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Sandal and Sandal Castle
Sandal, Wakefield
Sandal is a residential suburb of Wakefield strung out along the busy A61 two miles south of the city centre.
Sandal’s locality has been inhabited since before Roman times and was at the crossroads of history in the late medieval period.
There is archaeological evidence of occupation in the district going back into prehistoric times. Sandal is probably an Anglo-Saxon settlement name derived by combining the words sand and halh meaning a sandy area of land, but the Scandinavian words sandr and healh have a similar meaning, so a Viking origin cannot be discounted either. In William I’s Domesday Book of 1086 it is recorded as Sandala, a berewic or outlying estate in the Manor of Wakefield where cereal crops were grown. It’s recorded that the settlement was owned by the king, had a church, priest some plough land and a very small population, probably fewer than ten persons.
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Ryhill in Wakefield
Havercroft Pond, Ryhill, Wakefield
Ryhill in Wakefield is a West Yorkshire village 7 miles south east of Wakefield.
Ryhill which prospered from coal mining for over a century. Ryhill in Wakefield today it is better known for the wetland habitats on its doorstep.
The name Ryhill derives from the Old English ryge hyll meaning simply ‘the hill where rye is grown’ a once common cereal crop. The first mention of Ryhill in the historical record is in the Domesday Book of 1086. Rihella is described as an outlying farm settlement with only five peasant farmers working around 400 acres of arable land, indicating a total population of 20 to 40 people. At this time the land around Ryhill was owned by Ilbert de Lacy Lord of Pontefract Castle. In 1124 Ilbert’s son Robert granted lands including Ryhill to the Augustinian canons of Nostell Priory a few miles to the northeast. The order retained ownership for a further 400 years until the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Wakefield City Centre Water Front
Wakefield Waterfront “It’s a bit like Sex and the City living here.”
Businesswoman Claire Young of The Apprentice fame gazes down from her duplex flat on to the sun-sparkled River Calder at Wakefield’s Waterfront. The residential new-build is part of the regeneration of Wakefield’s Waterfront, a £100m mixed-use scheme comprising apartments, office space, bars, restaurants and the UK’s largest purpose-built gallery for 50 years, The Hepworth Gallery.
“People in London assume I live in Harrogate or York, but one of the great things about living on the Wakefield Waterfront is that it’s a two-minute cab ride to Wakefield Westgate so I can be in London in two hours,” she says. As well as running her business, School Speakers, Claire Young recently launched a networking group, What Wakefield Wants. “I work incredibly hard so the peace and quiet here is just lovely.”
The West Yorkshire town of Castleford near Wakefield has recently been thrust into the national spotlight as a major urban renewal plan led by TV presenter Kevin McCloud was televised on Channel 4.
Kevin McCloud and The Big Town Plan introduced the viewer to several regeneration projects in Castleford which are part of an overall improvement programme for the town.
The last five years have seen a series of different projects across the town, including the design of a new town square, several new facilities for children and the design and build of a major new footbridge.
The Big Town Plan was actually founded by Channel 4, local community and civic groups and Wakefield Metropolitan District Council.
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Badsworth in Wakefield
Badsworth in Wakefield has been described as `beautiful’ and `quintessentially English’ – there’s no doubt that the West Yorkshire village of Badsworth in Wakefield is simply charming.
Badsworth, with a history dating back to the Domesday Book, Badsworth is well known for its beauty, its church and its hunt.
Although Badsworth in Wakefield shares its parish with the neighbouring villages of Thorpe Audlin and Upton, the village itself with its sleepy streets, mature trees and gardens is probably the way the locals like it. Driving through Badsworth, you could almost blink and miss it but the people who live here no doubt enjoy the relative peace and quiet.
Pomfretians are proud of their rich and colourful history.
Local organisations from the Pontefract Heritage Group help us help us to appreciate one of the very best old market towns in the north of England.
Looking around the busy Pontefract town centre it was good to see so many streets and buildings with blue plaques, providing useful historical information. The Pontefract public library, located in Shoemarket as well as being a popular community resource, has a new information point, free internet access and research facilities for local and family history. Nearby, the small museum, housed in the former Carnegie free library building, provides an excellent introduction to Pontefract’s heritage. Here, in a compact setting, you can trace the story of Pontefract from its origins until recent times and there is an adjacent exhibition room and sales point. At the time of my visit there was a 1960s and an Old Photographs exhibition. The recent Council elections serve as a reminder that the first ever secret ballot took place here, in 1872. In the Pontefract museum’s reference room you can access thousands of images relating to Pontefract, Wakefield and the surrounding area and there is an upstairs room displaying Knottingley glass.
If you are interested in Horbury’s heritage or just good shopping in a welcoming, friendly environment, a visit to the small township of Horbury in Wakefield can be a fascinating experience. A stroll around Horbury’s quiet streets can be rewarding in many ways, be it a visit to the fine John Carr designed Horbury church, set atop of the eminence that forms the hub of the town, or perhaps you have come for that peaceful shopping experience with just a hint of a difference from the normal High Street superstores.
There are many good reasons to visit Horbury in Wakefield, all of them are good, some of them you may even find a little surprising.
Ackworth in Wakefield is a large, somewhat sprawling village, set aside the A628 (Barnsley/Pontefract) and A638 (Doncaster/Wakefield) roads and by the small River Went.
Ackworth in Wakefield is a former coalmining, quarrying and agricultural centre, an important routeway; and famous for its independent Quaker-founded school. Ackworth’s historic constituent parts: Brackenhill, Ackworth Moor Top, High Ackworth and Low Ackworth are less distinctive than they were in earlier times. Not surprising given the amount of new housing development in this attractive area, but the place does retain considerable character and interest.
Discover Wakefield City Centre, West Yorkshire
Whether you are a regular shopper or a first time visitor to Wakefield City Centre, you cannot fail to notice the wind of change sweeping through Wakefield.
Regeneration and renewal are the buzzwords of a bold vision which is transforming the Wakefield City Centre in West Yorkshire striking a balance between preserving a proud heritage and building for the future.
If New York is the city that never sleeps, Wakefield is one that refuses to stand still. Key areas of retailing and commerce were re-developed in the mid 1950s and again in the early ’80s, so rising to the challenge of changing times seems almost second nature.
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