In the 1820s Sandal Magna was described as a parish-town, in Agbrigg-division of Agbrigg and Morley, liberty of Wakefield, 2 miles from Wakefield, 8 from Barnsley, 9 from Pontefract, 30 from York. Population 888.

The Castle here, was built by John, Earl of Warren, about the year 1320. In the reign of Edward III. Edward Baliol resided here, while an army was raising to establish him on the throne of Scotland. This Castle afterwards became the property of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, who was slain in a great battle, fought near this place, in the year 1460. The last siege it sustained was in the civil wars of Charles I.