On Saturday March 14th 1941 two bombs were dropped by the Germans in a field near Troughwell Lane , fortunately little damage was done and no one was hurt.
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Under the west wing of St Anne’s Church is the garden of remembrance, made to commemorate the men Wrenthorpe who died in both great wars I and II.
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The derivation of the name Wrenthorpe is somewhat obscure. It may have come from the family of De Warrens who were Lords of the Manor of Wakefield (Warrenthorpe)
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Lawns House, Outwood was situated half way along Grandstand Road, Outwood on the northern side.
Built, circa 1850 as a country residence. One of the first tenants was a man by the name of Mathew Harper, a wool dealer from Bradford, who supplied many mills in the West Riding.
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Springfield House also known as Cat Hall and Madam Hall Lingwell Gate Lane, Outwood. Built circa 1797 The house was a fine two storey brick building with the cemented facade rising above the original roof. Which gave the impression of the house having three storeys.
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Racing on Outwood Moor is first recorded in 1678, and being attended by the Duke of Norfolk and the Duke of Perth, must have had considerable status.
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The very first meeting of Stanley Urban District Council was held in Outwood on the 18th May 1899. Mr William Wordsworth Scarth was Chairman and Mr Ezra Hemingway was Vice Chairman
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In April 1892 a very handsome present was made to Stanley Church by Mr & Mrs J.B. Charlesworth on their leaving Hatfield Hall. They donated two old oak carved chairs. These will be placed within the communion rails on the north side and will form a handsome addition to the church furniture.
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A pleasing episode occurred at the close of January 1994, when the vicar to his great surprise and satisfaction, received the sum of £2.10s.6d. which had been collected and given by friends in Stanley and Ferry Lane for The Stanley Cottage Hospital which was situated at the junction of Mount Road and Lake Lock Road.
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Wakefield households recycled 38.9% of their household waste in 2015/16 (Defra). This was a small improvement on the previous year (38.8%).
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Between them, the Police, the Council and Wakefield and District Housing took around 27,500 calls regarding incidents of anti-social behaviour (ASB) during 2016. This represents an increase of 11% from 2015.
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That data from 2015 show that 22% of adults in Wakefield smoke, significantly higher than the England average and the overall crime rate in the Wakefield District is currently around 30% higher than the England and Wales average.
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In Wakefield district in 2012 there have been gradual improvements in life expectancy in recent years; male children born today can now expect to live to 77 whilst females can expect to live to 81.
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Within the Wakefield district, in 2011 almost 13,500 children under 16 (22.5% of this age group) live in households claiming out of work benefits – significantly higher than the national rate of 20.2%.
In some neighbourhoods in the district the child poverty rate (defined by household income) is over 50%
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In Wakefield in 2011 there are now almost 3,000 households in the district where no-one has English as a main language, and there are now over 100 different languages spoken among the children learning in the district's schools.
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Roman coin moulds were first found at Lingwell Gate in the late seventeenth century and discoveries continued until the 1830s. The Yorkshire Museum holds the largest collection of Lingwell Gate moulds.
The moulds were made by pressing officially issued Roman coins, into clay to create a mirror-image of the markings on the coin. It is likely that the moulds were used by counterfeiters. These counterfeiters would have cast coins using metal which contained less silver than the alloy used for the production of official coins.
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This was the 1898-99 Rugby League Yorkshire Second Competition(East) Table.
Featherstone
Goole
Hull Kingston Rovers
Kinsley
Normanton
Outwood Parish Church
Ripon
Rothwell
York
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The River Calder rises on the eastern slopes of the Pennines and flows through green countryside, former woollen-mill villages, and large and small towns before joining the River Aire near Castleford. The name 'Calder' is thought to come from the early Common Brittonic, meaning 'hard or violent water
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Bizarrely, Yorkshire Day was originally set up to protest a local government shake-up in the 1970s.
But in 2016, it's now become a way for the country in which 10% of England's population live to show that it's not all Yorkshire puddings and flat caps - there's lots of other brilliant stuff besides.
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That Yorkshire is Englands Largest County, habitat of a truly great breed of peoples. We fear in 50 years, the sight of the true Yorkshire men quaffing beer after a hard games cricket or a quick sweat down some or other coal mine will be no more. And we'll look like every other sod in sodding britain.
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The Battle of Wakefield took place in the Wars of the Roses and it was a Royalist stronghold in the Civil War. Wakefield became an important market town exploiting its position on the River Calder to become an inland port.
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Wrenthorpe Park has facilities including hard tennis courts, a bowling green, children's playground, football pitch and car parking. Park paths connect with the neighbouring village of Alverthorpe. Wrenthorpe Meadows is a Local Nature Reserve with managed hay meadows and wetland areas.
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Newton Hill has a namesake. Newton Hill is a commuter village in Kincardineshire, Scotland. It is popular due to its location, just six miles south of Aberdeen with easy reach of Stonehaven and with views over the North Sea.
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In 1385 Wakefield consisted of 4 main streets, Kirkgate, Westgate, Northgate and Warrengate, each of which had its bar or gate, closed at 8 o’clock at night. From these main streets ran numerous lanes abutting on fields and orchards.
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On January 30th 1899, the sum of £20 was placed in the Wakefield Bulding Society by the Improvement Society of Newton Lane Wesylan Chapel. It was decided at a trustees meeting on 12th December.1892 to build a new Methodist Church in Outwood. The foundation stone was laid on the 24th October 1900. The church (Now Parkside)was built at a total cost of £3.203.17s.1p.
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The first Carr Gate Club opened in 1906, in two houses in what was known as Firth’s Buildings, these fronted directly on to Bradford Road.The rent was £1.6s.0p a month and the stewards wages were 12 shillings per week.
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In the 1930/40s Outwood had some wonderful characters such as, Tinner Oldroyd, Billy Leather, Firewood Arthur, Cobbler Ellis, Boot the Barber and Fish Lisa.
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Victoria Colliery which had working shafts between Outwood and Stanley Ferry. The pit was sunk about 1835 and was known locally as Deep Drop Pit. On the 4th March 1879 while 250 men and 36 horses were at work, there was a large explosion which killed 21 men and boys.
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In the early 1900s soft fruit, Blackcurrant’s, Raspberry’s, Strawberry’s and Gooseberry’s were grown extensively by farmers in our area.They were wrapped in small parcels of Rhubarb leaves.
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During the 1930/40s Lofthouse Railway Station was a regular winner of the best kept garden competition. and the waiting room was adorned with many First Prize Certificate's
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On 31st December 1914 at Wakefield Jail, the execution took place of George Fredrick Law aged 34 a forgeman who was sentenced to death at Leeds Assizes for murdering his landlady Annie Gatterill at Sheffield on October 21st 1914.
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On the 28th May 1933. The booking/entrance hall at Stanley Picture House, was wrecked by an explosion to open the safe, the thieves got away with less than 10s.
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The last owners of Madame Hall Outwood were the Gledhill Family, who occupied the hall from about 1915 and left in 1959, the hall was then sold to developers. after suffering over the years at the hands of vandals, the hall was demolished in 1980.
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The original Malt Shovel pub at Carr Gate was demolished in 1937. Todays Malt Shovel stands a few yards to the south of the original.
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Melbourne House, Was known locally as “ Prophet Wroe Mansion” and built at the junction of Bradford Road and Brandy Carr Road Wrenthorpe in 1857, By the self styled prophet and con-man Joseph Wroe at a cost of £9,000.
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In the 1940s there used to be evening excursions from Lofthouse Station to Scarborough and Bridlington they departed around 6pm and returned at around midnight.
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In the 1940s Outwood WMC hired a 10 coach train for their club trips from Lofthouse Station, all the kids got a packet of crisps, a bottle of pop and a shilling in a small brown envelope.
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The railway line through Outwood was opened on the 3rd October1857 by The Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds Railway. Later The Great Northern Railway.
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The now Empire fish & chip drive through was Outwood’s first Picture House. Laurel & Hardy once visited the cinema during the showing of one of their films.
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Outwoods cobbler, Arthur Ellis sat in a low wooden hut opposite the Queen Hotel, mending boots & shoes.
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Tanner Holroyd’s shop was opposite the Queen Hotel, he would repair your peggy tub and pans at a time when housewives could not afford to buy new ones.
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The huge sand and gravel deposits found at Stanley were the bottom of a lake formed by the melting of giant glaciers at the end of the Ice Age.
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David Denton a cricketer from Wakefield dismissed the legend W.C.Grace l.b.w for 21 in the Yorkshire v South of England game in September 1901
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In the 1930s Miss E.M.Briggs was the girls headmistress at Ledger Lane School, a strict disciplinarian she resided at Belvedere on Leeds Road.
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My friend John said, my dad never let us go to Stanley pictures, he said the films were full of H*** and P*** words, he never did know what his dad meant?.
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The head teacher Miss Bullock had dark hair combed back into a bun and she was very strict. The penalty for not having an handkerchief was to have a piece of toilet paper pinned to your jersey.
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In the 1940/50s you could take a bottle down to the council offices in Coach Road, Outwood and they would fill it with disinfectant free of charge.
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In 1837 a colliery opened near Newton Lane End and a railway was built which passed under Ouchthorpe Lane, down through Hatfield Hall Est to Lime Pit Lane then initially on to Bottomboat and subsequently Stanley Ferry.
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A horse bus service from Outwood to Wakefield started in 1890. It was replaced by a tram service to Leeds in 1904, In that year Outwood had some 3,500 inhabitants in 719 houses.
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In 1638 Thomas Somester recalled the time when the trees and undergrowth on the Wakefield Great Out Wood, were so thick that it could only be crossed by cart and footpath.
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Alverthorpe Railway Station was on the branch line between Wrenthorpe Junction and Dewsbury. Built in 1872 it closed in1954.
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In Lofthouse an old man called Browsie toured the village selling bags of mussels for 2d and 3d, when boiled they made a fine meal.
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The first purpose built theatre in Wakefield was opened in Westgate in1776. It was bought by Benjamin Sherwood in 1883 and named The Royal Opera House.
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East Ardsley Colliery was sunk in 1875 by Robert Holliday & Sons, it included a hotchpotch of structures including a screening plant and coal chute, the colliery was abandoned in 1968.
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Clayton Hospital was founded in 1787 by a local man Thomas Clayton. The new building now derelict was opened in 1880.
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During the1939-1945 War Bretton Hall was used by the War Office, in 1948 it was sold including the lodges, lakes and 260 acres of land to The West Riding County Council.
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1933 was an eventful year for Wakefield with 1. the opening of Ryburn Reservoir. 2. A new bridge over the river Calder at the bottom of Kirkgate. 3. A performance of A Wakefield and West Riding Pageant in Clarence Park.
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Wakefield’s first cattle market was held in 1765, the town was given the right to representation in parliament in 1822. In 1888 a charter was granted which made Wakefield into a city.
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Place names in our area that end in thorpe, which comes from the Norse word for village or hamlet is evidence of Danish presence.
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The original Outwood Hall was built in 1700 and re-built in 1816. The estate incuding the hall was sold to Stanley Urban District Council in1921. The estate became Outwood Park, the hall was demolished in 1936, the gatehouse was demolished in the early 1940s
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Lofthouse and Outwood Railway Station was opened in 1858 by The Great Northern Railway, it closed in 1960 and the new station opened in 1988.
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Outwood Ledger Lane School was built in 1877 enlarged in 1894, became a Council School in 1902, it was demolished in 1990.
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John George Haigh the famous acid bath murderer was born in 1909 in Stamford, Lincolnshire. The family moved to Ledger Lane Outwood in 1915. and he became a choirboy at Wakefield Cathedral. In August 1949, he was put to death by one of England’s longest serving executioners, Albert Pierrepoint.
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The Stanley Urban District Council chain of office was stolen whilst on display at Stanley Church, It was found months later by a schoolboy on the beach at Whitley Bay.
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In the 1960s a mobile fish and chip van used to travel around our area on an evening, selling fish and chips and pie and peas.
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Trams from Wakefield to Leeds through Outwood started on 15th August 1904 and ended on 25th July 1932, every tram had a postbox on board, so you could post a letter.
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When Wakefield Trinity beat Hull in the 1960 cup final, the players received £48 winning pay and were taxed on it.
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In the early 50s Stanley Urban District Council offered every tennant a chance of a new refrigerator for a few shillings a week on their rent.
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Ledger Lane School Outwood was built in 1877 enlarged in 1894. the playing fields were ploughed up during the war to grow vegetables, the school was demolished in 1991.
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The Hedley’s footpath at Newton Hill connected Leeds Road with Bradford Road and used to be a favourite Sunday evening walk for local people.
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Firewood Arthur obtained old pit props from the yard at Lofthouse Colliery chopped them into wood that was used for kindling and sold them around Outwood.
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The very first seat Enoch Powell fought was the Normanton Constituency, where he only polled a few hundred votes.
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Marion Hall, Outwood, (Garage opposite Parkside Church) has been a Sunday School, Snooker Room, Domestic Science School Room and during the war a store for Peanuts.
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When miners at Lofthouse Colliery were fined for misconduct, the money raised was given to Pinderfield’s Hospital.
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The foundation stone for the present Alverthorpe Church was laid on 12th March 1823 and the church was consecrated 2 years later on 1st June. the church cost £7,828.
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The Outwood of Wakefield consisted of some 2,300 acres which was mostly forest. The township of Stanley was frequently fined for not repairing the fences and gates of the Outwood, so allowing deer to escape.
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Stanley Ferry Aqueduct was completed in 1839 at a cost of £80,000, it is 165ft long and holds 940 tons of water. it closed in 1981. The new aqueduct cost £2.3m.
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Lingwell Gate Infants School(Chapel) was built in 1878 and designed to hold 100 pupils by 1927 the average was 35, it finally closed in 1930. The Building, top of Lingwell Gate Lane is still alive and well.
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