In York and beyond - 23 August 2008

 

After another five days in London with the family, Suzi and I set off for a two week tour of northern England and Scotland.

 

It was a Bank holiday weekend – something we hadn’t thought of when we’d decided on our dates.  As the expression goes, ‘the world and his wife’ were out and about and we were very glad that we’d booked our first three nights of accommodation in advance!

 

Kate and family very kindly dropped me off at Kings Cross on their way out to make a start on their own long weekend plans.  Suzi wasn’t far behind me and we soon found each other under the departure board – an easy meeting place.

 

Our train was called the Flying Scotsman, bound for Edinburgh.  Apparently the 10.00 a.m. train is always called the Flying Scotsman, based on a long tradition!  Just as the train to Inverness is called the Highland Chieftan and the train to Aberdeen is called the Northern Lights!

 

I couldn’t believe that this was the name of the train!  The original flying Scotsman locomotive was completed in 1923.  It was called 4472 following the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924 and 1925.  It’s inaugural journey from London to Edinburgh (a distance of 392 miles) took place on 1 May 1928.  It hauled 9 tons of coal and a water trough system, and the journey in those days took 8 hours non-stop (it’s about 4.5 hours today).  On 30 November 1934 Locomotive 4472 became the first steam locomotive to record a speed of 100 mph.

 

But that was then.  This was now!

 

York was the third stop on the express route and this was where we’d decided to pick up our hire car (rather than making our way out of a very congested London!).  The train part of the journey was wonderful.  In less than two hours, we were transported effortlessly about 175 miles north of London. 

 

However, total pandemonium awaited us at York.  Rain had fallen incessantly for much of the previous week and the Bank holiday weekend races had been cancelled.  As a result the city was teeming with people at a loose end because the hotels had refused to refund anyone’s money.  Why should they really – the weather was hardly their fault.

 

We’d been told that it was a ten minute walk to the hire car company but when we asked the way we were assured that it was at least a ten minute car journey!  And of course the taxi couldn’t penetrate the traffic or the pedestrians and we only had 30 minutes from the arrival of the train until the closing of the car hire company - until Tuesday morning!  Sitting in the back of a stationary taxi was hopefully the most stressful thing we’d have to endure for the whole of our fortnight’s holiday! 

 

We just made it!!

 

Well – if our first day was a forerunner of what was to come, then it was going to be a memorable two weeks.  Suzi is the most wonderful companion and, in such close proximity for fifteen days, that’s fairly important!  As you’ll see, if you decide to read on, we had an amazing time!

 

We set off on the A59 towards Knaresborough.  Our first destination was Mother Shipton’s Cave, Petrifying Well, and Historic Park.  This is a ‘must see’’. 

 

Royalty showed considerable interest in this site.  In 1538, Henry VIII sent a member of his staff to research and investigate the Well’s reputed magical powers.  King Charles 1 sold the Park to a local gentleman, Sir Charles Slingsby, in 1630.  He soon realized its earning potential so he charged people for guided tours and to sample the Petrifying Well’s magical waters.  In doing so, he unwittingly created England’s oldest tourist attraction. 

 

The Park is unique and is now all that remains, unspoilt, of the ancient Forest of Knaresborough on the banks of the beautiful River Nidd. 

 

 

The Forest contains many varieties of old English trees, oak, beech, ash and hornbeam.  Sir Henry Slingsby created the Long Walk and Beech Avenue in the 1700’s, where the rich used to promenade.   The Walk is listed by English Heritage.  The beech trees are truly beautiful and very tall as you can see.

 

 

A ruined castle stands on the hill above the river.  It’s likely that a Saxon fortress originally stood on this site although it wasn’t mentioned in the Domesday Book.  Historians believe it must have been built by Henry 1 or Rufus.

 

 

The earliest reference to the castle is in a document dated 1130 AD which records that £11 was spent on the ‘King’s works’.  Richard II is believed to have been imprisoned there and many Kings stayed there while hunting in Knaresborough forest.  James I gave it to his son Charles.  It was finally partly dismantled in 1648 so that it could not be tenanted again.

 

Having walked along Beech Avenue and past the Castle, we came at last to the Petrifying Well, so called because it was long believed to have magical powers. 

 

 

The magical waters that fall over the front of the rock and into the well come from a natural lake about a mile underground.  As the waters climb to the surface, they travel along a narrow band of porous rock called an ‘aquifer’ and dissolve the massive amounts of minerals, just the right amount for turning things into stone.  Compared to a stalactite or stalagmite, any item placed in the water (or hung below the drips like those in the picture), turns to stone, or petrifies, very quickly.  A small teddy bear can take 3-4 months to become completely solid.

 

Beside the Well is Mother Shipton’s Cave.  This is a legendary place.  In July 1488, Agatha Sontheil sought refuge in the famous cave and gave birth to a baby girl she named Ursula and this is where the amazing story of Mother Shipton began.  Agatha was only 15 and wouldn’t reveal the father’s identity.  Ursula was born disfigured and twisted, unable to walk without a stick.  When a local carpenter, Toby Shipton, married her, local people said she must have cast a spell on him.  She had no parents to support her and no-one was prepared to give her shelter or work.  She and her daughter lived in the cave for two years until the Abbot of Beverly placed Agatha in a Convent.  The 2-year old Ursula was taken in and raised by a local family but many people thought she was a witch and she was constantly taunted by townsfolk because of her rather frightening appearance. 

 

For peace and quiet she would spend time near her birthplace and as she grew into a young woman she realised she could predict the future.  Her reputation spread.

As she grew older, her prophetic visions became known and feared throughout England.  She foretold the invasion of the Spanish Armada, the discoveries of the potato and tobacco.  Samuel Pepys’s diary of the Fire of London grimly records ‘Mother Shipton’s Prophecy is out’.   Her legendary prophecies included planes, boats, cars and telephones.

 

 

Ultimately, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey became aware of her.  He sent the Duke of Suffolk, Lord D’Arcy and the Earl of Northumberland to seek her out and hopefully to silence her. Although they disguised themselves when they visited her, she knew who they were and predicted their death on the pavements of York.  Some years later in a Royal rebellion, all three were executed and beheaded at York.  Their heads were mounted on wooden stakes and placed above the pavements on Micklegate, just as she had prophesied.

 

She died in 1561 aged 73.  The church refused her a Christian burial, instead she was given a secret resting place by friends and followers, believed to be near to her birthplace.  It remains a secret to this day.

 

From Knaresborough, we took the A59 to Harrogate and then turned onto the A61 to go up to Ripon.  We passed through the City fairly quickly but stopped to admire its beautiful Cathedral.

 

 

She died in 1561 aged 73.  The church refused her a Christian burial, instead she was given a secret resting place by friends and followers, believed to be near to her birthplace.  It remains a secret to this day.

 

From Knaresborough, we took the A59 to Harrogate and then turned onto the A61 to go up to Ripon.  We passed through the City fairly quickly but not too quickly, so we saw its beautiful Cathedral. 

 

 

Ripon’s first recorded church was an Anglo-Saxon Monastery in 657 AD by Alchfrith.  In 671 AD, St Wilfrid, the Bishop of York, was given the Monastery, which was near the site of the present Cathedral.  In 672 AD a first stone church was built on the same site by St Wilfrid, Ripon’s patron saint.  However, owing to the destruction of churches that took place periodically in England, probably by the Saxons in 950 AD in this case, all that remains of St Wilfrid’s church today is the Anglo-Saxon crypt.

 

Almost immediately after Ripon church was destroyed, a new one was built, this lasting until its destruction by the Normans some time after 1066.  The Normans began building a new church in 1080.  Further reconstruction took place a century later in 1181 under Roger de Ponte l’Eveque, who rebuilt the church in the Norman traditional style.  The Cathedral as we see it today is largely his work.

 

We continued on up the A61 and joined the A1(M) motorway to spend our first night at Bedale.  Our accommodation was at The Lodge at Leeming Bar, Great North Road, Leeming Bar, Bedale DL8 1DT, +44 1677 422122, and we’d recommend it.  Breakfast the next morning was sensational!