Royal Oak, Halifax

Exterior of Royal Oak, Halifax, West Yorkshire from a pencil drawing by C. Crossley.

The picture is of the old Royal Oak at the corner of New Road and Clare Road, Ward's End. It was an old coaching house on the southward exit from the town, with a milestone outside once proclaiming "To London 198" and "To Huddersfield 7". Sometime around 1929 it was demolished and replaced by a mock-Tudor style building in 1931. This present building beams and posts made of timbers salvaged from the HMS Newcastle warship built in 1860. Two exterior corbels and a door frame were carved by Harry Percy Jackson. H P Jackson (1867-1931), born in Brighouse, set up business in Coley calling his cottage Morriscot after William Morris. Much of his work is to be found in Calderdale in chapels, churches, war memorials and elsewhere. Sometime after 1992, the pub was renamed the Tap & Spile.

Taken from a series of Halifax town centre drawings by Cuthbert Crossley (1883-1960), who worked in oils, water-colours and etchings, producing landscapes and architectural views. He was born in Halifax, presumably part of the local Crossley family, studied at Halifax School of Art (though largely self-taught) and worked for a while as a designer for Crossley's Carpets. He later taught part-time at Halifax School of Art and exhibited at the Royal Academy and Paris Salon, amongst other academic societies.

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