Harrogate as we all know and love today is a relatively new town.
The main build up was in the Victorian era when the spas were found
and developed (see other caches in the area which will give you a
full history on Victoria "Spa" Harrogate)
Prior to this Harrogate was a simple Village, with the closest
main towns in the region, Ripon and Knaresborough which were more
important and were gathered around their crucial market
squares.
As I have already covered the history of Ripon with my
Blow your horn ! geocache and other
people have covered the history of Harrogate, I now will give you
some history of Knaresborough.
Knaresborough was named after a Knar - a stump situated
on a burgh or fortified site.
Knaresborough is situated in a deep gorge formed by the River
Nidd. The gorge is overlooked by the ruins of Knaresboorugh castle
which was built in Norman times by a baron called Serlo de
Burg.
It was later rebuilt in the fourteenth century and the ruins
date from that period.
Many famous people are associated with Knaresborough Castle
including King Richard II who was imprisoned here in 1399 prior to
his imprisonment and murder at Pontefract castle in 1400.
Over two centuries before, the murderers of Thomas a Becket used
Knaresborough Castle as a hiding place for three years. The
castle's life came to an end during the Civil War when, as a
Royalist stronghold it was destroyed by Parliamentarian troops in
1646.
Knaresborough itself is a market town centred on a market place
where a market has been held on a Wednesday since at least 1310,
although a market is recorded as early as 1206.
Today the market place is most famous for England's oldest
chemist shop (Pharmacy) which started trading in 1720. Some claim
the chemist's trade was started here in the thirteenth century.
Further proof can be found around the area in the road network
with old milestones around the district showing no trace of the
fact that Harrogate was an important destination
The above milestone is an example found on the 'Skipton to
Knaresborough Road' and the milestone below is another example
found on the 'Pateley Bridge road'
If you do find any other examples of 'Before Harrogate
existed....' please add them to your log when you claim a
find.
Now on to the details of the cache:-
You will need a car (unless you fancy a long walk)
Your task is to find the two milestones, using the clues (e.g.
distances) on the stones and visit them.
At each milestone you will find a micro with part of the final
cache box co-ordinates.
To ensure you have the right milestone on Skipton road, you
should be able to park in the sliproad, 20 feet away.... no
sliproad... wrong milestone !
When you are going for the cache box I recommend you park to the
north and take the public footpath, its a great area and
there is also parking to the north near the public footpath
sign
Good luck and dont forget with all my puzzle caches, they are
easier than they look, and dont forget that some of the information
given above may help, some might be just misleading !
If you get completely stuck, drop me an email and I will give
you a nudge in the right direction.