Rhubarb Triangle

Rhubarb sculpture in Wakefield

The Rhubarb Triangle is a 9-square-mile (23 km2) area of West Yorkshire, England between Wakefield, Morley, and Rothwell famous for producing early forced rhubarb. It includes Kirkhamgate, East Ardsley, Stanley, Lofthouse and Carlton.[1] The Rhubarb Triangle was originally much bigger, covering an area between Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield.[2] From the 1900s to 1930s, the rhubarb industry expanded and at its peak covered an area of about 30 square miles (78 km2).[3]

Rhubarb is native to Siberia and thrives in the wet cold winters in Yorkshire. West Yorkshire once produced 90% of the world's winter forced rhubarb from the forcing sheds that were common across the fields there.[4]

In 2010, Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb was awarded Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status by the European Commission's Protected Food Name scheme after being recommended by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).[5]

  1. ^ Markham 2005, p. 118
  2. ^ Map of the Week, BBC, retrieved 4 March 2010
  3. ^ Rhubarb Triangle, Morley Archives, 17 August 2014, retrieved 26 February 2022
  4. ^ Working Lunch, BBC, 7 February 2006, retrieved 21 February 2010
  5. ^ EU name status, BBC, 25 February 2010, retrieved 25 February 2010