Interesting facts about Wakefield |
| Corporal punishments inflicted in the eighteenth and nineteenth century in Wakefield, floggings took place in the yard of the Elephant and Castle public house in Westgate |
| Merrie City, Wakefield is noted fot it's merriement, the reputation dating from the time of Edward IV who became the first King of the Yorkists after the Battle of Towton in 1461 |
| The area of Westgate was historically held to have the largest number of adjacent pubs in England. |
| Pancrack was a local slang term for state-assisted unemployment benefit |
| Air Raids, Wakefield was first targeted by the Luftwaffe on 28 August 1940, bombs falling on Norton Street Bellevue, injuring 4 people and destroying six houses |
| BEEFEATERS, clergymen and the nation's media poured into Wakefield as Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh gave Maundy money to 158 pensioners. |
| Wakefield Town Hall was build between 1877 and 1880 to designs by T.E Collcutt |
| Edward Allen Brotherton, became Lord Brotherton of Wakefield. Wakefield's first Baron. |
| The original Mulberry Bush, of 'Here we go around a mulberry bush' fame is inside Wakefield High Security Prison. The inmates would be made to run round the bush as daily exercise.. |
| The Grand Old Duke of York, another nursery rhyme, is from the Battle of Wakefield in 1460 when the Duke of York was killed. |
| The Prince and Princes of Wales made a visit to Wakefield in 1985 |
| In 1946 a group of Dutch children were brought to Wakefield to recouperate after the Allied Victory in Europe. |
| Wakefield Westgate Railway Station opened in 1867. |
| Richard Sutcliffe (of Fletcher Sutcliffe Wild), was the inventor of the first underground belt conveyor c.1905. |
| Wakefield Market Hall completed in 1964 houses 87 stalls and cost £289,000 to build. The old market built in 1851 and opened on August 29th was demolished in 1962. Wakefield has a long history of markets and one has existed in some form or another since the 1200's. |
| Queen Victoria's statue was removed from the Bull Ring to Clarence Park and in 1985 was re-instated in the Bull Ring. |
| Wakefield Cathedral spire and tower together are 247 ' high and are the tallest in Yorkshire. |
| The top of Wakefield Cathedral spire is level with the top step leading into St Michaels Church, East Ardsley (reported by a villager) |
| Clayton hospital owes its name to a successful 18th century man, Thomas Clayton |
| The Crown Court, was completed in 1810. The designed, also as a result of a competition. Magistrates before the building of the Court House had to conduct court in Public Houses. The building had to be extended in 1849 and again in the 1880's. The building closed on 7th April 1973 after much protest from locals and members of Parliament. |
| The Regal cinema was opened in the 1930's. It could seat 1,700 in comfort. In 1976 after a brief closure the cinema was re-opened as the ABC with 3 smaller cinemas within. The cinema closed its doors again a few years ago and is awaiting a buyer. |
| For many years the place everyone met their friends (before nearly all youngsters had cars) was 'under the bus station clock'.The bus station was knocked down in 2002, along with the clock and a modern bus station was built on an adjacent plot. |
| The West Riding Asylum was first occupied on 23rd November 1818, over one year behind schedule. The building was also over budget by £7,000 and cost £28,000. The seperate church, St Faith's, being added in 1861. 1867 the church was licensed for baptisms and marriages. A theatre was added in 1859 and could seat upto 700 people. In September of 1963 Enoch Powell made a visit. Charles Dickens is beleived to have visited the Asylum. Pinderfields, a subsidiary of the Asylum flourished and is indeed undergoing rebuilding work now (2003) but 1995 marked the closure of the Asylum or Stanley Royd as it was later to be known. Fact : under the bowling green at Stanley Royd is a water reservoir that was used to feed the laundry, heating systems and the kitchens. |
| Wakefield Subscription Library was established in the year 1786. |
| In 1765 Wakefield Cattle Market was established. The market grew to become the largest in the North of England during the 19th century. In the 1860's - 70's nearly 1/2 a million animals went through the gates. It had been sold in 1938 to Wakefield Corporation for £9,000 and finally closed in 1965. |
| The Saw Inn, Westgate, as well as having lands which included :- gardens, cottages, garths + parcels of land stretching to Ings Lane (now Ings Road) also boasted a Pew in Wakefield Church (1792) |
| Serial killer John George Haigh lived, as a child, on Ledger Lane, Outwood. He also attended the Queen Elizabeth Grammer School. |
| Black Lace a local group, famous for 'Agadoo', hail from Wakefield, as does Sandra Stevens and Martin Lee members of the group 'Brotherhood of Man' who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976. |
| 'Onward Christian Soldiers' was written by Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould who wrote the famous hymn while living in Horbury. |
| 'The Lambeth Walk', 'The Sun Has Got It's Hat On', 'Run, Rabbit Run' and 'Leaning On The Lampost' were all written by Reginald Moxon Armitage from Lofthouse Wakefield |
| In 1960 Wakefield Trinity won the Challenge Cup |
| Wakefield forms one point of the Rhubarb Triangle, with Morley and the South part of Leeds forming the other two. Trains from Lofthouse, East Ardsley, Stanley and Morley from the late 1870's to the mid twentieth century, took between 80-100 tons each trip and sometimes two trips were needed to keep Covent Garden supplied. |
| Wakefield's Theatre Royal and Opera House built in 1894 has been in the latter part of the 20th century a picture house and bingo hall but in 1979 the theatre became a grade II listed building and was given a new lease of life. The restored building was re-opened in 1986. |
| Joanne Harris of 'Chocolat' fame was a pupil at Wakefield Girls High School. Helen Fielding of 'Bridget Jone's' Diary. Barbara Hepworth, the sculptress was born in Wakey. |
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