HALIFAX (Yorkshire).

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HALIFAX (Yorkshire). Has no armorial bearings. Those in use, which are of some antiquity, are, Chequy or and azure, a man's face with long hair and bearded and dropping blood, and surmounted by a halo all proper, in chief the letters HALEZ and in base the letters FAX. And for a Crest a Paschal Lamb. A Motto is sometimes used, "Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem." The lettering varies, being sometimes HALEG, HALEY, or HALIZ. The last form is as used upon the seal, but the head is not placed upon an escutcheon, simply upon a plain diapered background (not chequy). Upon escrolls on the seal are the words " Warren " and " Lewes," and the lamb, which here simply separates the beginning and end of the legend, is couchant and has no cross or banner. Appended is a " newspaper cutting " relating to the arms, but the editor can accept no responsibility for its accuracy, and simply quotes it for what it may be worth : —

" Halifax strikes us at once as being what French heralds call ' allusive arms,' or arms which evidently contain an allusion. There is, however, a disagreement among antiquaries as to what this allusion really is in the present case. Halifax is known to mean holy hair or holy face, but this does not much help to clear up the obscurity. Some maintain that the head represented on the shield is that of John the Baptist, there having been at Halifax ever since the introduction of Christianity a church dedicated to that saint, and a relic of his head preserved there. The other party have a romantic legend about a damsel of the old time, of renowned virtue, but also so obstinate as to tax the patience of some of her admiring neighbours beyond endurance. One of them was so vexed that he cut oft" her head and flung it into a tree. The maiden was more esteemed in death than she had been in life, for her memory was greatly venerated. A church was built in her honour on the spot where she had been killed, and her head was adopted as the arms of the town."

Original Source bookofpublicarms00foxd_djvu.txt near line 12005.