Wakefield

For other uses of the word, see Wakefield (disambiguation).

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Wakefield is a city in the county of West Yorkshire, England, south of Leeds, and by the River Calder. Its population was 74,764 in 1991. Today it forms part of a metropolitan borough named the City of Wakefield. The town was a centre for cloth dealing and had its own Piece Hall. The area was once dominated by coal-mining - a key driver for the industrial revolution. By the time of the 1984 miners' strike, all the pits in the city had already been closed, but there were 18 pits in the rest of the district and demonstrations in support of the strike frequently took place in the city.

Related Topics:
County - West Yorkshire - England - Leeds - River Calder - Metropolitan borough - City of Wakefield - Cloth - Piece Hall - 1984 miners' strike

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The cathedral was restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott. There is a charming 14th century Chantry Chapel, one of only four remaining in England.

Related Topics:
Cathedral - George Gilbert Scott

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Wakefield has a very large range of cultural attractions: one of Europe's foremost sculpture parks, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, what was to have been the Duke of York's stronghold in the North, Sandal Castle, the nearby National Coal Mining Museum for England, a town-centre art gallery and a museum.

Related Topics:
Yorkshire Sculpture Park - Sandal Castle - National Coal Mining Museum for England

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Wakefield is distinctive in having had an unusually high amount of council housing, and in 2004 when tenants voted overwhelmingly to transfer the entire housing stock to a new registered social landlord (called Wakefield District Housing) it became the second largest stock transfer in British history. The city of Wakefield itself contains seven council estates and was almost 50% council-rented, whilst the wider Wakefield district also includes nearby towns such as Pontefract, Castleford, Hemsworth and Ossett. The city's largest estate is Lupset, in the west; the others are called Flanshaw, Plumpton, Peacock, Eastmoor, Portobello and Kettlethorpe.

Related Topics:
Pontefract - Castleford - Hemsworth - Ossett

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Cheapside is the longest continuous street of woolstaplers' warehouses in England.

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The area of Westgate was historically held to have the largest number of adjacent pubs in England. The famous Westgate Run or 'Pub Crawl' even has its own website.

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Wakefield is also known for its mystery plays, a cycle of 32 scriptural plays dating from the early 15th century, which were performed as part of the summertime religious festival of Corpus Christi and revived in recent times.

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The film, "This Sporting Life (1963)" is about Wakefield and the hard realities of the mines and Rugby League, directed by Lindsay Anderson, written by David Storey and starring Richard Harris.

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Wakefield is also occasionally known as the capital of the Rhubarb Triangle, an area famous for its early forced Rhubarb. Wakefield is one of the points of the triangular area with the neighbouring towns of Morley and Rothwell at the other two, and is also home to the annual 8 day "Rhubarb Festival" which consists of various themed tours, talks, exhibitions and markets. In July 2005 a statue was erected in a local park to celebrate the facet of Wakefield

Related Topics:
Rhubarb - Morley - Rothwell

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In June 2004 Wakefield was the scene of the television programme Most Haunted, who hosted a summer solstice special in various locations around the city, including Wakefield Opera House.

Related Topics:
June 2004 - Most Haunted

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