Pontefract cake map of the 1648 Siege of Pontefract (reproduced in Chartres) the liquorice is indicated as being grown in "garths" either side of Micklegate, the street which runs between Pontefract's Market Place and the castle. In the 18th century liquorice was used as a medicine both for humans and for horses. The Pontefract cake "was almost certainly a black cake, the portable lozenge used to make 'liquorish water', stamped with the castle lodge emblem of Pontefract to signify quality. This trade mark had been employed on Pontefract cakes since 1612, when the initials 'GS' were used, and are thought to be
Pontefract Hospital Pontefract Hospital Pontefract Hospital is an acute District General Hospital in Pontefract, West Yorkshire operated by the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. The original hospital in Pontefract was the Pontefract Dispensary which was established in Sessions House Yard in 1812. The foundation stone for a new hospital in Southgate was laid by Hugh Childers, Secretary of State for War on 7 May 1880; it was opened by John Rhodes, the Mayor of Wakefield, on 8 December 1880. The facility became Pontefract General Infirmary on the formation of the National Health Service in 1948. A new hospital, to be known as