Justice for attempting to restore Charles 1. to the throne; whilst three others were slain in the battle-field. Such is the eventful history of the possessors of this extensive

manor.

:

Leland describes Wakefield as 'a very quik market towne, so that al vitail is very good and chepe there a right honest man shal fare wel for two pens a meale.' The bridge over the Calder was built about 6 Edward III. On the east side is 'a chapel of our lady:' a few years ago the pointed Gothic arch was widened. An extraordinary legend is related by Roger de Hoveden, which shows the antiquity of the Wakefield mills: 'In the year 1201, Eustace, abbot of Flaye, came over into England, preaching the duty of extending the Sabbath from three o'clock P.M. on Saturday to sunrising on Monday morning, pleading the authority of an epistle written by Christ Himself, and found on the altar of St. Simon at Golgotha. The shrewd people of Yorkshire treated the fanatic with contempt, and the miller of Wakefield persisted in grinding his corn after the hour of cessation; for which disobedience,' says the historian gravely, 'his corn was turned into blood, while the mill-wheel stood immoveable against all the water of the Calder. Again, in 1452, we find the miller fined for taking too much mulcture.'

Pindar Fields, which by tradition are said to have been the site of Robin Hood's exploit with the valiant Pindar George of the Green, lie at the east end of the town. In the court-rolls of the manor of Wakefield of

the reign of Edward II., there appears a Robertus Hode living in the town, and having business in that court. In a parcel of deeds of Edward III.'s reign, relating to Coldhindley, which is about eight miles from Wakefield, we find a Robert, William, and Adam Hode mentioned.1 It will be remembered that Barnsdale Forest, where Robin Hood is said to have lived, lies at no great distance from Coldhindley.

We now pass on to Sandal Castle, which is probably of earlier date than the Conquest. In 1317, John the eighth and last Earl of Warren, who was a man of licentious character, while residing at Sandal Castle, was involved in a scandalous intrigue with Alice de Lacey, wife of his neighbour Thomas Earl of Lancaster; she, on the Monday before Ascension Day, was carried off by violence, and conveyed to a castle of the Earl of Warren at Reigate, in Surrey. The Earl of Lancaster proceeded to avenge himself by laying siege to the Earl's castle, and Sandal was demolished by him in revenge for this; but it was rebuilt by the Earl of Warren in 1321. In the year 1318 the Earl of Lancaster obtained a grant from the Earl of Warren of his manor of Wakefield, probably as a makepeace for the offences committed against him by the Earl; but he only enjoyed it for three years, being attainted for high treason, and beheaded at his Castle of Pontefract.

There is an inquisition of Sandal Castle taken in the

1 The name of Robin Hood was common in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

time of the last Earl, in which are some curious particulars. First, there was a fish-pond, valued at nothing, because all the fish died, probably on account of some mineral impregnations; second, the meadow-ground lay in open. field, and was worth five shillings per acre-the pastureground was inclosed, and only worth one-tenth of that sum; lastly, the fishery, a mill-pond of four acres, was worth one-third more than the best meadow-ground.

Richard Duke of York lay at the castle before the battle of Wakefield; and the fortress seems to have been of some note in the reign of Richard III. John Wodrove, receiver of Wakefield for Edward Iv., had a warrant by privy seal, dated 3d of June, 2d Richard III., for an allow ance of such sums of money as he should employ in making a tower in the castle in Someshall or Sandal; also, a warrant granting him a tun of wine yearly for the use of the said castle; and on the 20th of June following, the king being then at York, assigned the manors of Ulverston and Thornham in support of the expenses of his household appointed. In October following, orders were given for building a bakehouse and brewhouse within Sandal Castle by the advice of John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, and others of the king's council lying therein. The portrait of John Wodrove and his wife, with his arms and his crest, were formerly in the window of Wakefield old church. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth we find that the fees in the castle were, per day: captain, 16d.; porter, 8d. ; guns, 6, fee, 6d. ; footmen's fee, 6d.

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Sandal Castle was garrisoned for the king in the time. of the Civil Wars under Colonel Bonivant, and surrendered after a siege of three weeks, a few days after Pontefract Castle. Boothroyd, the historian of Pontefract, informs us that the governors of Sandal and Pontefract Castles were accustomed to light fires on their towers as a signal to each party that good news had been received; and on April 30, 1646, it was resolved by the House of Commons that, being an inland castle, it should be made untenable, and no garrison kept or maintained in it; it was then completely demolished. The moat of the castle may yet be traced, and the masonry of the central keep, or round tower, is visible. There are several hewn stones, quite fresh and square, lodged at the foot of a tree at the bottom of a broad walk which appears to have crossed the drawbridge. There seems to have been a park at Wakefield and Sandal Castle from very early times.

In the 5th Edward Iv., Sir John Saville had a grant from the king of the herbage of Wakefield Park. Sir Thomas Wentworth had a grant from Henry VIII. of the keepership. In the 1st of Queen Elizabeth, Henry Saville is mentioned as the queen's keeper of it; there being some dispute between him (the plaintiff) and Anthony Wilson for hunting and destruction of deer there. In the 2d of Elizabeth we also find Sir John Tempest, steward of the lordship of Wakefield, and constable of Sandal Castle, disputing with Henry Saville, in the court of Lancaster, for the office of keepership of the game in

the New Park of Wakefield and Sandal Castle Park, the paling and the office of bow-bearer there. A farm-house, standing on the left bank of the Calder, and looking up the stream, is still called Lodge-gate, and was undoubtedly an entrance to the park which extended over the neighbouring hills. Another entrance also bears the name of the Deer-gate.1

1 The substance of this narrative is condensed from an excellent paper by George Wentworth, Esq., in the Journal of the British Archæological Association, 1864; with considerable additions.

The chapel on Wakefield Bridge was rebuilt in 1847, save one small piece at the east end. The ancient beautiful west façade is now built up as the front of a boat-house or summer-house, on the margin of a lake in the grounds of Kettlethorpe Hall, two miles distant. A brassplate inscription tells: "This structure is built with the remains of the original west front and other fragments of St. Marie's, Chantry, which stood on Wakefield Bridge.' It was built in the reign of Edward III., about 1357; and restored by Edward IV. after the battle of Wakefield, 1400, who dedicated the chapel to the memory of his father the Duke of York. It was defaced by unseemly repairs in 1794. In 1847 the ancient portion was purchased by the Hon. George Chapple Norton, and reerected by him at Kettlethorpe. The so-called restoration on Wakefield Bridge is reclaimed to an ecclesiastical purpose, a weekly service being performed in it every Thursday evening.—See a paper in the abovequoted Journal by F. R. Wilson, Esq.