England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Wakefield St John

The Parish

The city of Wakefield  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 so as it is by some places, which remains an important market and shopping centre for its region. Wakefield is surrounded by 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 for marriage have their own pages, as well as that of St John which was completed and 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

St John's church occupies the neat tree-lined square of, appropriately enough, St John's Square which sits roughly 100 metres west of the A61 road linking Wakefield with Leeds and almost a mile northwest of the centre of the city. Begun in 1791 and taking 4 years to complete, the church has a modern look about it yet employs classical themes such as Doric columns and pilasters. The centrepiece is its square western tower complete with Ionic styled doorway and capped by an octagonal top stage and doomed capping. Despite the relatively modern build the church has received much change since, the interior was rebuilt in 1896 and the chancel extended in 1905 whilst that western tower had to be rebuilt having been found to be unsafe. The area around the church is largely kept for parking by local permit holders so some searching is required to find appropriate parking. The trees that line the square both limit the size of the churchyard and also take away some of the aspects favoured by photographers, the church is unusual in that it it not oriented directly east to west but on a northeast to southwest orientation which makes some aspects mere reveals.