Wakefield Museums and Castles

Prince of Wales Colliery

This piece depicts the end of a shift at the Prince of Wales Colliery in Pontefract. Known as the ‘Ponty Prince’, the mine was open from 1872 to 2002.

Artist Michael Milner was born in the 1940s. He spent his youth growing up near Glasshoughton Colliery. He worked as a mining engineer for the National Coal Board for 18 years before turning his hand to art. It is unsurprising that he took inspiration from the local mining heritage.

The photograph shows the Prince of Wales Colliery in around the 1980s.

Painting by Michael Milner, 1990s. Photograph from around the 1980s, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

The Cooperative Wholesale Society Fellmongery in Pontefract

The Cooperative Wholesale Society bought the fellmongery in 1909. They ran it for over 70 years before it closed in the 1980s. Emma Carlisle painted it in the 1990s.

Fellmongers work with animal skins, mainly sheep, separating the wool from the hide.

Animal processing was once a significant industry in Pontefract. It was very hard, physical work, with lots of dangerous chemicals.    

The skinyard was centred in the area close to All Saints’ Church. The whole area used to smell bad because of the skinyard.

The photograph shows the skinyard in around 1900.

Painting by Emma Carlisle, 1990s. Photograph from around 1900, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

Pontefract Castle

Wendy de Rusett was born in Scotland but brought up in Yorkshire. She trained as an art teacher at Bretton Hall, near Wakefield. After four years as a full-time teacher, she went part-time so she could spend more time on her own painting.

This painting shows archaeologists excavating at Pontefract Castle. The archaeologists are also training young people.

The photograph shows a team from the excavations at Pontefract Castle, taken between 1984 and 1985.

Painting by Wendy de Rusett, 1986. On loan from the Wakefield Permanent Art Collection (The Hepworth Wakefield). Photograph from 1984 - 1985, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

Market Day

Pontefract’s history is steeped in the market-tradition. Both the indoor and outdoor markets continue today. 

This painting captures the hustle and bustle of a busy Saturday market on 25 July 1987. Familiar Pontefract landmarks such as St Giles’ Church and the Buttercross are clearly visible.

David Gluck was born in Pontefract in 1939. He enjoyed painting landscapes. He liked capturing how he felt about his subject within his work as he painted it live. 

The photograph shows a view of the Market Place in the 1990s.

Painting by David Gluck, 1987. Photograph from the 1990s, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

St Giles’ Church and the Buttercross

St Giles’ became the main parish church in 1789. It followed All Saints being destroyed during the Civil War sieges.

The Buttercross stands next to St Giles’. It was built in 1734 by Elizabeth Dupier. Her late husband Solomon had vowed to build a covered market cross after his wife and daughters survived smallpox.

The market cross offered protection for country women. The women came to sell their dairy products on Saturdays, hence its name.

The photograph shows St Giles' Church and the Buttercross on a market day, 1947.

Painting by William Shone, around 1960. Photograph from 1947, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

After it was first built in 1734, the Buttercross continued to provide shelter for traders into the 1900s. 

Goods were not the only things sold at the Buttercross either. Two men sold their wives at the cross, with the sale acting as a legal divorce!

Many artworks capture the distinctive and recognisable external profile of the Buttercross. Relatively few look out from the inside. In this scene you can see figures sheltering in the Buttercross. Possibly they are traders with their wares.

This etching was made by George Pennington, a local architect.

The photograph shows a view of St Giles' Church from the Buttercross, taken between 1950 and 1970.

Etching by George Pennington, 1900s. Photograph from between 1950 and 1970, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

Shoemarket

This painting depicts a view from Pontefract’s Cornmarket looking towards the Shoemarket. 

Shoemarket got its name from the historic small cobbler shops in the area.

The view is now slightly different, as the current Pontefract Library building was constructed in 1975. The rising structure of St Giles’ Church is clearly visible in the distance. 

The contrast between past and present is clear in this work. They are united by people using the Cornmarket as a central thoroughfare.

The photograph shows a view of Cornmarket from around the 1950s or 1960s.

Painting by William Shone, 1970. Photograph from around the 1950s or 1960s, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

Fruit and Veg

People regularly pick up their fruit and vegetables from Pontefract's market stalls.

Pontefract’s market history dates back to at least the Middle Ages. The outdoor market continues to open on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. This is a more contemporary painting than some others in our collection, showing the market between 2017 and 2018.

Geoff Leathley is a Pontefract-born artist. He has previously exhibited work at Pontefract Museum.

His work here captures the market as “the heart” of the town, in his own words.

The photograph shows a trader and customer at Pontefract Market Place in 1991.

Painting by Geoff Leathley, 2017 - 2018. Photograph from 1991, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

Pontefract Liquorice Fair

If there is one sweet treat associated with Pontefract, it is liquorice. Liquorice was first brought to Pontefract in the medieval period. It was originally used for medicinal purposes. Local chemist George Dunhill added sugar to liquorice and created the Pontefract cake!

Pontefract has celebrated its liquorice heritage annually since 1995. Now, every July, the Liquorice Festival sees liquorice take centre stage in the town.

This painting captures the joy and technicolour of an early Liquorice Festival in 2000.

The photograph shows Beastfair during the Liquorice Festival, in 2000 or 2001.

Painting by S.M. Alderton, 2000. Photograph from 2000 or 2001, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

Out of Service

David Wheeler is a local artist who is interested in the everyday lives of ordinary people. This painting is of a homeless man known as John.

David chatted to John and sketched him several times before completing this painting. It shows John with his long beard sitting in Pontefract Bus Station on his own at night.

A few years after this was painted, Pontefract Bus Station was redeveloped.

The photograph shows Pontefract Bus Station in 1995.

Painting by David Wheeler, 1996. Photograph from 1995, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.