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 Although
there is clear surviving evidence of its pre-industrial origins,
the spatial structure of present-day Halifax is very much a product
of the complex process of industrialisation which took place
between the mid 18th and late 19th centuries. See plan opposite.
In 1750 Halifax was a small but busy market
town, with a population of approximately 6,000 inhabitants, served
by a network of ancient packhorse causeways. The common fields
and waste had long since become a series of dry-stone wall enclosures,
and the growing numbers of inns and streets must have given the
town something of an urban atmosphere. Most of the population was centred on the small urban nucleus, however, and
public buildings, such as the church and manorial moot hall, were still medieval in origin, though almshouses, an orphan hospital, charity
schools, a mulcture hall (see opposite), workhouse and new cloth
halls had made their mark on the pre-industrial landscape.
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