Shaping The Future

A West Yorkshire city works to create a world-class destination for modern sculpture. Richard Darn reports

- Richard Darn

I’VE always found Wakefield to be an intriguing place and one that’s not easily pigeonholed. It oozes more history than some of its neighbouring towns, but the industrial revolution scotched any chance that it might have evolved into another Beverley or Ripon. I’ll give you an example. En route to Leeds my train would call at Kirkgate Station, built in 1854, and a more forlorn and neglected ‘transport hub’ you could hardly imagine. Dark, crumbling and deserted, it was not the best way to say welcome to Wakefield.

But wander around elegant areas near the cathedral and Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (founded in 1591) and it’s like being transported to another world. Similarly, Wakefield Bridge, completed in the 1350s, is one of just three in the UK to have a surviving chantry chapel, St Mary the Virgin (Rotherham also has one). Here travellers on the London road stopped to pray for a safe journey, perhaps heading on pilgrimage to Canterbury years before Chaucer penned his famous tales. World class monuments by any standards, given Grade I listed status by Historic England.

There are more hidden gems too. Going to the theatre in London means heading for Drury Lane and you do likewise in Wakefield, where on a street with the same name you will find the exquisite Theatre Royal, built in 1896 and the smallest playhouse designed by Frank Matcham, creator of the London Palladium and Buxton Opera House.

No doubt Wakefield needs regenerating, but what’s so exciting is there is a lot to work with. For example the aforementioned Kirkgate railway station has been spruced up as part of a multi-million pound investment and now looks smart and confident. And the waterfront area (Wakefield was a major inland port) is being given a facelift and is home to the current UK museum of the year; more on that in moment.