Dancing bear allowed to stay on historic Yorkshire building for three more years

The design by artist Ekaterina Sheath is a nod to when The Lodge and Milnes’ Orangery was part of a zoological and botantical gardens. The buildings, on Back Lane, have a quirky history dating back to the early 19th century.

During the 1800s the site was home to a dancing bear which was kept in the grounds. The animal managed to escape and mauled its keeper’s wife to death.

Planning permission for the artwork, along with another design featuring flowers, was initially granted in 2022. They were commissioned as part of the Westgate heritage action zone project, which aims to breathe new life into the city’s historic streets and tell hidden stories of the past.

Wakefield Council planning officers approved the application to allow the pieces to stay in place for an extended 36-month period. The council’s conservation officer also supported the scheme.

A report says: “These artworks are intended to support community engagement with Wakefield’s history, with each of the designs reflecting different aspects of the city’s past. Public art can be a useful tool to stimulate debate and engagement with history. There are clear public benefits offered by the development.

“The artworks relate specifically to the buildings on which they are to be sited and should encourage a greater appreciation of the history of the Upper Westgate conservation area, with the art referencing the site’s unique history as a zoological and botanical garden.”

Wakefield Civic Society also supported the application. The Orangery was built around 1800 within the garden of the home of Pemberton Milnes, a wealthy cloth manufacturer. The Lodge building was later added to the Orangery site when it became a zoological garden, which contained a bear pit.

The Orangery became permanently separated from the Milnes’ house, which still fronts onto Westgate, when Wakefield Westgate railway station was built. Milnes died in 1835 and the Orangery was then leased out. In 1842 it became a public baths The site was also used as a Sunday school after being donated to Westgate Unitarian Chapel.

The gardens served as a graveyard and the buildings were later leased out to a succession of private schools. The last school closed in 1957 and the building served as a hall for the chapel until 1996. Both sites are currently unoccupied.

The Lodge was last used as offices and The Orangery passed to Wakefield Council when it was vacated by an arts charity in 2015.