Halifax is a town in the Metropolitan
Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England, with a population of
about 82,000. It is well known as a centre of England's woollen
manufacture from the 15th century onward.
The name Halifax is said to be a corruption of the old English words for
Holy and Face, part of the local legend that the head of John the
Baptist was buried here after his execution. The legend is almost
certainly medieval rather than ancient, though the town's coat of arms
still carries an image of the saint. (The oldest written mentions of the
town have the spelling Halifax, apparently meaning "holy flax (field)",
the second l having been subsequently lost by dissimilation.[2]) Halifax
Parish Church, parts of which go back to the 12th century, has always
been dedicated to St John the Baptist. The church's first organist, in
1765, was William Herschel, who later discovered the planet Uranus.
Halifax was incorporated as a county borough in 1848 under the Municipal
Corporations Act 1835.
Since 1974, Halifax has been the centre of the metropolitan district of
Calderdale, part of the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire. Halifax
has given its name to a bank, Halifax plc which started as a building
society in the town. Halifax is a twin town with Aachen in Germany. The
A58 has a stretch called Aachen Way, with a plaque on the town-bound
side of the road.