Harrogate

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harrogate
Harrogate Cenotaph
Harrogate Cenotaph
Coordinates 53 ° 59 ′  N , 1 ° 32 ′  W Coordinates: 53 ° 59 ′  N , 1 ° 32 ′  W
Harrogate (England)
Harrogate
Harrogate
Residents 73,576 (as of 2011)
surface 18.08 km² (6.98  mi² )
Population density: 4069 inhabitants per km²
administration
Post town HARROGATE
ZIP code section HG1, HG2, HG3, HG5
prefix 01423
Part of the country England
region Yorkshire and the Humber
Shire county North Yorkshire
District Harrogate
British Parliament Harrogate & Knaresborough
Website: www.harrogate.gov.uk

Harrogate [ ˈhærəgət ] is a middle town in the English county of North Yorkshire and the administrative seat of the Borough of Harrogate of the same name . According to the 2011 census, Harrogate had a total of 73,576 inhabitants.

geography

Harrogate is located at the southeast end of Nidderdales , a popular recreational area on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales . Major cities in the vicinity are Leeds (25 km south), Bradford (30 km southwest), York (30 km east) and Middlesbrough (70 km north).

history

royal pump room

Before the iron and sulfur mineral springs were discovered, the site consisted of two insignificant villages called High Harrogate and Low Harrogate. The first mineral spring was discovered in 1571. The medicinal properties of water were published in a book by Edmund Deane in 1626 entitled Spadacrene Anglica, or the English Spa Fountain . Harrogate subsequently developed into a well-known health resort, and many new areas for relaxation and entertainment were opened up. The so-called Georgian Theater was opened in 1788, and Bath Hospital in 1826 . The royal pump room was opened in 1842 - the building has housed a museum since 1953.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Harrogate was a very popular resort among English elite circles and was also visited by many foreign nobles. Harrogate's importance as a health resort declined enormously with the beginning of World War II , and the city's large hotels were used as office buildings for the government evacuated from London. After the war, the location developed into a business, conference and exhibition center.

In 1961 the Esperanto World Congress and in 1982 the Eurovision Song Contest took place in Harrogate, where the German singer Nicole took first place with her title A Bit of Peace .

In 2007, the Harrogate depot discovery caused a stir . The deposit found using metal detectors consists of almost 700 coins and bars and dates from the 10th century, the time of the Vikings. The find is widely considered to be the most valuable after the Cuerdale depository find of 1840.

politics

The UK House of Commons delegate for Harrogate is Andrew Jones of the Conservatives . He was appointed to this office in May 2010, ending a period in which the Liberals won the race for office three times in a row .

Town twinning

Harrogate has twinned cities with

Culture and sights

Shopping

Pedestrian zone

The main shopping streets of Harrogate are the Cambridge Street, the Oxford Street, the Beulah Street and James Street . A variety of boutiques and designer shops can be found on Parliament Street and Commercial Street . The city also has many restaurants, the majority of which are concentrated on John Street and Albert Street .

movie theater

Harrogate owns a cinema belonging to the British cinema chain Odeon .

Museums

  • The Royal Pump Room Museum is a museum about the history of the city with a special focus on its sulfur springs and the Victorian lifestyle in Harrogate.
  • The Mercer Art Gallery is an art gallery with over 2000 works, mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries by artists such as William Frith , Edward Burne-Jones , Alan Davie and many more.

Parks

RHS Harlow Carr Garden

An approximately 80 hectare green belt called The Stray surrounds the old town center of Harrogate. The 8-acre Valley Gardens is a flower-filled park with a large number of mineral springs, where concerts are held on Sundays in the summer. Other green areas are the Killinghall Moor Country Park, a largely natural park with rare species of plants and birds, and the RHS Harlow Carr Garden, a public garden of the Royal Horticultural Society .

Sports

Two football clubs exist in the city: Harrogate Town , which currently plays in the fifth-tier National League , and Harrogate Railway Athletic , which plays in the eight-tier Northern Premier League . The clubs both play their home games at the stadium on Wetherby Road and their fans are on friendly terms with one another. There is also a rugby club, a swimming club, a cricket club, a running club, a climbing club and a hockey club.

The Hydro indoor and leisure pool has three pools and an adjoining fitness center area. Another sports center is located in the south of the city, which offers the practice of several sports.

On July 5, 2014, the first stage of the Tour de France ended in Harrogate . In 2019 Harrogate will be the destination of the UCI Road World Championships 2019 .

Economy and Infrastructure

Harrogate's industry is primarily based on the exhibition industry. The Harrogate International Center has hosted many important meetings and events, including the Eurovision Song Contest right after it opened in 1982. It is the third largest conference and exhibition center in the UK, and attracts around 350,000 professionals and visitors each year ; the profit of the local economy is around £ 150 million a year.

traffic

The two A-roads A59 ( Liverpool - York ) and A61 ( Derby - Thirsk ) cross near Harrogate , the latter also leading to nearby Leeds . The A658 leads south-west to Leeds / Bradford Airport, 15 km away, and Bradford . Ten kilometers to the east, the A1 (M) ( London - Edinburgh ) , which has been upgraded to motorway standard, runs in a south-north direction past Harrogate.

Harrogate Railway Station

In addition to the Harrogate central station, there are also Hornbeam Park and Pannal stations in the direction of Leeds and Starbeck in the direction of York. There is a direct daily service from East Coast to London's King's Cross station , all other lines via Harrogate are operated by Northern Rail . Leeds and Knaresborough are connected every half hour, York is connected once an hour. At peak times there are even connections to Leeds without stopping. The railway lines to Wetherby and Ripon were shut down in the 1960s.

There are bus connections to Ripon and Leeds every 20 minutes (via Harewood and the Leeds districts of Moortown and Chapel Allerton ). A second line to Leeds runs via Wetherby, Boston Spa and Seacroft . Other lines lead to Otley , Bradford and Knaresborough and, since 2008, to York. The 767 bus runs regularly from the train station to Leeds / Bradford Airport.

military

There are two military facilities to the west of Harrogate, the Army Foundation College and the RAF Menwith Hill wiretapping base .

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

Others

On February 1, 2010, the daily newspaper The Independent published an article that Harrogate is Britain's capital of online porn consumption (= "the British capital for online pornography consumption").

Web links

Commons : Harrogate  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Harrogate Built-up area sub division - Local Area Report. In: nomis - official labor market statistics. Office for National Statistics, 2011, accessed July 30, 2019 . .
  2. ↑ Viking treasure hoard uncovered , BBC News . July 19, 2007. 
  3. ^ UK Polling Report: Harrogate and Knaresborough. In: ukpollingreport.co.uk, accessed October 29, 2018.
  4. ^ Since June 22, 1962. Settore partecipazione e gemellaggi. In: comune.montecatini-terme.pt.it, accessed October 29, 2018 (Italian).
  5. ^ Harrogate Convention Center. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  6. ↑ What HIC means to Harrogate ( Memento from August 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). In: Harrogate International Center, accessed October 29, 2018.
  7. ↑ Tom Sutcliffe: The Weekend's Television . In: The Independent , February 1, 2010. Retrieved August 13, 2010.