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For the larger local government district, see City of Wakefield. For other uses, see Wakefield (disambiguation). Coordinates: 53°40′48″N 1°29′31″W / 53.6801°N 1.4920°W
Wakefield is the main settlement of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder, the urban area was 2,062 hectares (5,100 acres) and had a population of 76,886 in 2001.[1] Wakefield was dubbed the "Merrie City" in the Middle Ages.[2] In 1538, John Leland, described Wakefield as,"a very quick market town and meately large; well served of fish and flesh both from sea and by rivers ... so that all vitaile is very good and chepe there. A right honest man shall fare well for 2d. a meal. ... There be plenti of se coal in the quarters about Wakefield".[3]
[edit] History[edit] ToponymyThe name "Wakefield" may derive from "Waca's field" – the field belonging to someone named "Waca" or the name could have evolved from Old English word wacu, meaning "a watch or wake", and feld, an open field in which a wake or festival was held.[4][5] In the Domesday Book of 1086, it was written Wachefeld and also as Wachefelt. [edit] Early historyFlint and stone tools and later bronze and iron implements have been found in the Wakefield area showing evidence for human activity since prehistoric times. This part of Yorkshire was home to the Brigantes until the Roman occupation in 43 AD. Wakefield was probably settled by the Angles in the 5th or 6th century and after 867 the area was controlled by the Vikings who divided the area into wapentakes. Wakefield was part of the Wapentake of Agbrigg. The settlement grew up near a crossing place on the River Calder around three roads, Westgate, Northgate and Kirkgate.[6] "Gate" dervies from "gata" meaning road[7], kirk, from "kirkja", tells us there was a church.[8] Before 1066 the manor of Wakefield had belonged to King Harold and, on his defeat and death at the Battle of Hastings, it passed to the victorious William the Conqueror. After the Conquest Wakefield was a victim of the Harrying of the north in 1069, William the Conqueror's revenge for resistance to Norman rule by the local population. It was recorded as Wachfeld in the Domesday Book of 1086, covering a much greater area than present day Wakefield.[9] There were two churches, one in Wakefield and probably one in Sandal.[10] The Manor of Wakefield, was granted by the crown to William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey whose descendents, the Earls Warenne, inherited it when he died in 1088.[11] In 1203 William, Earl Warenne received a grant to have a market in Wakefield. Wakefield and its environs formed the caput of an extensive baronial holding by the Warennes that extended to Cheshire and Lancashire. The Warennes, and their feudal sublords, continued to hold the area until the 14th century, when it passed to Warenne heirs.[12] Norman tenants also holding land in the region included the Lyvet (Levett) family at Lupset who had given their name to the hamlet of Hooton Levitt.[13] In 1100 the Saxon church was rebuilt in stone in the Norman style and was continually enlarged until 1315 when the central tower collapsed. By 1420 the church was again rebuilt and was extended between 1458 and 1475. The building of Sandal Castle began early in the 12th century and it was to become the stronghold of the manor.[14] Another castle was built at Lawe Hill on the north side of the Calder but was eventually abandoned.[15][16] In 1204 King John granted the rights for a Fair to be held at the feast of All Saints, 1st November, and in 1258 Henry III granted another Fair to be held on the feast of St. John the Baptist , 24th June. The market was situated close to what is now the Bull Ring.[15] In 1460, during the Wars of the Roses, the Duke of York was killed on 30 December 1460 in the Battle of Wakefield near Sandal Castle. At the time of the Civil War Wakefield was a Royalist stronghold, an attack led by Sir Thomas Fairfax on 20 May 1643 captured the town for the Parliamentarians. Over 1500 troops were taken prisoner along with the Royalist commander, Lieutenant-General Goring. [17] In medieval times Wakefield was a port on the River Calder and centre for the woollen and tanning trades. In 1699 an Act of Parliament was passed creating the Aire and Calder Navigation which provided Wakefield with access to the North Sea.[18] The first Registry of Deeds in the country opened in 1704 and in 1765 Wakefield’s cattle market was established to became the one of largest in the north. The town had been a centre for cloth dealing with its own piece hall, the Tammy Hall built in 1766.[3] Tammies were a sort of worsted cloth that was in demand at the time. In the late 1700s Wakefield saw the development of Georgian town houses around St John's Church which was built in 1795.[18][19] [edit] Later history At the start of 19th century Wakefield was already a wealthy market town and inland port, with an important wool and corn trade.[20] The Corn Exchange opened in Westgate in 1838 and Wakefield, because of transport links using the Aire and Calder and Calder and Hebble Navigations and the Barnsley Canal, became an important market for corn from Norfolk, Cambridge and Lincolnshire, to supply the growing population in the West Riding.[21] Malt, coal, and stone, were also transported to neighbouring manufacturing towns. Before the railways, road transport using turnpiked roads was also important. Regular mail coaches departed to Leeds, London, Manchester, York and Sheffield and the 'Strafford Arms' was an important coaching inn.[22] When cloth dealing declined wool spinning mills using steam power were built by the River Calder. There was a glass works in Calder Vale Road, several breweries including Melbournes and Beverley's Eagle Brewery, engineering works with strong links to the mining industry and brickyards in Eastmoor giving the town a diverse economy.[23][24] On the outskirts of the town coal had been dug since the 15th century and 300 adult males were employed in the town's coal pits in 1831.[3] During the 19th century more mines were sunk so that there were 46 in Wakefield and the surrounding area by 1869.[25][24] The National Coal Board eventually became Wakefield's largest employer. Manor Colliery on Cross Lane and Park Hill colliery at Eastmoor both survived until 1982.[26] Wakefield had become the administrative centre for the West Riding and during the 19th century much of what is familiar in Wakefield was built.[27] The court house was built in 1810, the first civic building to be constructed in Wood Street.[28] The West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum was built at Stanley Royd, just outside the town on Aberford Road in 1816 and the old House of Correction redesigned and rebuilt in 1847. Wakefield Union Workhouse[29] was built on Park Lodge Lane, Eastmoor in 1853 and Clayton Hospital was begun in 1854 after a donation from Alderman Thomas Clayton.[30] Up to 1837 Wakefield relied on wells and springs for its water supply, supply from the River Calder was polluted, and various schemes were unsuccessful until reservoirs on the Rishworth Moors and a service reservoir at Ardsley were built providing clean water from 1888.[31] On 2nd June 1906 Andrew Carnegie opened the library on Drury Lane which had been built with a grant of £8,000 from the Carnegie Trust.[32] There are seven ex-council estates in Wakefield which the council started to build after World War I, the largest, Lupset in the west, Flanshaw, Plumpton, Peacock, Eastmoor, the oldest, Portobello and Kettlethorpe which were transfered to registered social landlord, the registered charity Wakefield and District Housing, WDH, in 2005.[33] The outlying villages of Sandal Magna, Belle Vue and Agbrigg became suburbs of Wakefield. The glass and textile industries closed in the 1970s and 1980s. During Margaret Thatcher's contraction of the coal industry six pits within a two mile radius of the city centre closed between 1979 and 1983. At the time of the 1984 Miners' Strike there were 15 pits in the district and demonstrations of support took place in the city. West Yorkshire County Council, which had been based in Wakefield was abolished in 1974. The city remained a depressed area, but fortunes have risen recently and unemployment is now around the national average. [edit] Governance Wakefield was anciently a market and parish town in the Agbrigg Division of the Wapetake of Agbrigg and Morley in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It became a parliamentary borough with one Member of Parliament by the Reform Act 1832. In 1836 the Wakefield Union Was formed following the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 with an elected Board of Guardians.[34] The town was incorporated as a municipal borough with elected councillors in 1848 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835.[35] Wakefield had been the de facto seat of regional government in Yorkshire for two centuries and became the county headquarters of the new West Riding County Council created by the Local Government Act of 1888.[36] After the elevation of Wakefield to diocese in 1888, Wakefield Council immediately sought city status and this was granted in July 1888.[37] In 1974, under the terms of the Local Government Act 1972, the county borough of Wakefield became defunct as it merged with surrounding authorities to become the City of Wakefield district. Today the city is the headquarters of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, Local Government Yorkshire and Humber and the West Yorkshire Police.[38] [39] Wakefield is covered by five electoral wards, Wakefield East, Wakefield North, Wakefield Rural, Wakefield South and Wakefield West of the Wakefield Metropolitan District Council. Each ward elects three councillors to the 63-member metropolitan district council, Wakefield's local authority. As of 2009, nine ward councillors are members of the Conservative Party and six ward councillors are members of the Labour Party who control the council.[40] Wakefield's MP is Mary Creagh who has represented the parliamentary seat for Wakefield for the Labour Party since the 2005 General Election. Since 10 June 2009 she has been an Assistant Whip.[41] [edit] GeographyWakefield is 9 miles (14 km) southeast of Leeds and 28 miles (45 km) southwest of York. The city centre is sited on the north bank of the River Calder close to a crossing place where it is spanned by a 14th-century, nine arched, stone bridge, now replaced by a reinforced concrete bridge built in 1929–1930.[42][43] It is at the junction of major north-south routes, Sheffield, Leeds and Doncaster and west-east routes, Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Pontefract. It is within the area of the Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire & Yorkshire Coalfield and lies on coal measure sandstones of the Carboniferous era.[44]
[edit] Neighbouring towns and places
[edit] Demography
In 2001 the Wakefield urban area had a population of 76,886][47] comprising 37,477 males and 39,409 females.[47] Also at the time of the 2001 UK census, the City of Wakefield had a total population of 315,172 of whom 161,962 were female and 153,210 were male. Of the 132,212 households in Wakefield, 39.56% were married couples living together, 28.32% were one-person households, 9.38% were co-habiting couples and 9.71% were lone parents. The figures for lone parent households were slightly above the national average of 9.5%, and the percentage of married couples was above the national average of 36.5%; the proportion of one person households was below the national average of 30.1%.[48] The population density was 9.31 inhabitants per square kilometre (24.1/sq mi). Of those aged 16–74 in Wakefield, 39.14% had no academic qualifications, much higher than 28.9% in all of England. Of Wakefield’s residents, 2.53% were born outside the United Kingdom, significantly lower than the national average of 9.2%. The largest minority group was recorded as Asian, at 1.41% of the population. The number of theft-from-a-vehicle offences and theft of a vehicle per 1,000 of the population was 7.9 and 3.9 compared to the English national average of 6.3 and 2.3 respectively.[49] The number of sexual offences was 0.9, in line with the national average.[49] The national average of violence against another person was 16.7 compared to the Wakefield average of 15.[49] The figures for crime statistics were all recorded during the 2008–09 financial year. [edit] EconomyThe economy of the area changed in the last quarter of the twentieth century, the coal mines closed and other traditional manufacturing industries declined. This had a major effect on the economy contributing to high rates of unemployment. The economy recovered and enjoyed growth as the economic base of the district was diversified. Growth has been supported by inward investment, from European and United Kingdom government funding, which has impacted on the regeneration of the area. Distribution and the service industries are now the main employers.[50] Wakefield is a member of the Leeds City Region Partnership, a sub-regional economic development partnership covering an area of the historic county of Yorkshire.[51] [edit] RegenerationThere are number of ongoing regeneration projects in Wakefield including the Trinity Walk development to the south-east of the city centre, replacing the market hall and containing retail units and a library.[52]Work began in autumn 2007 but was halted in 2009 and is scheduled to restart in 2010.[53] The cross roads at the Bull Ring in the city centre has been redesigned and the Ridings Shopping Mall refurbished.[54] Westgate Station goods yard and land on Westgate is being developed to create retail and commercial space including new council offices and a hotel.[55] Developments by the river and canal, the "Wakefield Waterfront", include the "Hepworth Gallery", a new art gallery named in honour of local artist and sculptor, Barbara Hepworth, refurbishment of the Grade II listed Navigation Warehouse as well as office, retail, restaurant and cafe units.[56] Flats and offices are also being built at Chantry Waters, on an island between the river and canal. [edit] LandmarksThe most notable landmark in Wakefield is Wakefield Cathedral, which has the tallest cathedral spire in Yorkshire. Other landmarks include the Civic Quarter on Wood Street which includes County Hall, Wakefield Crown Court and Town Hall. St Johns Church and Square date from the Georgian period. The old Wakefield Bridge with its Chantry Chapel and Sandal Castle are Ancient Monuments along with Lawe Hill in Clarence Park.[57] [edit] TransportThe Council is working with Metro, the other four West Yorkshire district councils and transport operators to provide an integrated transport system for the district through the implementation of the West Yorkshire Local Transport Plan.[58] The Aire and Calder Navigation is 33 miles from Leeds to Goole, and 7.5 miles from Wakefield to Castleford and was created by Act of Parliament in 1699, it was open to Leeds in 1704 and to Wakefield in 1706. It enabled ships carrying 100 tons to reach Wakefield from the Humber.[3] It is still used by a small amount of commercial traffic and leisure craft.[59] The Calder and Hebble Navigation was created by Act of Parliament in 1758 with the intention of making the Calder navigable to Sowerby Bridge. The route was originally surveyed by John Smeaton. This route remains open and is used by leisure craft.[60] The Barnsley Canal, a broad canal with 20 locks, opened in 1799 connecting Barnsley to the Aire and Calder Navigation at Wakefield. This canal was abandoned in 1953.[61] Wakefield has good access to the motorway system, the intersection of the M1 and M62 motorways, junctions 40/29, is to the north and the M1 to the west is accessed at junctions 39, 40 and 41. The A1(M) is to the east of the district. Wakefield is crossed by the A61, A638, and A642 roads and is the starting point of the A636 and A650 roads. A network of local buses, coordinated by West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (WYPTE) and departing from the bus station in the town centre, serves Wakefield and district. Buses are operated by Arriva, B L Travel, Poppletons, Stagecoach Yorkshire and National Express. [62] Wakefield Kirkgate was opened by the Manchester and Leeds Railway in 1840, followed by Wakefield Westgate in 1867. Wakefield Westgate railway station is on the Doncaster to Leeds line, giving it a connection to the East Coast Mainline, with trains to Leeds, Doncaster, and stations towards London King's Cross. CrossCountry trains go to Newcastle upon Tyne, Edinburgh, Birmingham and the South West. East Midlands Trains also run trains via Sheffield, Leicester to St Pancras International. Wakefield Westgate is on the Wakefield Line of the MetroTrain network. Wakefield Kirkgate is unmanned and operated by Northern Rail who operate trains to Barnsley, Meadowhall, Sheffield, Normanton, Pontefract, Knottingley, Leeds, Castleford and Nottingham. The station serves the Hallam Line, Huddersfield Line and the Pontefract Line of the MetroTrain network. The nearest airport is Leeds Bradford International Airport, 19 miles to the north of the city at Yeadon. [edit] EducationSee also: List of schools in Wakefield Wakefield College is the major provider of 6th form and further education in the area, with around 3,000 full-time and 10,000 part-time students,[63] and campuses in both the city centre and surrounding towns. In 2007 Wakefield City Council announced that it was planning, in co-operation with Wakefield College, to establish a new local university, the University Centre of Wakefield, but a bid for funding failed in 2009.[64] [65] Other 6th form colleges in Wakefield include: QEGS Wakefield, WGHS, Silcoates, and Cathedral High School, which is now a Performing Arts College for ages 11 to 18.[66] Queen Elizabeth I established a grammar school in the city by Royal Charter in 1591. The original building was built in 1598 at Goody Bower and is now known as the 'Elizabethan Gallery' in Brook Street. Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS) moved to its current location in Northgate in 1854.[15] [edit] Religion
Wakefield is in the Church of England diocese of Wakefield which is mainly in West Yorkshire but which also has a significant part in South Yorkshire and five parishes in North Yorkshire.[68] The Bishop is the Rt Revd Stephen Platten who is the 12th Bishop of Wakefield. There are sixteen Church of England churches in the Wakefield deanery. Wakefield's church was elevated to cathedral status when the Wakefield Diocese was founded on 17th May 1888. William Walsham How was the first bishop.[69] Wakefield Cathedral was a 14th century parish church, which was restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the 19th century. The Wakefield Cathedral Choir, directed by Jonathan Bielby and assisted by Thomas Moore, consists of boys, girls and men who perform at the cathedral and have appearanced on BBC 1's Songs of Praise and BBC Radio 3's Choral Evensong.[70]
The city is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds.[72] Agbrigg Muslim Association have a Zakaria Masjid Mosque in Wakefield.[73] Wakefield is also known for the Wakefield Cycle, a collection of 32 mystery plays, dating from the 14th century, which were performed as part of the summertime religious festival of Corpus Christi and revived in recent times.[74] [edit] CultureThe Theatre Royal and Opera House, designed by architect Frank Matcham opened in 1894.[75] There is an art gallery and museum in the city centre and the new Barbara Hepworth gallery on the city's waterfront. The ruins of Sandal Castle are open to the public. Clarence Park on land near Lawe Hill was opened in 1893 and the Holmfield Estate was acquired by the Corporation in 1919 became Holmfield Park. The Thornes House grounds opened as Thornes Park in 1924.[76] The Clarence Park Music Festival for local bands is held annually in Clarence Park[77] Two children's nursery rhymes with Wakefield connections are "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" which may have been a song or chant used by women inmates at Wakefield prison. [78] and "The Grand Old Duke of York" which may allude to the battle of Wakefield in 1460, referring to Richard Plantagenet, the 3rd Duke of York.[79] Wakefield is known as the capital of the Rhubarb Triangle, an area notable for growing early forced rhubarb. Wakefield along with Morley and Rothwell make up the triangle. In July 2005 a statue was erected to celebrate this facet of Wakefield which also hosts an annual Rhubarb Festival to celebrate its historical association.[80][81][82] Wakefield has two newspapers, the The Wakefield Express[83] and the Wakefield Guardian[84], and a radio station, Ridings FM[85]. The National Coal Mining Museum for England (an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage), the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Nostell Priory[86] are within the metropolitan area as is Walton Hall, a Georgian mansion set in what was the world's first nature reserve, created by the explorer Charles Waterton, now a hotel. [edit] SportWakefield Trinity Wildcats is a rugby league club currently playing in the Super League division, . The club, founded in 1873, was one of the initial founders of the Northern Union after the split from the Rugby Football Union in 1895. The club plays at Belle Vue.[87] Several local teams play in different leagues of the British Amateur Rugby League Association, BARLA. They include Wakefield City, Wakefield Redoubt , Crigglestone All Blacks, Kettlethorpe and Eastmoor Dragons. [88] Rugby Union Football is played at Sandal RFC[89] and was played by Wakefield RFC from 1901 to 2004 when the club ceased playing. Wakefield F.C. play in the Northern Premier League Division One North after moving from the village of Emley in 2001. The club played at Belle Vue until the end of the 2005/6 season when it moved to Wakefield RFC's former ground at College Grove for the 2006/7 season.[90] Wakefield Sports Club at College Grove also has the Yorkshire Regional Hockey Academy, Wakefield Bowls Club and Wakefield Squash Club on the same site.[91]
There is a 100 acre watersports lake at Pugneys catering for non-powered watersports such as canoeing, sailing and windsurfing.[95] Wakefield has two successful current senior international swimmers (Ian Perrell and Rachel Jack). [edit] Public servicesWakefield Prison, originally built as a house of correction in 1594, is a maximum security prison. The current prison was designated a dispersal prison in 1966 and is now a lifer main centre with the focus on serious sex offenders.[96] Wakefield is policed by the West Yorkshire Police force and is within the DA, Wakefield division, which covers the Wakefield Metropolitan District area[97] The statutory emergency fire and rescue service is provided by the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, from Wakefield fire station.[98] Hospital services are provided by the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and community health services, including GPs, district and community nurses, dentists and pharmacists, are co-ordinated by Wakefield District Primary Care Trust.[99][100] Waste management is co-ordinated by the local authority. Wakefield's Distribution Network Operator for electricity is CE Electric via Yorkshire Electricity; there are no power stations in the city. Yorkshire Water manages Wakefield's drinking and waste water.[101] Library services are run from Wakefield library headquarters in Balne Lane which also manages an important regional music and drama collection, comprising over 500,000 items of music and 90,000 copies of plays, for Yorkshire Libraries & Information (YLI).[102] [edit] Notable peopleFurther information: List of people from Wakefield David Storey born in Wakefield in 1933 is a novelist and playwright who wrote "This Sporting Life" in 1960. It was made into a film with the same name in 1963. The indie-punk band The Cribs are from Wakefield as were the heavy metal band Vardis, and the underground punk pop band the Humor.Bill Nelson is a guitarist, songwriter, painter and experimental musician from Wakefield and is a founder member of the band [[Be Bop Deluxe]. [edit] Twin citiesWakefield is twinned with several towns and cities including:[103] [edit] References
[edit] External links
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