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Castleford
Castleford shown within West Yorkshire
Population	37,525
OS grid reference	SE424244
Metropolitan borough	City of Wakefield
Metropolitan county	West Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CASTLEFORD
Postcode district	WF10
Dialling code	01977
Police	West Yorkshire
Fire	West Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
UK Parliament	Pontefract and Castleford
European Parliament	Yorkshire and the Humber
List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire

Coordinates: 53°42′52″N 1°21′24″W / 53.7145, -1.3567

Castleford is one of the five towns in the Wakefield borough, in the county of West Yorkshire, England, near to Pontefract, with a population of 37,525 according to the 2001 Census. To the north are the River Calder, the River Aire and the Aire and Calder Navigation. To the west and south is the M62.

Contents 1 History 2 The town today 3 Sport 4 Trivia 5 Location grid 6 Local sport 7 References 8 External links

Castleford is built upon the site of a Roman army settlement that was named Lagentium or Legioleum. Funeral urns dating from the time of the Romans have been found there. The modern name of the town is derived from the fort, Castle (referring to the fort) and Ford (referring to the River Aire which runs through Castleford.)

Queens Park in Castleford as viewed from Google earth, shows two circles on the top playing field area, which could potentially be the remnants of round houses used by early Anglo Saxons. Standing over 250 feet above sea level, it is thought that the area which is Queens Park today would have offered a defensive view of the settlement.

Oliver Cromwell (1597–1659), had a local encampment in nearby Ferrybridge. It is said locally that his cannons faced towards Pontefract Castle from the nearby Redhill Plateau in Castleford. Today this plateau includes the areas of Holywell Wood, the estate of Airedale and Queens Park.

From 1630 until his deprivation during the Interregnum, the Rector of Ackworth was the Reverend Thomas Bradley, DD (Oxon), who attended King Charles the Martyr at his execution.

The sculptor Henry Moore was born in Castleford, the son of a miner; some of his work can be seen at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park at West Bretton. The main church is called All Saints. The local MP is Oxford-educated Yvette Cooper for Pontefract and Castleford.

Castleford was established as an urban district, in administrative county of the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894, with an urban district council. Whitwood and Glasshoughton were added to the district in the 1930s. The urban district was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1955. It was abolished on April 1, 1974, becoming an unparished area in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire.

Castleford's favourite sport is rugby league. The local team, Castleford Tigers, were relegated from the UK's top division, Super League, after the 2006 season, but were promoted back for the 2008 season, after Grand Final victory over the Widnes Vikings. The Tigers play at The Jungle.

The town is home to Burberry, the clothing manufacturer and retailer. The company has two factories in the UK - one is in Castleford making the firm's signature raincoats, including its Pink Leather Trench Coat, modelled by Kate Moss. Nestle has a factory on Wheldon Road, near the Castleford Tigers' ground, making popular sweets like Toffee Crisp and After Eight.

Some areas of Castleford are poor and run down. In part, this is because of the closure of the town and its surrounding area's collieries in the 1980s and 90s. Official male unemployment rates reached 20% in the mid-1980s. According to the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2000, Castleford Ferry Fryston ward falls today within the top 5% of most deprived wards in England. According to the Child Poverty Index, over 45% of 0-16 year olds living in Castleford are living in families claiming means tested benefits.

Despite a decline in industries such as coal mining and textile manufacturing, significant economic and employment growth has occurred in recent years in service sectors, especially in the retail and distribution sectors. This includes the Junction 32 Outlet village (formerly known as Freeport) and Xscape leisure complex, Europe's largest indoor real snow slope, which has turned the periphery of the town in to a mecca for UK snowboarders. Developments such as these have taken place because of the town's easy motorway accessibility and twenty-minute rail connection to the regional city of Leeds. Distribution companies include TK Maxx, HI Group Plc, Tibbett & Britten Ltd and Argos Distributors Ltd.

Castleford town centre and several residential neighbourhoods are improving as part of a unique program of revitalization known as the Castleford Project. It is delivering over £13m of improvements to the town's public spaces and involves community leaders, residents, local business and a creative team of designers and visual artists from UK and overseas. The Project has acted as a trigger for a larger programme of urban renewal in the town, valued at over £200m. Its work will be the subject of a series of television shows on Channel 4 in 2008, produced by TalkbackTHAMES and presented by Kevin McCloud of the series Grand Designs. The Project is increasingly considered an important example of civic regeneration and has featured in conferences and exhibitions in the UK, Hong Kong, Moscow, Philadelphia and Beijing. One of the Project's key qualities has been the powerful and innovative participation of local community groups in the programme of urban renewal.

This is just one of many economic developments in the town, including new retail and residential development, an architect-designed library and art museum and a new bus/rail transport interchange planned to be completed by 2010.^[1]

Development is founded upon a strong sense of identity rooted in the town's heritage. For example, Castleford has one of the districts most historic parks - Queens Park on Ferrybridge Road - built to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. A resident Friends of the Park group have managed since 1998 to transform the fortunes of this park. Today, largely through civic activism, the park has a smart Victorian Bandstand, two bowling greens with pavilions, a multi use games area, sensory garden, a wild meadow area, woodland, two play areas and four football fields. [1]

Castleford offers the nearest available shopping for residents of the new Allerton Bywater Millennium Community, now under construction just to the north of the town across the River Aire. This is a development of commercial and community space and over 500 homes, some of which will be built using innovative and modern off-site manufacturing techniques. Allerton is the second development in a Millennium Community program which started with Greenwich Millennium Village at Greenwich Peninsula, London.

In addition to the Tigers, Castleford also has several football teams that play in the Castleford & District Sunday FA League.

Castleford (and Pontefract) has its own newspaper, the Pontefract and Castleford Express.

The town is also home to Castleford High School Technology College; a secondary school for children aged 11-16.

Airedale High School is also situated in a suburb of Castleford. Now known as Airedale High School - The Arts College obtaining this status due to the high standards of performing arts. This is a secondary school for young people aged 11-16.

The town is in Wakefield District [2] and is covered by three wards: Altofts and Whitwood, Castleford Central and Glasshoughton, and Airedale and Ferry Fryston.

The Castleford Tigers rugby league club play in the European Super League. Speedway racing was staged in the greyhound stadium in the 1990s and the team were known as The Kings. The team never entered the league and the meetings staged were challenge matches.

Daryl Peach, the reigning World Nine-Ball Pool Champion was born in Castleford and his parents still live in the town.

Castleford is a fictionalised version of the English university city of Cambridge in the children's books of Philippa Pearce, most notably "Tom's Midnight Garden" and "Minnow on the Say".

In the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are? it was revealed that the ancestors of writer and broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson lived in Castleford and ran a factory producing Kilner pottery.

Sir John Harman, Chairman of the UK Environment Agency was born in the town.

There is a town in Idaho, USA called Castleford.

Viz Comic of Newcastle has two contributors from Castleford - Andy Hepworth and Carl Hollingsworth. Interestingly enough, one of Viz comics main artists is Pontefract's Simon Thorp.

Castleford has frequently featured as the fictional town of "Denton" in ITV's A Touch of Frost, starring David Jason, often using local businesses and staff as extras.

Castleford is known in surrounding areas by the nickname of "Cas' Vegas", when used alongside that for neighbouring Pontefract, "Ponte Carlo", in parody of the two towns down to earth nightlife.

	North: Garforth
West: Normanton	Castleford	East: Knottingley
	South: Pontefract

Henry moore the famous sculpter also came form Castleford

• Castleford Tigers
• Castleford and District Badminton League
• Castleford Rugby Union Football Club

1. ^ Castleford go-ahead: Wakefield Council approves Metro's Interchange plans. West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (February 2007).

• Castleford Young Musicians, Concert Band and Choir
• Castleford Squadron Air Training Corps (2388 Sqn) Air Cadets
• Castleford web pages — news, tour the town, famous people, etc.
• The BBC website for Castleford and West Yorkshire
• XSCAPE leisure complex
• The Castleford Project
• first — The Wakefield District Development Agency
• Castleford Churches
• Castleford — My Home Town
• Henry Moore Foundation
• Allerton Bywater Millennium Community
• Junction 32
• Ridings FM
• Yvette Cooper MP
• The Friends of Queens Park — Castleford
• The Castleford Network — a free social network