The Surrounding Villages
This page covers a brief history of surrounding areas
The Hoffmann Brick Kiln at Altofts
The kiln at Saint Johns Brickworks in Altofts, was the first Hoffmann Kilns ever built in England for the production of bricks. Patented by the German Friedrich Hoffman for brickmaking in 1858 they became the most common kiln used in brick production. The kiln at Altofts was in use up to the 1960s and survived up to about 20 years ago when the area was cleared. The kiln consisted of a main fire passage surrounded on each side by several small rooms. Each room contains a pallet of bricks. In the main fire passage there was a fire wagon, that held a continiously burning fire. Each room was fired for a specific time, until the bricks were vitrified properly, and thereafter the fire wagon was rolled to the next room to be fired. Each room was connected to the next room by a passageway carrying hot gases from the fire. In this way, the hottest gases were directed into the room that was currently being fired. Then the gases passed into the adjacent room that was scheduled to be fired next. There the gases preheated the brick. As the gases passed through the kiln circuit, they gradually cooled as they transfered heat to the brick as it was preheated and dried. In addition to the inner opening to the fire passage, each room also had an outside door, through which recently-fired brick were removed, and replaced with wet brick to be dried and then fired in the next firing cycle. The fire could burn non stop for many months, even years which made the Hoffman Kiln so efficent. Sadly, now only four of these kilns are left in the UK. We are lucky enough to have photos of the kiln at Altofts courtesy of Paul Dainton.
Photos of the brick kiln at Altofts
Courtesy of Paul Dainton
The Lofthouse Park Internment Camp
Lofthouse Park was before the First World War the country’s first amusement park, it opened in 1908 and contained a pavilion, bandstand amongst other buildings. In 1914 the park was commandeered in its entirety for use as an internment camp. The camp was home to around 1500 Germans during the War, most of them civilians. They were divided into three sections, in one of the sections of the camp the huts contained 20 men, in another division where the huts were roomier 30 men were accommodated in each, the huts contained two stoves. The prisoners did their best to make the huts more habitable, this included making the poorly constructed huts rain tight and giving them a more homely feel. Twice a day the prisoners paraded, so officers could do a head count and examine them. Within the boundaries of the camp the prisoners were free to go where they liked and they had a good supply of food. The official rations for breakfast were tea, bread and margarine. For dinner half-a-pound of beef, potatoes, legumes for soup, and bread; for the evening meal, bread, margarine and tea, with a little milk. The food was prepared by German cooks who had either come from captured German steamers or served in English hotels. One of the events of the day was a visit from the green grocer; he would sell fresh fruit and vegetables. Another pastime was the theatre, every 14 days there was a performance. After the War the pavilion was destroyed by fire in the 1930s
Lofthouse Park Pavillion
The Prision Camp
More Lofthouse Photos
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East Ardsley
Situated 2 miles north of Wakefield, East Ardsley is 140m above sea level. It is said that the church steps at Saint Michaels Church are at the same height as the top of Wakefield Cathedral spire. Although the village is run by Leeds council it has Wakefield postcode and telephone code. The village was known as “Erdeslau” in the Dooms Day Book and by 1285 the name had changed to “Ardeslawe” During the Victorian era, and up the the mid 20th Century the area had a very diverse economy that included; agriculture, textiles, railways and coal-mining. The coal mine in the area closed in 1968, and Amblers Mill stop textile production in 1998. The oldest surviving building in the village is the old Hall on Main Street, it was built for Robert Shaw in 1622 and is now grade two listed.
Amblers Mill 1920
East Ardsley Hall 1953
Main Street
More Photos of East Ardsley
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The Village of Heath
The Village of Heath was built over the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The 18th century houses are the work of architects James Paine and John Carr and were built for the wealthy merchants of Wakefield. It can be reached from Stanley via the blue bridge that runs over the River near to Eastmoor. In the village there are 50 houses that range from cottages to stately houses, many of its houses would not look out of place as mansions in a country estate. In the 1840s the major landowner in the village tried to enclose the 131 acres of common but was unsuccessful thanks to the famous naturalist Charles Waterton, who also wrote about the village; "It is beautiful in nature's wildest charms". Today the common is leased to Wakefield Council by the Heath Estate. The village is also a conservation area and many of the houses are of listed status. The Kings Arms Inn is also a good place to stop for a pint on a summers day!
Heath Old Hall Postcard
Heath Old Hall before demolition
Heath Village Postcard
Heath Hall
Wrenthorpe
The village dates from after the Doomsday book was compiled in 1086. Between the 15th and 17th century the area went from being a small settlement of a few potters to a thriving industry. The industry was on such a scale that the village became known as “Potovens”, from the kilns used to fire pottery. Large amounts of pottery are still found in the earth around the area today. Many roads take their name from the areas heritage, such as Potovens Lane . From the 18th Century onwards the coal mining and farming industries became the main source of work in the area. Like all other villages in the area industry has all but disappeared over the last 50 years.
Altofts
Bordering on Stanley Ferry, Altofts is a quiet village. There are four pubs, two working men's clubs, three churches, a post office and several shops. It had the longest unbroken row of terraced houses in Europe, named Silkstone Row, until 1974, when it was demolished. Many people in the village worked at the local brick works or in the local coal mines, the largest ones in the village being Pope and Pearsons. Today a lot of the areas residents work at the nearby Europort. The most famous person to come from Altofts was Martin Frobisher, the Elizabethan sea captain and adventurer, credited with the discovery of Frobisher Bay in Canada.
Village postcard
Altofts church
Church interior
Altofts station
Silkstone Row
Methley
The village is spread out over a wide area, and is said to be the second largest village in England (area covered) The old part of the village centres around Saint Oswald's Church, many of the building in this area date back to the 17th century. The 20th century part of the village is around the Church Lane area. Like many other villages in the area Methley has a long history of mining. Methley Hall was the former seat of the Earl of Mexborough, and in 1935 was visited by Queen Mary. The Hall was sadly demolished in 1958. Another fact about the village is it hosts the worlds second largest turnip convention every year.
Methley Church
Methley station
1960 floods in Methley
Wakefield Cathedral
A work in progress
The cathedral spire is the tallest of any in Yorkshire, it is 247 feet high and dominates the skyline for miles around. Part nave north arcade dates back to 1150, followed by the southern arcade from 1220. Between 1409 and 1420 the western tower and spire were added and around 1440 the present nave clerestory was built. The eastern half of the church dates from the mid 15th century. The five bay quire contains 25 stalls with carved animals paid for by Sir Thomas Savile in 1482 to celebrate his marriage to Margaret Bosworth. The Cathedral also contains a complete set of 15th century ceilings throughout the Nave, aisles and east end. Other areas of interest include the sundial on the south porch dating from 1635 and the font from 1661 that was to replace the medieval font that was destroyed. The building that we see today was the work of three men work who were associated with Wakefield during the 19th century. The first was Sir George Gilbert Scott, who worked on the Cathedral between 1857 and 1874. His involvement included re-casing the tower in 1859 and rebuilding the spire in 1860. This was followed by major external repairs, reordering of the quire and, finally, the nave that was completed in 1874. His son, John Oldrid Scott, added the organ chamber and vestries and completed part of the present reredos, which is considered one of the finest Victorian examples in England. When the parish church became a Cathedral in 1888 John Loughborough Person was brought in to design the new east end of the building, the work started in 1903 and completed in 1905. Many changes have also taken place over the last 100 years including the linking offices of the 1990s. Even after 800 years the building is still a work in progress.
Photo taken by our site photographer Shaun Parkin
Outwood
Outwood today has a population of around 16,000 and cover a large area that centres on the main road between Leeds and Wakefield. After the Norman Conquest the lands were granted to William de Warren who used the old forest as hunting grounds. Timber from the area was used in many of Wakefield’s early buildings, by the 18th century the once great Out Wood’s stock of trees had been depleted. In 1745 the racecourse was built near to Grandstand Road and was in use up to 1794 when the enclose act was passed, dividing the area into fields. The area then became farm land and in the mid 19th century saw several large pits opening with links down to Stanley Ferry via the Lake Lock Railroad. During this period the village became more and more populated, the sprawl of housing reached out further and further. The last 50 years has seen the loss of the mines and the brickworks along with many jobs, theses days a large number of residents work on the junction 41 industrial estate. Several large housing estates have also been built where farm land once was.
Outwood Racecourse in 1750
Outwood Church Institute
Bolus Lane Methodist Church
Now occupied by the Salvation Army
Horse drawn bus
Around 1904, in 1905 these buses ceased to run due to the instant sucess of the Electric Tram Company
The Entrance to Outwood Hall
The lodge can be seen in the foreground
More Outwood Photos
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Folly Hall Farm
The woman in grey
The building stood on Leeds Road , Outwood. Stories have circulated for many years of a ghostly figure known as ‘the woman in grey’, which is said to have haunted the building during the mid 1950’s. Walter and Ellen Beaumont, who lived in the farmhouse at the time lived with the apparitions inside and outside the house for years and even applied for permission from the Bishop of Wakefield for an exorcism. In an unusual move, permission was granted and the exorcism took place, but the apparition continued to appear as many as seven times a week, eventually driving Mrs Beaumont to a nervous breakdown and forcing the family to move out. Very little is known about the farm, which is now the site of a supermarket.
The Outwood acid bath murderer
One of the most bizarre and disturbing cases of mass murder is that committed by John Haigh, a respectable, well dressed, middle-class man who, in the late 1940s, disposed of at least six victims in a manner that prompted his labelling as a vampire. Haigh’s motivations for his crimes, which involved luring his prey to a fate where their blood was consumed before being dissolved in acid, have never been clearly corroborated. His claim to have been disturbed in his childhood by his strict religious parents, leading to a psychotic state of mind obsessed with religious iconography and sacrificial fantasies, has been disputed. Critics believe that instead of insanity fuelling Haigh’s vampire-like activities, he was in fact a cold-hearted killer who arrogantly believed that where there was no body, there was no crime to pin on him. John George Haigh was born on 24 July 1909 in Stamford, Lincolnshire. The family moved to Outwood, where Haigh spent the next 24 years of his life. He was brought up in a fanatically religious household where references to ‘the Lord’ were used frequently to remind the young Haigh that he was always observed by a higher and disapproving deity. Haigh himself claimed that his childhood was bleak and lonely. His only friends were his few pets and caring for the neighbour’s dog. A tall fence around the house, put up by his father, kept out prying eyes or any social contact with the outside world. Haigh’s parents belonged to a religious sect known as the Plymouth Brethren, who were purist and anticlerical. Bible stories were the only form of entertainment. Even participating in sports of any kind was forbidden. According to Haigh Snr the world was ‘evil’ and the family needed to keep themselves separate. As his father had also told him that the blue blemish on his own head had been the result of him ‘sinning’ in his youth, it is perhaps not surprising that the young Haigh became obsessed and terrified by developing a similar ‘sign of the devil’ due to the slightest misdemeanour. He was told that his mother had no ‘mark’ as she was an angel. It is said that a turning point in the boy’s developing psyche came when Haigh realised that no such blemish would appear, despite having lied or committed some other questionable behaviour. He then started to believe that he was invincible and could get away with anything. Claims of being afflicted by dreams of Gothic, nightmarish proportions, where trees would turn into crucifixes weeping blood, have to be viewed with caution. Haigh was later known to be manipulative and a compulsive liar, prone to saying anything to extricate himself from a compromising position. At the time of his arrest for murder, his personal enquiries into what may befall him if he was found to be insane, is an indication that Haigh was aware that appearing ‘bonkers’ and damaged by his childhood would possibly work in his favour when it came to court. In 1934 Haigh stopped attending his parents' church and married Beatrice Hammer, a 21-year-old woman he barely knew. Despite having been impressed by Haigh’s manners and charm, she was uncertain about his character but still went ahead with the marriage on 6 July 1934. Haigh's parents allowed the couple to live with them although the marriage lasted only about four months, ending when Haigh was arrested in October 1934 and sent to prison for fraud. While he was incarcerated, Beatrice gave birth to a baby daughter, whom she gave up for adoption. Haigh saw her only once more; briefly, to lie by telling her that they were never officially wed because he already had a wife at the time. Despite his abilities Haigh spent a considerable amount of time in prison for mainly fraudulent practices that involved various illegal enterprises. During a brief period he worked at an amusement park run by a Mr William ‘Mac’ Donald McSwan and his parents Donald McSwan and wife Amy. The family liked Haigh, promoted him in the business and were sorry to see him leave when he decided he wanted glittering prizes elsewhere. His next project, involving setting up a false solicitor’s office, earned him four years in prison. It was while he was incarcerated that he thought up a new scheme to become rich quickly, instead of toiling for a living. His plan was simply to go after rich, older women. Haigh had also convinced himself that if there was no corpse, then there could be no conviction. Such a belief no doubt prompted him into working with sulphuric acid in the prison's tin shop where he experimented on mice and made studies of the effects of acid on animal tissue. After Haigh was released from prison, he set out to carry his heinous plan. In the interim he stayed with the Stephen family, where he began a close friendship with one of the daughters, Barbara, who despite the 20-year age gap believed that she could become the next Mrs Haigh. In 1944 Haigh was involved in a car accident where he suffered a wound to the head, which bled into his mouth. He later referred to this event as having been the catalyst that reawakened his blood-filled nightmares. Shortly afterwards he rented a basement space at 79 Gloucester Road , where he set up his ‘workshop’, a grim death trap to lure unsuspecting victims.
John Haigh during his trial
More to follow
