At Work

Wakefield was a prosperous market town in the Middle Ages. Although some coal mining had taken place in Wakefield since this time, it was transformed by the pits developed during the Industrial Revolution and these huge mining dominated the local economy until the last pits closed in the 1970s and 1980s.

Trade in cloth and cloth finishing were also cornerstones of the economy of Wakefield, drawing in merchants from across the north. The Milnes family, staunch Unitarians, along with the Naylor family, again Unitarians, dominated the trade until the economic depression of the 1820s and increasing mechanisation. Cloth production started on a small scale and many houses in the area had a weaving shed, until the arrival of the first steam-powered mill in 1781 and the rapid expansion of fulling and scribbling mills in Wakefield. Yarn spinning was more successful and the huge Plumpton Park complex on Westgate became the largest employer in the town and mills like Haleys, M. P. Stonehouses and George Lee & Sons continued to spin yarn into wool well into the 1980s. Heavy industry also came to Wakefield: steam engines were constructed at Fall Ing Foundary from 1791, the railways became a major employer and Greens Economiser Works were a major concern until the 1960s.

Today virtually all trace of industry has left Wakefield and the major employers are warehouse distribution bases, and retail parks and shopping outlets. No coal mines or mills stand in Wakefield and district and the forest of mill chimneys has been felled.

Wakefield at Work explores the working life of this Yorkshire city and its people, and the industries that have characterised it. The book will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of Wakefield.