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06
Oct
Harrogate's park drag is closer to home than thought, council reveals
The campaign to return a Victorian horse-drawn coach to its Harrogate ‘birthplace’ appears to have taken a giant leap forward – three years ago.
The late Harrogate historian, Malcolm Neesam, reported in the Stray Ferret in July 2021 that the coach, known as a park drag, was in storage “in a secure depot in the south of England”.
The drag was made in 1873 and is thought to be the only one remaining to have been built at a Harrogate coachworks on York Place, now occupied by a car tyre garage.
Mr Neesam also wrote that steps were underway to bring it back to the town and put it on permanent display – a move he’d advocated for more than 20 years.
Mr Neesam had been tracking its progress, but he died in 2022, and since then no further information has been made available.
So the Stray Ferret contacted North Yorkshire Council (NYC) to ask where the drag was and when it might come back to Harrogate.
A spokesperson for NYC told us:
The drag is currently being stored at a site in the Ripon area of North Yorkshire. It returned to North Yorkshire in November 2021 from a site in Essex.
The revelation means that the drag has been within 12 miles of its original home for nearly three years.
The spokesperson declined to specify exactly where in the Ripon area the park drag is being stored, citing security reasons, but did reveal that the storage fees come to £3,120 per year (£60 a week).
According to Mr Neesam’s research, 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 park drag belonged to the Duke of Beaufort
Although Harrogate is thought to have had a park drag – perhaps to take passengers on trips around the Stray, or between Low and High Harrogate – it is unclear whether the one being stored near Ripon was ever in service in the town.
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.
Various schemes for the park drag’s display have been suggested over the years, but in vain. In 1991, Harrogate Borough Council drew up plans to exhibit it in the glazed shelter in Crescent Gardens, which would be fitted with new glass doors, an internal plinth and a screen to protect the drag.
Mr Neesam himself favoured its display at Harrogate railway station.
Historian Malcolm Neesam took a special interest in the park drag
Former Harrogate mayor Michael Newby, vice-chair of Harrogate Civic Society, said:
It ought to be in Harrogate because it’s part of our heritage, but quite where, I don’t know.
Harrogate has more artefacts and items of historical interest on storage than it has on display. The Pump Room packs a lot in, but it has limited space.
He said if the drag was still usable, it could be used once a year for Harrogate’s mayor-making ceremony. He said:
The new mayor could do a circuit of the town in it. It’d be a bit like a pared-down version of the Coronation Coach.
Once we get a town council that concentrates solely on Harrogate, perhaps we’ll see more movement on it.
The NYC spokesperson refused to say whether any local philanthropists had shown an interest in meeting the costs of any permanent home for the vehicle, which is now part of North Yorkshire Council’s museum collection.
They said that no further details were available for the time being, adding:
Efforts are ongoing to find a permanent home for it.
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