England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Wakefield All Saints

The Parish

The city of Wakefield (for city status was granted to the former market town in 1888 and All Saints became a cathedral) lies in the West Riding of Yorkshire about 7 miles south of the vast conurbation of Leeds and 30 miles west of Yorkshire's capital of York Wakefield is located where the A61 road heading from Leeds to Barnsley crosses the River Calder, the town is also the meeting point of roads from many other directions converging on the Calder crossing point. It was this crossing which led to Wakefield's early development from small village to regional market. The town became associated with production of drapery and was the principal centre for the Yorkshire clothing trade prior to the development of Bradford & Leeds. As that trade fell back mining of the local coal became a staple of the town albeit Wakefield never showed the super-growth of many of the West Yorkshire towns following the industrial revolution. Today Wakefield is a city, albeit not trumpeted as by some places, which remains an important market and shopping centre for its region. Wakefield is surrounded and passed through by many modern communications, the Calder & Hebble navigation from the canal era, the rail line from London to Leeds and the modern motorways of the M1 and M62 all pass through or close by the town making it an attractive place to live or from where to commute. The Calder drains Wakefield to the east, quickly joining the Aire at Castleford and making its way to the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Wakefield is sited at around 40 metres above the sea and its valley setting means land is of a similar height for some distance only gently rolling to local heights of 70-80 metres or so within a few miles of the city. Wakefield parish, which includes the chapelries of Stanley & Horbury which being licensed have their own pages, as well as that of Wakefield St John licensed from 1795, is extensive and typically large northern parish covering just over 9,300 acres and supporting a population in the region of 25,000 parishioners. In Domesday times Wakefield was a relatively small place, held directly by the King, himself, it could offer just 13 ploughs as well as a small woodland.

The Church

All Saints church sits at the heart of Wakefield in the pedestrianised centre and on the northern side of Kirkgate. Whilst externally the church appears to be entirely from the 15th century and uses the Perpendicular style this does, in fact represent much rebuilding through the centuries. The interior, however, shows a building extending back to at least the middle of the 12th century. Norman style piers in the northern arcade were originally designed for a an aisle of the mid 12th century and the piers of the southern arcade are dateable to the 13th century. Documentary evidence dates a consecration to 1329 of a chapel within the church and Pevsner takes that as evidence of a complete building at that date. The immense western tower with its spire (at 237 feet high the tallest in Yorkshire) was added in the early 15th century, albeit it had to be rebuilt in 1823 following wind damage. Much else matches the style of the exterior and was clearly extensively rebuilt in the mid to late 15th century. Work continued through later centuries too, the southern front being rebuilt in 1724 and later in the same century the equivalent northern front too. A significant restoration by the Victorians from 1858 to 1874 made extensive changes all contriving to produce today's building. The church is very much part of the city fabric being un-enclosed but slightly elevated by 7 to 10 steps from the level of Kirkgate. The size of the building does create a few photographic headaches and the proximity of today's commercial premises makes achieving fully encompassing shots rather tricky.