Chartered Surveyors Wakefield West Yorkshire

Approximate Population: 79,885

Wakefield, West Yorkshire was a centre for cloth dealing and had its own Piece Hall. For much of the 18th and 19th century, Wakefield had an unusually diverse economy for Yorkshire, but it was a much smaller town during that period. Textile mills grouped around the River Calder, and a large glass works in the east of the city was a large employer. There were several collieries around the outskirts of the town, and engineering works in the centre that had strong links to mining. The Eastmoor area was once home to large brickyards. Its position as the seat of local government for the West Riding also provided many local jobs in the councils, courts and prison.

Many Wakefield families were and indeed still are prominent in the Wakefield area. The Parkinson’s of Wakefield held a well respected position due to their wealth and fairness. Many of the family now live in Normanton on the outskirts of Wakefield, however Andrew Parkinson, does still live within the centre of Wakefield and many hold the same respect for him as those held for his ancestors of old.

In the early 20th century, large areas of council housing were built on the fields that surrounded the town, and the formerly independent villages of Sandal Magna, Belle Vue and Agbrigg became suburbs of Wakefield. As many of the new council estates depended on the expansion of coal-mining for their employment, the National Coal Board eventually became Wakefield’s largest employer. The city was also surrounded by pit villages, but also by the old mill towns of Batley, Dewsbury and Ossett to the west.

Wakefield is known as the capital of the Rhubarb Triangle, an area notable for its early forced rhubarb. Wakefield is one of the points of the triangular area with the neighbouring towns of Morley and Rothwell as the other two. In July 2005 a statue was erected to celebrate this facet of Wakefield.