Wakefield occurs as city in the county of West Yorkshire, England, south of Leeds, and per River Calder. Its people was 74,764 around 1991. Now it forms section of the metropolitan borough named the City of Wakefield. the town was a centre for cloth dealing and experienced its have Piece Hall. the metropolitan area was it used to be that dominated by coal-mining - a key driver for the industrial revolution. Per period of the 1984 miners' strike, all the pits around the city had already been closed, however there were Xviii pits in the rest of the dominion & demonstrations in trend lines of the strike ofttimes took place in the city.

A cathedral was restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott. There is a charming 14th century Chantry Chapel, one of sole quartet left over inside England. a chapel tops the butress in a bridge all over the River Calder.

Wakefield has the super big range of ethnical attractions: one of Europe's first sculpture parks, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, what was to have been a Duke of York's fastness northward, Sandal Castle, the nearby National Coal Mining Museum for England, the town-centre gallery & a museum.

Wakefield is distinctive withinside getting got an unco high total of council housing, & inside 2004 once tenants voted overpoweringly to transport a entire housing futures to a fresh registered social landlord (known as Wakefield District Housing) it became the 2nd big equity transport in British history. A city of Wakefield itself contains 7 council estates & was well-nigh 50% council-rented, when a wider Wakefield territory as well includes nearby towns like Pontefract, Castleford, Hemsworth and Ossett. A city's big estate is Lupset, in a west; the others come known as Flanshaw, Plumpton, Peacock, Eastmoor, Portobello [known affectionately as "bella"] & Kettlethorpe.

Cheapside is the hanker continuous street of woolstaplers' storage warehouse within England.

A region of Westgate was historically held to use at times a pack of adjacent public house around England. A notable Westgate Start or even 'Pub Crawl' possibly has its have site.

Wakefield is besides known for its mystery plays, a period of 32 scriptural plays dating from either a early 15th century, which were performed when a portion of the summer religious festival of Corpus Christi & revived inside recent days.

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

Wakefield is likewise now and then referred to as a capital of the Rhubarb Triangle, an area famed for its early forced Rhubarb. Wakefield is one of a points of a triangular region sustaining the neighboring towns of Morley and Rothwell at the more ii, & is likewise house to the annual Ogdoad day "Rhubarb Festival" which consists of various themed tours, talks, exhibitions & markets. Around July 2005 a statue was erected inside the local park to celebrate the facet of Wakefield

Within June 2004 Wakefield was the scene of the television programme Most Haunted, who hosted a summer solstice favorite within various locations in the city, including Wakefield Opera Home.

History

Its title is typically said to derive from either "Wacca's field" -- a field belonging to Wacca. Nonetheless, these are additional in all likelihood to develop evolved from either Old English wacu, meaning "a watch or wake", & feld, an open field where the wake up was held (Reaney, 1964, p.161). In the Domesday Book in 1086, it wwhen listed as Wachefeld (Mills, 1998, p. 361). It was dubbed a Merrie City in the midst Ages.

Inside 1460, during a Wars of the Roses, the Duke of York was defeated touching this city (so the town) in the Battle of Wakefield. A ruins of Sandal Castle can still exist as visited. It is placed around pleasant park touching Pugneys Country Park, a popular walk-to spot for locals.

Famous people born in or near Wakefield

Andrew Phillips - Intellectual Anne Elizabeth McCormick - Journalist, first woman to win a Pulitzer prize Barbara Hepworth - Sculptor Charles Waterton - Naturalist David Mercer - Playwright David Storey - Novelist and playwright Denis Parkinson - Grand Prix winner and commentator George Gissing - Novelist and misanthrope Henry Moore - Sculptor John Harrison - Clockmaker, a genius world health organization solved the longitudinal problem John Radcliffe - Scientist and founder of the eponymic library inside Oxford Jonty Parkin - Rugby Player, England Captain Kenneth Leighton - Composer Martin Frobisher - Explorer Noel Gay - Popular Composer Robin Hood - Outlaw, his fight with a Pinder of Wakefield existence commemorated in the song "George a Green" Walter Hampson - Dialect Author & Poet Jane McDonald - Singer and Television Personality

Famous songs regarding Wakefield

"Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush" - just about Wakefield Gaol "The Grand Old Duke of York" - normally attributed to exist as write on a battle of Wakefield, on to Richard, a grand old duke.

Sport
Although Wakefield is non famed for its sport, there are the total of clubs & teams that play inside Wakefield. Examples include Wakefield-Emley Football Club, Leeds United F.C. Reserves, Wakefield Hockey Club and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats.

Prisons
Wakefield is less celebrated however withal swell known for its prisons. [http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/prisoninformation/locateaprison/prison.asp?id=477,15,2,15,477,0 HMP Wakefield] is the virtually all high-security in the whole of Britain, & has involved numerous famed inmates including Ian Huntley, Harold Shipman and Charles Bronson. A nearby [http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/prisoninformation/locateaprison/prison.asp?print=1&id=1009,15,2,15,1009,0 HMP New Hall] is a multi-Have prisin for women, immature female wrongdoer & girls on Detention and Training Orders (DTOs).