Pontefract
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Pontefract is a town in the county of West Yorkshire, England, near the A1 (or Great North Road), the M62 motorway, and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the borough of Wakefield and has a population of approximately 28,250. Pontefract's motto is Post mortem patris pro filio, Latin for "After the death of the father, we support the son", a reference to Civil War Royalist sympathies.
History
Pontefract's name originates in the Latin Pontus Fractus, "Broken Bridge". The town is situated on an old roman road (now the [A639]), described as the "Roman Ridge", which passes south towards Doncaster. Although Pontefract itself does not appear in the Domesday Book, an area of the town, known as Tanshelf, does.Pontefract Castle dates from Norman times, when it was known as Pomfret. It was built, about 1070, by Ilbert de Lacy. King Richard II was murdered within the castle walls in 1400. William Shakespeare's play Richard III mentions this incident:
- Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison,
- Fatal and ominous to noble peers!
- Within the guilty closure of thy walls
- Richard the second here was hack'd to death;
- And, for more slander to thy dismal seat,
- We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink.
Pontefract today
Pontefract has been a market town since, at least, the Middle Ages; the main market days are Wednesday and Saturday, with a smaller market on Fridays. There is also a covered market, which is open all week, except Thursday afternoons and Sundays. Thursday afternoon is half-day closing in Pontefract. The town is called Ponte by its citizens. The local Member of Parliament is Yvette Cooper, for Pontefract and Castleford.Pontefract's deep, sandy soil makes it one of the few British places in which liquorice can be successfully grown. The town has a liquorice-sweet industry; and the famous Pontefract Cakes are still produced, though the liquorice plant itself is no longer grown there. The town's two liquorice factories are owned by Haribo (formerly known as Dunhills) and Monkhill Confectionery (formerly known as Wilkinson's), respectively. A [Liquorice Festival] is held each year. Poet laureate Sir John Betjeman wrote a poem entitled ["The Liquorice Fields at Pontefract"].
Close by is the large, coal-fired power station at Ferrybridge. There are Tesco and Morrisons supermarkets. The schools in the town are the [Carleton Community High School], in Carleton, and [The King's School], on Mill Hill Lane; both are comprehensive schools, for ages 11–16.
Pontefract is locally renowned for its large number of pubs. One of the oldest buildings, dating from the 16th century and previously used as a shop, was turned into a pub in the 1980s, called the Counting House.
[Pontefract General Infirmary] is a large general hospital, beneath which is an old hermitage, open to the public on certain days. It is the first place at which infamous serial killer Harold Shipman began to murder his elderly patients. Pontefract Museum, from which the hermitage schedule can be obtained, is in the town centre, housed in the former library. There is now a modern library building.
The Infirmary had a School of Nursing attached to it in the 1970s and 1980s. The student nurses and other staff lived in the Tower Block on the hospital site. Nursing students came from near and far, including such places as Malaysia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, creating an international, cosmopolitan atmosphere, including multicultural social events and yoga classes. Unlike many towns of its size, Pontefract has [three railway stations]: Pontefract Baghill, on the Dearne Valley Line, which connects York and Sheffield; and Pontefract Monkhill and Pontefract Tanshelf, which connect with Leeds and Wakefield.
Pontefract has a park with a [racecourse] on the outskirts of town. Nearer to the town centre are the Valley Gardens, with a love garden, an aviary, and an avenue of cherry trees, which bloom in the spring. Although the trees continue to attract admiration, the gardens have become quite depleted and the aviary has been vandalised. [Pontefract swimming pool] is on Stuart Road.
Life in Pontefract was satirised by J. S. Fletcher in his book The Town of Crooked Ways, whose title may have been a reference either to the medieval layout of the town, or to the behaviour of its inhabitants. More recently, Pontefract has seen its share of scandal, in the form of the Poulson affair, in the 1960s.
Pontefract is home to North-East-Wakefield College (more commonly known as NEW College), which has ranked in the top 25 colleges in the United Kingdom for the past few years. Pontefract is also home to [All Saints Church], built over ruins of an original church, which was destroyed during the three Civil War sieges of Pontefract Castle; the church's bell-tower staircase is the famous 'double helix'.
Entertainment
Pontefract's local newspaper is the [Pontefract and Castleford Express]; the radio station is Ridings FM.[Pontefract] is known for its nightlife, sporting one of the most concentrated numbers of public houses in the UK, with such venues as Kikos (formerly known as Liberty Park), on Front Street, and Big Fellas (formerly known as Shadows), on Beastfair.
See also
- Bishop of Pontefract
- Ackworth, West Yorkshire
External links
- [Pontefract Online]
- [Ridings FM – The local radio station for Pontefract (based in Wakefield)]
- [The Pontefract Eye: Numerous images of Pontefract with commentary.]
- [Chavtowns]
- [New College]
- [Squash club]
- [Golf club]
- [Local history]
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