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08
Oct
Town council considers plan to bring historic horse-drawn coach back to Harrogate
A horse-drawn coach that may have been a popular attraction during Harrogate's spa heyday could be returned to the town and displayed in the Crescent Gardens pavilion.
The Victorian coach, known as the park drag, has stood idle in a warehouse in Melmerby, near Ripon, for the last five years, costing the owner, North Yorkshire Council, about £300 a month in storage fees.
But a proposal to put it on display in Harrogate was discussed last night at a meeting of Harrogate Town Council, which agreed to consider the matter further and confer with stakeholders. These include North Yorkshire Council, which owns both the park drag and the pavilion.
Harrogate's park drag is currently in a storage facility in Melmerby.
Cllr Chris Aldred, who went on a site visit to view the coach in August and was present at last night's full council meeting, told the Stray Ferret:
The bottom line for me is that it is part of Harrogate's spa heritage and it should be displayed somewhere.
It shouldn't be in a warehouse in Ripon, so we're going to find somewhere – but not necessarily in the pavilion.
According to research by the late Harrogate historian Malcolm Neesam, park drags came into regular use during the 1860s, and were once a common site on Britain’s roads and especially at sporting events, as passengers perched on the roof were guaranteed a good view.
This particular park drag was made in 1873 and is thought to be the only one remaining to have been built at a Harrogate coachworks G Mackay & Sons on York Place, which is now occupied by Kwikfit car tyre garage.
The maker's badge in the park drag proves its Harrogate provenance.
It came into the possession of Huddersfield Museum in 1947 and was due to be disposed of by Kirklees Council in 1988. It was then acquired for Harrogate and placed into storage, first in a warehouse off Low Mill Road in Ripon and then at its original home on York Place, courtesy of Kwikfit.
It was restored by experts in 2000-02 and then moved to a motor museum in Batley, before being warehoused in Essex. It was moved to Evans International Removals & Storage in Melmerby in November 2021.
Various schemes for the park drag’s display have been suggested over the years, but in vain. The proposal to house it in the Crescent Gardens pavilion – behind a new glass frontage – was first mooted in 1991.
Mr Neesam himself favoured its display at Harrogate railway station.
But wherever it ends up, it is unlikely to be moved anytime soon. Cllr Aldred said:
I would hope that we can knock a few heads together and they can come up with a plan to bring the park drag back to Harrogate, and it can help to tell the story of the spa. But we've got a considerable way to go yet.
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