Summer Makers Market

We saw that the Halifax Piece Hall was staging a Summer Makers Market last weekend so on Sunday we decided to have a drive over.

This Grade I listed building is the only remaining Georgian cloth hall in the world. It dates back to 1779 and was built as a hall where 'pieces' of cloth (a 30 yard length of woven woollen fabric produced on a handloom) were traded.

The link at the beginning of this post takes you to a post I wrote back in 2011. The Piece Hall was rather run down then, but in 2014 a £19 million restoration project commenced and it reopened in 2017. Since then, it's welcomed over eight million visitors.

There are various exhibitions held at the Piece Hall, as well as live entertainment. I'd hoped to visit earlier this year when there was an exhibition of Sophie Ryder's sculptures in the courtyard but I missed that.

The Piece Hall is now home to a huge selection of independent shops. There's everything from toys and collectables to homeware, fashion and accessories to arts and crafts, on sale here. There's even a Christmas shop which is open the year round. There's also plenty of places to eat and drink with a selection of cafes, restaurants and bars.

There were 34 stalls making up the Summer Makers Market focusing on local produce alongside arts, crafts and gifts. There were quite a few speciality alcohol producers selling flavoured gin, rum, liqueurs and spirits and quite a few stalls selling baked goods, but there were many other things on offer too.

This sculpture, called Contemplation, is of Anne Lister, also known as Gentleman Jack, the owner of Halifax's Shibden Hall.

Created by Diane Lawrenson, it's the first public sculpture of the famous lesbian diarist and businesswoman.

There's always some Yorkshire merchandise for sale featuring Yorkshire humour when visiting touristy places in the county.

It was an enjoyable, well-attended event, and it was also nice to look around the Piece Hall again. We visited a little while after it reopened after the restoration project was finished but many of the shops were stood empty at that time. It seems very popular now with most of the shops fully occupied and the amount of visitors it's attracted speaks for itself.