City Fields

Thornes Park

Thornes · 2.5 miles

Thornes Park is a large public park situated close to the centre of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Along with Clarence Park and Holmfield Park it forms a large parkland to the south west of the city.

Pontefract Museum

Pontefract · 6.8 miles

A former Carnegie library now serves as Pontefract Museum, occupying an Art Nouveau building in the centre of Pontefract, West Yorkshire. Designed by George Pennington and opened as a library in 1904, the structure was repurposed for museum use in 1975 after a new library was erected elsewhere. The conversion retained the tiled entrance hall and original furnishings, and the building was entered on the Grade II listed register at the time of its reopening in March 1975. The museum is managed by Wakefield Museums & Castles, offers free admission and provides step-free access throughout, with toilets available on the premises. The displays focus on the town’s archaeological, artistic and social heritage. Exhibits include material from Pontefract Castle and the nearby St John’s Priory, notably the Ackworth Hoard of almost six hundred Civil War-era coins. The collection also illustrates the local liquorice trade, featuring packaging from the famous Pontefract Cakes factories and the sealed ballot box from the country’s first secret ballot in 1872. Additional highlights trace the town’s mining past, decorative and applied arts, fine art, photographs and printed ephemera. Three permanent exhibition spaces house these items, while a separate area accommodates temporary shows, and a reference room preserves archival documents relating to Pontefract’s history.

Leeds War Memorial

Arena Quarter · 7.5 miles

A marble obelisk topped with a bronze Angel of Peace dominates Victoria Square on the Headrow, positioned between the Town Hall and the Leeds City Art Gallery. The monument, listed as a historic memorial on the OpenStreetMap database, forms a focal point of the city centre and can be approached directly from the surrounding pedestrianised streets. Its four sides bear the inscriptions Invictis Pax, Ovr Gloriovs Dead, Honovr to the Fallen and Pro Patria, while the north-west and south-west corners record the dates 1914–1918 and 1939–1945. Flanking the shaft are sculptural groups titled Peace releasing a dove and Saint George and the Dragon, and each corner is embellished with owls, the heraldic emblem of Leeds. Designed by Henry Charles Fehr and unveiled on 14 October 1922, the memorial was originally sited in City Square before being moved to the newly created garden of rest in Victoria Square in 1937. It suffered a crack in 1940, leading to removal for repair and storage throughout the Leeds Blitz, with reinstatement in 1946. Subsequent storm damage saw the original Angel of Victory taken down, and after a period without a crowning figure, a new Angel of Peace by Ian Judd was dedicated on 10 November 1991. Today the site hosts the city’s Remembrance Day ceremonies, with three flag-pole mountings set up for the occasion, and remains accessible to visitors as part of the public square.

Farnley Hall Park

Farnley · 8.7 miles

Farnley Hall Park is a park in Farnley, Leeds, England, approximately four miles from the city centre. Sixteen hectares in size, it lies in the grounds of Farnley Hall and hosts the main base of Leeds City Parks.

Roundhay Park

Park Villas · 9.9 miles

A large green space stretches along Leeds’ north-eastern fringe, bordered by the Roundhay suburb, Oakwood and the A6120 ring road. Spanning more than 700 acres of lawns, water, woodland and formal plantings, the area is owned by the people of Leeds under a historic decree and is looked after by Leeds City Council. Entry is free and the park can be reached from the nearby Park Villas estate, with car parking available at former tram and lido sites. The land’s recorded history begins in the 11th century when William the Conqueror granted it to Ilbert de Lacy as a reward for military support. It later served as a medieval hunting ground for the de Lacy family, passed to John of Gaunt and his son Henry IV, and was handed to Thomas Darcy by Henry VIII. In the early 1800s the estate was sold to Thomas Nicholson, who transformed former quarries into the Upper and Waterloo Lakes and built a mansion overlooking the water. After changing hands within the Nicholson family, the property was bought for public use in the early 1870s, landscaped by architect George Corson and officially reopened by Prince Arthur before a crowd of about 100 000. Subsequent developments included a tram link in 1891, a lido opened in 1907 (now a car park), and a lakeside café rebuilt after a fire in 2008. Visitors can explore the lakes, wooded walks and several themed gardens. Canal Gardens host the Arnold and Marjorie Ziff Tropical World, a series of climate-controlled glasshouses containing tropical flora, a butterfly house, aquariums, free-roaming birds, reptiles, meerkats and a nocturnal exhibit with bats. Adjacent rose and walled gardens, restored shelters and footpaths round out the amenities, while the Lakeside Café provides refreshments. All facilities are managed by Leeds City Council and remain open to the public without charge.

Monk Bretton Priory

Cundy Cross · 9.9 miles

The ruined medieval complex at Lundwood offers a glimpse of a Cluniac priory founded in 1154 by Adam Fitswane. Situated in the village of Lundwood, close to the settlement of Monk Bretton in the Barnsley borough of South Yorkshire, the site lies a short distance from the town of Cundy Cross. The remains include the outlines of the church and cloister, which have been the focus of archaeological work since the 1920s and more recently under a survey led by Dr Hugh Willmott of the University of Sheffield. Visitors can walk among the stone foundations and view interpretive information provided by English Heritage, the body that now cares for the scheduled ancient monument. The priory originally bore the name Priory of St Mary Magdalene of Lund before adopting the name of the neighbouring village. In 1350 Prior John de Birthwaite received a land grant from Sir William de Notton and his wife Isabel, intended to fund a chantry chapel at Woolley Church. The monastic community was dissolved on 30 November 1538, after which the property passed to the Blithman family, was sold to George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury in 1580, and later given to his son Henry. Today the site is open to the public under English Heritage management, with visitor details available on the English Heritage website. No admission fee or specific facilities are listed in the supplied material.