Dastardly deeds

Wakefield Free Press
Saturday 27 April 1872

WANTON MISCHIEF

During the week, a piece of wanton and dastardly mischief has been perpetrated in the neighbourhood of Silcoates and Kirkhamgate by some unprincipled persons. They appear to have taken a considerable radius, and committed much damage, apparently with no other motive than that of mischief. It is supposed the depredators had been drinking at Alverthorpe, and in the course of their perambulations, they visited the churchyard there. They then went on as far as Mr Skinner’s nursery, at Silcoates, where they pulled up a number of plants, broke down a gate end several posts and rails. A gate was pulled up belonging to Mr Dunwell, farmer; and other damage was also committed on the Silcoates estate. The depredators next paid a visit to Mr Timothy Pearson’s, of Warren House [Lindale Lane], and there committed spoil. They too appear to have gone to Kirkhamgate, or come from that direction, and left behind them traces of their mischievous doings. The men do not appear to have been animated by a felonious intention, but probably thought they were enjoying a “good lark.” The police are now on the trail, and it is to be hoped that with the aid of the footprints the desperadoes have left behind them, they will be secured, and receive a condign and severe punishment, which they so well merit.

Biodiversity and Balne Beck

A couple of nature-related pieces about Balne Beck. The first is a curious letter from to the Wakefield and West Riding Herald from Thomas Walter Gissing, who took a keen interest in natural history. He kept a chemist shop in Wakefield and was the father of the Victorian novelist George Gissing. T W Gissing’s Materials for A Flora of Wakefield and its Neighbourhood was published in 1867.

Wakefield and West Riding Herald
Friday 26 September 1856

BOTANICAL RARITIES

To the Editor of the Wakefield Journal and Examiner.

Dear sir, — I have much pleasure in announcing the discovery of some botanical rarities in the immediate vicinity of Wakefield.

My sister, walking from Balne-lane Mill towards Silcoates, discovered trifolium resupinatum (reversed trefoil), and on returning showed it me.

I immediately walked to the spot, found the plant, and in addition four others, viz, medicago falcata (sickle medick), melilotus arvensis (field melilot), medicago denticulata (toothed medick), and phalaris canariensis (canary grass).

Now I think it highly improbable that all these plants should be indigenous to that one spot of ground; but from their meagre and unattractive appearance they would never be cultivated in a garden; at least, with the exception of the canary grass, I never heard of their being used as ornamental plants. The probability, therefore, comes to me that these plants have been brought from adjacent fields with rubbish, and so sprung up in this locality. I would therefore strongly recommend all Wakefield botanists to closely inspect the neighbourhood of Balne-lane, &c.

– I am, dear sir, truly yours,

T. W. GISSING.
Wakefield, Sept 22, 1856.

And a not-so-constructive item. Wonder if the poor bird was kept in a cage or stuffed.

Leeds Times
Saturday 2 April 1853

OUT OF ITS LATITUDE

On Good-Friday, a man, named Armitage, was walking along the side of the Balne Beck, when he observed a fine kingfisher on a stone in the water, attempting to gorge a fish which he held in his bill. The finny prey was too large for his majesty, however, and he could not well get off the ground with such an encumbrance sticking in his gizzard, Armitage made him an easy capture.

Miners scrap at Silcoates

Yorkshire Evening Post
Friday 1 July 1892

PUGILISTS BOUND OVER AT WAKEFIELD

To-day, at the West Riding Court, Wakefield, James Jackson, miner, Bragg Lane End, and Joseph Farrer, miner, Brandicarr, were bound over their own recognisances of £5 to keep the for six months, and ordered to pay 18s costs each, on charge of committing breach the peace by fighting. The offence took place at Silcoates on the 18th ult., and describing the fight, the Rev W Field, headmaster Silcoates Hall, said the two men were stripped to the waist, and were very furious indeed, being half covered with blood. They were surrounded by a ring of people.

Local photographs in old newspapers

The newspaper archives has only come up with half a dozen photographs relating to the Wrenthorpe area – and three of these are of Silcoates. The first is of the last toll bar in the district.

Leeds Mercury
Saturday 13 July 1929

SILCOATES OLD TOLL-BAR

In close proximity to the famous Silcoates School, this reminder of old coaching days is still in use, and is one of the few surviving toll-bars in the West Riding.

The image is of an unnamed man with a white beard and hat standing in front of the gate.

Pictures in other newspapers:

Yorkshire Evening Post
Wednesday 1 May 1935

BLOSSOM TIME IN THE ORCHARD

Caption: A scene at Wrenthorpe, near Wakefield.

Unfortunately the orchard image is too indistinct to show here.

Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer
Wednesday 17 July 1940

PLAYING FIELDS NO LONGER

Caption: Boys at Silcoates School, Wakefield, digging their playing fields in preparation for food growing.

Leeds Mercury
Tuesday 6 June 1926

A DIVINELY INSPIRED MANSION

Caption: Prophet’s Mansion, at Wrenthorpe, near Wakefield, built by Prophet John Wroe, who died many years ago. He knew nothing of architecture, and it is said that his plans were divinely inspired. The house is now inhabited by the Prophet’s great-grandson, who confidently awaits his return in the flesh. The second picture shows the novel sundial crowning the house.

Sheffield Daily Telegraph
Friday 2 October 1908

SILCOATES SCHOOL

On the other side will be found a picture of the ceremony in connection with the opening of the new Silcoates School, the celebrated Congregational college. The new building replaces the edifice that was burnt down some time back. The school was opened by Mr Runciman, and the picture shows Mr G H Baines, JP, one of the trustees, handing the Minister of Education the key. Mrs Runciman will be seen holding a bouquet. At the table is seated Mr Theodore Taylor, MP, while next him is Mr John McLaren, one of the trustees. Immediately beneath this picture is one showing the new school buildings.

The ‘Wrenthorpe-ification’ of Potovens

Here’s a strange filler piece from the Yorkshire Evening Post a few weeks before the outbreak of World War II.

Yorkshire Evening Post
Friday 30 June 1939

DIARY OF A YORKSHIREMAN
HOUSE OF MANY ADDRESSES

Several years ago two brothers at Wakefield Grammar School used to delight in puzzling their masters by giving their address differently. One put Sunny Hill, Silcoates; the other, City View, Wrenthorpe. Letters addressed in either fashion would arrive in equal safety and expectation.

The house had no number. Sunny Hill was part of an interminable road called Potovens Lane. Wrenthorpe was the village that sprawled at the bottom of the hill, and Silcoates was the general name for the district. City View was a fancy name the builder had put on the block of houses at the top of the hill. On a clear day they commanded a clear view of Wakefield Town Hall and Cathedral, two miles distant.

Two or three years ago the district was absorbed into the Stanley area, and the correct address became Sunny Hill, Kirkhamgate.

Then the Stanley Urban District Council was petitioned to alter the name of this part of Potovens Lane, and it became Wrenthorpe Lane. Now, at long last, the houses have been numbered, and the correct address of the old house is 74 Wrenthorpe Lane.

The changes had come about when Kirkhamgate, Silcoates and Jerry Clay Lane were transferred from Wakefield Rural District Council to Stanley Urban District in 1935. The ‘Potovens’ street names were changed a couple of years later. But the Evening Post still manages to get things mixed up. Wrenthorpe Lane was formerly called Potovens Road (not Lane). Wrenthorpe Road was called Potovens Lane. The brothers in question were Calverts. Either the house has since been renumbered or it’s another error, as City View is number 66-68 Wrenthorpe Lane.

Wrenthorpe, Potovens, Alverthorpe or Kirkhamgate?

If it’s bewildering today to say exactly where Wrenthorpe starts and Kirkhamgate, Alverthorpe, Newton Hill or Outwood ends, it’s no easier for people tracing their family history and finding ancestors living in Alverthorpe-with-Thornes or Stanley-cum-Wrenthorpe.

The dividing line of those two ancient townships was the Foster Ford/Balne Beck – right in the middle of modern day Wrenthorpe. The area’s informal but widely used name ‘Potovens’ referred to the densely populated area in the village centre. Under the old boundaries, Silcoates, Jerry Clay Lane, Brandy Carr and Kirkhamgate were all part of Alverthorpe-with-Thornes.

When the Stanley Urban District Council was created in 1899 its western boundary stuck to the old township divide. During the following year Wakefield City Council incorporated much of Alverthorpe, leaving Silcoates, Jerry Clay Lane, Brandy Carr and Kirkhamgate as something of a backwater in the Wakefield Rural District Council. The area wasn’t absorbed into Stanley UDC until 1935.

Here’s a couple of confusing articles about Alverthorpe and Kirkhamgate from the WW1 era.

Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer
Tuesday 13 July 1915

ALVERTHORPE PARISH COUNCIL AND ITS NAME

The announcement that the Parish Council Alverthorpe, near Wakefield have applied for the name the township to be changed to Kirkhamgate does not mean that there is a prospect of the name of the village of Alverthorpe itself being altered. In 1900 the parish of Alverthorpe had an area of 2,481 acres, and a population (according to the 1891 Census) of 4,811, and included Alverthorpe village and several small hamlets, all coming within the area of the Wakefield Rural District Council. The borough of Wakefield then sought to extend its boundaries by the inclusion of the district of the Alverthorpe Pariah Council, and terms were arranged between the two bodies.

The Local Government Board, however, only consented to the addition part of the area, comprising 573 acres and a population 3,631 and including the village Alverthorpe, the added area becoming the Alverthorpe Ward in the borough of Wakefield. At one end of the old district was left an area of 999 acres, with a population of 164 and this became Lupset. At the other end the Alverthorpe Parish Council were left with an area of 909 acres and a population of 1,116 made up of the hamlets of Kirkhamgate, Brandy Carr, Silcoates and Beck Bottom, the first named being the largest. Officially, this small area continued to be known as that of the Alverthorpe Parish Council. As already pointed out, Alverthorpe itself is now part of Wakefield, and it is with the object of getting rid of the confusion of names that the Parish Council have decided to rename themselves the Kirkhamgate Parish Council. Though rather long delayed, the action is considered locally to be a logical outcome of the absorption of Alverthorpe into the Wakefield borough boundary, and it is not thought likely that there will any opposition to the proposal when the Subcommittee of the West Riding County Council inquires into the matter.

Leeds Mercury
Tuesday 27 July 1915

ALVERTHORPE NO LONGER
CHANGE OF NAME DESIRED TO KIRKHAMGATE

Alderman P H Booth and Councillor W Ormerod, representing the County Council, held am inquiry at Kirkhamgate, yesterday, relative to the application of the Alverthorpe Parish Council to change the name to Kirkhamgate Parish Council.

Mr W J Skinner, clerk to the Parish Council, pointed out that in 1900 the Alverthorpe township became part of Wakefield, but the name of Alverthorpe Parish Council remained. The part which was not in the jurisdiction of Wakefield was Brandy Carr, Silcoates, and Beck Bottom. The change of name would be a great advantage, particularly with regard to postal arrangements.

At present when letters were addressed Kirkhamgate, Alverthorpe, they were sent out with the Alverthorpe letters, and were returned to Wakefield to be re-directed Kirkhamgate with the result that sometimes there was a delay of twenty-four hours.

There was no opposition.

Mill owner threatened with blunderbuss

Leeds Intelligencer
Thursday 13 November 1828

DARING HIGHWAY ROBBERY

About half-past seven o’clock, on the evening of yesterday week, as Mr Joseph Rhodes, of Silcoates [the owner of Silcoates Woollen Mill], was returning home from Wakefield, he was attacked by three men, one of them armed with a blunderbuss, about half-way between Snow Hill bar and Potovens. They demanded his money and watch, the armed men exclaiming, that it was useless making any resistance or calling for aid: if he did, “they would blow him to pieces.” He fortunately had no money on his person, but he gave them some memorandums, of no use to any one, with which they decamped in a direction towards Wakefield, and have not since been heard of.