Discover Featherstone - Work, Rest or Play

Featherstone is a small town with a big personality, with sports, nature, and history at the heart of local culture.

Sports

Featherstone Rovers is a rugby league team established around 1908, following the closure of the historic Featherstone Rugby Club. Their mission is to inspire and motivate people to drive positive changes within the community. The Rovers host an array of community events including holiday camps, festivals, and health education projects across the Wakefield District.

Before the rugby club was established, Featherstone’s preferred sport was cricket. Featherstone Cricket Club has provided a relaxed spot to enjoy a pint and a local game since 1919. They are part of the Pontefract & District Cricket League, with regular fixtures scheduled from April to September.

Farmer Copleys’ Tulip Festival

Farmer Copleys at Ravensknowle Farm hosts an award-winning springtime Tulip Festival. Patrons can walk through and capture photos among 1 million colourful flowers or create their own perfect bunch of tulips. The farm also has a working windmill and offers delicious Dutch food and drink for a truly immersive experience. The Tulip Festival is free for children under three and welcomes well-behaved dogs, allowing you to create lasting family memories.

Featherstone’s History & Green Spaces

Historically, Featherstone is best known for its coal mining industry. Relevant to this is the Ackton Hall Colliery Riot of 1893. Following two years of falling coal prices, the colliery owners tried to cut miners’ wages by 25% to maintain profits. It resulted in British Army soldiers injuring eight people and killing two miners.

In 1993, a sculpture called Featherstone Colliery & Mining Memorial was unveiled to mark the centenary of the ‘Featherstone Massacre’. The memorial now marks the entrance to a large green space called The Stacks. Northwest of Featherstone, part of the original pit has been converted into Ackton Pond and Nature Walk.

Featherstone even hints to older historical periods, if you know where to look. Purston Park was originally the grounds of Purston Hall, situated in an area called Purston Jaglin. Documented in the Domesday Book of 1086, Purston derives from a corruption of Preston or ‘priest’s settlement’. Jaglin derives from Jakelin, a landowner or priest living in Purston around 1384. Opened in the 1950’s, Purston Park is a popular for its lakeside paths, skatepark, and children’s play area. The park’s firm pathways offer a leisurely stroll and easy accessibility for wheelchair users and mobility scooters.

Those in the know will find Featherstone is a lively town with a wide range of opportunities for community engagement, family-friendly entertainment, and immersive historical stories. What will you discover when you visit?

This article was written by Natalie Willetts (Natalie Willetts Research & Writing Services) to celebrate the unique historical, cultural, and artistic personalities of West and South Yorkshire. Visit her page to read more of her articles or connect with her on Instagram and LinkedIn to follow her work as a Research Consultant.