Fitzwilliam: what to know before moving day
The village was built for miners at Fitzwilliam Main, named after the family who owned the colliery and the houses; in 1905 a strike ended with miners' families evicted, the Kinsley eviction. The pit became Hemsworth Colliery and closed in 1969, and Kinsley Drift Mine worked the site from 1977 until 1986. Between 2003 and 2006 the whole of the City estate was demolished to clear derelict homes.
Several streets carry titles, Viscount Street, Earl Street, Duke Street, Baron Way and Prince Drive, alongside Rockingham Street, Railway Terrace and First and Second Avenue, where Fitzwilliam Primary School is. The Catchpenny on Wakefield Road, a late 18th-century house turned pub, is a listed building, and the Fitzwilliam Centre and the post office are on the same road.
How the van gets to Fitzwilliam
The B6273 is the road through the village: Garmil Head Lane brings it down from the A638 at Foulby, and Wakefield Road takes it on through Kinsley to Hemsworth. The B6428 meets it here as Hemsworth Lane and Newstead Lane, heading for Havercroft and Ryhill.
The drive from Bradford is roughly 45 to 55 minutes. That is an estimate from route data, not a timed run, and traffic changes it.
Services for Fitzwilliam
Each service below links to its Normanton page, which covers how the job works in and around Normanton.
Fitzwilliam: questions before you book
How frequent are the trains from Fitzwilliam?
Monday to Saturday there are two trains an hour towards Wakefield Westgate and Leeds and an hourly service to Doncaster and Sheffield, with the same pattern starting later on Sundays. Both platforms have step-free access by ramps from the main road.
Nearby areas
Where the local details on this page come from
Checked on 28 September 2026 against:
- Postcode lookup (postcodes.io, ONS data): WF9 5FG is in the Hemsworth ward of Wakefield, parish: Hemsworth
- Fitzwilliam, West Yorkshire (Wikipedia): pit village, part of Hemsworth, Post Office treats it as separate, Fitzwilliam Main and the Fitzwilliam family, Kinsley eviction 1905, Hemsworth Colliery closed 1969, Kinsley Drift 1977-86, City estate demolished 2003-06, Geoffrey Boycott
- Fitzwilliam railway station (Wikipedia): Wakefield Line, services to Leeds, Doncaster and Sheffield, ramps to both platforms
- Listed buildings in Hemsworth (Wikipedia, from the National Heritage List): The Catchpenny Public House, late 18th century
- A638 road (Wikipedia): meets Garmill Lane (B6273) at Huntwick with Foulby and Nostell
- OpenStreetMap map view (checked 2026-09-28): B6273 Wakefield Road and Garmil Head Lane, B6428 Hemsworth Lane and Newstead Lane, Viscount Street, Earl Street, Duke Street, Baron Way, Prince Drive, Rockingham Street, Railway Terrace, First and Second Avenue, Fitzwilliam Primary School, The Catchpenny, Fitzwilliam Centre, post office, station