Wakefield Waterfront

Welcome to the Wakefield Waterfront Project

Wakefield Historical Society

Wakefield Waterfront has a long and fascinating history. The Aire and Calder Navigation, and the Calder and Hebble Navigation  once provided a transport link that was vital to Wakefield’s prosperity. The Waterfront was a hub of industry, lined with mills and warehouses,  maltings and other businesses. The aim of our project is to research this history with the help of the local community.

We  secured a Heritage Lottery Fund grant that enabled local people to be involved in conducting research in both local and national archives. People also contributed their memories of living or working in the area, and offered photographs or documents to do with the Waterfront.

You can now watch a film put together during the project.  It follows the changes over time on the Waterfront and includes recording of people’s memories of living and working on the Waterfront in the past:

Following the project we have produced two downloadable publications: a leaflet with a map to follow a walk round the Waterfront, and a guide to resources to research the area.  People’s memories were recorded and excerpts have been added to YouTube. Historical sites on the Waterfront have been added to an online map at HistoryPin.  Please find these on the Resources page.

For more information about the Waterfront Project please contact us: info@wakefieldhistoricalsociety.org.uk

Banner images from “The Drawings of Henry Clarke” by kind permission of City of Wakefield MDC Libraries Photographic Collection and appearing in Wakefield Historical Society Journal, 1977.
Drawing 1 – Thornes Wharf, the weir and King’s Mill.
Drawing 2 – Castle Bank Mill.
Drawing 3 –  The Calder and City Mills

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The banner at the top of this page is based on an engraving of Wakefield by Samuel Buck: view original
© 2011 Wakefield Historical Society. All rights reserved. All articles and images are the copyright of the authors and/or Wakefield Historical Society unless otherwise stated and are not to be copied in any medium without explicit written permission..
Every attempt has been made to gain permission from the owner(s) of copyright material.
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