Going Underground

Beneath the surface of the West Yorkshire city of Wakefield lies a subterranean world, including tunnels, 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 Wakefield'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, Ireland, as well as elsewhere in Yorkshire. Nearby is a secret tunnel to a nearby property which 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 likewise has a crypt. Going Underground: Wakefield takes the reader on a tour of subterranean Wakefield. This fascinating portrait of underground Wakefield and the often strange stories associated with these hidden areas will interest all those who know the city.