ways very largely indebted.

It has been the endeavour of the architect so to adapt the forms and details of Gothic architecture as to make.them conform to the requirements of the form of worship used by the Congregationalists.

The form of the building is that of a nave with cloister on each side, north and south transepts, with a tower and spire in the angle, formed by the junction of the latter with the nave, a small spirelet on the opposite side, and a projection for the organ in place of the usual chancel. The nature of the site has, however, greatly cramped the architect.

The eastern end of the nave, shown in our view, abuts upon the square road, the gable rising to the height of 78 feet, surmounted by a metal cross. In the upper part of the gable is a fourlight window, beneath which is a large window of seven lights, 36 feet in height, the mullions terminating at the top with circles, with suitable tracery.

Under this window is the entrance to the seats on the ground-floor of the nave, by a deeply recessed doorway, having a double niche on each side, and surmounted by a small gable. The foliage on the capitals of the pillars, as well as the whole f the carvings, have been well executed by Mr. J. W. Seule, of London. The pillars are of serpentine marble. The door itself is of oak, with richly foliated hinge-irons. The sides of the nave are divided into bays by deep buttresses, within which run the cloisters,””rather low-covered passages into the transepts, entered by doors in the first bay, and lighted by broad fiat-arched windows in the other bays. The ends of the transepts have, on the ground stage, three single-light windows, and in the gables wheel-windows, about 16 feet in diameter, filled in with tracery.

The tower and spire mount up to about 235 feet, including the lofty vane, and have in the second stage a large illuminated clock, by Messrs. Moore, of ClerkenwelL

Within, the architect has been compelled to consider more closely the requirements of Independent worship than the peculiarities of the Gothic style. These requirements are, of course, that the pulpit should be the main object, subsidiary to nothing, and seen by all; and the roof should be so constructed as to convey to every corner of the building the inflections of the voice of the preacher.

This plan enables the former to be easily accomplished. ‘I here is a nave 95 feet long, 45 feet broad, and 45 feet high, with a transept on each side; the eastern end of the nave 28 feet wide. Two passages, 6 feet 6 inches wide, and flagged with stone, run up the nave. All the pews are of oak, of uniform pattern, with low backs, and each furnished with book-boards, cushions, carpet, and drawer for books. The passages are also carpeted. At the end of the chapel is a raised dais, surrounded by alight oak railing, with a kneelingboard outside, and with appropriate communion table and chairs inside. The pulpit, which is of Caen stone, may be ascended from eitber side by a low flight of broad steps, also in Caen stone, but with encaustic tiles inserted, the balustrade being pierced with circular openings enclosing pierced quatrefoils. The pulpit itself springs independently of this ascent, and is octagonal. Upon the eight sides of the base are sunk medallions, charged with the sacred emblems of the Passion, in the following order:””1, the cross; 2, the Bacred monogram, I. H. S.; 3, the crown of thorns, the hammer, and nails; 4, the ladder, the sponge upon a reed, and the spear; 5, an angel; 6, the seamless coat; 7, the scourge and the post; 8, the emblem of the Holy Spirit. The mouldings over are carved with vine-leaves and corn, and each of the sides of the pulpit itself is a double arch, a pinnacle from the front arch being continued upwards and outwards to support the book-board.

In order to secure the required acoustical properties of the building, the architect has adopted a five-sided panelled ceiling, the whole of which has been coloured and emblazoned from his designs. The trusses of the roof spring from the side walls from carved caps, supported by marble shafts resting upon corbels, each carved with angelic busts. These figures have each a flat nimbus, and their wings are folded backwards, and they are represented in the following acts:””1, the angel ringing the sacred bell; 2, angel playing the triangle; 3, angel playing the viol; 4, angel playing the tabret; 5, angel unrolling a scroll; 6, angel playing the harp; 7, angel playing the cymbals; 8, angel in the attitude of adoration.

The whole of the windows are filled with quarried glass, with a sparing use of deep colours, by Messrs. Lavers & Barraud, of London. Accommodation is provided for 1,240 sitters, and there is an ample vestry in the rear of the building, with a separate entrance. The whole of the works have been designed by Mr. Joseph James, of London, and carried out by Messrs. J. & W. Beauland, of Bradford; Mr. J. Dilworth being clerk of the works. The total cost has amounted to about 18,000.” Published in The Builder, June 27 1863.

View from the top of Square Church looking towards North Bridge and Boothtown(behind the cooling towers)

Former Station Works and warehouse, Blackledge/Church Street, Halifax. Built originally as a four storey warehouse, coffee house and restaurant, the building featured fine ashlar stonework. Adjacent to the (Imperial) Crown Hotel and to Square Road, it featured carved arched window heads, two of which incorporated representations of the original owners, Mr William Aspinall and his wife, Nancy, in their keystones. For a time the building housed a branch of the Halifax Cocoa and Refreshment House Company. The building is now demolished and forms a garden for the adjoining hotel. Photo. January 1982. Information by IHO.

---

Crown (Imperial) Hotel with the Halifax Cocoa and Refreshment House Company to the right.

See Horton Street

See Halifax Train Station

---

Do You Remember Square Road?

Did you live on Square Road? Work in the warehouses? Attend Square Church? Do you remember the brick houses before the changes?

📧 Send your stories and photos to info@halifaxpeople.com

---

Explore More of Halifax

• 🏛️ An Historic Tour of Halifax
• 🏘️ Halifax Places
• ⛪ Halifax Minster — The Parish Church
• 🎭 The Piece Hall
• 🛍️ Woolshops Halifax
• 🏠 Back to Home

---

If you have enjoyed your visit to this website, please spread the word by clicking the 'like' and 'share' buttons below. Thank you