The Pontefract Eye begins!

Welcome to the Pontefract Eye! Here we will be posting views of Pontefract. For those of you who live here, many of the views will be familiar, but some may also present a fresh angle. For those of you who come from Pontefract, or who used to live here, we hope that these images will bring back fond memories. Some of you may not know the town at all, and if so, we hope the scenes will give you an idea of what the town and area are like, and, who knows, you may want to visit.

For those of you who do not know Pontefract, it is a small historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Pontefract's obviously Latin name suggests that it at least goes back to Roman times, and it was certainly a thriving market town by the Middle Ages, the town's medieval layout being a visible testimony to this. Pontefract has a ruined castle, which is mentioned by Shakespeare in Richard III, and an informative museum housed in a beautiful old Art Deco building that used to be the library. The sandstone around Pontefract makes the soil ideal for liquorice growing, and, although the liquorice itself is no longer grown in the area, there are still two confectionery factories in the town, frequently giving the air a delicious smell!

Enjoy today's photos!