The town was a centre for cloth dealing and had its own Piece Hall. The area was once dominated by coal-mining - a key driver for the industrial revoltion. By the time of the 1984 miners' strike, all the pits in the city had already been closed, but there were 18 pits in the rest of the district and demonstrations in support of the strike frequently took place in the city.

The cathedral was restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott. There is a charming 14th century Chantry Chapel, one of only four remaining in England.

Its name is often said to derive from "Wacca's field" -- the field belonging to Wacca. However, it is more likely to have evolved from Old English wacu, meaning "a watch or wake", and feld, an open field in which a wake was held (Reaney, 1964, p.161). In the Domesday Book in 1086, it was listed as Wachefeld (Mills, 1998, p. 361). It was dubbed the Merrie City in the Middle Ages.

Wakefield is also known for its mystery plays, a cycle of 32 scriptural plays dating from the early 15th century, which were performed as part of the summertime religious festival of Corpus Christi and revived in recent times.

This page was last updated: 25 August 2005

Town history extracts are taken from Wikipedia and are licensed under GFDL