Description and History of Site:-
Only the church steeple remains, and is listed grade II*; the site of the former nave is now occupied by a new library building. By 1855 the existing Square Chapel had become too small for the needs of its congregation and it was decided to erect a new church on a site immediately to the north of the existing building. The costs were largely defrayed by brothers John and Francis Crossley, both members of the family of carpet manufacturers based at Dean Clough. In 1879, Alexander Graham Bell's telephone was a brand new invention, capable only of transmitting signals over quite short distances. On Sunday, 13 April 1879, Mr Louis John Crossley installed a transmitter of his own design at Square Chapel, which was connected via the telegraph lines of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company (of which he was a director) to Manchester, where in an office there, invited guests were able to listen to a sermon preached from the pulpit at Square Chapel. Another experiment enabled a service led by its renowned preacher Dr Mellor, to be received through Crossley's own telephone system at the Congregational Chapel in Saltaire. It is said that the sermon and the singing in Halifax could be heard 'with great distinctness'. Soon afterwards Crossley was able to sell the patents for his new transmitter to the United Telephone Co. Ltd., owners of the Bell, Edison and other patents for £20,000. The church closed in 1970, and the church body destroyed by fire in the following year; the remains were demolished in 1976 leaving just the spire still standing. A new public library has been erected on the site of the former nave of the church.

Further Reading and References:-
R. Bretton, Crossleys of Dean Clough, Part V, Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society, 1953, pp. 100-101.
J. Wild, Some Local People of Note, Part 2, Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society, Halifax, 1976, p. 23.

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Key Words :- telephone transmitter

Viewing the Site :- Can be seen from across the opposite side of Square Road.

Address :- Square Road, Halifax, West Yorkshire, HX1 1QG
Grid Ref :- SE 09600 25076
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.722004 , Long -1.855996
Local Authority :- Calderdale Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Listed - Grade II*
Historic England List No - 1258888,
Site Condition :- Site redeveloped to industrial / commercial use
Site Dates :- 1855 -
Record Date :- 16 April 2017

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Peter Robinson