The Minor Family of Somerset

John Kinge held land in Halifax according to a deed 10 1518
Halifax, a marketand parish-town, in Morley-division of Agbrig
g and Morley, liberty of Wakefield; 8 miles from Bradford and Hu
ddersfield, 10 from Dewsbury, 12 from Keighley and Todmorden, 16
.5 from Rochdale, (Lanc.) 18 from Leeds, 42 from York, 197 fro
m London. --Market, SaturDay, for woolen cloth, provisions etc.
, -- Fairs, June 24 and the first SaturDay in November, for hors
es, hornes cattle, etc, --
The parish of Halifax is the largest in the County, being in ext
ent not less than seventeen miles from east to West, and about e
leven miles on anaverage from North to south. It contains twen
ty-three Townships; and, besides the Vicarage Church, there ar
e in the parish twelve Chapels to which the Vicar appoints the C
urates, independent of the New Church of Halifax, and the chape
l at Marshaw-bridge. The Church is a large Gothic structure, an
d is supposed to have been built by the earl of warren and Surre
y, int he reign of Henry I. It appears to have been re-edifie
d at defferent periods, as part ofthe North side seems older th
an the rest. -- Within the Church are two Chapels, the one calle
d Rokeby's Chapel was erected in consequence of the will of Dr
. William Rokeby, Vicar of Halifax, and afterwards Archbishop o
f Dublin, who died November 29, 2521, and ordered that his bowel
s and heart should be buried in the chor of this Church, and hi
s body in the chapel at Sandal.
In 1453 there were but thirteen houses in this town, which, in 1
20 years increasedto 520; and, in the year 1802, there were 197
3 houses, 8,886 inhabitants. Camden when he travelled in thse P
arts, about the year 1580 was informed thatthe number of inhabi
tants in this parish was about 12,000. Archbishop Grindall, i
n his letter to Queen Elizabeth, during the Northern rebellion a
lsosays; that the parish of Halifax was ready to bring into th
e field, for her service, 3 or 4000 able men.
The course of Justice formerly made use of here, called the "Gib
bet Law", by which all criminals found guilty of theft, to thev
alue of thirteen pence h alf panny, were to suffer death, hath l
ong been discontinued. The platform, four feet high, and thirte
en feet square, faced on every side with stone, was ascended b
y a flight of steps; in the middle ofthis platform were place
d two upright pieces of timber, five yards high, joined by a cro
ss beam of timber at the top; within these was a square block o
fwood, four feet and a half long, which moved in grooves, and h
ad an iron axefastened in its lower edge, the weight of which w
as seven pounds eleven ouces; it was ten inches and a half long
, seven inches over at the top, and nineat the bottom, and towa
rds the top had two holes to fasten it to the block.The axe i
s still to be seen at the gaol, in Halifax; the platform remains
,but has been hid for many years past, under a mountain of rubb
ish.
The Guillotine erected in France, soon after the breaKing out o
f the Revolution, and so fatal to thousands, seems to have bee
n copied from this machine.
The Earlof Morton, Regent of Scotland, passing through Halifax
, and happening to seeone of these executions, caused a model t
o be taken, and carried it to his own country, where it remaine
d many years before it was made use of, and obtained the name o
f "the Maiden", till that Nobleman suffered by it himself, Jun
e 2, 1581. The remains of this singular machine, may yet be see
n, in the Parliament house at Edinburgh. The origin of this cus
tom cannot be traced, butit was by no means peculiar to this pl
ace. Se Gent. Mag. for April 1793.
The town of Halifax cannot boastof great Antiquity; its name i
s not found in DomesDay Book, nor is it mentioned in any ancien
t record, before a Grant of itsChurch was made by Earl Warren t
o the Priory of Lewes, in Sussex. The origin of its name has be
n variously given: Dr. Whit