This week’s photograph was taken by Brian Morrison, capturing the autumnal colours around Tewit Well in Harrogate.

Brian Morrison

Photo of the Week celebrates the Harrogate district. It could be anything from family life to capturing the district’s beauty. We are interested in amateur and professional photographs, in a landscape format.

Send your photographs to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk for a chance to be featured next week, we reserve the right to adjust and crop images to fit into our format.

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Night time noise in Harrogate is unacceptable 

The noise at night in the centre of Harrogate is unacceptable. People shouting and fast loud cars until 2am to 3am. Friends of mine from London couldn’t believe how noisy Harrogate is and they live in central London.

I agree so I’m moving. Every weekend it’s the same. I want people to enjoy themselves but the behaviour I hear is antisocial.

Can’t people be decent and realise that people/families have the right to a good night’s sleep? Honestly it’s not acceptable to be kept awake until 2am to 3am in the morning.

I have teenagers but they are aware of their surroundings and wouldn’t dream of shouting or playing loud music in their cars. Can’t something be done?

Annekin Emerson, Harrogate

New Tesco location ‘beggars belief’

I cannot believe that Tesco and the council are considering building a superstore with an entrance so close to one of the busiest junctions in Harrogate.

The thought of two roundabouts within close proximity beggars belief, traffic will back up from the entrance to Tesco and hold up all of Harrogate’s through traffic from the A59 and A61.

Clearly the ideal place for a Tesco superstore is on or near Otley Road, then traffic will head out of Harrogate or have easy access from all of the new estates on that side of town.

The problem at the moment is that ALL of the supermarkets are in town or the opposite end of town to Otley Road (except for Aldi, which is excellent but does not satisfy all requirements), so all the traffic has to go down Skipton Road to get to them causing constant traffic jams.

Why the council/house builders/Tesco cannot get round a table and come to an agreement where the Tesco land at the roundabout can be developed for housing, and more appropriate land on the outskirts of town can be used for the Tesco’s I do not know. Is that not Section 106 agreements are all about?

Stephen Readman, Harrogate

Read more:

• Tesco Skipton Road supermarket ‘could put us out of business’
• Highways boss: No ‘exact date’ for completion of Otley Road cycle path

Pedestrians needs are being ignored

May I voice support for your correspondent Angela Dicken and her comments on the cycle way on Otley Road?

I am a frequent pedestrian there and can wholly confirm what she says. Yesterday morning, for example, just after 9am, on which occasion I was actually in the car heading for Bradford (try it on public transport if you want to know why) I was waiting at the pelican crossing and saw a cyclist in all the gear absolutely hurtling down the pavement towards Leeds Road.

This at a time when the pavement is always busy with people. At the moment that is illegal, although nothing is ever done about it. Now we are being asked to share space with such people.

Nor was this an isolated incident as many will testify. Later that day I was passed by another equally speedy cyclist whilst walking on the pedestrianised section of Oxford Street. Later still, on East Parade, by which time it was dark, another pair were riding abreast without lights on that road. And so on. It is time certainly to think about the pedestrian and stop indulging a fantasy of responsible cycling.

Paul Jennings, Harrogate

Well done, Harrogate Borough Council

I must thank those at Harrogate Borough Council who have been responsible for removing the weeds from around the base of the Tewit Well’s dome.

In this, the 450th anniversary of the discovery of Harrogate’s first mineral well, it is particularly important to ensure that the Tewit Well appears cared for, in view of the passing visitors the site so regularly sees.

Malcolm Neesam, Harrogate

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. See below for details on how to contribute.

It’s wrong to say pedestrians welcome the Otley Road cycle path

Tewit Well and Sun Colonnade are just two examples of gross disrepair

Malcolm Neesam is in the news again regarding ‘the slovenly attitude of the authorities towards maintaining Harrogate’s attractions’.

I, and I’m sure a very great many others, absolutely agree. But it’s not just the Tewit Well and the Sun Colonnade that have fallen into gross disrepair — what about the similarly iconic bandstand at the rear of the Mercer Gallery, adjacent to the public toilets? Its dilapidated and abused state makes it a health and safety accident waiting to happen.

Why do the authorities not appreciate the role that these buildings play in attracting visitors to Harrogate and do something about restoring and/or maintaining them?

Agreed, the floral displays are exquisite and rewilding of parts of the Stray is a good idea. But our pavements are strewn with litter and we have to manoeuvre our way over damaged paving and around waste/recycling bins; changes to our road systems are thrust upon us even though they are having and will have serious repercussions; and there is irresponsible and intimidating behaviour in our public spaces and on our roads.

Would it be too much to ask the authorities, who we elected to represent us and whose wages we pay, to take into consideration our wants, needs and expectations in the way they manage Harrogate?

Isn’t a councillor’s primary role to represent those who live in their ward and provide a bridge between the community and the council? But maybe I expect too much and will just have to get on my bike…

Val Michie, Harrogate

The amount of litter in Harrogate is a disgrace

I agree entirely with David Pickering’s comments published in Stray Views on September 5. I would further add that not only the amount of litter is a disgrace in the town centre but also the filthy state of the pavements. Our town should be in pristine condition for visitor and residence alike.

Also, David’s commented on the state of the roads in Harrogate. Again I wish to add a request to North Yorkshire County Council that monies are allocated to improve the roads and allocate a patching gang to fill in the potholes. When potholes are marked in white, why does it take up to 90 days (many go over this time span) to repair them?

Also I would like to ask Harrogate Borough Council why there are weeds and plants growing in kerbs and gutters? What has happened to the mechanical road sweepers?

David James, St. Georges ward, Harrogate

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

This article is written for the Stray Ferret by the celebrated Harrogate historian, Malcolm Neesam. 

Please believe me when I say it gives me no pleasure to bemoan the neglect of Harrogate’s monuments. But when so many people tell me they visit Harrogate to see the town’s buildings and green spaces, it seems foolish to allow some of the area’s most significant structures to appear so shabby. A recent letter of mine about the weed-choked dome of the Tewit Well on south Stray produced a flood of messages of support, all seemingly from people who have Harrogate’s best interests at heart.

The Tewit Well was where modern Harrogate began, following William Slingsby’s 1571 discovery of the mineral qualities of the waters. Before this time, Harrogate was nothing more than a hamlet within the great Royal Forest, but after 1571, Harrogate grew into the sizeable and fully urbanised resort it is today. When Dr. Timothy Bright referred in c.1598 to Harrogate having the “Spadacrene Anglica”, or English Spa, it was the first recorded use of the “Spa” noun in the English language, making Harrogate the first “Spa” in the country. When Dr. Deane wrote his 1626 book on Harrogate’s Spa, he used Timothy Bright’s description “Spadacrene Anglica” as its title

The present “temple” was built in 1808 by Thomas Chippindale as an open cover for Low Harrogate’s old Sulphur Well, and was moved to its present location in 1842, when the Royal Pump Room was built. The open columns of the Chippindale’s temple were then filled in with masonry, to better protect visitors and also the well’s attendant. The historic structure was chosen in 1955 as the subject for a plaque, carved by the National Association of Master Monumental Masons, to mark their conference in Harrogate. The exquisitely carved plaque was fixed to the Tewit Well and unveiled by Mayor Robert Riley on Wednesday September 18, 1955. Two years later, the outside pump was stolen, which introduced a period of neglect, and by 1971, exactly 400 years after Slingsby’s discovery, the neglected Tewit Well was very nearly demolished.

Mayor Riley at Tewit Well, September 1955

But thanks to public protest, and the opposition of the recently established Harrogate Society, the Tewit Well was saved, and in 1973, restoration occurred, the original dome of English Oak and lead being replaced by plastic, which if not authentic, at least followed the design of the original. It was during this restoration that the encircling masonry walling was removed, which restored the original appearance of the 1808 “temple”, but also occasioned the removal of the 1955 stone plaque, which was dumped on the floor of the Royal Baths’ basement, where it probably remains to this day.

Thanks to the Harrogate Society, a new plaque was erected on the restored Tewit Well in 1975, to mark European Architectural Heritage Year, which was this author’s first Harrogate plaque text. It is still there, although as my opening remarks show, the weed-infested building is hardly a good advertisement for Harrogate’s care of its historic monuments.

Read More:

• Malcolm Neesam History: Harrogate’s gas-powered buses
• The Ripon chapel that survived medieval plague and modern pandemic

When council neglect nearly brought about the demolition of the Sun Pavilion in the 1980’s, it was the public who saved the building, thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Anne Smith and the Friends of Valley Gardens. At the time, the wonderful public response was accompanied by the feeling that the council could be relied upon to restore the Sun Colonnade, but this has never happened, and the exposed wooden roof is now decaying. What should be a well-used public exhibition space is instead open to the worst effects of rain, snow and ice. With its roof restored, the Sun Colonnade would be a perfect home for the Christmas Market and other public exhibitions.

Why, oh why, must it be me, and those who are like minded, who have to repeatedly express their dissatisfaction with the slovenly attitude of the authorities towards maintaining Harrogate’s attractions.

Did you know that the Stray Ferret has teamed up with Malcolm to produce audio walking tours of Harrogate? The walks are sponsored by the Harrogate Business Improvement District (BID) and take you back to the Golden Age of the Harrogate Spa and a walk through the Commercial Heart of Harrogate. Why not take a walk back in time and learn about Harrogate’s glorious past.. They’re easy to do and a great day out. For more information click here.