Halifax Postcard

Halifax is a northern, industrial city that nestles at the foot of the wild and wonderful moors, by the River Calder. It has been evolved over centuries, forging its identity from true Yorkshire grit that made the woollen mills run and the mines prosper. It is also a centre for female literary heritage. The architectural piece de resistance of Halifax is the Piece Hall, where wool merchants once traded their wares and now is home to artisan entrepreneurs and a major tourist attraction. The mammoth industrial building that is Dean Clough is no longer home to buzzing looms, weaving the cloth that brought prosperity to the city in the 18th and 19th Centuries.

The three Bronte sisters hail from the hills above Halifax and this area is also where Sylvia Plath and her errant, literary husband lived, worked and died. Anne Lister of Shibden Hall (and the subject of a recent BBC drama) made her mark in Halifax and it is also where Percy Shaw, the eccentric inventor of cats eyes, that brought safety to the roads of Britain and beyond, is from. Creative and innovation is part of Halifax's fabric and resonates to nearby towns and villages, including the delightful Hebden Bridge, where Ed Sheeran was born and bred. In my illustration of Halifax I try to capture a snapshot of its local heroes/heroines, its industrial heritage and bleak but beautiful and breathtaking, Yorkshire landscape.