Forest History Tours

31/10/2024

28/10/2024

The Nag's Head.
..public inns or guest-houses...

The Royal Oak, the old Elephant and Castle, the Black Horse, and the Nag's Head, probably claim a greater antiquity in this respect than any others.

The Nag's Head in Cheapside has a portion of its outer wall curiously built of several courses of brick with a superstructure of lath and plaster. The basement rooms are only seven feet high, and the cellars hewn out of the solid rock, have their roofs supported with stalwart beams of Forest oak, black and hard as iron.

https://www.foresthistorytours.com/knaresborough-town-and-castle-walk

26/10/2024

In 1894 Princess Alix of Hesse, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, stayed at Cathcart House, a boarding house in Harrogate then owned by a Mrs Allen. The princess travelled to Harrogate, under the name of Baroness Startenburg, to take “the cure’”in the town’s famous baths as a treatment for her sciatica. It was while the princess was staying there that Mrs Allen gave birth to twins, a girl and a boy. The princess took their arrival as a good omen for her forthcoming marriage to the then-Grand Duke Nicholas – soon to become Tsar – and she asked to be godmother to the twins and that they be named Alix and Nicholas.

Afterwards she maintained a close relationship with her godchildren and regularly sent them gifts.

Tragically princess Alix, who became the Tsarina Alexandra, was murdered along with her family by the Bolsheviks in July 1918.
In 1911, a tea-party was attended by Empress Marie of Russia; Queen Alexandra, former Empress of India; King Manuel of Spain; Prince Christopher of Greece; Princess Victoria and the Grand Duchess George of Russia.
A.A Thomson MBE wrote an autobiographical novel called ‘The Exquisite Burden’ about his upbringing in Harrogate. It was set in Mexborough Hall, which was a disguise for Cathcart House.

Read More:

https://www.foresthistorytours.com/cathcart-house

https://www.wintraecken.nl/mieks/faberge/research/1896-Miniatures.htm

22/10/2024

The history of bands in the Forest of Knaresborough is quite extraordinary, Gavin Holman has produced his amazing research available as a free online source which is most certainly worth downloading and reading. Wonderful research of our music heritage and much more.

Download the PDF here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351606164_Spa_Brass_-_a_History_of_Brass_Bands_in_Harrogate

22/10/2024

Tewit well, Harrogate. https://www.foresthistorytours.com/low-harrogate-walk

19/10/2024

Discovering more about some of my ancestors homes.

Manor House is a charming and much admired Grade II listed detached property, built by the Hare-Gill family circa 1837. The Aagaard family renovated the house in the latter 20th century restoring the magnificent fireplaces and cornices being "in the business" working alongside the National Trust and owning a well respected fireplace business in Knaresborough. At this time, ancillary buildings were known as "Camps Cathedral", from which the local schools' Duke of Edinburgh expeditions were mounted. In more recent years the property has been the subject of an extensive and sympathetic refurbishment and modernisation program, resulting in the creation of a beautiful family home.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/149951033?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard #/&channel=RES_BUY

14/10/2024

Robin Hood, the legendary outlaw of English folklore, has captured the imagination for centuries through literature, theatre, and cinema. Known for his daring exploits of stealing from the rich to give to the poor, Robin Hood is celebrated as a skilled archer and swordsman. While some versions of the tale portray him as a nobleman returning from the Crusades to reclaim lands stolen by the Sheriff of Nottingham, the earliest stories describe him as a member of the yeoman class. Often depicted in Lincoln green, Robin Hood remains a symbol of resistance against injustice and tyranny. Here in the Forest of Knaresborough there still remain traces of the aforementioned legend; Coldbath Road was itself formerly known as Robin Hood’s Lane.

08/10/2024

Makes me wonder what's hidden under Knaresborough's streets and buildings, particularly those buildings being refurbished behind closed doors.

https://www.richmondshiretoday.co.uk/medieval-pits-containing-bones-and-clothing-found-under-richmond-market-place/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFyfPRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHVv00zPyG8ch3kKQsIYzEnrXwn3QqSTBJivdxjeFNro31OEqM6swzimeUw_aem_r3uK1yrRZx7yclZ_bvIlmg

Medieval pits containing bones and clothing have been uncovered under Richmond market place during resurfacing works. A team of archaeologists is currently working alongside North Yorkshire Council’s highways team to record remains revealed when they [...]

04/10/2024

The Battle of Bramham Moor and the Betrayal at Knaresborough.

The history of the Forest of Knaresborough is woven with tales of loyalty, rebellion, and the twists of fate that shaped England’s medieval past. One such story involves Sir Thomas de Rokeby, a knight of Yorkshire, who played a pivotal role in the rebellion of Henry Percy, the 1st Earl of Northumberland, in 1408.

Sir Thomas de Rokeby, born into a prominent North Yorkshire family with lands at Mortham near the River Tees, was no stranger to duty and warfare. By 1407, he had already served as High Sheriff of Yorkshire and was soon thrust into the heart of a rebellion that would see Knaresborough at the centre of a dramatic turn of events.

In the bitter winter of 1408, England was gripped by a harsh frost and snow. Meanwhile, Henry IV was battling his own demons—both a skin disease that plagued him and a brewing rebellion led by Henry Percy. Percy had once been a staunch ally of the king, aiding him in seizing the crown from Richard II in 1399, but over time, Percy’s allegiances shifted. In collaboration with Welsh leader Owain Glyndŵr and Edmund Mortimer, Percy sought to overthrow Henry IV and claim the throne for himself.

Percy believed he had the support of many northern families, including that of the Rokebys. In fact, he had been assured by Richard Rokeby and John Skelton that men from Yorkshire and Cumbria would rally to his cause. In the 'Scotichronicon', chronicler Walter Bower notes that Percy "trusted more than others one of his knights called Richard Rokeby" and, on Rokeby's advice, Percy assembled his forces and marched south.

On the 18th of February 1408, Percy’s army approached Knaresborough, expecting to be joined by his supposed ally. But upon reaching Grimbald Bridge, Percy was met not by Richard Rokeby, but by Sir Thomas de Rokeby himself, loyal to King Henry, standing with the royalist forces to block his path. Betrayed, Percy was forced to retreat toward Wetherby, with Rokeby’s army in pursuit.

The following day, Percy’s forces made their stand on Bramham Moor, just west of Tadcaster. Here, the two armies clashed in what became the decisive Battle of Bramham Moor. Percy, betrayed and outmanoeuvred, was defeated, and his death on the battlefield marked the end of his rebellion.

In the aftermath of the battle, a grateful Henry IV rewarded Sir Thomas de Rokeby with the manor of Spofforth, land once held by the Percys themselves. The clash at Knaresborough and the subsequent battle at Bramham Moor solidified Rokeby’s place in Yorkshire’s storied history as the knight who helped bring down one of England’s most famous rebel leaders.

Knaresborough, with its ancient castle and the River Nidd flowing beneath Grimbald Bridge, remains a site steeped in history, where the echoes of knights, kings, and battles past still linger in the air.

Image: Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), Grimbald Bridge, near Knaresborough, 1799–1800, graphite on paper. Harewood House Collection.

https://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/campainview.asp?CampainId=89

01/10/2024

I attended a very interesting talk recently, delivered by David Rhodes, entitled The Ancient Royal Forest of Knaresborough – past, present and future. Obviously Knaresborough Forest encompass…

01/10/2024

I believe this was Darley Post office, the house at Darley Head.

24/09/2024

Here's a few Taverns Inns & Public Houses from the Forest of Knaresborough.

Pigot's Directory of 1829.

Abbotts' Hotel, Thomas Abbotts, High street
Crown (and posting house) John Baxby Robinson, High street
Elephant & Castle (& excise office) George Pullan, High street
George & Dragon, William Pearson, Briggate
Union, Thomas Pearson, High Street.
Anchor, John Saunders, High street
Barrel, William Tiplady, High street
Black Bull, John Fawcett, High street
Black Horse, Thomas Johnson, Marketplace
Black Swan, Jonah Dinmore, High street
Boar's Head, Peter Matterson, Swine market
Brewers' Arms, William Darnbrough, Back lane
Cheese, Robert Wood, Briggate
Cotton Mill, Thomas Terry, Market place
Crown, Robert Kettleworth, Bond end
Elephant & Castle, Mary Aveson, High street
George, William Lister, High bridge
Grapes, Archd. Colquhoun, Castle gate
Green Dragon, Stephen Sweeting, Castlegate
Half Moon, John England, Low bridge
Hart's Horns, Samuel Pearson, Market place
King's Arms, Jonathan Pennington, High street
Lord Nelson, Richard Aveson, Back street
Marquis of Granby, Richard Benson, High street
Mother Shipton, George Howe, Low bridge
Nag's Head, William Robson, Cheapside
Old Dragon, Timothy Raynor, Castle gate
Parnassus Mount, Joseph Blenkard, Kirkgate
Queen Catherine, John Lacey, Castle gate
Red Bear, John Wells, High street
Red Lion, Elizabeth Druery, High street
Robin Hood, William Spence, Low bridge
Royal Oak, Ann Clayton, Bond end
Royal Oak, Isabella Gill, Market place
Shoulder of Mutton, Mary Lister, High street
Spaw, William Waudby, Star beck
Star, Sarah Outhwaite, Tenter gate
Waterloo Tavern, Henry Swales, Blucher street
White Hart, Joseph Cocker, Market place
White Horse, John Smith, High street
White Horse, William Wilson, Swine market
World's End, Samuel Pullen, Tentergate

20/09/2024

World's End (later Grove House, right) Skipton Road, with Smithy Hill at far left, ascribed to W. P. Frith, c. 1833.

Before the central railway link crossed Skipton Road shortly after 1860 the term High Harrogate was applied to the whole of "World's End Road' up to the inn at the corner of Bilton Lane, which hostelry was then known as the New Inn included a stable, a barn, other outbuildings; and all that cottage house adjoining, being a development that was probably typical of the area between High Harrogate and old Bilton.

Across World's End Road, the estate of Peter Dalby occupied the large corner site at the junction of what later became Skipton and King's Roads, containing several buildings, including a dwelling house, a blacksmithy, and orchard and a joiner's shop. It was the southern section of this estate that eventually became Smithy Hill, and which in October 1821 saw the opening of the Congregationalists 'Cross Chapel', which ten years later was acquired by the Anglicans and converted into a National School. Smithy Hill faced east towards the old World's End', directly opposite across Skipton Road. The World's End seems to have been converted into a residence before the 1780s, and indeed by 1758, the York Courant was advertising the late well-accustomed Inn... now rebuilt in the modern taste.

By 1807 the World's End had been renamed 'Grove House', and converted for use as a school under the direction of Mrs Addison. It was this establishment that was taken in 1809 by Barbara Hofland, the future celebrated authoress of A Season at Harrogate. Grove House had been rented by Barbara Hofland's predecessor, Mrs Addison, from Dr James Adair, who was a close friend of poet Robert Burns, and after Adair's death in 1801 it passed to his two sons, James and Charles, who cleared a debt of £250 in the process. Grove House was sold in 1819 for £2,200, and shortly afterwards (in 1824) it passed into the hands of wealthy landowner John Greenwood of Swarcliffe Hall. Ten years later Grove House was being rented as a lodging house, and by 1837, as a school, and this mixed usage continued until the 1880s, when Grove House was acquired by its most famous owner, Samson Fox. Malcolm Neesam.

19/09/2024

https://www.foresthistorytours.com/high-harrogate-walk

18/09/2024

Interesting Research Links:

https://archive.org/details/laysleavesoffore00parkiala/mode/2up?view=theater

https://archive.org/details/historyofcastle00harg/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/harrogateknaresb00fletiala/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/nidderdalefromnu00spei/mode/2up?view=theater

http://scriven.wikidot.com/buildings

18/09/2024

Some Pulleyn History from Nidderdale. The Pulleyns of Yorkshire.

18/09/2024

The Story of Harrogate

https://www.foresthistorytours.com/the-story-of-harrogate

15/09/2024

13/09/2024

Ribston Hall, Conyngham Hall and Knaresborough all have links to the Knights Templar. Their fascinating story continues to this day through myths, legends and conspiracy theories. Friday 13th all started with the Knights Templar.

https://www.history.com/news/why-friday-the-13th-spelled-doom-for-the-knights-templar

09/09/2024

THE PRIORY

On the Soth of May, 1805, as two labourers were employed in taking down an old wall, within the precincts of this place, they discovered a large quantity of silver coin, amounting to near 16 hundred pieces, mostly of the coinage of Edward I., whose head is represented on each, crowned with an open crown of 9 fleurs-de-lis, with 2 rays, or lesser flowers, not raised: and circumscribed E. D. W.R. ANG. DNS. HYB-i.e. Edward, king of England, and lord of Ireland.
On the reverse, is a cross, with 8 pellets in each quar-ter: circumscribed, CIVITAS CANTOR, i.e. coined at the city of Canterbury. There were others coined at York, Durham, and Newcastle.

Canterbury

Canterbury was one of the country’s most ancient and permanent mints, with the right to eight dies, of which the profits from five were due to the king, and three to the archbishop. The mint struck many coins, with the exception of errors, the reverse legend is CIVITAS CANTOR.

The inscription on the present coin is CIVI/TAS/CAN/TOR

1,036 coins submitted to the British Museum.

https://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/pdfs/1963_BNJ_32_9.pdf

09/09/2024

Another old building being repurposed, let’s hope whoever’s involved keeps the history in tact.

Many of these houses and thoroughfares are much older than we may believe.

During the fifteenth century, various entries in local and state documents tell us something of people and events....The names of streets begin to occur — the Mill Bank, Finkle Street, Wormwood Hill, Parson's Garden, High Street; all these begin to be met with in the documents. Once, the town foss, commonly called the D**e, had been surrounded by wood ; by the middle of the fifteenth century all the wood had been felled, and Briggate is heard of as evidently being a thoroughfare of importance instead of a mere track. We hear, too, of the extension of trade in the little town — tanning which was being carried on a hundred years before, appears to have become an important industry by 1450, and the name Tentergate, occurring in documents of 1430-40 shows that the home manufacture of woollen goods was already a well-established industry.

When John Leland came (English poet and antiquary, "the father of English local history and bibliography" (1503 -18 - 1552) into this neighbourhood in the reign of Henry VIII, he saw Knaresborough as it presented itself in the last stage of its medieval existence. The situation of the Castle evidently impressed him much. ; it stands, he says, " magnificently and strongly on a rock," having a very deep ditch hewn out of the rock " where it is not defended with the river of Nidd, that there runneth in a dead stony bottom." He counted eleven or twelve towers in the walls of the Castle, and one " very fair " within the area.

06/09/2024

Belle Vue House.

To obtain an idea of the location of Belle Vue House, its necessary to walk along Oxford Street until the rear of the premises of Primark is reached, and, standing before their window, project your gaze about 20 yards into the shop. This was where Belle Vue House once stood.

Built in 1826 by captain Thomas Thrush, RN, Belle Vue was once one of the to principal residences of Oxford Street (known as Chapel Street before 1908), the other being Prospect Cottage. Captain Thrush became a national celebrity in 1825, when he resigned his highly-prized Royal Nary Commission on the grounds that it was impossible to be a Christian and a Military Officer.

Rejected by his former colleagues and ostracised by society, Captain Thrush retreated into Belle Vue House from where he issued a series of polemical pamphlets. The house took its name from the view across an unbuilt Cheltenham estate, with green fields which stretched as far as the crown of Ripon Road. Behind the property, a garden stretched back to the footpath which later became Cambridge Street. Belle Vue was demolished in 1969 when Marks & Spencer extended their premises back into Oxford Street.

06/09/2024

Harrogate Cenotaph