Wakefield
| Wakefield | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Coordinates | 53 ° 41 ′ N , 1 ° 30 ′ W | ||
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| Residents | 76,886 (as of April 29, 2001) | ||
| administration | |||
| Post town | WAKEFIELD | ||
| ZIP code section | WF1, WF2 | ||
| prefix | 01924 | ||
| Part of the country | England | ||
| region | Yorkshire and the Humber | ||
| Shire county | West Yorkshire | ||
| District | Wakefield | ||
| British Parliament | Wakefield | ||
| Website: Wakefield | |||
Wakefield is a major English city with about 100,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire ; it is the administrative seat of the Borough City of Wakefield .
Location and climate
Wakefield is located at the eastern foot of the Pennines on a hill on the north bank of the River Calder at an elevation of 35 to 50 meters . The city is about 18 km (driving distance) south of Leeds , about 28 km southeast of Bradford , 40 km north of Sheffield and about 80 km northeast of Manchester . The climate is temperate; Rain (approx. 695 mm / year) falls over the year.
Population development
| year | 1901 | 1921 | 1951 | 2001 | 2011 |
| Residents | 24,107 | 52,891 | 60,371 | 96,290 | 99.251 |
The steady population growth of the city is essentially based on the loss of jobs in the countryside as a result of the mechanization of agriculture and the abandonment of small farms ( rural exodus ).
economy
The textile industry gradually disappeared in Wakefield and throughout central and northern England in the 1970s and 1980s. In addition, six coal mines had to be closed between 1979 and 1983 due to a cut in coal subsidies during Margaret Thatcher's tenure . During the British miners' strike of 1984/1985, only 15 coal mines remained in the Wakefield area.
history
In the Wakefield area, finds such as flint and tools made of stone, iron, and copper have been made that show human habitation in prehistoric times. Before the Roman occupation in AD 43, this part of Yorkshire was inhabited by the Celtic Brigands . A Roman road led from Pontefract to Manchester and crossed the River Calder at Wakefield at a ford. In the 5th and 6th centuries the area was settled by the Anglo-Saxons and from the year 867 by the Vikings . As a result, Wakefield grew at the intersection of three converging streets, called Westgate, Northgate and Kirkgate. The terms gate and kirk come from the old Norwegian words for street ("gata") or church.
Wakefield belonged to Edward the Confessor until 1066 and came into the possession of William the Conqueror after the Battle of Hastings . After the Norman conquest of England , Wakefield fell victim to a campaign of revenge by Wilhelm against the people of Yorkshire (1069), which went down in history as the Harrying of the North . The city was mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086) as a guard field . The area was described as devastated and neglected. In 1088 the Wakefield estate was passed on to his descendants from William de Warenne . Construction of Sandal Castle began in the early 12th century; the castle was the seat of the Warenne family until the 14th century .
On December 30, 1460, Duke Richard Plantagenet was killed during the Wars of the Roses at the Battle of Wakefield near Sandal Castle . During the English Civil War , Wakefield was a royalist stronghold. On May 20, 1643, the city was conquered by troops of Parliament under the leadership of General Thomas Fairfax . Over 1,500 royalists were captured, including the leader George Goring . In 1699 Parliament decided to build the Aire Calder Canal , which made Wakefield accessible by water from the North Sea. In 1765, a textile and cattle market opened in Wakefield for the first time, and it became one of the most important in the whole of northern England.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Wakefield was a prosperous trading town and, thanks to its inland port, an important trading center for wool and grain. The Aire Calder Canal, as well as the Calder Hebble Canal and Barnsley Canal, were waterways used to transport grain grown in Cambridgeshire , Norfolk and Lincolnshire to Yorkshire. A grain market was opened for the first time on Westgate in 1838. The overland route also played a role in grain transport. Regular connections with stagecoaches existed to Leeds, London, Manchester, York and Sheffield. The railroad age of the city began in 1840 with the construction of Kirkgate Station on the new Manchester to Leeds railway line.
Coal has been mined in the Wakefield area since the 15th century. In 1831, about 300 workers were employed in the city's coal mines. The number of mines increased in the course of the 19th century, so that in 1869 there were a total of 46 mines in the region.
During the 19th century, Wakefield was the administrative center of the West Riding ; During this time, many buildings that still exist today were built. Until 1837, Wakefield received its drinking water from natural springs and wells. In a transitional phase, water was taken from the Calder river until reservoirs for storing drinking water were finally built (1888). On June 2, 1906, Andrew Carnegie opened a library in Wakefield, the construction of which was supported with £ 8,000 by his foundation.
| Religions in Wakefield 2001 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 census | Wakefield | Yorkshire | England |
| Christians | 78.21% | 73.07% | 71.74% |
| Atheists | 11.74% | 14.09% | 14.59% |
| Muslims | 1.14% | 3.1% | 3.1% |
| Buddhists | 0.10% | 0.14% | 0.28% |
| Hindus | 0.20% | 0.32% | 1.11% |
| Jews | 0.04% | 0.23% | 0.52% |
| Sikhs | 0.08% | 0.38% | 0.67% |
| Other | 0.18% | 0.19% | 0.29% |
| no information | 7.57% | 7.77% | 7.69% |
Religions
The residents of Wakefield are predominantly Christian; but other religions of the British colonial empire are also represented.
politics
Wakefield became the administrative seat of the West Riding under the Local Government Act 1888 . After the elevation to the diocese, the city council submitted an application to obtain city status, which was approved in July 1888. In 1913 Wakefield became a county borough , which in 1974 merged with surrounding communities through the Local Government Act 1972 to form the new Borough City of Wakefield . Today the city is the seat of Wakefield Council and the West Yorkshire Police .
The MP elected to the House of Commons in Wakefield has been Mary Creagh of the Labor Party since 2005. She was re-elected in 2010.
Culture and sights
Sacred buildings
- Wakefield's oldest church is Wakefield Cathedral from the 14th century; it was restored in the 19th century under the direction of George Gilbert Scott and was given cathedral status in 1888.
- The Chantry Chapel of St Mary the Virgin , built in 1356 and dedicated to the Virgin Mary , is one of the most ornate in England.
- The St John's Church was built in 1795 in the Georgian style of architecture built.
- The Trinity Church on George Street was built in 1838/39.
- The St Andrew's Church in the Peterson Road was opened. 1846
- The St Mary's Church on Charles Street was consecrated in 1864th
- In 1844 a first Methodist church was also opened.
Secular buildings
- The Theater Royal on Westgate was designed by architect Frank Matcham and opened in 1894. It shows musicals, dramas, live music, comedies and dance performances. There is a local museum in the city center. The ruins of Sandal Castle are open to the public.
- The most important museum in the District City of Wakefield was the National Coal Mining Museum for England until 2011 , which documents the history of coal mining in Yorkshire and is an anchor point on the European Route of Industrial Heritage.
- The Hepworth Wakefield Museum opened in May 2011 , designed by the English architect David Chipperfield . The new building will not only show works by Barbara Hepworth , but also other works from the museum's collection by British and foreign artists. The museum also has space for solo exhibitions.
- Other sights outside of the urban area, but within the District are the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the manor house Nostell Priory , a country house built from 1733 in the Palladian style .
Parks
The history of Wakefield's three adjoining parks dates back to 1893 when Clarence Park opened. Thornes Park and Pugneys Countrys Park opened in 1919 and 1924, respectively, and extend to the southwest of the city.
Wakefield is part of the so-called Rhubarb Triangle ("Rhubarb Triangle"), a well-known growing area of Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb in West Yorkshire. In July 2005, a rhubarb statue was erected in the city, where an annual rhubarb festival is held.
Sports
The Wakefield Trinity Wildcats are a rugby league club playing in the Super League and a founding member of the professional rugby football league after it split from the rugby football union in 1895. The club, which was founded in 1873, is home to Belle Vue . In addition to the Wildcats, there are Wakefield City, Westgate Wolves, Crigglestone All Blacks, Kettlethorpe and Eastmoor Dragons, several amateur clubs that are members of the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA). Rugby Union was played by Sandal RFC from 1901 to 2004.
The FC Wakefield plays the eight-year Northern Premier League Division One North . In terms of population, Wakefield is the largest city that has never had a professional football club.
Wakefield also has a bowl , a squash , two golf and two cricket clubs . The Thornes Park Athletics Stadium is the home of athletics -Vereins Wakefield Harriers, whose members Martyn Bernard and Emily Freeman at the 2008 Olympics took part in Beijing. Pugneys Country Park includes a 40 acre lake where canoeing , sailing and windsurfing are practiced.
Economy and Infrastructure
traffic
Northwest of Wakefield, the M1 and M62 highways intersect at Lofthouse junction . The city can be reached via connections 39, 40 and 41 or 30 and 31. The A1 (M) runs in the east of the borough in a north-south direction past Wakefield. The A61, A638 and A642 A-roads run through Wakefield, and the A636 and A650 also begin here.
In 1840, Kirkgate station was opened on the Manchester to Leeds railway; Westgate station followed in 1867 . Via the latter, London North Eastern Railway offers connections to Leeds and via Doncaster via the East Coast Main Line to London's King's Cross station . CrossCountry has connections to Newcastle upon Tyne , Edinburgh , Birmingham and the South West England . London North Eastern Railway has rail connections via Sheffield , Nottingham and Leicester to London's St Pancras Station . Northern Trains operates Kirkgate Station and has connections to Barnsley , Meadowhall , Sheffield, Pontefract , Knottingley , Leeds, Castleford and Nottingham.
The nearest airport is Leeds / Bradford Airport, 30 km northwest . Manchester Airport has direct rail links (around 80 km away).
media
Two daily newspapers appear in Wakefield, the Wakefield Express and the Wakefield Guardian . The city is the seat of the regional radio station Ridings FM .
Public facilities
Wakefield has a maximum security prison, the wing of which was built in 1594. The city is monitored by the West Yorkshire Police . Ambulance and fire services are provided by the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service . Wakefield's hospitals are operated by the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust .
Wakefield's electrical distribution system operator is CE Electric UK . Yorkshire Water is responsible for the supply of drinking water as well as for the treatment of wastewater.
Personalities
Sons and daughters of the town:
- Brian Bagnall (1943-2020), painter
- Helen Baxendale (born 1970), actress
- Martyn Bernard (born 1984), athlete
- Christopher Rawdon Briggs (1869–1948), violinist and music teacher
- Sandy Bruce-Lockhart (1942-2008), politician
- Martin Creed (* 1968), artist
- George Robert Gissing (1857-1903), writer
- Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975), sculptor
- Kenneth Leighton (1929–1988), composer
- Alan Smith (born 1980), football player
- David Storey (1933–2017), playwright, novelist and screenwriter
- Colin Sturgess (* 1968), cyclist
- Anne Treisman (1935–2018), cognitive psychologist
- Andi Watson (* 1969), comic book artist and illustrator
- Oliver Wood (* 1995), cyclist
- John Travers Wood (1878-1954), politician
