Wakefield Museums and Castles

The Counting House

The Counting House is an iconic part of Pontefract’s landscape. It is a half-timbered Grade II listed building from 1609. It was originally used as a merchant’s counting house. It has also been residential housing. 

The building is rumoured to have been built with stone from Pontefract Castle. It was conserved, renovated and converted into its current function as a pub and restaurant by Malcom Lister in the 1980s.

This painting is by Helen Briggs, 2005. Helen has captured the building's new lease of life in vivid technicolour.

The photograph shows Swales Yard and the Counting House in the 1900s.

Painting by Helen Briggs, 2005. Photograph from the 1900s, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

Bullock's Pot Shop

Joe Bullock’s Pot Shop was located at the junction of Front Street and Back Street in Pontefract. It was built in the 1500s. It was demolished in the early 1900s to make way for a tramway.

We know very little about the shop in the painting, but if you look closely, you can see a range of its goods on display in the large window.

The painting is by an unknown artist, at some point before 1906.

The photograph shows Bullock's Pot Shop in the late 1800s.

Painting by unknown artist, before 1906. Photograph from the late 1800s, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

All Saints' Church

William Crouch was an artist who specialised in small paintings of idealised landscapes. He usually painted Mediterranean views. These often included classical ruins and sun-drenched woods.

This painting includes the popular subject of All Saints’ Church. The ruins of Pontefract Castle are in the background.

It is framed by a sunlit landscape of nature. However, it doesn’t look or feel like Yorkshire. Instead, it is much more like Crouch’s views of Italy.

The photograph shows a view of All Saints' Church from Baghill in the 1920s.

Painting by William Crouch, 1840. On loan from the Wakefield Permanent Art Collection (The Hepworth Wakefield). Photograph from the 1920s, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

This pair of paintings by H.E. Hebdon captures the All Saints' Church from different angles. It shows the enigmatic church in both sunlight and moonlight.

Hebdon follows in the footsteps of famed romantic artist J.M.W Turner. Turner sketched All Saints in the late 1700s prior to any restoration work.

Painting by H.E. Hebdon, 1908. Photograph from 1880s, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

 All Saints is almost famous for its double helix staircase. There are only two in the UK. The one in All Saints dates to around 1280.

This staircase led to the top of the Octagonal Tower when it was originally built – 82 feet (25 metres) high!

Painting by H.E. Hebdon, 1910. Photograph from 1880s, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

New Hall

Frederick Lawson painted lots of countryside views and small towns in Yorkshire in the first part of the 20th century.

This painting shows the rather stark ruin of New Hall. It sits at the centre of everyday farming life. Workers and cattle are in front of it.

New Hall was a grand Elizabethan House on Ferrybridge Road. It was built with stone taken from St John’s Priory. At the time of painting, it had been empty for 250 years. It was damaged in the English Civil Wars.

The photograph shows the ruin of New Hall in the 1960s.

Painting by Frederick Lawson, 1910. On loan from the Wakefield Permanent Art Collection (The Hepworth Wakefield). Photograph from the 1960s, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

Pontefract Castle

Pontefract Castle was once known as the ‘Key to the North’. It was originally built around the 1080s by Norman knight Ilbert de Lacy. The castle changed hands several times during the English Civil Wars in the 1600s. It was destroyed shortly after at the request of the townspeople.

Although the castle fell into ruin, its grounds continued to be used. The site has been used to grow liquorice and as a Victorian pleasure park.

Today, the castle is in the care of Wakefield Council.

Raymond Oliver’s painting from the 1980s shows a view of the castle looking west towards the keep.

The photograph shows Pontefract Castle's curtain wall and keep in the early 1900s.

Painting by Raymond Oliver, 1984. Photograph from the early 1900s, Wakefield Museums and Castles. collection.

The Waterloo Monument

This monument once stood to mark the decisive victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, which ended the Napoleonic Wars. It was erected in 1818 in the grounds of Edward Trueman’s home. Trueman was a banker and mayor of Pontefract five times. His son was killed at Waterloo. The monument may have been a memorial to his memory.

The Waterloo Monument was known affectionately as the ‘cranky pin’ due to its distinctive lean.

It was demolished around 1946. The urn atop the monument had already fallen to the ground in a storm some years before. 

Housing now stands on the site of the monument, aptly named Monument Mews.

The photograph shows the Waterloo Monument in around the 1930s.

Painting by unknown artist, 1905. Photograph from around the 1930s, Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.