| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07. |
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| Pontefract |
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(p n´t fr kt, p m´frt) (KEY) , town (1991 pop. 28,621), Wakefield metropolitan district, N England. It is an industrial city; furniture, iron products, and textiles are made. Pomfret cakes are licorice lozenges made there. West of Pontefract is a racecourse. Situated on the edge of coal fields, Pontefract grew around a castle built in the 11th cent. on the site of a Saxon fort. It was the scene of the death of Richard II, was taken in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, and was besieged four times in the civil wars. |
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| | | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press. |
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