Calderdale
WYAS, Calderdale
Central Library
Northgate House
Northgate
Halifax
HX1, 1UN
Telephone: +44 (0)1422 392636
Email: calderdale@wyjs.org.uk
We are members of the County Archive Research Network (CARN) readers’ ticket scheme. Please bring your CARN readers’ ticket with you when you visit. If you do not have a ticket please bring official proof of ID which includes your name, address and signature.
Click here for more information.
Appointments recommended. Our search rooms may be subject to unplanned closure because of staffing difficulties
Opening Hours
Monday 9.30am to 5pm
Tuesday 9.30am to 5pm
Thursday: 9.30am to 5pm
Friday: 9.30am to 5pm
Microfilm available
Monday 9.30am to 7.00pm
Tuesday 9.30am to 7.00pm
Thursday: 9.30am to 7.00pm
Friday: 9.30am to 7.00pm
Saturday: 9.30am to 5pm
Facilities: No refreshment facilities available in the building but cafes etc are close by.
Toilets available please ask staff for the key.
How to find WYAS, Calderdale… (External website)
| Car Parking | Short stay car parking at the Woolshops Shopping Centre. Long stay at North Bridge Leisure Centre, off North Bridge. Disabled parking is available in front of the library. |
| Train | We are approximately 500 metres from Halifax Railway Station. |
| Bus | We are approximately 200 metres from Halifax Bus Station. |
The archive service in Halifax was established in 1964, building on foundations laid by the Halifax Museums Service, local public libraries and the Halifax Antiquarian Society. It moved to its present purpose-built accommodation in the Halifax town centre in January 1983. Calderdale joined the West Yorkshire Archive Service in April 1983.
Records at Calderdale District Archives
More detail about the holdings of Calderdale District Archives can be found in the Guide to Calderdale Archives 1964-1989 and Guide Supplement 1990-1994.
The official archives of local government bodies in the area are well represented and comprise records from Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council and its nine predecessor authorities, the County Borough of Halifax, the Boroughs of Brighouse and Todmorden, the Urban Districts of Elland, Hebden Royd, Queensbury and Shelf, Ripponden, and Sowerby Bridge, and the Rural District of Hepton. These Councils had themselves inherited archives from their predecessors which include records of civil townships from 1629, Improvement Commissioners from 1762 and Local Boards of Health, Boards of Guardians and Urban and Rural Sanitary Authorities which were established in the area during the course of the nineteenth century.
The most significant deposits from private sources are the records of the Listers of Shibden Hall, Southowram 1329-1937, Stansfelds of Field House, Sowerby 1701-1920, Armytages of Kirklees Hall, Brighouse 1200-1947 and Sunderlands of Coley Hall, Hipperholme 1197-1882. These collections include local manorial records, many of the surviving medieval documents relating to the area and, from the seventeenth century onwards, letters and diaries which usefully supplement the official archives of the period. The Shibden Hall estate muniments include the notebooks of Jonathan Hall of Elland, upholsterer 1701-1761, letters of the philosopher David Hartley 1730-1756, eye-witness accounts of battles during the American War of Independence and the extensive journals of Anne Lister of Shibden Hall 1806-1840, which run to 4 million words, in comparison with those of Samuel Pepys which merely run to some 1.25 million.
Anne Lister became a co-owner of Shibden Hall in 1826 and was a remarkable scholar, traveller, business woman, property owner and lesbian. She recorded her life in 27 diary volumes, which together with letters, accounts and other records are among the most frequently consulted documents at Calderdale Archives.
Microfilm copies of the Ann Lister diaries and other documents are now available for sale. For further details please contact the office.
The parish records of Shelf, Diocese of Bradford 1850-1982, are held by the office, together with the archives of over 200 Baptist, Congregational, Methodist and Unitarian churches which highlight the long and dominant tradition of dissent and nonconformity in the Upper Calder Valley. Many of the parochial registers, non-parochial registers and bishop's transcripts for the area are available on microfilm.
In view of Halifax's importance as an early centre for the cloth industry, the collections have an inevitable textile emphasis and include the records of Samuel Hill of Soyland, clothier 1736-1738, John Firth of Halifax, worsted manufacturer 1739-1752 and Cornelius Ashworth of Ovenden, farmer and handloom weaver 1782-1816, alongside the much bulkier deposits of the period of the Industrial Revolution, for example the records of John Crossley and Sons of Halifax, carpet manufacturers 1621-1988 and Fielden Brothers of Todmorden, cotton manufacturers 1626-1990. The holdings also reflect other commercial and industrial activity in the area, however, and records are available relating to local banking 1735-1977, brewing 1808-1972, clay and brick making 1800-1966, clock making 1750-1812, coal mining 1633-1968, engineering 1849-1984, printing 1832-1948, stone quarrying 1773-1970 and wire manufacturing 1868-1963. The deposited solicitors' accumulations include the papers of Robert Parker, the eighteenth century Halifax attorney, whose clients were scattered throughout West Yorkshire and beyond.
Political and Trade Union Records
Amongst the large numbers of political and labour organisations represented, trade union deposits from 1834 onwards figure most prominently, but also represented in this class are the records of the Anti-Corn Law League 1839-1846, Halifax Chartism 1838-1840, local co-operative societies 1832-1972, friendly societies 1769-1981, political parties 1871-1981, and trades councils 1866-1989.
Other collections reflect the cultural, philanthropic, convivial and educational life of the district and include the records of the Halifax Mechanics' Institute 1825-1922, Halifax Antiquarian Society 1900-1972, Halifax Loyal Georgian Society 1799-1991, Halifax Chess Club 1840-1959, Nathaniel Waterhouse Charities 1595-1868, Heath Grammar School 1585-1946, Halifax Literary and Philosophical Society 1830-1964, and Luddenden Village Library 1776-1917 as well as numerous other schools, societies and organisations.
Collections Team
As part of the WYAS Mission Statement, the Collections Team actively seeks to strengthen its holdings and establish links with communities, individuals and specialist groups with a view to preserving their written histories.
The focus of the Collections Team is to preserve these unique collections and make them accessible to the public for future generations.
If you are an individual, part of a community group, local business or society and would like to receive more information about donating records, please contact us and one of our team will be happy to talk to you
Contact: Collections Team
PO Box 5
Nepshaw Lane South
Morley
LS27 0QP
Tel: 0113 2898 285
For the contact details
of our offices click here
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