Harrogate in 100 Dates E-Book

Robert Woodhouse

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 108

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

17 July 1919 - Bettys Tea Rooms, one of Harrogate's best-known businesses, opened its doors to the public for the first time. 14 December 1926 - Agatha Christie, who had mysteriously vanished eleven days earlier from her home in Surrey, turned up alive and well at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate. 24 April 1982 - The 27th Eurovision Song Contest, won by Germany, was held at Harrogate International Centre. Experience 100 key dates that shaped Harrogate's history, highlighted its people's genius (or silliness) and embraced the unexpected. Featuring an amazing mix of social, criminal and sporting events, this book reveals a past that will fascinate, delight and surprise both residents and visitors of the town.

Leseprobe

Contents

Title

Introduction & Acknowledgements

Harrogate in 100 Dates

Bibliography

Copyright

Introduction & Acknowledgements

It is believed that the name Harrogate is derived from the Anglo-Norse Here-gatte, meaning ‘the way to the hill of the soldier’, and it appears as a place name within the Forest of Knaresborough before settlements grew up around it. High Harrogate was at the junction of major routes and had a chantry chapel by 1400, but it is thought that Low Harrogate did not develop until some point in the sixteenth or seventeenth century.

Members of these small communities were mainly employed in agriculture but, in 1571, William Slingsby’s discovery of Tewit Well heralded a major change in Harrogate’s fortunes. Travellers diverted their routes to sample the waters and doctors proclaimed the value, in health terms, of a visit to ‘The English Spaw’ as it was termed by Dr Edmund Deane. In 1631, Michael Stanhope discovered a chalybeate or iron spring about half a mile from the Tewit Well and by 1700, Harrogate had achieved prominence as a spa.

Early accommodation for visitors was provided by local farmers but 1687 saw the opening of High Harrogate’s first major hotel, the Queen, which was sited midway between the Tewit Well and St John’s Well. It was soon followed by the Granby, while Low Harrogate’s first hotel, the Crown, was opened in about 1700. During the 1760s Mrs Wilks, owner of the Granby Hotel, opened a theatre in a barn beside Granby Farm for the entertainment of visitors.

In 1778 a group of commissioners made an Award which defined the boundaries of Harrogate Stray, an area designated as a public common, between the settlements of High and Low Harrogate. An increasing number of visitors were soon able to visit a new theatre and, from 1793, races on the High Stray.

A rapid increase in Harrogate’s population during the first decade of the nineteenth century saw the total reach about 1,500 by 1810. During this year, a workhouse to accommodate homeless paupers was opened on the road to Starbeck. Provision of luxurious standards of bathing, with medical supervision, was further improved by the construction of premises such as Victoria Baths (1832) and Crown Baths (1834). In 1841, legislation enabled townspeople to elect twenty-one ‘improvement commissioners’ and there was a considerable amount of opposition to the arrival of a railway link before the opening of Brunswick station on 20 July 1848.

Harrogate’s continued growth during the mid-nineteenth century is reflected by an increase in population from 3,372 in 1841 to 6,675 in 1871. The town was in celebratory mood for the delivery of a Charter of Incorporation on 6 February 1884 and again during summer 1887 to mark Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.

The opening of the Kursaal (later renamed the Royal Hall) brought performances by a succession of world-famous celebrities and the mysterious appearance of Agatha Christie at the Old Swan Hotel in 1926 made headline news, but the 1930s saw a rapid decline in numbers of visitors to Harrogate. The second half of the twentieth century, though, saw Harrogate’s re-emergence as a conference and exhibition centre, with venues such as the International Centre. This trend has continued into the twenty-first century, with the arrival of the Tour de France in 2014, the first time the world-famous race has visited the North of England.

N.B. The Julian calendar was in use until Wednesday, 2 September 1752. The following day the Gregorian calendar was adopted, making the date Thursday, 14 September 1752. The dates in this book before and after the shift correspond to the respective calendars.

References for extracts appear at the end of each entry, and a full bibliography appears at the end of the book. All Internet sources are correct at the time of writing.

I am indebted to my wife, Sally, for her research and unstinting support and to Liz Taylorson for her administrative skills. My gratitude also goes to Bob Eastwood for information relating to railways in the Harrogate area, and the staff at Northallerton and Harrogate libraries.

Robert Woodhouse, 2014

1665

4 June

An entry in the diary of Lady Verney on this day records her impressions of conditions at a Harrogate inn:

… We arrived at the nasty Spaw, and have now began to drinke the horrid sulfer watter, which allthough as bad as is poasable to be immajaned, yet in my judgement plesent to all the doings we have within doors. The House and all that is in it being horidly nasty, and crowded up with all sorte of company, which we eate with in a roome, as the spiders are ready to drop into my mouth, and it sure hathe nether been well cleaned nor ared this dousen years; it makes me much moore sick than the nasty watter.

The publication of Spadacrene Anglica (The English Spa) by Dr Edmund Deane in 1626 led to a considerable increase of visitors to the locality, where the villages of High and Low Harrogate were separated by open fields. During the summer months, local farmers provided accommodation for visitors to the spa and supplied their dietary needs from home-grown produce. In the latter years of the seventeenth century, some farmhouses were even properly converted into inns as High Harrogate, with its mineral springs, became more fashionable than Low Harrogate’s ‘stinking wells’.

Neesam, Malcolm, Hotel Majestic

1765

20 August

The issue of the York Courant for this day includes the earliest known reference to Harrogate’s White Hart Hotel with this notice: ‘… Stray’d or convey’d on 14th August from Thomas Wray’s at the White Hart in Low Harrogate, a dappled grey mare … whoever shall give notice of the same … 15 shillings reward and reasonable charges.’ Precise origins are unknown, but it seems highly likely that the White Hart was first opened to cater for visitors to the nearby sulphur well or the cold well on Cold Bath Road.

The establishment of 200 acres of grassland or ‘stray’ on the inn’s south side in 1778 provided an attractive, open approach to the building, which became an important venue for property auctions and a stopping point for coaches on major routes. Greater interest in the new science of hydrotherapy and the development of a railway network during the mid-nineteenth century brought increasing numbers of visitors to Harrogate and in 1847 a fine neoclassical-style building was completed on the original site. The hotel’s popularity continued into the twentieth century with increasing trade as a conference centre, before it was requisitioned by the Air Ministry and Ministry of Works during the Second World War. In 1949, the White Hart became a conference centre for the National Health Service and in 1988 ownership passed to the University of York, before recent years brought a return to operations as a high-quality hotel and conference centre.

whitehart.net

1767

3 September

On this day, a perambulation involving commissioners and local people set out from Ribston with the purpose of defining and marking the boundaries of the Forest of Knaresborough. This area of ground covered about 40 square miles and contained twenty-four settlements between the rivers Nidd and Wharfe. Attempts to enclose the forest during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had failed in the face of local opposition, and matters were brought to a head by a large number of illegal encroachments.

An investigation in 1766 saw a Commission set up. Their initial task was to determine the forest boundaries. Following the perambulation, the boundary was marked by a series of forty-nine round-topped stones inscribed with the letters K-F and the date (usually 1767). The Commission also concluded that a considerable amount of the forest common was ‘capable of cultivation and improvement’, and this resulted in the Enclosure Act of 1770.

yorkshire-milestones.co.uk

1805

4 July

It was decided at a meeting on this day that a workhouse should be erected in the Harrogate area, and a plot of ground opposite the World’s End Inn was identified as a suitable site. However, it was not until a further meeting on 1 June 1809 that a specially selected committee agreed to ‘the expediency of opening or erecting a workhouse in order to reduce the poor rates and render the aged poor more comfortable.’ Members of the committee appointed to organise the building of the workhouse included the tenants of the Crown, Dragon and Granby hotels (Joseph Thackwray, Joseph Goodlad and John Greeves respectively) along with one of Harrogate’s leading physicians, Dr Jacques.

The selected site was at Starbeck and committee members identified 12 May 1810 as the completion date for building work. They also stipulated that their inspectors should monitor progress and arrange payment for the various stages of construction when they were satisfied with the standard of workmanship. It seems that the workhouse was completed by 12 May 1810.

Neesam, Malcolm, Harrogate Great Chronicle 1332–1841

1807

14 July

A newspaper article on this day stated:

Mrs. Addison respectfully informs her friends, her school (Grove House) re-opens the 27th inst., when she flatters herself, by every attention on her part, and that of approved masters, to merit the patronage of those who place their young ladies under her care.

NB. Temporary boarders received during the season.

Grove House, located on Skipton Road, was built in the early 1750s as World’s End Inn and claims to be the first house in Yorkshire to install gas lighting and heating. In 1805 it became a boarding school until 1809; brief periods of ownership then followed until the house was bought in 1850 by the engineering inventor, Samson Fox. Through his inventions, such as the corrugated flue, he amassed a considerable fortune which enabled him to complete the Royal Stables and a fully equipped workshop in the basement of Grove House. It was here that he produced water gas to provide lighting and heating for the building before extending the project into Harrogate. He also set up the town’s first fire service and served as mayor for three successive years. Following his death in 1903, the house and grounds were maintained by staff. During the First World War, Grove House served as a convalescent hospital and between 1927 and 1947 it was an orphanage. In recent years, the premises have operated as a convalescent home and holiday centre.

west_cornwall_raob.tripod.com

1814

5 November

According to the records of Thomas Linforth, Overseer of the Poor in Harrogate, Widow Wetherill was given a pair of stockings, costing 2s, on this day. Other members of this family also suffered extreme hardship at about the same time. Thomas Wetherill’s children contracted smallpox and when one of them died, the overseer paid 9s to cover the costs of the funeral. He also supplied a penny for thread to make shirts for John Wetherill, and William Wetherill’s wife received three yards of flannel, which could be fashioned into a long winter petticoat. At this time, Widow Hardacre was supplied with two shifts by the overseer (these were short, straight garments, worn under a petticoat in the days before vests had been invented). Another needy lady, Dinah Leaf, received material to make two caps for night-time wear, while the overseer’s detailed accounts indicated that Ann Waddington’s son, Christopher, was awarded a coat, hat and breeches which cost 1s 6d, as well as thread to sew a couple of shirts.

Bebb, Prudence, Life in Regency Harrogate

1825

7 August

On this day, the foundation stone of St Mary’s church was laid and building work in the Early English style was completed to designs by Mr Samuel Chapman of Leeds. During the 1860s, alterations were made in the form of the addition of a chancel (1865), replacement seating throughout the whole building in 1868 with the cost met by Miss Smith of the Belvedere, installation of a stained-glass window in 1862 as a memorial to the late Prince Albert (who had died in December the previous year) and a peal of six bells installed in the tower in 1866 with about £450 met by public subscriptions.

St Mary’s had been built to provide Low Harrogate with a suitable match to the chapel of St John at High Harrogate. After a petition to the Duchy of Lancaster had gained approval in 1821, building work was subsequently completed at a cost of £3,137, making St Mary’s the most expensive church building in Harrogate up to that date.

In 1904 the church was declared unsafe and it was eventually dismantled in 1923. The present church of St Mary was completed as a replacement in 1916 to designs in a fourteenth-century style by Walter Tapper.

Grainge, William, History and Topology of Harrogate

1835

1 December

On the morning of this day, the proprietor of the Swan Inn, Jonathan Shutt, left his premises to walk along Swan Road towards the Old Sulphur Well. As he passed a shop owned by Joseph Thackwray, part of the adjacent Crown Hotel building, Shutt noticed unexpected activity inside the building. Closer inspection revealed that workmen were excavating a deep well which was within 20 yards of two of the three existing sulphur wells at Low Harrogate, and Shutt immediately alerted leading citizens about his concerns. The prevailing opinion was that Joseph Thackwray was attempting to divert the waters of the public sulphur well into his own property so that he could achieve a monopoly.