Wikipedia

Newmillerdam

Newmillerdam is a village and suburb of Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. The name refers to the lake and country park adjacent to the village,[1] though the dam itself is often labelled as Newmiller Dam. The park is a local nature reserve.[2][3] It is in the civil parish of Crigglestone. The village is situated on the A61 road, about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Wakefield.[4]

Newmillerdam
Village
A view showing a large lake
Newmiller Dam
Newmillerdam is located in West Yorkshire
Newmillerdam
Newmillerdam
Location within West Yorkshire
OS grid referenceSE331156
Civil parish
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWAKEFIELD
Postcode districtWF
Dialling code01924
PoliceWest Yorkshire
FireWest Yorkshire
AmbulanceYorkshire
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire
53°38′17″N 1°29′49″W / 53.638°N 1.497°W / 53.638; -1.497

History

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Formerly known as Thurstonhaugh,[1] the village is currently named from the construction of a corn mill powered by water from the dammed lake, and thus it is called the new mill on the dam, a name which dates back to the 15th century.[5] Historically, the settlement was part of the Sandal Magna township, and belonged to the wapentake of Agbrigg.[6] Today it is part of Wakefield, and is in the civil parish of Crigglestone.[7] The mill building still stands, although it is non-operational and is grade II listed.[8] The mill was originally owned and operated by the Pashley family, who lived in the village until the 1980s. The Pashleys owned many local businesses during the centuries, which included blacksmiths, coal mines and a furniture making business. These furniture makers were also general carpenters and installed one of the first public toilets in the yard of The Three Houses Public House in 1852.[9]

The body of water known as Newmiller Dam was created by damming up Bleakley Dyke and Bushcliff Beck in the 15th century; although the corn mill was first recorded in 1306, the settlement was always the new mill at Thurstonhaugh until 1469, when the manor court rolls stated the place to be New Mill on the dam.[10] The dam covers an area of 10 hectares (25 acres) with a average depth of 3.3 metres (11 ft), and drains an area of 2,880 hectares (7,100 acres).[11]

The boathouse in Newmillerdam

Chevet Hall was a mansion that stood on the site of an older hall to the east of Newmillerdam and was built in 1529 by the Neviles. The hall was demolished as a result of mining subsidence in the 1960s, despite a massive outcry from locals.[12] In 1765, the hall and estate was acquired by the Pilkingtons; in 1820, they built the boathouse on the lake on their private grounds.[13] The Pilkingtons built lodges around their 2,340 acres (9.5 km2) private estate to deter poachers; some of them survived. It was opened to the public after Wakefield Council bought the estate in 1954.[14] The boathouse is a Grade II listed building and incoprtaes some of the stone from the Chantry Bridge at Wakefield after its restoration in 1820.[15][16]

There was a Newmillerdam Colliery, on the road westwards to the village of Hall Green; it was closed in 1981 upon an agreement that the miners could transfer to a newer drift mine being developed nearby.[14][17]

Seckar Woods nature reserve, located near the more affluent village of Woolley, is an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest).[16]

Notable people

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References

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  1. 1 2 "Newmillerdam Country Park - Wakefield Council". www.wakefield.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  2. ↑ "Newmillerdam". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  3. ↑ "Map of Newmillerdam". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  4. ↑ Speakman, Colin (1988). West Yorkshire. Aylesbury: Shire. p. 9. ISBN 0852639368.
  5. ↑ Smith, A. H. (1986). The place-names of the West Riding of Yorkshire II; Osgoldcross and Agbrigg Wapentakes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 103. OCLC 615109017.
  6. ↑ "Genuki: Sandal Magna Supplementary, Yorkshire (West Riding)". www.genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  7. ↑ "Newmillerdam, Yorkshire". gazetteer.org.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  8. ↑ Historic England. "Wheelhouse Restaurant (Grade II) (1135602)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  9. ↑ "West Yorkshire". Newmillerdam. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  10. ↑ Walker, J. W. (1967). Wakefield, its history and people (3 ed.). Wakefield: S. R. Publishers. p. 84. OCLC 931134806.
  11. ↑ "Newmiller Dam Water body ID 31278". uklakes.ceh.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  12. ↑ "About the NCCA". Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  13. ↑ Pevsner, Nikolaus (1959). The buildings of England: Yorkshire, The West Riding. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 377. OCLC 249596546.
  14. 1 2 Tuffrey, Peter (13 January 2024). "A brief royal visit brought the crowds out". The Yorkshire Post. p. 18. ISSN 0963-1496. That the grounds should be "used and not abused" were the wishes of Alderman W.J. Luford, chairman of the Wakefield Parks Committee, when he officially opened the Newmillerdam grounds on Sunday, August 29, 1954. When a £23m drift mine was being developed at West Bretton in 1981, Bullcliffe Wood and Newmillerdam colliery men were given written guarantees by the NCB that they would be offered jobs.
  15. ↑ Historic England. "The Boat House (Grade II) (1135601)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  16. 1 2 3 Spencer, John (1999). West Yorkshire. Wilmslow: Sigma Leisure. p. 90. ISBN 1850586470.
  17. ↑ "Hit-list pit was closed a year ago". The Daily Telegraph. No. 39625. 6 November 1982. p. 2. ISSN 0307-1235. ...but they pointed out that Newmillerdam closed a year ago with Mr Scargill's consent when he was president of the Yorkshire miners...
  18. ↑ Woodhouse, Tony (1992). A who's who of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 39. ISBN 1873626010.
  19. ↑ Burns, Arthur (23 September 2004). "Lonsdale, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/17002. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
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