Top of Woolshops, Halifax, (Looking North), as it appeared in the year 1889
J. R. Smith print of the Top of Woolshops as it appeared in 1889, Halifax, West Yorkshire.
Author: J. R. Smith
Date: 1890
Location: Halifax
Format: Print
Document ID: 100449
Library ID:
Print from 1890 drawn by Joseph Rideal Smith and printed by Stott Brothers, lithographers of Halifax, from Smith's series of a dozen views, "Old Halifax", the set selling for 50 shillings. So commercially successful were Smith's drawings that he became known as 'Old Halifax'.
From the print: "This View is by permission respectfully dedicated to Sir Henry John Selwin Ibbetson of Down Hall, Essex, 7th Baronet, by his humble and obedient servant, J.R. Smith."
Joseph Rideal Smith was born in 1837 at the Waggoners Inn, which was on the top side of Northgate. He studied as an architect, but due to ill health returned to Halifax in 1870, gaining employment at the Duke of Bedford's estate. After this he worked as the town's first sanitary inspector. He had great influence in building the Halifax goyte* system. He married Miss Empsall of Craven Edge in 1873 and they had one daughter. Smith died in 1915.
After showing one of his sepia drawings based on an old photograph to Alderman Ramsden of the Waggoners Inn, Ramsden was so impressed that he encouraged Smith's work. Smith went on to produce a set of prints bound into books with the original print on the front cover. Each print was dedicated to local patrons and people of standing.
*goyte: man-made underground passage to channel water.
Woolshops is believed to be the only street in the world to be named so. The name is said to derive from the traders, or staplers, who sold wool by the stone (weight) as opposed to by the bale. A staple is a measure of wool, which refers to the fibres. The reason staplers sold wool in these measures was because of the small amounts of cloth produced in homes. The area dates back to medieval times and is mentioned in the 1555 Act of Parliament.
In 1931, the south side of Woolshops was renovated in magnificent 1930s style, with imposing towers and a shopping arcade. The towers were later incorporated into the present-day structure. The road was widened and several buildings pulled down, including fourteen shops and three old pubs. The Prince's Arcade was officially opened on June 2nd 1931.
The modern-day Woolshops was refurbished in the early 1980s, at a cost of £6.5 million. Many of the buildings were deemed to be in an irreparable state but it was requested that they be preserved. The north parade of shops was rebuilt as close to the original structures as possible, but the crowning glory of the complex is the 1670 Tudor-style building standing at the top of Woolshops.
Prince's Arcade, on the opposite side of the road, was demolished, along with the abattoir. A new complex was built in its place echoing the 1930s structure. The road between the shops was closed and made into a pedestrian precinct with a large car park constructed at the bottom of the street. Opened in 1983, and shops were added in 2000.
