Royal Baths, Crescent Road, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, 1894-97.
By FT Baggallay & F Bristowe.
Grade ll listed.

The Royal Baths were built from 1894-7 by London architects Baggalley* and Bristowe, winners of the Harrogate Corporation competition and opened by H.R.H. The Duke of Cambridge on 23rd July 1897. The sulphur and kissingen springs beneath the building are among the finest in England. The major extension of 1936-9, designed by Leonard Clarke replaced the Winter Gardens with the Lounge Hall and Fountain Court. The development of the Royal Baths occurred a few years before the building of the Royal Hall and Roundhill Reservoir which together must represent an almost unparalleled example of municipal enterprise.

* Should be Baggallay.

Tags:   harrogate north yorkshire spa information history heritage plaque victorian

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Crown Place, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

A few feet from this spot once stood the shop in which the notorious attempt was made by Joseph Thackwray, owner of the Crown Hotel, to divert the waters of the public sulphur spring into private control by means of the excavation of a new well. The discovery of this by Jonathon Shutt, owner of the Swan Hotel, on 1st December 1835, led to such an outcry that steps were taken not only to prosecute Thackwray but also to form a local authority with powers to protect the mineral springs and to improve the townships of Bilton-with-Harrogate and Pannal. The Act of 1841 established the Improvement Commissioners who administered the town with great ability until 1884, when Queen Victoria granted Harrogate's incorporation as a Borough.

Tags:   harrogate north yorkshire spa information history heritage plaque

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Wedderburn House, Slingsby Walk, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, 1786.
For Alexander Wedderburn MP (1733-1805).
Grade ll listed.

Alexander Wedderburn MP (1733-1805) acquired three closes of land in Harrogate on lease from the Crown in 1775. In 1786 he bought land to the north, bounded by The Stray, and built Wedderburn House, possibly incorporating part of an earlier structure. John Carr of York is reputed to have been the architect. Wedderburn was Lord Chancellor of Great Britain from 1793 to 1801 and was created Baron Loughborough and First Earl of Rosslyn. He was a frequent visitor to the Spa and built the original St. John’s Well Pump Room in 1786. He laid out the estate’s beech plantations and Strayside Walk and was also a keen patron of the Harrogate Theatre. Wedderburn House was enlarged after his death and the grounds were developed for housing in the Twentieth Century.

Tags:   harrogate north yorkshire spa information history heritage plaque georgian house

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Mansfield House, 8 Church Square, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, 1788.
Built as a theatre for Samuel Butler.
Grade ll listed.

This building, now a private residence, was built by Samuel Butler for his circuit company and opened as Harrogate’s first theatre on 1st July 1788. The cost was met by Mrs Wilks of the Granby Hotel in whose barn earlier theatrical performances had been given. The theatre closed in 1830.

Church Square developed long before the creation of The Stray in 1778, probably after the building of the Bay Horse Inn (now The Empress) at the junction of the ancient Here-Gate (or Soldiers’ Way) and Gamell-Gate - the way to Bilton where Gamelbar held land before 1086. Near this spot Eli Hargrove had his toy shop and in 1775 published the first guide and history of Harrogate. Here too, from 1837-1968, stood Christ Church School. A major redevelopment (1988-91) by Goldsborough greatly improved the architectural appearance of the square.

Tags:   harrogate north yorkshire spa information history heritage plaque georgian house

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Church Square, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
Church Square developed long before the creation of The Stray in 1778, probably after the building of the Bay Horse Inn (now The Empress) at the junction of the ancient Here-Gate (or Soldiers’ Way) and Gamell-Gate - the way to Bilton where Gamelbar held land before 1086. Near this spot Eli Hargrove had his toy shop and in 1775 published the first guide and history of Harrogate. Here too, from 1837-1968, stood Christ Church School. A major redevelopment (1988-91) by Goldsborough greatly improved the architectural appearance of the square.

Tags:   harrogate north yorkshire spa information history heritage plaque stray 18th century

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