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Photo: Abcdef123456 at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Little more than a moat and a stump, you come for the views and the history. In 1460 during the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Wakefield was fought nearby, and Richard Duke of York was killed. It was also a royalist stronghold during the Civil War, and the victorious parliamentarians wrecked the remains.
Sandal Castle is a ruined medieval castle in Sandal Magna, a suburb of the city of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, overlooking the River Calder. It was the site of royal intrigue and the setting for a scene in one of William Shakespeare's plays.
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Opened in 2011, this is the city's top sight – though it’s debatable whether, given its concrete brutalist design, it counts as an “attraction”. Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth spent their early years in Wakefield district and their work and story makes up the bulk of the permanent collection. There are also rotating exhibitions of other artists.
Small local history museum on the ground floor of city council offices and library.
Extensive outdoor and smaller indoor collection, mostly by Moore and Hepworth, plus various temporary installations. Many visitors miss the Skyspace, a Tyrell installation in a former deer hide. The park is centred on Bretton Hall, a mansion of 1720 and later a college. No visits to this, the Groucho Club of London are converting it into their northern outpost.