I live close to Pontefract; on the south side by the Doncaster Road. Pontefract is a charming market town in rural West Yorkshire, England, unspoil by development in recent times. This area was traditionally known as West Riding. Today the town stands near the A1 - the Great North Road, famed in myth and legend - and the M62 motorway.
The best-known of the five towns that constitute the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield, 
Pontefract has a population of 28,250. The town's coat of arms bears the motto, Post mortem patris pro filio, Latin for "After the death of the father, soft cheese", a reference to English Civil War Royalist sympathies. Today, petits filous (From the French, meaning literally little rascals) has been largely replaced by Pontefract Cakes, introduced from Australia as far back as 1781.
In fact, the word Pontefract itself - coined as Pons Fructus by Norman invaders in 1066 - refers back to earlier times when soft cheese production spread as far north as Wensleydale and south to Sheffield and corn syrup was used to sweeten the whey. The town's proud name comes from the old French pons meaning bridge and fructus or sugar, since the town was located on the site of the ancient Romano-Saxon whey pits now known as Knottingley. 
(In fact fructose is, of course, a simple monosaccharide found in many foods while lactose, found in milk, is a disaccharide sugar that is formed from galactose and glucose. In the 11th century, it was unlikely the Norman ruling class was aware of this distinction.) The original bridge across the whey pits is thought to be on the site now occupied by the grandstand of Pontefract Race Course, although this is a matter of debate. It may be that what is now Xscape - on the outskirts of neighbouring Castleford - is the location of at least one pit, pillaged by Vikings in 791 as they travelled west to Rishworth along the M62, zone de la neige as it was known later to the Normans or - in the old Danish - Zone i Sneen. Today the feature is known simply as SNO!zone in almost English.
The lake at the centre of the race course today is filled with fresh water and is a lure to coarse fishermen from across the county. Notice in the town's arms, how the castle with its three towers is shown beneath stormy skies and above an ocean of whey.
Pontefract is known both for an unsurpassed historic market place and for its medieval castle which was built around 1076 by Ilbert de Lacy. The first castle was a motte and bailey fortification and was later rebuilt in stone. It now stands as probably the finest intact Norman castle in Europe, dominating the landscape over several hundred square miles (From the original French, square kilometres)
Pontefract Castle today