Michael J. Rochford – författare

Yorkshire's architecturalheritage is arguably the finest in Britain. From the Middle Ages it includedEurope's largest medieval cathedral at York, England's most completemonasteries at Kirkstall and Fountains abbeys, its collegiate churches ofBeverley, Howden and Ripon, and great Norman keeps at Richmond, Conisbrough andYork's Clifford's Tower. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, most majornew buildings were domestic. Heath Old Hall, Burton Agnes and Pontefract NewHall were built to sophisticated Elizabethan and Jacobean designs, followed bysmaller, provincial halls of the seventeenth century. From about 1700, some ofBritain's finest great houses such as Wentworth Woodhouse and Castle Howardwere constructed in Yorkshire. This great architecture attracted theattention of John Buckler and his son John ChessellBuckler, contemporaries of J.M.W. Turner. Between 1804 and 1820 they made aremarkably comprehensive graphic record of hundreds of the county's finest andmost interesting buildings, many now lost and forgotten, as part of a body ofwork that took them across England and Wales. Now, for the first time inmore than two hundred years, this book makes a large selection of thesedrawings readily available, accompanied by an engaging narrative. Bucklers'Yorkshire Buildings provides an invaluable resource for all thoseinterested in Yorkshire's architectural legacy.

The escaping bear who'd had enough of being a Victorian showpiece; tragedy narrowly averted over the skies of Wakefield when an aeronaut lost control of his balloon in 1827; secret passages and hidden relics; and dark tales of determined apparitions and boggarts are among many enchanting stories told within the pages of Wakefield Then & Now: Extraordinary Tales from the Merrie City. In this fascinating book about his home city, Michael J. Rochford has gathered dozens of intriguing accounts from the annals of Wakefield folklore, presenting a quirky and insightful historical tour. Captivating images from times long forgotten in the form of early photographs, topographical drawings and romanticized paintings bring the stories to life before your eyes, as modern photographs contrast how things were with how the proud city appears today.So, take a step into the past and journey through Wakefield, learning about Robert Hood and his wife Matilda; the town's beloved Cliff Tree; prison breaks; medieval houses; a burning school; Westgate's long-lost burial ground; shocking floods and tumultuous riots; Victorian winter fairs and Christmas traditions; the butcher's doorstop that turned out to be a Saxon cross, and much more ...