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Welcome to Pontefractus.co.uk
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Pontefract is one of the 'Five Towns'
in the district of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, with a population close
to 29,000 people. Its name originates from the Latin ponte fractus
which, translated, means 'broken
bridge'. The name Pontefract does not appear in the
Domesday Book of 1086 but an area
of the town known as Tanshelf does. |
Pontefract
Castle was built around 1070 by Ilbert de Lacy and as a consequence
the town suffered terribly throughout the English Civil War years. Oliver
Cromwell once stated that he believed Pontefract Castle was "one
of the strongest inland garrisons in the kingdom."
Pontefract has been a market town since the Middle Ages and its location
on deep sandy soil made it one of the few places throughout Britain
where liquorice
plants could be cultivated. While liquorice growing disappeared some
time ago, other long-standing traditions such as its large number of
public houses and its racecourse continue to provide entertainment for
visitors and inhabitants alike.
This website, constructed in March 2005, aims to relate the history
and origins of the town of Pontefract along with more recent
recollections of the town by those who live
and work here. |
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Spotlight on Previous Articles
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IN A
NUTSHELL - CHARLES ELLIS
I was born in Pontefract Workhouse. My mother and I were there
because she had been turned out of her home (because of her
pregnancy out of wedlock). It was a stigma that was to haunt me for
many years - in 1922 it was a sin..
Read more...
THE BARNBOW LASSES - ERIC
JACKSON
At the outbreak of the First World War in November 1914 the British
army was ill prepared for the scale of the conflict and nowhere was
this more apparent than in the provision of artillery ordinance.
Read more... |
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Featured Articles
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JOHN POULSON - by
DAVE BARRY
There seem to
have been few famous people to originate or emerge from
Pontefract - even famous sporting personalities are a rarity -
but one Pomfretian who achieved fame or even notoriety in the
recent past was the architect John Poulson.
Read more...
DISASTER AT
DARRINGTON - by BRIAN LUNN [Updated Account]
On the 18th September 1943 the village of Darrington near Pontefract
was the scene of a fatal air crash when a Halifax Bomber crashed
onto a group of cottages at the eastern end of the village killing
four of the occupants as well as the six man crew of the aircraft.
During the afternoon of that fateful Saturday, Sergeant Edward
Wilson had attended a briefing at RAF Riccall near Selby, the home
of No 1658 Heavy Conversion Unit, which trained crews to fly the
four-engined Halifax Bomber.
Read more...
A short story in ten chapters relating the joys and experiences of
keeping a dog and the grief that is felt with their passing.
Read more...
MEMORIES
OF THE 1930s by WILLIAM WOOD
I was born in Pontefract
in 1933 and lived in the Headlands Lane Social Club with my mam, dad and
my two sisters. Directly opposite the club was the swimming
baths. The superintendent in charge was Mr. Colley, an
ex-military man who had a waxed moustache, twisted into sharp points
at each end. I often wondered if those points were sharp!
Read more...
WILLOW PARK DOG TRACK
- TERRY SPENCER
In January 1938, Mr. Claude Firth, licensee of the Willow Park Hotel,
wrote to the directors of Carters’ Knottingley Brewery Co., Ltd., requesting
the lease of four acres of land lying adjacent to the hotel. Firth,
who had been the tenant of the hotel since 1933, sought on behalf of
himself and two business associates, J.W. Penty and Percy Smith, a two
year lease of the site with a renewal option, their intention being
to establish a greyhound racing track.
Read more... |
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