An area near Harrogate was yesterday cordoned off after a WWII bullet was found.
In a statement by North Yorkshire Police, the force said the “live bullet” was found yesterday (May 2) on Law Lane, in Shaw Mills.
Police said a family, who were walking on a footpath, “stumbled” across the live bullet and another “not so obvious” metal object on the ground.
Officers were called at around 5.10pm.
The statement added:
“To be safe the area was briefly cordoned off and items safely disposed of by bomb disposal.”
No further information has been revealed.
Read more:
- Person hospitalised after industrial accident near Boroughbridge
- Man arrested after making ‘threats to kill’ on Harrogate road
Editor’s Pick of the Week: Pierce Brosnan in Harrogate, Otley Road cycling revival and vanishing apostrophes
Traffic to our site and app soared this week — not, alas, because of our painstakingly assembled mayoral candidate interviews — but because of an influx of celebrities in Harrogate.
Firstly, James Bond star Pierce Brosnan was spotted drinking in the Fat Badger. A colleague was gutted to later discover she was there at the same time, and even more gutted when she found out four days later she’d missed him again at Rudding Park.
Then Morrissey added to his elusive magic by being photographed on a remote street called Cut Throat Lane in Shaw Mills, which seemed about as likely as the Otley Road cycleway expansion being revived — which then proceeded to also happen this week.
Perhaps the only quirkier story was the news that it’s now council policy to eliminate all apostrophes from road signs. I’ve been canvassing reaction, which you can read here.
Rachel Woolford, who owns fitness venture North Studio on Cold Bath Road in Harrogate, was catapulted into fame this week when Lord Sugar hired her on The Apprentice, which led to another spike in traffic on Thursday night.
Here’s a story worth keeping an eye on: North Yorkshire Council issued its ‘call for sites’ this week as part of the process to draw up a new planning blueprint for the county. Where the boundaries are drawn will have huge significance for years to come.
Finally if, like me, you’ve eaten at the The General Tarleton at Ferrensby, once a well known foodie hotspot, you may have noticed it was put on the market this week after being closed for several months.
Read more:
- Dog owners urged to be ‘vigilant’ amid reported ‘poisoning’ at reservoir near Harrogate
- Crime author who solved Ripon mystery revisits school mural 50 years later
- E-cigarette shop opens in Knaresborough
Heaven knows what Morrissey was doing back in Harrogate…
Morrissey, the elusive former frontman of The Smiths, has been photographed in suitably mysterious circumstances in a tiny hamlet between Ripon and Harrogate.
The 64-year-old, who is known for his enigmatic persona, posed with his arms folded in front of street signs and a dry stone wall on Cut Throat Lane in Shaw Mills.
Why he happened to be in Shaw Mills, which is six miles from Harrogate, is not known.
London photographer Andrew Quinn shared the image on his Instagram page yesterday.
The Stray Ferret asked Mr Quinn for permission to show the photo in our article, but he politely declined, saying:
“[Morrissey] is quite a private person and I don’t think he’d be comfortable with that.”
Mr Quinn has since made his Instagram account private, but not before the picture was shared on a Morrissey fan page. Fans commented that the “maverick” star looked “healthy”.
The Stray Ferret received reports of Morrissey being seen leaving the Fat Badger pub in Harrogate at the end of March but no pictures emerged.
Yesterday, we showed James Bond star Pierce Brosnan enjoying a drink in the Fat Badger.
Read more:
Morrissey is becoming a bit of a Harrogate regular.
Last year he was spotted enjoying a pint in the Harrogate Arms by Chris Russell, who runs Zombie Clothing in Knaresborough.
Chris sent us this photo, which to add to the Mozzer intrigue was taken at about the same time of year as the latest one.
The Smiths rose to rock fame in the 1980s and went on to win the NME Award for Best Band and Best Single, and had the number one album, Meat is Murder, in 1985.
The group split in 1987, after which Morrissey launched his solo career.
Send us your photos and selfies if you bump into any celebrities in Harrogate district. Email contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.
Shaw Mills residents call for speeding signs after ‘daily close calls’
Frustration is growing amongst residents of Shaw Mills who say the county council has refused to acknowledge how dangerous the village roads are.
The residents have been trying to encourage North Yorkshire County Council to increase speed signage.
Their campaign, headed by Shaw Mills parish councillor Nick Tither, began six months ago after residents got fed up with the number of close calls.
Mr Tither said:
“Anyone who walks through Shaw Mills knows how hazardous the road is. The village is approached by two steep hills, which encourage traffic to come through at speed. There are then tight bends with a narrow bridge and no footway.
“We have had a site visit with the police who agree that the situation is dangerous, not just to motorists but particularly for walkers and cyclists. We have all seen close calls on the bridge and residents trying to get out of their drives get abused because other road users, including cyclists, have been going too fast to avoid them.”
He is calling for ‘no footpath’ signs at the top and bottom of the village, ‘slow’ painted onto the roads and white lines in the middle of the road.
Currently the 30mph signs are in place at the junction between Pye Lane and Law Lane and along Mill Bank near the chapel. But Mr Tither says drivers often don’t acknowledge the speed limit.
Read more:
- Police are taking a zero-tolerance approach to noisy cars in Harrogate this summer
- Harrogate residents call for a 20mph speed limit outside four schools
A county council highways officer drove through the village four times in last lockdown but the residents say this is not an accurate representation.
Melisa Burnham, Highways Area Manager at North Yorkshire County Council, said:
“Work has been ongoing with observations completed by our engineers at different times. The results of these observations showed that at this time the road through Shaw Mills does not meet the requirements for the installation of ‘pedestrians in road’ signs.
“However, we have identified a need to install ‘slow down’ signs at each end of the bridge to encourage drivers to slow down as they cross it. We will continue to work with the parish council regarding their ongoing concerns about pedestrian safety.”
Today and on Sunday the residents are holding their own survey; volunteer residents will stand at each side of the bridge over the two days to count the number of vehicles, their position on the road, and near misses.
Their findings will be sent to North Yorkshire County Council in the hope it will then liaise with the parish council about solutions .
Harrogate man escapes jail after flashing at womanA Harrogate man who exposed himself to a petrol station cashier then performed a lewd act in front of her has been spared jail.
James Bryant, 38, parked at a Harrogate filling station and waited until the last car had left the forecourt before walking into the shop and baring himself in front of the woman.
CCTV footage showed Bryant “smiling” during the incident, prosecutor Rob Stephenson told York Crown Court.
The woman called police, who located Bryant about a fortnight later and found a machete, hunting knife and a lock knife inside his boot during a search of his vehicle.
The court heard that Bryant, a heavy cannabis user, had effectively been living out of his car after losing money in cryptocurrency and failing to land a job after moving from Cambridge to Harrogate.
‘Afraid for her life’
Mr Stephenson said the incident at the petrol station occurred just before 7pm on February 27 last year, when Bryant waited “for about one minute” for the forecourt to clear before homing in on the lone female shop worker.
The incident lasted about half a minute as the shocked and “distressed” victim told Bryant to get out.
“The defendant can be seen briefly smiling at (the named victim) before walking out and driving away,” said Mr Stephenson.
Police enquiries revealed that Bryant had driven into another filling station just before the incident but left immediately because it was busy.
They identified Bryant from CCTV footage and he was arrested about two weeks after the incident when an officer spotted his vehicle in Harrogate.
During a search of his car, police found the three knives in the boot surrounded by household items belonging to Bryant.
He said he had been driving around with the knives inside his car since moving home two months previously.
The victim said she was “afraid for her life” and initially frightened to return to work.
“She now locks the shop door in the evening and only allows people in if she feels confident in her safety,” added Mr Stephenson.
Lost £50,000 on cryptocurrency
Bryant, of Sunnybank, Shaw Mills, ultimately admitted outraging public decency and possessing the knives. He appeared for sentence on Monday.
The court heard that Bryant had a previous conviction for flashing from 2016 when he was convicted of indecent exposure at Bournemouth Crown Court. He had one other conviction for cannabis possession.
Aisha Wadoodi, for Bryant, said her client hadn’t been given proper rehabilitation since his last conviction.
She said that Bryant had mental health problems largely “of his own making” due to his “heavy use” of cannabis and “itinerant” lifestyle.
“He moved from Cambridge to Harrogate and thought there (would be) employment (but) there wasn’t,” she added.
She said character references from family members “spoke of a completely different side to him” and that Bryant had suffered a “series of misfortunes” in his life — including the loss of more than £50,000 in crypto currency – which had “triggered” his behaviour. He was now claiming Universal Credit.
Cannabis warning
Judge Sean Morris told Bryant:
“You clearly have a problem and it’s a major problem. It’s probably self-induced from the use of cannabis, which people do not realise can trigger major problems very easily, and the sooner people realise that this isn’t a pleasant little recreational drug, the better.”
Bryant was given a nine-month prison sentence suspended for two years so he could get help for his mental health problems.
The judge also accepted there were no “sinister” motives behind the machete discovered in Bryant’s car, where he kept “all his worldly possessions”.
Bryant was also ordered to complete a 40-day rehabilitation programme and a 90-day sex-offending prevention course.