8 fascinating facts about Harrogate & The Yorkshire Dales
Learn something new and surprising about the place we call home…
Last updated 5th Aug 2021
Our part of "God's Own Country" is a record-breaking sort of a place. Knaresborough is home to England's oldest tourist attraction while just miles away in the Yorkshire Dales you'll find the world's oldest sweet shop.
Harrogate drew the strangest of reviews from Charles Dickens, was the location for a real-life Agatha Christie mystery and even hosted Eurovision... Read on for some of the stranger history, interesting facts and funnier claims to fame of Harrogate & the Yorkshire Dales.
Charles Dickens thought Harrogate "had the strangest people in it"
It was in the 19th century that our town’s popularity really soared. The Victoria Baths were completed in 1832 and the Montpellier Baths and Spa Rooms were built in 1835. The Royal Pump Room cost £3000 when it was built in 1842. In 1830s there were 10,000 visitors a year, by 1860 that had grown to 30,000. Among them was Charles Dickens who wrote: “Harrogate is the queerest place with the strangest people in it, leading the oddest lives of dancing, newspaper reading and dining”. It’s good to know little has changed.
Agatha Christie’s greatest mystery ended in Harrogate
It was national news when crime writer Agatha Christie went missing in 1926. After an 11-day hunt, she was discovered at The Swan Hydropathic Hotel – now The Old Swan Hotel. The exact events of those 11 days remain a mystery and matter of much speculation to this day. It is thought she suffered with amnesia. The hotel's website tells you all about it.
Pateley Bridge is home to the world’s oldest sweet shop
It first opened back in 1827 and is still going strong. It says “The Oldest Sweet Shop in England” over the door, but a listing in the Guinness Record book confirms it’s a world - not just national - record. If you’ve never been, be assured it looks exactly like you imagine it would, with more than 200 jars of sweets on display, some made using the original 19th century recipes.
Knaresborough is home to England’s oldest tourist attraction
The Petrifying Well near Mother Shipton’s Cave in Knaresborough first welcomed visitors in 1630. The mineral content of the water does indeed slowly “turn things to stone”. Indeed their website explains a small teddy bear takes around 3-5 months – and they’re available in the gift shop. Something not even the prophetess Mother Shipton could possibly have foretold.
Quintessentially English “Betty’s” in Harrogate is actually Swiss!
Well, it was at least started by a young Swiss baker and confectioner called Fritz Bützer. Having trained around Europe, he moved to Bradford to work at Swiss-owned confectioners Bonnet & Sons. After settling in Harrogate and changing his name to Frederick Belmont he married his landlady’s daughter, Claire Appleton and in July 1919 the first Bettys opened for business.
Electronica meets opera in Harrogate’s Turkish Baths
Harrogate’s Turkish Baths was the unlikely choice for Malcolm McLaren, manager of the anarchic Sex Pistols, when picking a location to shoot the video for his 1984 electronic re-working of the operatic “Madame Butterfly”. The single reached No13 in the charts.
Ripon’s “Setting the Watch”
King Alfred the Great visited in 886AD and gifted Ripon a horn to be used to alert the locals to the danger of invaders. A night watchman called a “wakeman” was employed to patrol from dusk til dawn. He sounded the horn at each of the four corners of the marketplace at 9pm every night to let people know he was on duty. The ritual continues every night at the Obelisk. Not a single night has been missed in over 1100 years.
Douze points for Harrogate
Well you know the drill with Eurovision – if you win one year, you have to host the next year. After Bucks Fizz romped to victory without their skirts in 1981, the powers that be made their mind up that Harrogate’s International Centre, as it was then called, would be the venue for 1982's contest. Nicole from Germany won that year with “A Little Peace”.
Amazing photos of Harrogate & the Yorkshire Dales from the last 130 years:
Hotel Majestic, Harrogate c1910
The Majestic opened in the summer of 1900. In its early years it was popular with celebrities, politicians and royalty from around the world. Still a hotel, it is now known as the DoubleTree by Hilton Harrogate Majestic Hotel & Spa.
Harrogate Hydro c1890
Now known as The Old Swan Hotel, in the late nineteenth century the Harrogate Hydropathic Company redeveloped it as a fashionable spa hotel. It was named "The Harrogate Hydro". It is where Agatha Christie was discovered after her 11-day disappearance in 1926. The "Harrogate Hydro" name lives on at the town's swimming pool.
Royal Pump Room, Harrogate, 1900
The octagonal stone building was finished in 1842. Guests would visit every morning to drink the sulphur water famed for its medicinal properties. Pictured here around the turn of the century, the glazed annexe wasn't added until 1912. The building now houses the town museum.
Royal Baths, Harrogate c1890
When they first opened, The Royal Baths were said to be the most advanced centre for hydrotherapy in the world. There were Turkish Baths, a dispensary for the medicinal waters, mud baths and steam rooms as well as consulting doctors on hand to advise you about treatments. The Turkish Baths are still open today!
Station Square, Harrogate, 1913
The Queen Victoria Statue on the right hand side of the image was unveiled in 1887, the year of the Queen's Golden Jubilee. At the time, this area was an undeveloped field but by 1902, the statue was on a traffic island, surrounded by railings.
Harrogate c1880
A town centre view, thought to date from around 1880.
Harrogate street scene c1925
By 1925, Harrogate town centre was bustling with traffic and shoppers.
Ripon Cathedral, 1910
A monastery was founded in Ripon as long ago as the 660s. The present building is the fourth to stand on the Ripon Cathedral site and was built between the 13th and 16th centuries. This image appears to have been taken from the banks of the River Skell, not far from what is now The Water Rat Restaurant and Bar.
Knaresborough Viaduct c1960
At first glance, little appears to have changed in this familiar image of the Knaresborough Viaduct. To this day, you can hire a boat and admire the view from the water.
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