Harrogate Line

The Harrogate Line is the name given to a passenger rail service through parts of North Yorkshire and the West Yorkshire Metro area of northern England connecting Leeds to York by way of Harrogate and Knaresborough. The service is operated by Northern Rail, with a few additional workings by Virgin Trains East Coast starting and terminating at Harrogate. Metro's bus and rail MetroCard ticket is available for journeys between Leeds and Harrogate.

Route

History

The routes over which the Harrogate Line trains now run were opened in 1848 by two of the railways which came to be part of the North Eastern Railway: the Leeds Northern Railway and the East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway. At the time of the 1923 Grouping the Harrogate area formed the junction for five routes: the main line was that from Leeds-Northallerton railway; the other lines were to:

Harrogate

Coordinates: 53°59′28″N 1°32′20″W / 53.991°N 1.539°W / 53.991; -1.539

Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters and RHS Harlow Carr gardens. Nearby is the Yorkshire Dales national park and the Nidderdale AONB. Harrogate grew out of two smaller settlements, High Harrogate and Low Harrogate, in the 17th century. Since 2013, polls have consistently voted the town as "the happiest place to live" in Britain. In 2013 Harrogate was declared to be the third most romantic destination in the world, beating off rivals including Paris, Rome and Vienna.

Harrogate spa water contains iron, sulphur and common salt. The town became known as 'The English Spa' in the Georgian Era, after its waters were discovered in the 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries its 'chalybeate' waters (containing iron) were a popular health treatment, and the influx of wealthy but sickly visitors contributed significantly to the wealth of the town.

Borough of Harrogate

The Borough of Harrogate is a local government district and borough of North Yorkshire, England. Its council is based in the town of Harrogate, but it also includes surrounding towns and villages and almost all of the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is the most populous district of North Yorkshire. The district is part of the Leeds City Region.

The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the Masham and Wath rural districts, and part of Thirsk Rural District, from the North Riding of Yorkshire, along with the boroughs of Harrogate and the city of Ripon, the Knaresborough urban district, Nidderdale Rural District, Ripon and Pateley Bridge Rural District, part of Wetherby Rural District and part of Wharfedale Rural District, all in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

On 1 April 1996 the parishes of Nether Poppleton, Upper Poppleton, Hessay and Rufforth were transferred from the district to become part of the new York unitary authority. According to the 2001 census these parishes had a population of 5,169.

Harrogate (UK Parliament constituency)

Harrogate (/ˈhærəɡᵻt, -ˌɡeɪt/) was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. As with all constituencies, the constituency elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The constituency was renamed Harrogate and Knaresborough in 1997.

Constituency profile

An area with little unemployment, a relatively large retired population and large neighbourhoods of high house prices which, until former Chancellor Norman Lamont stood for the first time in the successor seat in The New Labour landslide general election in 1997 was part of a Conservative safe seat since 1910, Harrogate moved the way of other famous spa towns in England such as Bath by returning the Liberal Democrat MP Phil Willis.

Boundaries

1950-1983: The Municipal Borough of Harrogate, the Urban District of Knaresborough, and part of the Rural District of Nidderdale.

1983-1997: The Borough of Harrogate wards of Bilton, Claro, Duchy, East Central, Granby, Harlow, Knaresborough East, Knaresborough West, Marston Moor, Nether Poppleton, New Park, Ouseburn, Pannal, Spofforth, Starbeck, Upper Poppleton, Wedderburn, and West Central.