Altofts
Altofts maps (2 available)
Map of West Yorkshire
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Altofts books (25 available)
- 1 photos on Altofts appear in 1 Frith books - View photos of Altofts
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Altofts and West Yorkshire
Altofts memories
Read and share memories of Altofts and West Yorkshire inspired by Frith photos
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You can also read memories of nearby places in West Yorkshire below.
West Yorkshire memories
The Grammar School
I remember climbing onto the roof of the Grammar School - I was in the fifth form, so this would be 1964 or 1965 - and scratching my name on the slates there, underneath my dad's name. He must have done it about 1932. And organising a Review when I was in the sixth form, with the money raised going towards building the original Leeds Playhouse, up by the University gym. Best of all was the rugby team; played 24, won 24 for the 1st XV, and winning the Public School Sevens at Roehampton.
Funnily enough, only a couple of weeks ago I met somebody who had seen our sevens team play at Ilkley and he said it was ...read more here
A memory of Normanton contributed by STEVE HILL
Cheesecake Inn
I was born in 1952 and was raised in Cheesecake Inn. This was the original name for the farm next to the Church. When I was growing up there it was called Church Farm. I have many happy memories growing up in Kirkthorpe.
I spent many hours in Sycamore Cottage with the lady who lived there (Rose Richardson) and her 2 sons (John & David)and daughter (Margaret). Sycamore Cottage is now a listed building and has been restored beautifully.
David the youngest of the Richardsons, and I used to go fishing at the Half Moon and the pond on the other side of the railway line. I used to ride my horse through the fields which run alongside the weir.
read more here
A memory of Kirkthorpe contributed by Lynda Riddington
First 24 years
I was born and lived all my life till 24 in Oulton. It was then a small village and everywhere I went someone knew me or a family member. Back then we could play in the street and roam all over the village. One supermarket Grandways which closed many years ago now. My mum still lives in Oulton and three uncles live in Woodlesford. I however moved to Castleford and have been there for 20 years. I go back all the time but never see anyone I knew from school. Guess we all grew up and moved on. However there is a new supermarket and more houses with a lot more people that you never see and no one plays out ...read more here
A memory of Oulton contributed by Karen Marsh
Featherstone
I was born in Featherstone in 1956 and lived there until 1962 when we moved to Hampshire. My dad was also born there. We lived at 46 Market Street and my grandparents lived at 64 Featherstone Lane, on the corner of Gordon Street. I believe my great-grandparents lived in Featherstone Lane too. My grandfather (Arthur Haigh) was a miner all his life. He played rugby for Featherstone Rovers, 1921-1929, and was one of the original senior team.
I only have the vaguest of memories of most of my life there, and of later visits, but then others are very vivid. Most seem to focus around food! I have recollections of a shop at the end of Market St., run ...read more here
A memory of Featherstone contributed by Carole Steele
Extracts From Altofts & West Yorkshire books
Beverley’s beers were certainly best at the Horse and Jockey (left) back in 1959.
Now the village’s oldest pub is almost the only remaining building in this picture.
Gone even is W H Hattersley’s general store in the circular shop (centre) - the
whole area has been transformed by new housing development. Back in 1880
an orchard, stables, piggeries, a bowling green and two cottages surrounded the
pub. Also in that period massive pits surrounded Altofts, and the Church of
St Mary Magdalene (1890) has a window memorial to the 32 men and boys (and
53 horses) killed in the explosion at the West Riding Colliery on 2 October 1886.
An extract from from"Wakefield and the Five Towns Living Memories".
Looking towards the Bull Ring from Union Street, we
see (right) the rebuilt Strafford Hotel and the former
shops, now a café bar. At the centre is the magnificent
Cloth Hall building at the head of Cross Street. The Bull
Ring is now partly pedestrianised, offering a relaxed
starting point for a walk to the cathedral.
An extract from from"Wakefield and the Five Towns Living Memories".
The Market Place was renamed the Bull Ring in 1910, to recall the ‘sport’ of bull baiting a century before. In the centre of
the Market Place, a busy intersection even before cars were invented, was the Toll Booth (demolished 1857) and the Boy
and Barrel Inn (removed 1898). The dominant row of shops has been modernised, but the bus station (centre right), which
opened on September 1952, has now been moved a hundred yards to the east.
An extract from from"Wakefield and the Five Towns Living Memories".
At the head of Cross Street the market
cross once stood, from 1707 to
1866. Cross Street is now traffic free
down to the cathedral and Kirkgate.
The magnificent Grand Clothing
Hall, left, remains. Designed in an
Italian Renaissance style by Percy
Robinson (1879-1950), it opened in
1906. Robinson also designed the old
Leeds Fire Station. Hartley Shaw’s
household furnishings emporium
(right) is now an optician’s, but
the Black Rock next door, its name
commemorating the coal industry,
is still a thriving pub. The café at the
end of the row is also flourishing.
An extract from from"Wakefield and the Five Towns Living Memories".
This scene is little changed in forty years. Market Place still contains Cresswell’s, a seafood shop (left), and a coffee bar
beyond. The Shakespeare, right, is ‘as we like it’ these days, a charity shop. The Market Hall, (centre), opened on 23 April
1964; it cost £289,000 and holds 87 stalls, and replaced the old one which was in use from 29 August 1851.
An extract from from"Wakefield and the Five Towns Living Memories".