About
Wakefield Museum is the local history museum of the City of Wakefield — a distinct institution from The Hepworth Wakefield art gallery and Wakefield Art Gallery, and the repository of the city's civic memory and material heritage. The museum occupies a historic building in the city centre and documents Wakefield's long and varied history as a cloth town, a key battleground in the Wars of the Roses, a Victorian industrial city, and the birthplace of an extraordinary eccentric naturalist whose work still influences ecological thinking.
The Battle of Wakefield, fought on 30 December 1460 at Sandal Castle to the south of the city, is one of the defining episodes of the Wars of the Roses. The battle resulted in the death of Richard Duke of York — the Yorkist claimant to the Crown — along with his son Edmund Earl of Rutland and many of his supporters. The Lancastrians under the Duke of Somerset caught York's forces at a disadvantage, and the defeat temporarily reversed the Yorkist cause before Edward IV's crushing victory at Towton three months later. The museum holds material relating to the battle, Sandal Castle, and the broader context of the Wars of the Roses in Yorkshire.
Charles Waterton (1782-1865), the Squire of Walton Hall near Wakefield, is one of the most extraordinary figures in the history of natural history. A Catholic gentleman-naturalist of eccentric habits and genuine genius, Waterton travelled four times to the forests of South America to collect specimens — often barefoot, occasionally wrestling caimans — and returned with collections of extraordinary quality and variety. At Walton Hall he created what many consider one of the world's first nature reserves: a three-mile perimeter wall enclosing 260 acres of park and lake, within which wildlife was protected from disturbance with fanatical determination. His taxidermy — some of it scientifically serious, some of it deliberately fantastical — produced specimens still held in the museum. Waterton's combination of genuine scientific insight and baroque eccentricity makes him one of the most compelling characters in Victorian England.
The textile and mining heritage of the West Riding — the heavy wool cloth of Wakefield's medieval prosperity, the rapid industrialisation of the nineteenth century, and the deep-mining coalfields that dominated the district until their closure in the 1980s and 1990s — are further collection strengths. The social history of working-class life in an industrial West Riding city, from Victorian terraced streets to the mining communities of the Wakefield coalfield, is documented with particular depth.
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💡 Visitor Tips
- Wakefield Museum (local history) is distinct from The Hepworth Wakefield (modern and contemporary art gallery) and Wakefield Art Gallery — all three are separate institutions in the city. The Hepworth is 10 minutes' walk and is one of the finest art galleries in the north of England.
- The museum is on Wood Street in the city centre, within easy walking distance of both Wakefield Westgate and Wakefield Kirkgate stations — London Kings Cross to Westgate is under an hour.
- The Charles Waterton collection is extraordinary — allow time to read the labels carefully, particularly on the fantastical taxidermy pieces where Waterton's satirical intentions (many represent identifiable political figures) are explained.
- After the museum, visit Sandal Castle (2 miles south, free, English Heritage) where the Battle of Wakefield was fought — the earthworks are substantial and the view across the district is excellent.
- The National Coal Mining Museum (5 miles south at Overton) offers underground mine tours that complement the museum's mining heritage galleries perfectly and is one of the best mining museums in Britain.
- Admission is free — this is a Local Authority museum run by Wakefield Council. Donations help sustain the collections.
- Barbara Hepworth, one of the twentieth century's greatest sculptors, was born in Wakefield — the Hepworth Wakefield gallery, a spectacular riverside building, holds the world's finest collection of her work.
Highlights
Charles Waterton — The Eccentric of Walton Hall
Charles Waterton (1782-1865) is one of the most extraordinary figures in the history of natural history — a Catholic squire who travelled barefoot through South American jungle, wrestled a caiman into submission, claimed to have ridden a large alligator, and created one of the world's first nature reserves at Walton Hall near Wakefield.
His taxidermy collection, held in the museum, ranges from serious specimens collected in British Guiana to deliberately fantastical composite creatures he created as satirical comment on the politicians and clerics of his day. The museum's Waterton collection is among the finest in existence.
Battle of Wakefield 1460 — The Wars of the Roses
The Battle of Wakefield on 30 December 1460 was one of the most significant Lancastrian victories of the Wars of the Roses. Richard Duke of York, the Yorkist claimant to the Crown, was killed at the battle — fought at Sandal Castle south of the city — along with his son Edmund Earl of Rutland and many of his leading supporters.
The Lancastrian victory temporarily reversed the Yorkist cause before Edward IV's overwhelming victory at Towton three months later.
The museum documents the battle, the castle, and the complex dynastic politics of fifteenth-century England through maps, artefacts, and contemporary evidence.
Walton Hall Nature Reserve — The World's First
At Walton Hall, Waterton created what is widely regarded as one of the world's first private nature reserves — a 260-acre estate enclosed by a three-mile perimeter wall at his own expense, within which wildlife was protected from disturbance with extraordinary dedication. Waterton drove out rats, excluded gamekeepers, and created conditions in which birds, bats, and other wildlife could breed undisturbed for decades.
His management philosophy — hands-off observation combined with active habitat management — anticipates modern conservation thinking by more than a century.
The museum documents both the reserve and Waterton's ecological thinking.
West Riding Wool and Cloth Heritage
Wakefield's prosperity from the medieval period through to the Industrial Revolution was built on the heavy woollen cloth of the West Riding — broadcloth, kersey, and the coarse cloth woven on handlooms in cottages and workshops across the district. The museum documents the cloth trade's dominance of Wakefield's economy from the medieval market to the great nineteenth-century mills: the wool staplers who organised the trade, the fulling mills that processed the cloth, and the transformation of hand-weaving into the factory system.
The West Riding textile heritage connects Wakefield to Bradford, Huddersfield, and the broader story of the Industrial Revolution in Yorkshire.
Collections
Wakefield Museum holds collections spanning the full history of the Wakefield district from prehistoric times to the present. The Charles Waterton collection is the museum's most distinctive holding — taxidermy specimens, South American natural history material, and documents relating to Walton Hall nature reserve.
The Wars of the Roses and Battle of Wakefield collections are of national significance.
Strong collections in textile and mining heritage document the West Riding's industrial character. Social history and photographic collections provide depth on the working-class life of the city.
Charles Waterton — Naturalist and Eccentric
Permanent gallery on Waterton's life, travels, taxidermy, and Walton Hall nature reserve.
The Wars of the Roses in Wakefield
Permanent gallery on the Battle of Wakefield 1460 and Sandal Castle.
Working Wakefield
Permanent gallery on the city's textile and mining heritage.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.