It is not at all a very Yorkshire name.
In fact it is derived from the combination of two Latin words adding up to broken bridge from some event in the long distant past when a stone built river crossing point was destroyed during a bit of an altercation between two warring parties.
I of course had known about the place for many years through the purchase, in my childhood in particular, of perhaps the most famous product from the town of small, round and maker-stamped licorice sweets or as they are known worldwide - Pontefract Cakes.
I would buy them loose with some of my pocket money. You didn't get many to the ounce as they were quite dense and weighty individually or chances were you just got a mass of the things all conglomerated from being squashed in the glass jar on the sweet shop shelf.
I didn't particularly like them but I believed them to be exotic, secretive and something very different from the standard fare of Pick 'n' Mix or other favourites of sherbet or other fizzy based goodies.
They may even have been part of my attempt to feel and act older than I actually was.
The laxative effect, a very well known physical property, was a bit of a downer especially if I, as usual, had eaten the full quarter of a pound of the things in one sitting.
Licorice root does not at first appear to have any link whatsoever to Pontefract as it is not an indigenous species. However, if you consider the history of the town it is entirely feasible that a Crusader returning from his travels to Pontefract Castle or a Monk to the one of the many Monasteries that used to exist in the area may have brought back from The Middle East or North Africa a bit of the plant in order to benefit from its medicinal effects. In fact the traditional growing areas were in Iran and Iraq.
Some enterprising Pontefract citizen or artisan soon developed the raw licorice root into a more palatable and commercial form. The round and stamped incarnation of the Pontefract Cake was first seen in the 17th Century.It was not a frivolous luxury but a herbal cure for an upset stomach. The name soon became synonymous with health and recovery from all things gastric so much so that Louis XIV of France was given Pontefract licorice in preference to Spanish.
The value of the licorice trade to Pontefract was obvious and a By-Law was passed in the 18th Century preventing the sale of root plants to other towns in a very Protectionist Action.
By the mid 1940's some 400 tons of Pontefract Cakes were being exported weekly.
The local cultivation of the very distinctive plant which could have a root system of more than 2 metres in length and an above ground height of about the same could not keep up with the demand from the many factory based operations and additional supplies had to be sourced from the Middle East, Turkey, Spain and Russia.
The actual production of the Pontefract Cakes was then very labour intensive with a predominantly female workforce.
The process involved those who cut up the raw roots, the very double entendre named strippers who further cut the roots and put it into the trays ready for the ovens and often wore nothing under their smocks, Nippers who broke up the cooked dough and Cakers who were those who stamped the small black circles with the makers unique identification.
These disciplines on the production line demanded different skills and abilities and wages rates reflected this with earnings based on around six old pennies per tray or for the best workers the ability to earn forty old pence an hour.
There were industrial injuries and many female workers suffered from arthritis in later life and what is now known as repetitive strain injury.
On the positive side those who handled the product were renowned for their extremely soft hands from the infusion of the paste and the grease that was required to prevent from sticking to the mixture.
From multiple manufacturers in the halcyon years of the Pontefract Cake the number of factories dwindled with one of the last being acquired by the global sweet maker Haribo.
The process did not dilute or compromise the medicinal and other qualities of the licorice which retained a natural sweetener some 50% stronger than sugar cane and of course that laxative effect.
The staffing requirement of 42 ladies just in the stamping department in one of the many factories in the inter and post war era was eventually replaced by machines .
The legend of the Pontefract Cake persists but modern tastes and trends have left this mysterious goodie behind.
I now very rarely see their distinctive shape and colour in even the recent phenomena of Vintage and Retro Sweet Shops but I understand that if you know where to look they can still be found.
(Inspired by a BBC 4 Extra re-run of the 2004 series "A Piece of Cake" with Sheila McClennan)
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