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15
Jul
What's happened to Harrogate's missing serpent benches?
A reader got in touch recently to raise concerns that Harrogate was losing its iconic benches.
Yvonne Skelton, who lives in the Saints area of the town, told us that many of the characteristic ‘serpent’ benches had been removed or were in a state of disrepair. She said:
I ran around the Stray and took many photographs of removed and dilapidated benches.
This is a serious loss of amenity for Harrogate residents. Is there any funding which could be sourced for replacement and refurbishment?
Left: this bench has become a thriving lichen habitat. Right: the space where a bench used to stand. Photos: Yvonne Skelton.
So we asked North Yorkshire Council if it knew what had happened to the missing benches.
Jonathan Clubb, the council’s head of parks and grounds, said:
Unfortunately, we have noticed an increase in anti-social behaviour regarding benches in the Harrogate area.
As a result, we have had to remove the bench from Slingsby Walk. A second bench at York Place was damaged by a car and also had to be removed.
As part of our open space maintenance programme, we actively deal with issues with broken and damaged street furniture, and we welcome the public raising any problems they encounter directly with us.
The case involving anti-social behaviour was not an isolated incident: a picnic bench in the Pinewoods was torched in 2021; four serpent benches, also in the Pinewoods, were vandalised in June 2023; and another was set alight on Valley Drive just last month.
These benches in the Pinewoods were vandalised.
We also asked the council where the removed benches were being stored, and whether they would be reinstated. So far, we have not received any answer.
Serpent benches have been fixtures of Harrogate’s streetscene for nearly 150 years – there are photos of them in various settings around the town dating from the 1880s.
Mike Newby, chair of Harrogate Civic Society, told the Stray Ferret:
I’d be very disappointed if they weren’t reinstated. They’re historic because of their age, but also because they’re representative of Harrogate’s spa heritage.
The snake has long been associated with health, originally because the Ancient Greek god of health, Asclepius (alternatively spelled Aesculapius), was traditionally depicted with snakes entwined around his staff. To this day, in many countries signs for high-street pharmacies and ambulance companies feature the staff-and-serpent motif.
According to the late historian Malcolm Neesam, this classical allusion was the reason why the snake design was chosen for Harrogate’s benches by Victorian town planners who wanted to sell the town as somewhere people could regain their health.
Mr Newby said:
The serpent benches are important in representing what made Harrogate what it is. It would be regrettable to say the least if they were not replaced or reinstated.
A wooden example in the Valley Gardens.
Whether North Yorkshire Council puts them back or not may depend on whether it still has the ironware, not least due to the cost of buying it new.
The benches are apparently made by Ballantine Castings Ltd in Bo’ness, just upstream from Edinburgh on the Firth of Forth. According to the company’s website, a serpent bench costs £792 plus VAT, without the woodwork – and there is no discount for bulk orders.
Alternatively, you can get one made of polyurethane for £1,125 plus VAT, which has found takers among councils in coastal towns, where the salty air can play havoc with cast iron.
Even though they're not exclusive to Harrogate – there are plenty in Knaresborough, Berwick and other towns up the north-west mainline – they are very much associated with the town. They’re even sold online in the United States as the ‘Harrogate Bench’.
The woodwork on this bench has been replaced with plastic.
But their comparatively high cost could tempt the council to opt for a cheaper alternative, and in fact that process may already have begun. The woodwork of some benches was long ago replaced with plastic, and the iron castings of some newer benches, such as those at the bottom of Montpellier Hill, follow a far less distinctive design.
Mr Newby added:
I hope they’re not going to start putting up benches without any character.
The serpent benches are part of our identity. They need to put them back!
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