You can trace human settlement in the Harrogate area back as far as 4500BC. Mesolithic people lived on the Pennine uplands, must have beem freezing then, as it’s pretty bleak now! Bronze Age and Neolithic farming tools have been found in the nidderdale area, and not all in Homebase. The Devils Arrows at Boroughbridge also reflect the ritual activities of this period. No channel five then!

Next the Romans turned up, what have the Romans ever done for us? Well, the town of Isurium (Aldborough) that’s what. It was well established by 150AD. Aldborough was granted borough status in the middle of the 12th century and continued to develope as a centre of agriculture and woolen industry between the 12th and 15th centuries.

The church and monastery, established by Saint Wilfred (670AD) at Ripon, gradually grew into a City. Ripons racecource began on the common in the early 18th century, and Ripon developed into a health resort after the discovery of spa water in 1760. Ripon’s prosperity grew and grew with the opening of the canal in 1773 and the arrival of rail in 1845. If it was nowerday the trains would still be delayed or cancelled! Following on from its fame as a health spa, Ripon gained a reputation, not a naughty one either, but for paints, varnish and iron-making. Today Ripon is a main tourist centre, with its Minster and impressive market place.

Fountains Abbey, was established in 1134 by monks from St. Mary’s Abbey in York. Never could leave things alone them monks. It became the largest Cistercian monasteries in Yorkshire.

Knaresborough is mentioned in the Domesday Book, you can never get away from the tax man! It grew around its Castle. The Castle was built between 1310 and 1340, bet the builder had another job on thats why it took so long! Its economy relied on servicing the Castle, on its market and fairs. There’s not much left of the Castle now, it was demolished after the Civil War. It is still owned by the Queen, how many castles does one need? Knaresborough was a centre of the linen industry in the 17th & 18th centuries, but the main feature of life today is the Wednesday market.

Harrogate as it is now, began as a cluster of hamlets in the Forest of Knaresborough. The Tewit Well in High Harrogate was found to have medicinal qualities in 1571, rather like I found the medicinal qualities of beer in 1979. In 1770 the government of the time played a blinder, passing an act of enclosure for the land in the Forest of Knaresborough. politicians eh! However the Stray Award of 1778 left some 200 acres of land open to provide acces to the mineral springs. The Stray is still here today, surrounding the centre of town on three sides. Smashing for a game of footy on a hot summers day.

Low Harrogate meanwhile had its own sulphurous springs, a bit of an eggy pong, but still medicinal qualities. With more and more visitors for this eggy medicine a covered well head was constructed in 1803 and the Pump Room in 1842. Now the Pump Room Museum.

By 1820 the villages of High and Low Harrogate had a population of around 4,000 and an annual visitor count of around 10,000. Harrogates growth continued and was boosted by the arrival of the railway in 1848, the new Central Station being built in 1862 and it still look the same today! the central station led to the development of the town centre as we know it and linked the two villages of High and Low Harrogate.

The greater part of the town centre dates from the late Victorian era and in the last 15 years of the 19th century the population doubled. In its hayday before 1914, European Royalty visited the town and its spa, after 1918 there weren’t many of them left! The taking the waters fell into decline and Harrogate never really recovered. The Second World War, or round two, saw Harrogates large hotels being used as Government Offices as people were evacuated from London. Its post war prosperity comes from tourism and the new conference and exhibition centre.