The History of Pontefract Library
Throughout its history Pontefract has had several libraries. However, they were not always accessible for everyone. From 1783 a Newsroom existed in the Market Place which members were able to use for a subscription. It was mostly used by the traders who frequented the Market. Within a few years there existed two circulating libraries based in booksellers shops in the Market Place. One of them was run by a William Hunt, the other by a John Fox and his sons. For a fee, members were allowed to borrow books (mostly fiction).
In 1835 yet another subscription library was founded on Salter Row, originally with an annual fee of 21 shillings and had 40 members. In 1857 it was taken over by the local Mechanics Institute. Such organisations were for working class people to learn skills through lectures and experience culture (i.e. dancing and reading) outside normal working hours. This library became far more accessible to the locals, with membership costing one shilling every quarter of the year. However, gradually it became used less and closed in 1871.
At the same time the Young Men’s Institute was founded in Pontefract. In 1872 the group decided that its small library could be used by the people of Pontefract. Years later in 1897, to mark Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, a proposal was put forward to create a ‘Free Library’ all Pontefract residents could use. However, when put to a vote, plans for such a library were initially rejected by the townsfolk by 750 voters to 150.
Despite this there were still hopes of getting a Free Library for Pontefract. In 1902 local newspaper editor Oswald Holmes wrote to the Scottish-born industrialist Andrew Carnegie about it. From 1886-1919 Carnegie financed 2811 libraries worldwide, saying he wished ‘to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge’ for all (Carnegie, 1881. In: Bentley and Lound, 2005, p.20). Carnegie agreed, donating £2250 to the building of a library, provided the Town Council furnished the site (YP&LI, 1902, p.5). It was decided to build the new library over a garden at Salter Row (the house this garden was attached to stood where the present Municipal Offices are today). The library was built by two architects named Garside and Pennington from 1903-5.
The library was formally opened to the public on 21 September 1905 in a grand ceremony attended by the great and the good of the town. The doors were officially opened by J.G. Lyon who donated £500 for books (Gregson, 1948, p.4). The library was built in the ‘Art Nouveau’ style with red brick and yellow terracotta. The poet John Betjeman described it as one of the most beautiful buildings he had seen in Yorkshire (Markham, 2005, p.113). The library was originally divided into the Lending Library, a Reading Room, a Reference Room and a Ladies Room and it had roughly 2700 books (most of which had been donated). The building also housed the Magistrate’s Office on the first floor.
In those first days the library operated a ‘closed access’ policy. The public were not allowed to take books off the shelves, they would choose books by reading card catalogues and the library staff would retrieve them. However, as the years went by more people came to the library and it became impractical. In 1927 saw a major refurbishment of the building where, following a resorting of the shelf layout, the library became ‘open access’. Customers could pick up books by themselves. The refurbishment also saw electricity fitted to the library (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 1927, p.3). At this time there were only a handful of children’s books in a corner of the Lending Library. In 1931 the Magistrate’s Office moved, giving the library space to set up a ‘Juvenile Library’ upstairs. Until recent decades the children’s section usually closed earlier than the rest of the library.
The world wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45 profoundly affected Pontefract Library. The delivery desk accommodated the Role of Honour for Pontefract men who perished during the Great War. The Librarian Miss Gregson wrote that the Second World War ‘made the Lending Department very much in demand’ as, with few other local activities, people flocked into the library (Gregson, 1948, p.7). Soldiers, airmen and other military personnel stationed in Pontefract regularly visited the library.
1948 saw a reshuffle of the building where the Ladies Room became a space for reference. In 1955 the library held a ‘Golden Jubilee Exhibition’ to mark its 50th birthday. Books on local history and by local authors were display. Lectures were given on the building and local children put on performances.
The library was beloved by the people of Pontefract. However, by the 1970s it was clear the building was not sufficiently sized to meet growing usage. In 1906 the library had 1436 members, by 1975 that figure was 11,346, while yearly borrowings increased from 46,000-320,000 (The Digest, 2005, p.8). It was decided by Wakefield Council to move the library to a newer, larger building. The old Carnegie library was closed and in 1978 became the town’s museum. It remains so to this day. In 1973 work began on a new site a stone’s throw away, still on Salter Row. The new library was built by the company of architect John Poulson. It was one of his last projects, while the library was being built, he was imprisoned for bribing the Home Secretary a decade earlier!
On 23 September 1975 the new library was opened to the public. It was a two storey building with the town’s coat of arms above the entrance. The windows were tinted to limit the exposure of direct sunlight on the books. Directly parallel to the entrance hall was the staff desk with the staircase behind it. On the ground floor was the Lending Library. Up the stairs through an octagonal gap was where reference books were kept with comfy seating. Upstairs was the Reading Room (a space with seating, newspapers and magazines) and the octagon shaped Children’s Library. The carpets on both floors were purple and the walls painted white.
Since moving into its new home Pontefract Library has changed greatly. In 1977 the library moved away from the old ‘Browne Issue System’ where each book had a ticket which was removed when someone borrowed it (see picture on the left). In that year the library started using an electronic pen and push button set up linked to a computer with barcodes in the books. It was the first used in any of Wakefield’s libraries.
In 1995 there was a celebration of the library’s history where school children were invited to learn about the library’s history. The next year there was a major restructuring at the library. New, metallic book shelves were put together. A new, larger counter was built downstairs. To make space for this, non-fiction books were moved upstairs and reference books moved into a side room called the Reference Room (many of the photographs used in this post are in that room).
In 2018 the Children’s Library would be improved to be more appealing with comfy, nature themed seating and scenery. In 2019 the old Reading Room was converted into a special room called the ‘Makery’. As well as being a great space for many of the library’s regular groups to meet, it is a fun space where craft activities, sensory toys and app-controlled robots called Spheros are used regularly. In 2021 a cinema was opened at the library, decorated with a red carpet, classic film posters and comfy seating. It has regular film showings and can be rented out for parties.
As well as having a great range of books, Pontefract Library benefits for the town in other ways. The library has a regular children’s story times, a computer help group and ‘Hublet’ tablets available for public use. The library has microfilm readers allowing people to look back at newspapers from times gone by. As well as regular craft activities the library has held all manner of exhibitions and performances including a recent ‘Tiger Who Came to Tea’ celebration, a Peter Pan performance and a papier mache dinosaurs in the 1990s! The library is also open during the town’s annual Sunday Liquorice Festival.
References
Books
Borough of Pontefract (1955) A Golden Jubilee Exhibition of Books. Atkinson and Sons: Pontefract.
Gregson, G (1948) A Short Account of the Library. Pontefract Library: Pontefract.
Bentley, P.L. and Lound, M (2005) Castleford Free Library, 1905-2005. Castleford Press: Castleford.
Markham, L (2005) The Wharncliffe Companion to Wakefield & District. Pen and Sword Books: Barnsley.
Newspapers
Anon (1902) ‘The Carnegie Library Grants, Offers to Pontefract and Normanton’. Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 8 October. p.5.
Anon (1927) ‘Pontefract Library’. Sheffield Daily Telegraph. 21 October. p.3.
Anon (1977) ‘New Chapter for the Library’. Pontefract and Castleford Express. undated. No pagination.
Anon (1990) ‘Monster Fun’. Pontefract and Castleford Express. undated.
Anon (1999) untitled. Pontefract and Castleford Express. 12 August. p.4.
Anon (2005) The Digest, Pontefract Edition. (issue 4). 4 June.
Photographs
Twixt, Aire and Calder (c.1905) Public Library, Pontefract. [online]. [Date Accessed: 14 March]. Available at: https://www.twixtaireandcalder.org.uk/image-detail/?id=6210
Twixt, Aire and Calder (c.1975) Pontefract Library. [online]. [Date Accessed: 14 March]. Available at: https://www.twixtaireandcalder.org.uk/image-detail/?id=5705
Twixt, Aire and Calder (c.1978) The Entrance Hall to Pontefract Museum. [online]. [Date Accessed: 14 March]. Available at: https://www.twixtaireandcalder.org.uk/image-detail/?id=5645
Twixt, Aire and Calder (1997) Pontefract Library. [online]. [Date Accessed: 14 March]. Available at: https://www.twixtaireandcalder.org.uk/image-detail/?id=6345
Posted on May 2, 2024, in Uncategorized and tagged books, community, libraries, Library, reading. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
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