The DEADLY English Street You WON'T Have Heard Of

[@spikewulfenden706]

Hi hope you've had a great Xmas dude. I grew up in Halifax and used to play around the gibbet. It's original location was at the top of woolshops, at the borough market. I've played on the original stage in the piece hall. It was built to look like a coloseum. I even helped build that stage back in the 90's. I live over in Cheshire these days. There's so much history in Halifax, one of the Brontés lived at Shibden Hall. I'm amazed the pub is still there! All the old architecture, not just Halifax, but all along the calder valley. The condemned were led around the town, on an old road called dark lane, of which small parts survive today, like Swan bank, complete with the catsteps. A Hovis ad waseven shot on swan bank, later lampooned by Walkers crisps with Gary Lineker. I loved the smell of the chocolate factory, the Rowntree Macintosh thats now Nestlé. The whole story about Wainhouse tower and the rivalry and jealousy between them and the Crossley family the tower being used to spy n all that. I dont if ya know this snippet but, the guy who invented catseyes - Percy Shaw. His factory is still working in Boothtown - made some extra large ones and had them installed at the top of the tower, during ww2. So much history. Thanks for the ace video. 🤘

[@moodyb2]

A few false flags there I'm afraid. The gibbet was never in the Piece Hall, which was built long after it fell into disuse. You may have worked on a replica which may have been installed there as a tourist attraction, I don't know. The Piece Hall wasn't designed to look like the coliseum although it was consciously built on Roman lines, to reflect the wealth and sophistication of the merchants who paid for it. I think you are confusing the Brontës with the lesbian diarist and mine owner Anne Lister, who owned and lived at Shiben Hall. Also, I've never heard that story about cats eyes on Wainhouse Tower and am struggling to imagine what the purpose would be, since the purpose of the blackout was to hide the towns and cities from German bombers, not show them where they were. And the Hovis ad wasn't filmed in Halifax or Calderdale. In the age of the internet, these are facts that can be checked in seconds.

[@KateVeeoh]

From drunk David reporting on sinkholes to intrigued David going down knowledge rabbit holes, your channel is a joy to watch 😄

[@kirstenwulff387]

I absolutly agree. 😅

[@jonathanphillips3257]

💯 agree great content and the awesome chimneys too. Wonder if Fred Dibnah worked on any of those ?

[@marinab106]

Turnip, I've never seen one of your vids that wasn't either intriguing or interesting and informative. You rock! Thank you for making us a little bit smarter one vid at a time! 😁🤓❤love from Italy 🇮🇹

[@chrisspeight1944]

I’m a Halifax lad and I’ve been wondering why you haven’t been yet. There’s so much history in Halifax. Keep up the great videos!

[@MJS-hj1zk]

You're not related to Anthony Speight by any chance?

[@johnthewiz]

Loved this one! I live round the corner from Gibbet St so pleased to see it featured by someone! I still think the Running Man needs a rebuild. Something to reflect the grisly history of the place. I envy you your energy - you made it all look so easy to get to - which we all know it isn't. If you ever want to do ancient stones hidden up around Hebden, let me know. I surveyed them all when I lived there - when I was able to get up hills, that is.

[@gailstevens6831]

Thank you for your wonderful video about Gibbet Street. I have ancestors who lived in Gibbet Street in the 1800s, and I researched the name, so I knew about its history. It was lovely to see the street and the contraption. I'm an Aussie, in my 70s and won't get the chance now to see it for myself. Happy New Year David, I love your passion and enjoy watching you take us with you on each adventure.

[@robertbaldwin177]

Hey there, have you been to the old Allen Brickworks (aka graffiti city) nr Hipperholme? Chimneys in woods and old Halifax glazed bricks to behold. Go when it rains as the place sings!

[@elwolf8536]

Gibit Street is a hole now

[@peterellis9374]

Love your work - I'm a Halifax boy but only been back intermittently since I was 18 - which is 30 years now. It's a stunning town.

[@AnonAtry]

I nominate the Wandering Turnip for England cultural minister

[@pimpozza]

😁👍👏

[@kyleanuar9090]

Anything cultural has to be a black woman with short hair and...( It'll get banned if I typed more)

[@karolinaoniszczuk9916]

Sweet to know how much people love their countries and can be so happy just visiting the small towns in their area❤

[@tomaszferdynus9857]

Definitely ❤ that's how I discovered English heritage. Love this lad

[@beethimbles8801]

I second this motion!

[@ellenoneill7853]

So great to see someone highlighting the history of our northern towns and the industry that fuelled the modern world. So often over looked. Looking forward to all you have show us in 2025.

[@markandjanice6234]

Amazing video, and all over the place in a good way. You started covering Halifax’s grim execution history, then the Halifax’s more general history, but then you got distracted by some magnificent chimneys. Class content.

[@JTdayoneBev]

Absolutely fantastic work WT!! My elderly mum and dad live a few streets away from the wainhouse tower in Halifax. It mesmerises me every time I drive past it on the way to my parents house and back. I live in Nottingham now and I miss Halifax’s history, truly stunning!

[@ccg1404]

Wandering Turnip (or David) is a national treasure. These videos are wonderful and I wish some kind of title were conferred upon him. I'd love a vid about the methods of chimney construction in particular how a uniform taper was achieved and the mechanism for hoisting stone to the top etc. BRILLIANT!

[@abbeyclock4650]

Which video was that?

[@Kty27-65]

Never seen so much passion for a chimney before........ a joy to see 😊❤

[@anthonykennedy5324]

Local history with universal appeal. An industrial folly ! I had only been aware of follies constructed on English country estates not industrial towns. And the guillotine was a French design development of the gibbet. Thanks for another well-produced video.

[@telquad1953]

Thanks

[@ChelseaNutbrown]

I live in Halifax and I've been waiting for you to come and look at our chimneys. Shame the gibbet is fenced off, you could go up the steps and touch it last time I was there in 2021. Great video as always 🤩

[@etak24]

We took our daughter up wainhouse tower when she was 3 months old! They do the open days regularly throughout the year on bank holidays, you’ll be able to go again! Brilliant video

[@valerieslater-t1v]

WOW !! I am gobsmacked to see all this absolute BEAUTY in Halifax, who knew this incredible history ? Not me mate....thanks so much for the thrilling information lesson, can't wait to see what else you are going to uncover in 2025...

[@suekey1903]

Happy new year….. I am an Halifax lass I haven’t lived there for over 50 years made me proper homesick… thank you so much … my uncle worried at Dean Clough Mills and he would take me and my brother there on a weekend to see the carpets being made… no health and safety back then 😀 when I go home now I stay by Gibbet Street…. I remember Piece Hall was derelict and a dumping ground it’s lovely now isn’t it….he also would take us to his friends house Percy Shaw the man who invented cats eyes…. Thank you for the memories x

[@mickeyduvel]

What was your uncle worrying about?

[@suekey1903]

@ should have said worked 😀

[@user-ov4wr5yu4r]

Got it. 😊​@@suekey1903

[@shirleysmith1713]

Probably did but sometimes Spells some other word👍🏻

[@alansmithee8831]

A'reyt Turnip. Happy New Year to you and anyone reading this comment. I used to work in Halifax and those places are very familiar. I reckon I would pass the gibbet on my way to get a chop suey. Fat bottom chimneys making the rock world go round at the stone cutting office. All that stonework was really stacking up, keeping the town running man.

[@robertburgess3767]

David...we been missing you!! Hope you had a great Christmas...and a very happy new year to ya buddy! 🎉

[@joehynes2964]

Great video! Love your enthusiasm. One of the things that stuck out to me was how much rubbish was randomly littered around on the ground at nearly every place that you visited in this town.

[@FunkyTomo]

It's a Shi'ole area around Gibbet Street. All of all HX isn't that bad.

[@Liam.Hardy.Music.99]

Awesome to see mate! I’m a presenter on the local radio station so I’m very passionate about my local history!

[@StartledPancake]

Halifax, looks exactly the same as when I was underage drinking there 30 odd years ago. Back when its was 90p a pint in Maggie Mays, you could be chucking up in the street at 11pm for less than a tenner. About as friendly a town as you could find in the UK - loads of trouble if you wanted to find it, none if you didnt.

[@davidmacgregor5193]

The establishment was called Maggie McFly's, not Maggie Mays, you might be confusing it with the song Maggie May by Rod Stewart.

[@StartledPancake]

@@davidmacgregor5193 Thanks for the correction, in my defense it was always 30 odd years ago and I was drunk. When did it close?

[@madmanjoe1002]

Absolute cesspit of a town.

[@s_c_o_t_t_c]

I've been waiting for Wainhouse Tower. I've passed it a few times on my way to Eureka via Hollingworth Lake when the M62 is being the M62, so you take the scenic route. You recently ticked off The Lake in the Fish and Chips video too. Good work. Happy New Year.

[@PomEllie0806]

Great video from my favourite street historian, Happy New Year Turnip!! 🎉❤

[@MikeGarveyBlues]

Reminds me of growing up as a kid in Blackburn in the 80’s. Huge chimneys and old mills everywhere. No idea what it’s like now. Spent the last 30+ years in Warrington surrounded by giant metal sheds, aka, warehouses. You’ve inspired me to get out more in 2025. Cheers WT!

[@daweshorizon]

'Hell, Hull and Halifax', from the old poem 'The Beggar's Litany' and morphed in the twentieth century into the song 'Dalesman's Litany' ('Hull, Halifax and Hell' being the re-ordered refrain). Hull used to make it's poor people work for their measly 'benefits' before the 1834 Poor Law. Halifax, being a wealthy cloth-making town, basically had the death penalty for even minor offences. Hence the gibbet. As a result, the preferred location for a hard-up person (from the three options) would be Hell. At least it would be warm. Allegedly. Love and peace.

[@AshAckroyd]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKrTd2eArpeafZYsi=EMxWnQefaxuBamdy This song may be of interest

[@HaydnCooper-n2i]

Absolutely correct. I was born 2 streets away from the gibbet and it was always a fascinating thing to look at. Now living in Brisbane, great to see Dean Clough Mills and Shaw Lodge Mills again. My Dad said there used to be over100 Mills in Halifax and back in the mid 1950's, you couldn't see across the valley because of all the smoke. It's changed a lot since.

[@shirleysmith1713]

Great video David, love the history. Happy New Year 🎉❤. Hope your Dad liked his brick for Christmas 🎄

[@garethhelliwell9736]

Yet again another great and interesting video Mr Turnip. Another area up that neck of the woods that might be interesting to you is the now long gone Halifax High level railway that started at the King Cross end of Queens Road are St Paul's Station. There is also the Queensbury line that ran next Dean Clough.

[@MrCazjd]

Great video mate. I’m Halifax born and bred, we do have some amazing chimneys still and so much history.

[@YourYorkshireWalker]

I film a lot of stuff in and around Halifax, there is so much here! Honestly every time I drive past the Dean Clough chimney I've always thought you would love it!

[@michaeldowd8422]

This guys enthusiasm for history is infectious 👍

[@wanderingturnip]

👏👏

[@leaturner4797]

you should have your own TV programme, your enthusiasm is absolutely inspirational. Thank you for another brilliant vlog.

[@Midlifer69]

Fred Dibnah and Turnip , now what a team that woulda been 😊

[@ethanruss7717]

Not really considering Fred made a living from dismantling chimneys and this guy likes to look at them 😂

[@pauldrummond225]

Fabulous video, so enjoyable and informative. I used to visit halifax a few yeas back and I loved each visit, I used to drink in the Ring O' Bells pub, the people were great and the area seemed to suit my nature. Thanks for posting.

[@pimpozza]

Happy New Year to our Wandering Turnip and followers.. 🎉✨️🎶🥂

[@robertburgess3767]

Right back at ya 🎉

[@wanderingturnip]

Lot of nice chimneys in this one that I know you will love 👍👍👍 happy new year 😄

[@pimpozza]

​@@wanderingturnipOMG! I had no idea the last person to be executed via guillotine was not THAT long ago.. Hamida Djandoubi in 1977 for the m*rder of a 21 year old girl.. I had to Google it!! Give me chimneys any time!! Fascinating vlog, as always!! 👏👍

[@pimpozza]

​@wanderingturnip Wow! Fascinating info, David.. BRILLIANT! My first reply got deleted as I mentioned the 1977 guill*tine event.. Free speech is no more on YT 🤦🏻‍♀️ Give me chimneys any day! 👍👏

[@pimpozza]

​@@wanderingturnipArghhhh, YT deleting my replies (can't mention losing one's head 😅).. but this vlog was BRILLIANT! Can't beat patting a chimney.. 🤗

[@Iluvthe1960s]

My mum came from Halifax and moved to London in 1947 in the early 70’s (roughly 1969 to 1972) we used to go up and stay for 2 weeks every summer and Christmas not been there since 72, I keep meaning to go back I had a lot of family there I’ve not seen for 50 years or more, we were meant to move there at the end of 1972 but sadly it never happened, if anyone sees this with the surname Grady (my mum was Adeline her sister was Margaret) love to hear from you as we’re probably family! Great video made me want to go back (probably won’t be anything that’s still the same as I remember) Happy New Year!

[@Iluvthe1960s]

@ thank you!

[@felicityscarth3153]

Very enjoyable! Looking forwards to another year of chimneys, dry stone walls, mean streets, sad shops and Turnip wanderings! Thank you so much for your wonderful walks!

[@jackie5414]

Happy New Year Wandering Turnip ! Wish you all the best ! And thank you for brought me a interesting 2024

[@hannahjordan1515]

First video I’ve watched of yours - I was here for the gibbit story, and then realised you have such a passion for chimneys - I was sucked into your enthusiasm 😂 Awesome vid!

[@roberthaigh3206]

An interesting video! I live just 8 miles from Halifax and have been there many times. So many interesting buildings and great architecture all through the town. I visited Gibbet Street and the site of the Guillotine several years ago, BEFORE it was fenced off, and I walked up those old steps and actually touched the structure. A great piece of local history!

[@Magic-Florence]

Magic vid, loved it! Happy New Year and thanks for all the wonderful wanderings xx

[@lesallison9047]

As always, an excellent show. Thank you, and a big Happy New Year to everybody. ✌️💚🙏 🇬🇧

[@godspeed6315]

Loving these local historic insights .. I wonder why the chimneys well sone of them look like a minaret at top but it must be a Halifax thing as Iv never seen them anywhere else. The fly tipping though is a chaotic jarring sight😢

[@TamsinSimmons]

Happy New Year David. Another brilliant video.Can hardly believe that France last used the guillotine in 1977!

[@pimpozza]

@@TamsinSimmons I agree! I had no idea it happened in the 1970s!

[@Magic-Florence]

​@@pimpozzaI always learn knew stuff on WT channel, Fi. Happy New Year to you and yours and much love xx

[@pimpozza]

@Magic-Florence Quarter of a century has passed since the new millennium... Where does the time go? Happy New Year, Flo.. may it be full of MAGIC! 🤗😘🎊✨️

[@garyneville1141]

Happy new year Turnip, another great video. If only thier were more passionate KZbinrs doing this sort of stuff.😊

[@brimstone260]

Cracking bit of chimney porn there David, thought you was going to explode at one point! 😂 Being a Burnley lad, and a stonemason, the Halifax towers make me a little envious, stone beats red brick everytime.❤

[@markrobinson1458]

Love those chimneys, I've never heard of the Halifax guillotine, excellent stuff 👌👍

[@brudershaft4539]

Next time we’re driving back from Halifax I’ve got loads of factoids to tell the Mrs. Especially about Gibbet St and the Running Man pub. Great knowledge. Liked and subscribed.

[@andrewjames5032]

The white chimney was rowntrees macintosh, now nestle. I'm from halifax and the history is brilliant,

[@luton_gmanrock]

Happy New Year Mr Turnip (David) another video where you change me into an unsurprisingly devoted chimney fan lol...

[@mh6108]

Great video. I grew up in Halifax and it's amazing how I've taken some of this stuff for granted.

[@mikeyandthechis]

Thanks for all the videos, it was a blast from the past this one I use to work in The Running Man, 20yrs ago! Merry new year Wandering Turnip. 🐾🐾❤️🐾🐾

[@Mattehbby]

Live in Halifax, just the other side of the road from Wainhouse tower, lovely spot for a dog walk, thanks for the history lesson!

[@MuhammadAli-hr1bj]

Great content of local Halifax heritage. There's plenty more gems to discover. Look forward for more stuff from Halifax

[@rafo6577]

Top job as per David. All the best for the new year. 👍

[@lisaodd3196]

Eiffel tower? No way would I climb that, all those people! But I would absolutely climb that chimney, and give it a pat on the bottom 😊 Thank you for another fascinating video, I'd never heard of the Halifax gibbert, I wonder if it was a clean cut, first time? Wishing you a very happy New year 😊

[@Bazza80]

Happy New Year! 🎉 How about a series on Great British Steam Railways!! Might be worth it, as it will be another thing that will be all gone soon 😮

[@CocoaWitch]

You can see my childhood bedroom window from your Wainhouse tower shots and at the start when you were talking about chimneys I was hoping you'd have gone to see it, so glad by the end you had 😆

[@jamesweekes6726]

Whoa!! I pat things like that too! Good man, I feel less weird now, thanks.

[@Kay-outdoors459]

Your channel gets better & better! I love that you love chimneys ❤

[@jamesbrierley5693]

Another great wander, David!

[@ivydickson7596]

This is one of your best videos mate.

[@brianferguson7840]

Dr Guillotine didn't come up with the idea, he found rcords of the Halifax model and put it before the French committee for public safety (ironic title)who accepted it for its speed and efficiency. There are two previously popular french family names which no longer exist, one is Guillotine, the other is Poubelle, the man who gave his name to the rubbish bin.

[@neilgodwin6531]

In the same way, I've never met an English person called Crapper

[@LowKeyTired-q7d]

"where many met a violent death ... Now, let's go look at some chimneys" 😂😂😂

[@skaworld509]

Respect WT ♥ The Accrington vid was epic. Nicolac White (mudlarking thames) has found some NORI bricks

[@wanderingturnip]

Accrington vid was my favourite ever to film 👏👏

[@magnushenriksson6580]

Excellent video as always.Cheers.

[@Mitudom]

Love the way that you can't let the chimney story get away from your trips if you come across ✨️ it ❤🙏🏻✨️ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Mr Turnips

[@Urbextwosevens]

Fantastic as always!!

[@BsktImp]

Wandered (boom-boom) across your channel about 18 months ago and was immediately hooked. Thanks for sharing your unique brand of social history and commentary with us. Happy 2025!🎉

[@Narrowboat.and.offgrid.living]

I just don't understand why people dump rubbish in the woods what goes through there heads

[@garethhelliwell9736]

What goes through their heads. Unfortunately, not the gibbet.

[@FunkyTomo]

They do it because it costs money to tip, if you tip regular. All those people who will move all your junk for a cheap price on Facebook.... Yep ... They are flytipping

[@collector1946]

Fred Dibnah used to wrap chimneys like that to give them a bit more life… I know he did the one in Sowerby Bridge on the high street in 1980 (ish) …. You need to do a series on Fred Didnah .. had a pint with him in 1991 !!

[@archstanton3763]

Happy New Year Turnip !!! The coats wearing well, good value for money.

[@wanderingturnip]

I actually have 2 now 😉 although both I got second hand so pretty buzzing to see they are still going

[@Genghis-Khan121]

Really enjoyed this not come across your channel before right up my street so to speak thank you

[@alanfunt4013]

Chimneys are like the headstones on the graves of British greatness.

[@Disorder1889]

Great energy mate , love your style ...

[@NorthernExposure1]

Love the enthusiasm! Need to visit some of these places in West Yorks

[@BaneHuntress]

Dean Clough used to have a TONE of chimneys when I was a kid back in the 80's when some of it was still a working mill (My grandparents and dad worked there making carpets). I went up Wainhouse tower when I was a kid, about 6, back then it was just something to do XD, I believe it's opening up more in 2025? You were a stones throw from the last remaining chimney in Sowerby Bridge! and you gave it no love? It used to have a twin, and it was devastating when they took it down. just to leave a lonely chimney. But yeah, I've seen them take a LOT down in Sowerby Bridge and Halifax. Also... when going round wainhouse, never one's could I say "I can see my house for here!" /sulk.

[@MJS-hj1zk]

I did an engineering apprenticeship at Crossley carpets dean clough in the early 80s, left Halifax in 87 to travel round Australia, now living in Shropshire but love going back when I can, great town 👍

[@michaelkelly2708]

The detail is amazing on that last tower ❤😊 Tartarian Empire structure

[@janallan3390]

My Dad worked for Calderdale Museums and was involved in rebuilding the replica gibbet in the 70s - I have some newspapers somewhere all about the rebuild if I can find them 🙂 He was based at Bankfield Museum 🙂

[@justinnewbert]

I was brought up in halifax great to see the chimneys again, thanks!

[@SlurpyDave254]

Youve done some great vids and this is one of the best..why did the running man come back to Halifax😂. That blade is ridiculously small but heavy..love chimneys being brought up around Sslford n Bury areas. Happy new year Dave..hopefully im in the Golden Rule next week, cheers👍🍺

[@davidberesford7009]

Have a Happy New Year WT. Nice to learn something new to me about the origin of the guillotine. And to watch you chasing "chimblies" Bye!

[@jobes4525]

I'm so visiting Halifax! TY for the tour :)

[@DaysOfDarknessUK]

The weight of those chimneys is phenomenal - the pressure on the ground per square foot must be an impressive figure - imagine the foundations - probably down to rock.

[@ArtJourneyUK]

Happy New Year Turnip! In 1977 A New Hope wasn't called A New Hope, it was just plain Star Wars.

[@wanderingturnip]

Ha mad I never thought of it not as a trilogy

[@adrianhargreaves2854]

It is called starwars a new Hope episode 1V

[@ArtJourneyUK]

@adrianhargreaves2854 It is *now*. In 1977, when it was released, it was just called Star Wars. Me and My 11 year brother queued all the way round the cinema to see it on release day.

[@adrianhargreaves2854]

@@ArtJourneyUK well I never new that. I went as well with my mum. I was 7

[@sharonellis8776]

Happy New Year, Turnip. There was a stunning old church behind you after you left the Running Man pub. I think that Fred Dibnah would have loved those chimneys. xx

[@FunkyTomo]

Fred Dinbah was a wife beater in case your not aware. Awful man.

[@jujulionesselsa1416]

That is so grand and outstandingly beautiful.

[@abbeyclock4650]

Wandering Turnip is indeed a national treasure. We waited anxiously for 11 days, wondering aloud what his next video would be about, and hoping he had a great Christmas.

[@abbeyclock4650]

This video wasn't really about the gibbet. It was actually about chimneys.

[@Ste2023]

Happy New Year WT 🎉

[@themotorbikecamper5990]

Theres a chimney at barrow bridge in bolton, that's worth a look ? nice video Happy New Year, all the best

[@lynnshaw2365]

Very interesting video. Happy New Year.

[@anthonywarburton2920]

Happy new year bud I love your channel I love the north of England from Dublin Ireland

[@cheljohn4743]

Great video, very interesting and entertaining

[@AlternativeUniversalPictures]

Wish I knew you was filming this, I just live round the corner and would have loved to have talked about the brutal history of this town with you.

[@greensquare6236]

Hi David, would you ever consider doing a series of videos on English medieval churches. I am fascinated by how the wonderful stained glass windows have survived through the centuries.

[@stephenclark9917]

The Beggars Litany "From Hull, from Hell, from Halifax, ’tis this, from all these three, Good Lord, deliver us."

[@davidberesford7009]

"The Dalesman's Lament"

[@Wendyj55]

Brilliant video. Thanks.

[@carolyndymond4065]

I lived 2 minutes away from the old gibbet and Halifax is going down the plug there used to be a lot of bands in people's park all I think they have now is piece hall where they used to sell cloth and eureka.