Tours of the Westgate Heritage Action Zone.
On 22nd November two tours of the Westgate Heritage Action Zone are available at 10am and 2pm.
You can learn about the research that members of Wakefield Historical Society conducted on the history of the buildings and the research by English Heritage on the architecture.
‘Celebrating the Work of Wakefield Historical Society’, 6th February.
Launch event for the booklets produced by the Westgate Research group.
The research group with the booklets. (photo courtesy of Paul Gwilliam)
We were delighted to have a packed venue for the launch of the 18 booklets written by members of our Westgate research group as part of Wakefield Historical Society’s contribution to the Upper Westgate Heritage Action Zone.
Paul Gwilliam, Heritage Action Zone officer for Wakefield Council, introduced the project, explaining that Historic England was partnered with Wakefield Council to fund regeneration based on heritage assets. Funding included community and cultural events and Wakefield Historical Society had conducted research on buildings and yards in Westgate and produced a series of leaflets and booklets on their history.
Eric Branse-Instone, listing advisor for Historic England, described his role in updating the listings as part of the small team that covers the whole of the north of England. He explained that when listing was first introduced in the 1970s and 1980s, entries were very brief and primarily made to identify the buildings; thus architectural details were recorded, but not the reason that the buildings were significant, or their history.
Historic England were now updating their listings and the work that the Westgate research group had conducted would enable greater detail in the descriptions. He was also looking at some buildings that were locally listed to see if they should be nationally listed. Other buildings such as the old library on Drury Lane were being considered for upgrading.
The exposure of the timber framing of the Black Swan on Silver Street as part of the HAZ project has led to discussions about how it should be preserved, and possible sources of funding; considerable sums would be needed.
Peter Brears spoke of the history of timber-framed buildings in Wakefield, many of which were destroyed in the modernisation schemes of the 1960s and 1970s. He described the importance of Wakefield in the Tudor and Stuart period as the administrative centre of the manor of Wakefield. He commented on the existence of a Bar on Westgate mentioned in an 18th century lease. He described the Manor bakehouse in Silver Street, the later Market Cross, and the medieval buildings on Cross Square and elsewhere that had their gable ends to the street. Other important buildings of the period in Wakefield and the immediate area included Haselden Hall on Northgate, Frieston’s Hospital in Kirthorpe, Sharlston Hall and Clarke Hall. He drew our attention to the fine wood-carvings and other artefacts that had been saved from demolished buildings and were now housed in Wakefield Museum.
Peter compared the herringbone patterns of timber-framing that had existed on buildings like the Golden Cock Inn on Westgate, and Six Chimneys on Kirkgate to those which had now been uncovered on the Black Swan; built between the late 15th century and the mid 16th century.
Members of the research group were pleased to have their valuable work acknowledged, and to know that it will contribute to the national record.
Meeting of the Research Group 17 January 2023
24 copies of each of the 18 booklets written by the group have now been printed, and we were able to collect our own booklets. Pam reported that there had been a lot of interest in them, and the information is now being used by Historic England amongst others.
Although the Black Swan on Silver Street was not on the original list to be researched, recent work has uncovered the original timbering which is similar to the Six Chimneys and the Golden Cock (all had diagonal bracing underneath the windows). Dendro Chronology testing will be carried out on the building in order to date it.
David reported on documents found in a cupboard in the Gissing Centre including sale plans for Thompsons Yard and architects drawings for some of the other buildings.
Shirley informed us that she was still looking at 95 Westgate but had also found some bills for food and drink from the Elephant and Castle and the Great Bull in one of the boxes in the John Goodchild Collection.
Lesley has been looking at election riots on Westgate c1834. She had prepared notes for the group on one Joseph England who was a master at the Charity (Greencoat) School on Westgate. There was a lot of interesting and amusing detail.
There was a discussion on the future of the group, as buildings such as the Corn Exchange had not been researched. It was suggested that we should no longer be the Westgate Research group, but continue our research into other parts of Wakefield, sharing what we find.
Launch event for the Westgate booklets, 6th February 2023
An event to celebrate the publication of 18 booklets by WHS researchers about buildings in the Westgate Heritage zone will be held on 6th February at the Union Bank 57 Westgate. There will be two key-note speakers: Eric Branse-Instone, listing adviser for Historic England, and Peter Brears, who will be giving a talk on Wakefield’s timber-framed buildings. To attend please email Paul Gwilliam: pgwilliam@wakefield.gov.uk
More information: booklet launch flier
November 2022 Printing of booklets
Research on individual buildings has now been published by the Society as A5 booklets funded by the HAZ project. These are in greater detail than the articles previously published on this website and are well-illustrated. The booklets will be provided free to the authors, the local studies library, the West Yorkshire History Centre, Historic England and the owners of the properties. In early 2023 there will be a launch of the booklets.
Summer 2022
The research group have been working on collating and writing up all their research, so that booklets can be printed about the buildings. All researchers have been asked to reference their work thoroughly so that future readers will be able to find the sources used. Permissions have also been sought for illustrations.It is hoped that these booklets will provide a valuable resource for the future.
Westgate HAZ day at West Yorkshire History Centre for Heritage Open Days. Thursday 15 September
Wakefield Historical Society held this Open Day jointly with West Yorkshire Archive Service, aimed at showing what information our Research Group and others have found out and encouraging others to research the history of their own buildings.
Free talks by members of the research group were provided throughout the day:
An introduction to development and change in Westgate, Wakefield by Dr Phil Judkins. From the grand houses of the merchant princes of Wakefield, through the commercial dealings of the banks, to the night-time economy of the late 20th century, Wakefield Westgate has always been a street of turmoil and change.
Burgage plots and Westgate by Lesley Taylor. How the layout of narrow strips of land distributed to Wakefield’s townspeople (or burgesses) when the medieval town was first laid out, restricted the development of Westgate right up to the 20th century.
Investigating the history of a building on Westgate by Shirley Levon. How to set about researching the history of a building.
Stories of buildings on Westgate. How the story of buildings unfold over time, being domestic homes early on, perhaps changing later to businesses and banks, or later still moving on to places of entertainment.
A public house on Westgate. Exploring the many functions of the public house, ranging from musical entertainment, housing coroner’s inquests on sudden deaths nearby, providing cheap lodgings in the adjoining yard.
Westgate Research group meeting, 20 January 2022
The group met in the Civic Society room at the Town Hall to discuss their progress, and were pleased to welcome Marc Harrison who is researching the Manorial Bakehouse.
Pam Judkins gave us an update on the progress of the HAZ project. During 2021 there had been three commissions, trail, visuals on the street and visuals in the windows. Pam suggested we should all look at the trail and video which is on the Wakefield section of the ‘Love Exploring’ app. Further plans by the Cultural Consortium included a promenade, lantern parade and a community opera later in the project. Kevin Trickett (Civic Society) was starting to write his book and getting on with the blue plaques. Work on the buildings involved in the HAZ project had started, scaffolding was already up on the Woolpacks, work on Elephant and Castle Yard, 22 Silver Street, Art Studios, and Hofmann’s building on Westgate. The entries to the yards were nearly all done.
Shirley Levon described plans to extend the coverage of the project on the Wakefield Historical Society website. She noted that every time she added a new article the page views rise. Pam offered to write up a short history of Westgate for the website.
We discussed the booklets that the group are writing which should be a total of about twenty four.
It was decided that we should request a session at the West Yorkshire History Centre to learn more about the Registry of Deeds.
Talks by the Westgate Research Group for the Archives Network Group at the West Yorkshire History Centre, 3 November 2021
We were delighted to share our research to other groups from across West Yorkshire. Pam Judkins introduced the Heritage Action Zone project, and explained why Westgate was such a significant street historically. Lesley Taylor described how the layout of Westgate frontages and yards had been formed from the dimensions of the early burgage plots. Linda Smith related the story of one Westgate family, the Dykes, who were well-known through their music. Derick Smith told the more recent story of the evolution of the Picturehouse in the 20th century from a cinema to a nightclub, and Lorraine Simpson described the history of some of the buildings and occupiers of Silver Street including some not very successful criminals.
Two short videos followed about the Elephant and Castle public house, and 115 Westgate, an 18th century building and a family home at different times for a colliery proprietor, a solicitor and later a temperance hotel.
Various documents held by the Archives that the group had used in their research were displayed in the search room: plans, drawings, maps and a volume from the Registry of Deeds.
Our thanks to the West Yorkshire History Centre, and all those who attended.
Heritage Open Days at Unity Works, Westgate, 11th and 12th September 2021
Wakefield Historical Society provided four well attended short talks for the Heritage Open Day on 11th September, ‘Thomas Waller Gissing’, ‘The Elephant and Castle Hotel’, ‘Silver Street’, and the ‘German Butchers of Wakefield’. Leaflets about each of the properties that we have researched were available for free. Visitors were interested in the display of maps of Westgate over time, and our publications.
Short films about Westgate now available online.
The four short films on the Gissing Centre, the Medieval Burgage plots in Westgate,115 Westgate and the Elephant and Castle Hotel that we made for Heritage Open Days on 11th and 12th September, are now available on Wakefield Civic Society’s Vimeo channel: https://vimeo.com/showcase/8732056?page=1