New Publications
To order any of the featured titles, click the images or prices to pay by card via PayPal (you do not need a PayPal account). If you are ordering from outside the UK there will be additional postage charges and we will contact you to confirm after we receive your order. To order multiple titles please email us for an invoice: info@wakefieldhistoricalsociety.org.uk
Bucklers’ Yorkshire Buildings: The Architectural and Topographical Drawings of John Buckler and John Chessell Buckler of 1804-1820
By Peter Brears FSA and Michael J. Rochford MA
Yorkshire’s architectural heritage is arguably the finest in Britain. From the Middle Ages it included Europe’s largest medieval cathedral at York, England’s most complete monasteries at Kirkstall and Fountains abbeys, its collegiate churches of Beverley, Howden and Ripon, and great Norman keeps at Richmond, Conisbrough and York’s Clifford’s Tower. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, most major new buildings were domestic. Heath Old Hall, Burton Agnes and Pontefract New Hall were built to sophisticated Elizabethan and Jacobean designs, followed by smaller, provincial halls of the seventeenth century. From about 1700, some of Britain’s finest great houses such as Wentworth Woodhouse and Castle Howard were constructed in Yorkshire.
This great architecture attracted the attention of John Buckler and his son John Chessell Buckler, contemporaries of J.M.W. Turner. Between 1804 and 1820 they made a remarkably comprehensive graphic record of hundreds of the county’s finest and most interesting buildings, many now lost and forgotten, as part of a body of work that took them across England and Wales.
Now, for the first time in more than two hundred years, this book makes a large selection of these drawings readily available, accompanied by an engaging narrative. Bucklers’ Yorkshire Buildings provides an invaluable resource for all those interested in Yorkshire’s architectural legacy. Hardback with dust jacket, extensively illustrated. 416 pages. Special price for WHS Members of £30 plus £6 post and packing.
Otherwise £35 plus £6 post and packing.
Discovering Wakefield’s Early Railways (published in 2025 by Wakefield Historical Society)
By Anthony Dawson FSAScot
Written to coincide with national Railway200 celebrations, this concise booklet (22pp) explores the first century or so of Wakefield’s railways, from horse-drawn waggonways of the eighteenth century, to the first steam-hauled mainline trains of the 1840s. It highlights some crucial Wakefield ‘firsts’ in the evolution of the railway as we know it today: Wakefield was home to the first public railway, and the earliest known railway tunnel and viaduct. West Yorkshire as a whole saw the first Railway Act of Parliament (1758) and the first commercial use of steam locomotives in 1812.
Memories of Scott’s Yard: Life in Westgate and Lupset 1926–1949 WHP49
By Audrey Keighley, transcribed by Denise Brown
Audrey Keighley’s memoir covers her life as a small child in Scott’s Yard in the 1930s, her subsequent life on the Lupset council house estate as a teenager and as a young woman during the Second World War. She furnishes a vivid description of those early years and the struggles of her parents to provide for the family.
Scott’s Yard existed from at least the 18th century and ran from Westgate to Back Lane, parallel to Drury Lane. The 1911 census lists twenty properties, the majority of only two or three rooms. Residents had limited means and struggled to make ends meet. By 1939 most houses had been demolished leaving only six houses, and these were demolished as part of slum clearance at the beginning of the 1960s.
£6.00 plus £4 post and packing.
Wakefield Gingerbreads: Spicy Life in Wakefield WHP48
By Peter Brears
A generously illustrated history of gingerbread and its relationship with Wakefield. Compiled by food historian Peter Brears, and includes authentic recipes of various historic types. 26pp.
Diary of a Wakefield Man: John Edward Bowman, 1868-1953 WHP47
Edited by Lorraine Simpson
This book is out of stock, but copies are available at Wakefield Library in Wakefield One
John Bowman kept diaries for 69 years, mostly charting his life in a vibrant Wakefield and how he and the city lived through two World Wars and a global pandemic. He writes about the people in his life: family and friends, neighbours and customers and the Quaker community he was part of. These diaries show us a way of life lost to us today.
They have been transcribed by our member Lorraine Simpson, a relative of John Bowman.
John Smeaton and the Calder Navigation WHP46
By Lesley Taylor and Shirley Levon
Fresh from his acclaimed work on the Eddystone Lighthouse, John Smeaton was employed by the Calder Navigation Commissioners to superintend and construct a navigation beyond Wakefield up the Calder valley towards Halifax. His detailed journal of this work from 1760 to 1763 is fully transcribed in the book. It describes the construction of the cuts, locks and weirs as work continued from Wakefield through Horbury, Dewsbury, Mirfield and Brighouse.
A long introduction explores the many years before the scheme came to fruition. The story is peopled by merchants and aristocrats, surveyors and engineers, suppliers and contractors, craftsmen and labourers. There are conflicts between interest groups, disappointments in Parliament, and many delays. The practical requirements are also brought into sharp focus: the planning, negotiating and financing, and the sourcing of materials and equipment as the work began.
In his journal Smeaton, considered to be the first British civil engineer, provides an exceptional insight into 18thcentury construction techniques and the many problems that were encountered in the hugely ambitious scheme for this volatile Pennine river
£19.95 plus £4 post and packing.
The Buildings of Tudor and Stuart Wakefield WHP45
By Peter Brears
Until the 1950s Wakefield was a city with many timber framed buildings, richly decorated with carvings. In the late 1950s/early 1960s almost all was swept away in redevelopment of the town centre. At the time a teenage Peter Brears was recording buildings as they were demolished and saving carvings and plaster mouldings for Wakefield’s City Museum. In his book Peter provides his own meticulously detailed drawings and paintings reconstructing Wakefield’s lost buildings. These are accompanied by a scholarly text discussing Wakefield’s architectural heritage, together with notes, appendix and index.
A full list of titles appears below. You can select Purchase a Copy and pay by card via PayPal (no account required). Additional postage charges will apply to orders outside the UK and we will contact you when we receive your order, or you are welcome to contact us for a price. To order multiple titles send an email to info@wakefieldhistoricalsociety.org.uk You will then receive an invoice to pay by bank transfer. Please remember to provide your name and address and the titles of the books you would like. You can also send cheques, including postage and packing, to Wakefield Historical Publications at 12 Denhale Avenue, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF2 9EF.
Contact: 01924 260109 or info@wakefieldhistoricalsociety.org.uk
| Ref | Title & Author | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| WHP50 | Bucklers' Yorkshire Buildings by Peter Brears and Michael J. Rochford (2026) | £35.00 + £6.00 P&P Purchase a Copy WHS Members' Special Price: £30.00 + £6.00 P&P Members' Purchase |
| WHP49 | Memories of Scott's Yard by Audrey Keighley (2024) | £6.00 + £4.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP48 | Wakefield Gingerbreads by Peter Brears (2024) | £5.00 + £3.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP47 | Diary of a Wakefield Man ed. Lorraine Simpson (2022) | Out of print |
| WHP46 | John Smeaton and the Calder Navigation by Lesley Taylor & Shirley Levon (2021) | £19.95 + £4.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP45 | The Buildings of Tudor and Stuart Wakefield by Peter Brears (2019) | £19.95 + £4.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP44 | This Pious Undertaking (Later History) by Kate Taylor (2011) | £3.00 + £3.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP43 | Worthies of Wakefield ed. Kate Taylor (2004) | £5.00 (reduced) + £4.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP42 | This Pious Undertaking (19th–20th C.) by Kate Taylor (2003) | Out of print |
| WHP41 | Wakefield’s First Railways and its Collieries by John Goodchild (2002) | £5.00 + £4.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP40 | Bretton, the Beaumonts and a Bureaucracy by S. J. Wright (2001) | Out of print |
| WHP39 | Water Mills and Furnaces of the Yorkshire Dearne and its Tributaries by Tom Umpleby (2000) | £10.00 (reduced) + £4.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP38 | The Compleat Housekeeper by Peter Brears (2000) | £8.00 (reduced) + £4.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP37 | Before the National Coal Mining Museum by John Goodchild (2000) | £5.00 + £3.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP36 | The Making of a West Riding Clothing Village by Ruth Strong (1999) | £6.00 (reduced) + £4.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP35 | Right Royal, Wakefield Theatre 1776–1994 by Kate Taylor (1995) | £5.00+ £4.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP34 | A Newmillerdam Trail by John Goodchild (1994) | Out of print |
| WHP33 | Woolley Trail by Geoffrey Markham (1994) | £5.00 + £4.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP32 | The Children Were Orderly, the Story of Woolley School by Kate Taylor (1992) | Out of print |
| WHP31 | Aspects of Medieval Wakefield by John Goodchild (1991) | Out of print |
| WHP30 | Sandal Castle, Wakefield by Lawrence Butler (1991) | Out of print |
| WHP29 | Landscape Gardens in West Yorkshire by George Sheeran (1990) | £8.00 + £4.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP28 | Mine and Men by John Goodchild (1989) | £5.00 + £3.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP27 | Thomas Lloyd of Armley Mills by Peter Brears (1988) | £5.00 + £3.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP25 | Coals from Sharlston by John Goodchild (1988) | £5.00 + £3.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP24 | The Aire and Calder Navigation by Peter Smith (1987) | Out of print |
| WHP23 | Attorney at Large by John Goodchild (1986) | £5.00 + £4.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP22 | Coals from Barnsley by John Goodchild (1986) | Out of print |
| WHP21 | Memories of Merry Wakefield by Henry Clarkson (1985) | Out of print |
| WHP20 | Fifty Years of the ABC Regal by Kate Taylor (1985) | £1.00 + £2.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP19 | Wakefield Canal Trail by John Goodchild (1985) | £1.00 + £2.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP18 | Drawings of Wakefield by Joe Clay (1984, paperback) | £5.00 + £4.00 P&P Purchase a Copy |
| WHP17 | The Gentlewoman's Kitchen by Peter Brears (1984) | Out of print |
| WHP16 | The Inventor of the Marine Chronometer by Eric Whittle (1984) | Out of print |
| WHP15 | Walks about Wakefield by W. S. Banks (1983) | Out of print |
| WHP14 | The Medieval Monuments of Harewood by Richard Knowles (1983) | Out of print |
| WHP13 | Caphouse Colliery and the Denby Grange Collieries by John Goodchild (1983) | Out of print |
| WHP12 | Golden Threads by John Goodchild (1983) | Out of print |
| WHP11 | Hemsworth High Hall by G. Holdsworth (1983) | Out of print |
| WHP10 | The Castleford Pottery by Diane Edwards Roussel (1982) | Out of print |
| WHP9 | Charles Waterton of Walton Hall by Sir Norman Moore (1981) | Out of print |
| WHP8 | Wakefield and Wool by John Goodchild (1981) | Out of print |
| WHP7 | The Development of Wakefield in Maps, Plans and Views by John Goodchild (1981) | Out of print |
| WHP6 | Sandal Castle Excavation Report by P. Mayes and L.A.S. Butler (1983) | Out of print |
| WHP5 | George Gissing and Wakefield by Clifford Brook (1980) | Out of print |
| WHP4 | Christopher Saxton: Elizabethan Mapmaker by Ifor M. Evans and Heather Lawrence (1979) | Out of print |
| WHP3 | Woolley Hall by Geoffrey Markham (1979) | Out of print |
| WHP2 | Samuel Buck's Yorkshire Sketchbook (1979) | Out of print |
| WHP1 | Coal Kings of Yorkshire by John Goodchild (1978) | Out of print |
The Wakefield Historical Publications books and booklets shown as out of print may be available in Wakefield Local Studies Library, or found for sale at Rickaro Books or other online sellers.