WAKEFIELD, the capital of the West Riding of Yorkshire, a market-town, municipal and parliamentary borough, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Wakefield, is situated on the left bank of the river Calder, in 53° 41' N. lat., 1° 30' W. long., distant 27 miles S.W. by S. from York, and 182 miles N.N.W. from London by road and by the Great Northern railway. The population of the municipal and the parliamentary boroughs, which are co-extensive, was 22,065 in 1851. The borough is governed by 8 aldermen and 24 councillors, one of whom is mayor ; and returns one member to the Imperial Parliament The living is a vicarage in the arehdcaconry of Craven and diocese of Ripon. Wakefield Poor-Law Union contains 18 parishes and townships, with an area of 34,662 acres, and a population in 1851 of 47,355.
Wakefield is a very ancient town. The Romans appear to have had a station in the township of Stanley, where some years since several moulds for coining their money (in sonic of which the coin was still remaining iu the matrix) were found iu a field; they are now deposited in the British Museum. A battle was fought at Wakefield in 1460, between the Yorkists and Lancastrians, at which Richard, duke of York, father of Edward IV., was slain. An ancient chapel (' of our Lady ') occupies the site of one built by Edward III. The building projects over and partly rests on the starlibgs of the bridge. The bridge has eight arches, and was built in the reign of Edward IIL The town of Wakefield is paved, lighted with gas, and well supplied with water. The suburb called St. John's, at the northern extremity of the town, consists of handsome houses, with shrubberies, mke. A market cross of the Doric order was erected early in the last century, with an open colonnade supporting a dome, the interior of which contains a spacious room for public business. The publio rooms in 1Voodetreet, built by subscription, comprise a library and news-room, with apartments for lectures, concerts, and assemblies. A corn exchange was erected in 1823, and another on a larger scale was opened fur business in 1837. The Tammy Hall, 210 feet long and 30 feet broad, erected many years atto as a place of sale for light woollen fabrics, has been converted into a power-loom factory for stuffs. The tamest important public buildings are those belonging to the county and the West Riding. The register-office was established
in 1704, for the register of deeds relating to landed property. The court-house was erected in 1806. The house of correction its a very extensive pile. About a mile N.H. from the town is the West Riding Lunatio Asylum, erected in 1817, but since considerably enlarged.
The parish church, of which the oldest part was erected in 1470, is 156 feet long and 69 feet wide, with a tower surmounted with an octagonal spire 228 feet high. St. John's church was erected iu 1795, and made parochial in 1815. Trinity church, opened in 1839, and St. Andrew's church, Warrengate Head, are the other churches of the Establishment. The Independents and the Wesleyan Methodists have each two chapels ; and the Baptists, Quakers, Unitarians, Roman Catholics, and Primitive Methodists have one each. There are a Grammar school ; a Green-Coat Charity school ; National, British, and Infant schools ; and the West Riding Proprietary school. There are a literary and philosophical society, a subscription library, a theatre, a savings bank, a mechanics institute, almshouses, and a dispensary and house of recovery.
The manufacture of woollen stuffs, which was once extensively pursued at Wakefield, is now almost entirely removed to Bradford and Halifax ; but the woollen-cloth manufacture, and the spinning of woollen- and worsted-yarn, are carried on to some extent. The dyeing of woollen-stuffs is important as a branch of industry. There are rope-works, brick-kilns, iron-foundries, breweries, ship-yards, starch works, and copperas-works. The town is connected with a very rich and extensive district by numerous lines of river and canal navigation.
[Vonx.sinaz.] From the agricultural districts Wakefield receives large quantities of corn and wool ; and coal and other commodities are exported to London, and to Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk. The corn-market, held on Friday, is of great importance; it has frequently happened that for weeks in succession the quantity sold at Wakefield has exceeded the quantity sold at Mark Lane. Malt is made at Wake field to a very large extent. The wool-fairs are on a large scale ; and on alternate Wednesdays there is a great cattle and sheep fair. There are faire in July and November for horses, cattle, and pedlery. A county court is held in the town.