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Top Attractions in Wakefield

Wakefield Castle

Wakefield Castle, Lowe Hill or Lawe Hill was a castle built in the 12th century on a hill on the north side of the River Calder near Wakefield. Its name derives from the Anglo Saxon hlaew meaning a mound or cairn, possibly a burial mound or barrow. The mound, situated a quarter mile from the river, was separated from the town by flat swampy land and was seen as a good site for a fortification. William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey probably started to build the castle, an earthwork motte and bailey structure. A ditch, six feet deep and forty feet wide was dug and the spoil used to construct a mound or motte about forty feet high with a flat top about fifty feet in diameter. The castle had two baileys further fortified by timber palisades and these were occupied by stables, workshops and sleeping quarters for the soldiers. Wakefield Castle and neighbouring Sandal Castle were granted to Thomas, Earl of Lancaster in 1318 and in 1324 King Edward II committed them to the care of Richard Moseley. At what time the castle was destroyed is not known but a great gale in 1330 which caused much damage in Wakefield may have been the cause. Excavations in 1953 indicated that the castle was probably an adulterine castle, built without permission, and abandoned unfinished. In July 1558 a beacon was lit on Lowe Hill to warn the population that the Spanish Armada had been sighted off The Lizard in Cornwall. Little remains of the castle, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, which is situated in Thornes Park, other than the motte which is covered in trees. The site is accessible to the public.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is an open-air gallery in Yorkshire, England, showing work by British and international artists, including Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. The parks collection of works by Moore is one of the largest open-air displays of his bronzes in Europe. The park occupies the parkland of Bretton Hall near the village of West Bretton in Wakefield District, and straddles the border of West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. The Yorkshire Sculpture Park was the UKs first sculpture park based on the temporary open air exhibitions organised in London parks from the 1940s to 1970s by the Arts Council and London County Council . The gallery without walls has a changing exhibition programme, rather than permanent display as seen in other UK sculpture parks such as Grizedale Forest.

ABC Cinema

The ABC Cinema, Wakefield is a derelict cinema in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. It is in Kirkgate on the corner of Sun Lane. It is an Art Deco building that was designed for Associated British Cinemas by in-house architect William R. Glen and opened as the Regal Cinema on 9 December 1935. Not as large as some later ABC houses the Regal accommodated 1,594 but had a full stage 26 feet deep behind the 43 feet wide proscenium. The interior was rather plainer than many of Glen's cinemas with concealed lighting under the balcony and at the rear of the ceiling and pendant fittings casting light upwards towards the front of the cinema. It was renamed ABC in 1962. In 1976 it was divided into three screens with Screen 1 seating 532 in the balcony using the original screen and projection suite and Screen 2 and Screen 3 in the rear stalls area. In this form it reopened on 11 November 1976. In 1986 ABC's cinemas were sold to The Cannon Group. In December 1996 Cineworld opened a multiplex in Wakefield and in 1997 the ABC closed. In 2007 Blockbuster Entertainment sought planning permission to convert the building into 119 one- and two-bedroom flats, eight shops and a rooftop garden. In 2009 the City of Wakefield granted planning permission, but the project did not go ahead. In December 2013 a property company, PS & S Ltd, applied for planning permission to demolish the building and replace it with a modern apartment block.

Stanley Ferry Aqueduct

Stanley Ferry Aqueduct was built between 1836 and 1839 to take the Aire and Calder Navigation over the River Calder in West Yorkshire, England. It is one of the earliest through arch bridges in the world and is considered to be the longest span aqueduct executed in cast iron. Designed by George Leather Sr. and built by H. McIntosh, the aqueduct has a span of 165 feet, a width of 24 feet and a depth of 8.5 feet . It is still in use today, though an additional wider concrete aqueduct was constructed alongside in 1981 and the bridge was then renovated. Stanley Ferry is also the place where the Tom Pudding tub boats were loaded with coal from local collieries between 1863 and 1985 and transported down to Goole in long trains by canal. The site is one of three historic fords crossing the River Calder near Wakefield. Because the water was deepened for navigation a ferry became necessary, but was replaced by the first bridge in 1879. Like many through arch bridges, the design of the bridge is often confused with the tied-arch bridge; many bridges have both characteristics. However in this case the bridge is of cast iron, which would be weak in tension. Although the aqueduct channel is in the right position to act in tying the arch, it would have no strength in this direction. At Stanley Ferry, the outward sideways thrust of the arch is retained by its abutments, as for the simple arch bridge.

Ferrybridge power station

Ferrybridge power station refers to a series of three coal-fired power stations situated on the River Aire near Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire, England. The first station on the site, Ferrybridge A power station, was constructed in the mid-1920s, and was closed in 1976; the main building has been retained as workshops. Ferrybridge B was brought into operation in the 1950s and closed in the early 1990s. In the 1960s, Ferrybridge C power station was opened with a generating capacity of 2 GW from four 500 MW sets; constructed by Central Electricity Generating Board in 1965; on privatisation in 1989 ownership was passed to Powergen, then to Edison Mission Energy , then to AEP Energy Services (American Electric Power) (2001) and to SSE plc (2004). C power station closed in March 2016. Two of the four units were fitted with flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) plant in 2009. In 2013 SSE indicated that the power station would not comply with the Industrial Emissions Directive (2010EU) requiring the plant's closure by 2023 or earlier. It has since been announced that the plant will be fully closed by March 2016. Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 is a 68 MW multi-fuel plant at the site which became operational in 2015.

Newmillerdam

Newmillerdam is a village and suburb of Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. The name also refers to the lake and country park adjacent to the village. The park is a Local Nature Reserve. Formerly known as Thurstonhaigh, the village got its current name from the construction of a grain mill powered by water from the dammed lake, thus the New mill on the dam". The mill still stands, though is nonoperational, and is privately owned. The mill was originally owned and operated by the Pashley family, who remained in the village until the 1980s. The Pashleys owned many local business through the centuries including a blacksmiths, coal mines and furniture making business. These furniture makers were also general carpenters and installed one of the first public toilets in the yard of The Three Houses Public House in 1852. The Pashley family were Methodists and provided large sums of finance to build two Chapels in the village. The Chapels are situated on School Hill, and on Barnsley Road. The Pashley reference is noted on these buildings by the dedication stones to William M Pashley. Nearby stands Kettlethorpe Hall, built in 1727 built by the Pilkington family. It has been converted into two separate houses. Chevet Hall, another nearby mansion stood on the site on an older hall to the east of Newmillerdam and was built in 1529 by the Neviles. The hall was demolished as a result of mining subsidence in the 1960s despite massive outcry from locals. In 1765 the hall and estate was acquired by the Pilkingtons who built the boathouse on the lake in 1820 in their private grounds. The Pilkingtons built lodges around their 2,340 acres private estate to deter poaches. Some of these survive. It was opened to the public after Wakefield Council bought the estate in 1954. The boathouse is a Grade II Listed building. Seckar Woods nature reserve, located near the more affluent village of Woolley is an SSSI .
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