Editing Pontefract (section)

==History==
===Neolithic===
In 2007, an extension of [[Ferrybridge Henge]]&nbsp;– a [[Neolithic]] [[henge]]&nbsp;– was discovered near Pontefract during a survey in preparation for the construction of a row of houses. Once the survey was complete, construction continued.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ferrybridge Henge extension discovered in West Yorkshire|url=http://www.culture24.org.uk/history+%2526+heritage/archaeology/art50167|publisher=Culture24 |date=30 August 2007|access-date=7 December 2009}}</ref>

===Roman===
The modern town is situated near an old [[Roman road]] (now the A639), described as the "Roman Ridge". This is believed to form part of an alternative route from [[Doncaster]] to York via Castleford and Tadcaster, as a diversion of the major Roman road [[Ermine Street]], which may have been used to avoid having to cross the [[Humber|River Humber]] near [[North Ferriby]] during rough weather conditions over the Humber.

===Anglo-Scandinavian history{{anchor|Tanshelf and Kirkby}}===
The period of Yorkshire's history between the demise of the Viking king, Eric Bloodaxe, in 954 and the arrival of the Normans in 1068 is known as the Anglo-Scandinavian age.  The modern township of Pontefract consisted of two Anglo-Scandinavian settlements, Tanshelf and Kirkby.  In Yorkshire, place-name locations often contain the distinctive Danish '-by' i.e. Kirkby and today, the major streets in Pontefract are designated by the Danish word 'gate' e.g. Bailygate.

The Anglo-Scandinavian township, Tanshelf, recorded as ''Tateshale'', ''Tateshalla'', ''Tateshalle'' or ''Tatessella'' in the 'Domesday Book' is today occupied by the town of Pontefract.  The ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' made a reference to Tanshelf in 947 when King Eadred of England met with the ruling council of Northumbria to accept its submission. King Eadred did not enjoy Northumbria's support for long, and a year later the kingdom voted Eric Bloodaxe King of York.<ref>[http://www.archaeology.wyjs.org.uk/vikingweb/Settlement.htm Towns in Anglo-Saxon West Yorkshire] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213053252/http://www.archaeology.wyjs.org.uk/VikingWeb/Settlement.htm |date=13 February 2015 }}. ''Settlements in Anglo-Saxon West Yorkshire''. Retrieved 30 August 2014.</ref>

When the Domesday survey was commissioned by [[William the Conqueror]] in 1086, Tanshelf was a sizeable settlement. It had a priest, 60 petty burgesses, 16 cottagers, 16 villagers and 8 smallholders, amounting to 101 people.  The size of the population might have been four or five times larger as the only people listed were landholders.  Tanshelf had a church, a fishery and three mills.  Archaeologists discovered the remains of a church on The Booths, off North Baileygate, below the castle. The oldest grave dates from around 690. The church may have been similar to the church at [[Ledsham, West Yorkshire|Ledsham]].  The area of the town market place was the meeting place of the [[Osgoldcross (wapentake)|Osgoldcross]] [[wapentake]].<ref>Hey</ref> In the Anglo-Saxon period part of the modern town was known by the Anglo-Scandinavian name as Kirkby.

===Medieval===
[[File:Pontefract Castle.jpg|thumb|300px|Painting of [[Pontefract Castle]] in the early 17th&nbsp;century by [[Alexander Keirincx]]]]
{{main|de Lacy|Pontefract de Lacys' family tree}}
After the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman conquest]] in 1066 almost all of Yorkshire came under the ownership of followers of [[William the Conqueror]],<ref name=Ilbert>Fletcher 16–17</ref> one of whom was [[de Lacy|Ilbert de Lacy]] who became the owner of Tateshale (Tanshelf) where he built a castle.<ref name=Ilbert/>
[[Pontefract Castle]] began as a wooden [[motte and bailey]] castle before 1086 and was later rebuilt in stone. The de Lacys lived there for more than two centuries<ref>Padgett 54</ref> and were holders of the castle and the [[Honour of Pontefract]] from 1067<ref>Padgett 55</ref> until the death of Alice de Lacy in 1348.<ref>Padgett 85</ref>

[[Richard II of England|King Richard II]] was murdered at the castle in 1400.<ref name=H2G2/><ref>Padgett 106</ref> Little is known of the nature of his demise; Shakespeare may have "adjusted" the facts for his own purposes.<ref>Holmes 373</ref> At least three theories attempt to explain his death:<ref>Holmes 373, 374</ref> either he was starved to death by his keepers, he starved himself to death or he was murdered by Sir Piers (Peter) Exton on 14 February 1399 or 1400.<ref>Holmes 374</ref>

===Early modern history===
In Elizabethan times the castle and the town were both referred to as "Pomfret".<ref name=H2G2/> [[William Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' mentions the castle:<br />

<blockquote>
Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison,<br />
Fatal and ominous to noble peers!<br />
Within the guilty closure of thy walls<br />
Richard the second here was hack'd to death;<br />
And, for more slander to thy dismal seat,<br />
We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink.<ref name=H2G2/>
</blockquote>

[[File:The New Church within the Old, All Saints, Bondgate, Pontefract. - geograph.org.uk - 239265.jpg|thumb|The new church within the old. After [[All Saints' Church, Pontefract|All Saints' Church]] was damaged during the [[English Civil War|civil war]] a new one was built within.]]
Pontefract suffered throughout the [[English Civil War]]. In 1648–49 the castle was laid siege by [[Oliver Cromwell]], who said it was "... one of the strongest inland garrisons in the kingdom."<ref name=H2G2>[http://h2g2.com/approved_entry/A2350108 "Yorkshire's Castles: Pontefract Castle"]; H2G2.com, Not Panicking Ltd.</ref> Three sieges by the Parliamentarians left the town "impoverished and depopulated".<ref name=petition>Padgett 166–169</ref> In March 1649, after the third siege, Pontefract inhabitants, fearing a fourth, petitioned Parliament for the castle to be [[slighted]].<ref name=petition/> The castle was a magnet for trouble,<ref name=petition/> and demolition began in April 1649.<ref name=petition/>  The castle ruins are publicly accessible.
[[Pontefract Priory]], a [[Cluniac]] priory founded in 1090 by Robert de Lacy dedicated to [[John the Evangelist|St John the Evangelist]] was [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|dissolved]] by royal authority in 1539.<ref>{{cite book|section=Houses of Cluniac monks: Priory of Pontefract |title=A History of the County of York: Volume 3 |editor-first=William |editor-last=Page |editor-link=William Page (historian) |location=London |year=1974 |pages=184–186 |via=British History Online |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/vol3/pp184-186 |access-date=3 October 2022}}</ref> The priory maintained the Chartularies of St John, a collection of historic documents later discovered among family papers by [[Thomas Levett]], the [[High Sheriff of Rutland]], a native of Yorkshire, who gave them to [[Roger Dodsworth]], an [[antiquary]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/collectaneatopo17nichgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/collectaneatopo17nichgoog/page/n112 103]|quote=pontefract levet.|title=Collectanea Topographica Et Genealogica|first1=Frederic|last1=Madden|first2=Bulkeley|last2=Bandinel|date=1 May 1835|publisher=J. B. Nichols and son|access-date=1 May 2019|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> They were published by the [[Yorkshire Archaeological Society]].<!--by the way, this is a really poor ref, what on earth can be understood by it? Has anyone really read and understood it; if they have I would dearly love to have it explained to me (lucidly please!):[[user talk:jodosma]]
--><ref>''Early Yorkshire Charters: being a collection of documents anterior to the thirteenth century made from the public records, monastic chartularies, Roger Dodsworth's manuscripts and other available sources''; edited by William Farrer. 3 vols. Edinburgh: Printed for the editor by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co., 1914–16</ref>