Paul L. Dawson
autor
Going Underground: Wakefield
Beneath the surface of the West Yorkshire city of Wakefield lies a subterranean world, including ancient cellars, disused railway tunnels and a burial ground. Coal mining had taken place around Wakefield for centuries, with the last pits closing in the 1980s. Many large cellars are a legacy of the city’s history as an important centre of the wool trade going back to the Middle Ages, where additional safe storage was needed for the produce. Catacombs beneath the Unitarian chapel are the last resting place of some of the most influential and important persons in local, regional and national history, including four MPs, French revolutionaries, diarists, as well as women of influence on the national stage. The macabre space is unique in the north of England, with ‘residents’ from Manchester and Ireland, as well as elsewhere in Yorkshire. Nearby is a secret tunnel to a property that was the scene of a tragic attack by a grizzly bear. Wakefield also has other crypts: the medieval bridge chapel has a crypt completed c. 1347, the cathedral has a crypt completed in 1902 and the Georgian new church also has a crypt.This book provides a fascinating portrait of subterranean Wakefield, and the often strange stories associated with these hidden areas will interest all those who know the city.
Wakefield's Military Heritage
Following the Norman Conquest, the manor of Wakefield became a Norman stronghold, with castles being built at Sandal and Wakefield by the Warenne family, earls of Surrey. A crucial battle was fought at Wakefield in the Wars of the Roses in 1460, resulting in the death of Richard, Duke of York. Another battle was fought over Wakefield in the Civil War, when Parliamentarian troops besieged and destroyed Sandal Castle and captured the prosperous port and market town from Royalist defenders. Later centuries saw troops levied in Wakefield to fight Bonnie Prince Charlie and volunteers raised to fight Napoleon. These volunteers served throughout Britain’s foreign conflicts in the nineteenth century, and during the two world wars in the twentieth century. The home front in Wakefield during these conflicts also experienced the wars, and the sites of underground bomb shelters from the Second World War still exist.Wakefield’s Military Heritage delves into this city’s remarkable military history and will be of interest to locals and visitors alike.
Vypredané
19,99 €
