Halifax Minster Tapestries

Minster is simply another word for large church or cathedral and implies that at some stage a monastery was attached. What is amazing to me, is the connection between two of my favourite places at opposite ends, almost, of England. The early church at Halifax was built and endowed by the monks of Lewes in Sussex! The wonderful tapestries you can find there depict, rather like the Quaker Tapestries, the colourful and sometimes violent history of this church. They were worked by 18 local stitchers (all over 40 they will hasten to add) originally to furnish the stone seats in the south porch. The women worked on the tapestries between 2005 and 2007. At some later stage it was decided to display the finished work on the wall and the tapestries were blessed at a special service in October 2009. In the first panel above you can see the varied sky line of present-day Halifax.

Very interesting that this incorporates my husband's name down the right hand side of the panel. But no, the R Holdsworth referrred to here is the Revd. Robert Holdsworth who was murdered in 1556, caught up in the feud between the local Savile and Tempest families, during the 5th sacking of the vicarage!

In 1645 the dreaded Scottish troops entered Halifax. Though Halifax was a Puritan stronghold in the north during the Civil Wars, they may have been guilty of some back-sliding in later years, since here you can see the Scottish soldiers tipping holy water out of the font onto the floor.