Calderdale history timeline 1850 - 1900AD
Reform and Development
The
traumatic urban-industrial experience eventually set in motion a movement
of social reform, however, in which Luddites and Chartists, friendly
societies and co-operative groups, trade unions and reformers, industrial
paternalism and the new municipal authorities all helped to remove
the worst excesses of unfettered industrialism. Model villages and
co-operative 'club' houses emerged alongside some of the more squalid
mill terraces and overcrowded cellar dwellings, whilst the emerging
civic pride came to be expressed in an increasing range of public
buildings and amenities.
Parliamentary
enclosure represented a final phase of moorland reclamation for food
production for the expanding population, leaving its mark in the high-lying
laithe-house hill farms (which usually combined under one roof a house,
barn and mistal), whilst huge reservoirs were constructed to quench
the thirst and improve the sanitation of the new industrial communities.
The transport revolution that had been initiated by canal and turnpike
was completed during the 1840s with the opening of the first railway
line through Calderdale.
In
Halifax the second half on the 19th century was marked by exceptional
growth, with urban development taking the form of continuous westward
and northward expansion which eventually engulfed the nearby settlements
of King Cross, Mount Pellon and Haley Hill. Much of this later development
was due to the dispersal of textile mills over the higher ground to
the west, rather than their continued concentration in the Hebble
Valley, following the provision of mains water and drainage.
Alongside
this industrial development, schools and mechanics institutes, hospitals,
almshouses and a union workhouse, parks, public baths, cemeteries,
gas works, the public library (see opposite) and museum gradually
took shape in the town and in the satellite communities to which it
was increasingly linked by rail (from 1844), horse omnibus (from the
1850s) and tram (from 1898), serving as agencies of both social control
and social construction and reflecting the dynamic interplay of forces
which ensured a healthier but more hierarchically regulated environment
for the expanding urban workforce.
The
Town Hall (1863) and Borough Market (1896), which formed a radical
two-phase redevelopment of Halifax, provided a vivid expression of
the corporate identity of the municipal authority, whilst large Victorian
'country' mansions (Belle Vue, 1857, and Bankfield, 1867) and ornate
gothic churches (Square Church, 1857, and All Souls', 1859) boldly
proclaimed the wealth and status of the new industrial entrepreneurs
who helped to shape the cultural and spiritual values of Victorian
society.
