MV Lady Wakefield

The MV Lady Wakefield is a twin screw passenger vessel, operating between Glenridding, Howtown and Pooley Bridge on Ullswater in the Lake District for Ullswater Navigation and Transit Co, marketed as Ullswater 'Steamers'.

History

It was built in 1949 by Philip and Son of Dartmouth, Devon, UK as the MV Berry Castle for the River Dart Steamboat Co Ltd (RDSC). She was named after Berry Pomeroy Castle, which is located a few miles from the River Dart and was the third vessel in the fleet to bear the name. MV Berry Castle was used on the company's River Dart services from Dartmouth and Totnes in South Devon. In 1972 she was sold to Discover Galapagos Ltd, to be fitted out for diving in Honduras. This project failed and she was sold several times, and operated in Fareham and on the Medway as the MV Golden Cormorant. In 1977 she returned to the Dart, owned by the RDSC's successor: Dart Pleasure Craft Ltd, and was renamed MV Totnes Castle.

In 1985 Dart Pleasure Craft, which had previously bought the Millbrook Steamboat & Trading Co Ltd of Plymouth, withdrew its services from the Plymouth area, and in the process, MV Totnes Castle was sold to Plymouth Boat Cruises. She operated cruises from Plymouth. During her time in Plymouth she gained additional enclosed accommodation in the form of a large deckhouse on the former open deck behind her wheelhouse. In 2006 she was sold to Ullswater Navigation and Transit Company, and moved to Ullswater, involving an overland journey to this land-locked lake. She was renamed MV Lady Wakefield.

Wakefield

Coordinates: 53°40′48″N 1°29′31″W / 53.6801°N 1.4920°W / 53.6801; -1.4920

Wakefield is a city in West Yorkshire, England, on the River Calder and the eastern edge of the Pennines, which had a population of 76,886 in 2001.

Wakefield was dubbed the "Merrie City" in the Middle Ages and in 1538 John Leland described it as, "a very quick market town and meately large; well served of fish and flesh both from sea and by rivers ... so that all vitaile is very good and chepe there. A right honest man shall fare well for 2d. a meal. ... There be plenti of se coal in the quarters about Wakefield".

The Battle of Wakefield took place in the Wars of the Roses and it was a Royalist stronghold in the Civil War. Wakefield became an important market town and centre for wool, exploiting its position on the navigable River Calder to become an inland port.

In the 18th century, Wakefield traded in corn, coal mining and textiles and in 1888 its parish church acquired cathedral status. It became the county town and seat of the West Riding County Council in 1889 and the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Council from 1974 until it was dissolved in 1986.

Norman Arthur Wakefield

Norman Arthur Wakefield (28 November 1918 – 23 September 1972) was an Australian teacher, naturalist, paleontologist and botanist, notable as an expert on ferns. He described many new species of plants.

Wakefield was born in Romsey, Victoria, and educated at state schools in Orbost and at Scotch College, Melbourne with a BSc in biology. He joined the Victorian Education Department in 1934 and served as a teacher in various parts of East Gippsland.

During the Second World War Wakefield served with the Australian Army in Papua and New Guinea (1943–1944) and on Bougainville (1944–1945). He returned from his war service with a collection of ferns now housed in the British Museum and the National Herbarium of Victoria.

From 1955 to 1965 he lectured in natural history and science at the Melbourne Teachers’ College. In 1960 he graduated as a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne, and in 1969 completed a MSc in paleontology at Monash University, as well as lecturing in biology at Monash Teachers’ College.

Wakefield (MBTA station)

Wakefield is a station on the Haverhill Line commuter rail line of the MBTA. This station services nearby Wakefield Square. It is officially located at 225 North Avenue, according to the MBTA. However the actual location is across the tracks, which run parallel to North Avenue. The station is also described by some as being located at 27-29 Tuttle Street, which runs behind the station between Albion and Chestnut Streets.

Wakefield Station was originally built in 1889 by the Boston and Maine Railroad, as Wakefield Upper Depot. Another former B&M station built in the 1950s is located to the north on the corner of Tuttle and Chestnut Streets, and a former freight house built by B&M sometime around 1845 can be found south of Wakefield Square along North Avenue. The 1950s station house is now a law office, and the station operates from sheltered platforms in front of the B&M Depot, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Bus connections