Wakefield, the capital of the West Riding of Yorkshire, stands on the Calder at a convergence of railways, 9 miles SSE. of Leeds, 27 SSW. of York, and 19 NW. of Doncaster. In 1888 it was constituted the seat of a bishopric—its cathedral the fine Perpendicular parish church, which, enlarged and reconsecrated in 1329, and again enlarged about 1470, was restored in 1857-86 from designs by Sir G. G. Scott at a cost of £30,000, and has a tower and spire 247 feet high. On the nine-arch bridge over the Calder is an interesting chapel founded in 1357 by the townsmen of Wakefield, a building in the beautiful flowing Decorated style; it also was restored in 1847. At the grammar-school, chartered in 1591, and removed to new buildings on a different site in 1855, were educated Dr Radcliffe, Archbishop Potter, the Benedictine Cressy, and Bentley, the first two of whom were natives. The town-hall, French Renaissance in style, was erected in 1880 at a cost of about £72,000; and other buildings are the corn exchange, fine art institute, Clayton hospital, and linnatic asylum. Though not the great 'clothing town' it was formerly, Wakefield still has considerable manufactures of woollens, worsteds, and hosiery, as also of agricultural implements, machinery, &c. It was made a parliamentary borough in 1832, the boundary being extended in 1885. Pop. (1851) 22,065; (1881) 33,240; (1891) 37,269, of whom 33,146 were within the municipal area. The chief event in the history of Wakefield is the Yorkist defeat in the Wars of the Roses (q.v.) on 30th December 1460. The diocese includes parts of the old area of Ripon and York.
See works by Sisson (1824), Scatcherd (1843), Buckler (1843), Lupton (1864), Taylor (1886), Clarkson (1887), J. W. Walker (1888, 1890), and Peacock (1892).