Each Saturday, handloom weavers from all over the district would bring pieces of cloth into the Piece Hall to try to sell them to merchants between 10 a.m. and 12 noon. At this time a bell would be rung to signal the end of trading. Anyone buying or selling cloth at other times would be fined five shillings.

It was not used for this purpose for very long. The growth of the Factory System led to a decline in trade and the Piece Hall began to be used for political and religious meetings, fireworks displays and other events. In 1868 it was given to the Corporation of Halifax and was converted into a wholesale market for fish, fruit and vegetables. The South door was enlarged and the huge iron gates added at that time. It remained in this use for about one hundred years until the late 1960s.

At that time, most of the towns in the region were undertaking programmes of renewal and modernisation. A plan was brought forward to demolish the area around and including the Piece Hall, to allow the building of a shopping centre. There was a great deal of local opposition to this scheme, and the Council decided instead to restore the Piece Hall for use as a centre for arts, crafts and entertainment. The courtyard was cleared and resurfaced and the galleries around it were converted to shops, a Museum and Art Gallery.

The Piece Hall was reopened in July 1976 and rapidly became one of the busiest tourist destinations in the country.

This aerial photograph of The Piece Hall shows wonderfully the magnificence of this building from the air.

This aerial photograph of Halifax shows the south eastern quarter below Beacon Hill. Next to the Piece Hall is the old steeple from Square Church whilst the red-brick building next door is Square Chapel.

The Halifax Parish Church (Parish Church of St. John The Baptist) can be seen in the top-right corner and Borough Market is just caught on camera centre-left.

Aerial photograph kindly supplied by Jonathan Webb of Webb Aviation at http://www.webbaviation.co.uk/