Home - Wakefield Museums and Castles

Discover the extraordinary at our museums and castles

$Fireworks bursting from the keep at Pontefract Castle as the sun goes down$

What's on

Exciting events. No-cost and low-cost activities and workshops. Expert talks and tours. Find out what's on at our sites.

Castleford Museum

Explore 15,000 years of local history at Castleford Museum! Uncover our Roman roots and learn about local industry.

$The remains of the keep and curtain wall at Pontefract Castle covered in a layer of snow$

Pontefract Castle

The Key to the North! Built around 1086 by Ilbert de Lacy, Pontefract Castle has many stories to tell.

$A family doing dressing up in front of the Keirincx oil painting of Pontefract Castle in the 1640s$

Pontefract Museum

Learn all about Pontefract's eventful history! From the Civil Wars to the success of liquorice - Pontefract has seen it all.

Sandal Castle

Visit Sandal Castle, scene of the Battle of Wakefield in 1460! Sandal was a favourite castle of Richard III.

A child using a mini pair of binoculars to look around a nature reserve recreated in paper sculptures

Wakefield Museum

Explore the history of Wakefield at work and play. Discover surprising stories from the Merrie City.

$The rainbow Pride flag with a chevron of Trans and racial equality colours flying at Pontefract Castle$

LGBTQ+ History Month

Every February is LGBTQ+ History Month in the UK.

LGBTQ+ stories and histories are an important part of the Wakefield district.

We're flying the Pride Flag at Pontefract Castle for the month of February.

You can also browse our online collection of queer stories and histories.

LGBTQ+ stories

A person crouched over picking rhubarb stalks out of the ground inside a low roofed rhubarb shed

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb!

Wakefield is famous for growing forced rhubarb. We're one of three points on the 'Rhubarb Triangle'.

Ahead of this February's Rhubarb Festival, find out why we're always rooting for rhubarb.

Rhubarb

$The remains of the keep and curtain wall at Pontefract Castle with a galaxy-filled sky in the background$

February half term guide

The kids might have only just gone back to school... but February half term is fast approaching! There’s so much to do at our sites this February.

From tots to teenagers, we’ve got something for all the family this February half term in Castleford, Pontefract and Wakefield.

February half term

Latest news and articles

A member of staff showing two young children an old book in an archive

29 Jan

Explore the impact of the Our Heritage, Our Stories project in 2025 with this guest blog.

Celebrating the impact of Our Stories in 2025

A large green cinquefoil plant with runners hanging over the drystone wall on the edge of the Medieval Herb Garden

29 Jan

Discover facts and folklore about cinquefoil. It's our Medieval Herb Garden volunteers' plant of the week.

Medieval herb garden blog: Cinquefoil

A display case containing a mask, a large fake shell, a box of tea, a cat sculpture and other stage props next to a video screen and information panel

20 Jan

We are looking for a museum specialist to evaluate our Museum Hubs and their future programming.

Freelancer opportunity: Museum Hubs evaluation

Wakefield Museums and Castles