Chantry

My route from Wakefield Kirkgate station to the Belle Vue stadium took me past the bridge chantry chapel of St Mary the Virgin which sits above the River Calder. It was open to visitors, so I popped in for a look around, including a squeeze down a very narrow stone spiral staircase (extra) to the lower level. For a little more of the history and significance see the blue plaque extra. Worth a visit if you happen to be across the road visiting the Hepworth.

Wakefield AFC are quite a new club who have set the ambition of bringing league football to the largest city in England that doesn’t have a professional team. They have successfully moved up from the amateur county leagues and are now in the lower tier of the Northern Counties East League - Step 6 of the non league pyramid. After a few seasons up the road at Featherstone Rovers they have just signed a ground share agreement with Wakefield Trinity, the city’s Rugby League team.  The historic (blue plaque extra) Belle Vue stadium is currently under redevelopment so it was quite tricky to find the way in, but the club seem well staffed with volunteers to guide people around. 

Todays pre-season friendly saw North Ferriby visiting. Ferriby are working their way back up the non-league pyramid having been wound up a few years ago and re-birthed as a phoenix club. The pandemic stalled their progress, but after a couple of promotions they are back up to Step 4 in the lower tier of the Northern Premier League. I’d not seen Ferriby play before, although I had been to their ground to watch a Hull City Women game a few years back. 

It was an entertaining game with Wakefield coming back from 1-3 down to level the game at 3-3. For a view of the interior of the stadium see extras.