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Knaresborough is an old and historic market
town, spa town and civil parish in the
Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire,
England, located on the River Nidd, four
miles east of the centre of Harrogate.
Sights in the town include the remains of
Knaresborough Castle, Mother Shipton's
petrifying well, The House in the Rock, and
several cave dwellings, one a chapel, dating
from the Middle Ages. Knaresborough is also
the site of Ye Oldest Chymist Shoppe in
England, opened in 1720. There is also the
Courthouse Museum in the castle grounds.
Every year the town hosts a number of large
social events, chief among them being the
"Knaresborough Bed Race". Every summer,
teams of locals and visitors, comprising six
runners and one passenger, decorate special
tube frame 'beds' for a parade through the
town. Then, once the beds have been stripped
of their non-essential decorations, they
compete to push the bed on a combination
race/time trial through the town. The climax
of the race comes when the teams must cross
the River Nidd and climb a steep muddy bank
to reach the finish line. Beds without
sufficient flotation devices have been known
to sink. Although most teams are local,
competitors often come from across the
country and from Knaresborough's German twin
town Bebra to compete. Past celebrities who
have taken part include James Whale, Rory
McGrath and Peter Duncan, who famously ran
the course for his show 'Duncan Dares'.There
is also a yearly arts festival, FEVA
(Festival of Entertainment and Visual Arts),
which has been running since 2001. This
takes place in the summer in various parts
of the town centre. The town was used to
film the opening election sequence in the
first episode of the ITV comedy series The
New Statesman and some exterior shots for
the series were also filmed around
Knaresborough. The Borough Bailiff Pub is
known to be the oldest pub in Knaresborough.
It is currently under ownership of Samuel
Smiths Brewery. The principal areas of
public open space in the town are the
Knaresborough Castle grounds, the nearby
Bebra Gardens (formerly Moat Gardens) named
after Knaresborough's twin town in Germany,
the Conyngham Hall grounds, Horseshoe Field,
the King George V Playing Field and Jacob
Smith Park, a 30-hectare parkland on the
edge of the town bequeathed to Knaresborough
by Miss Winifred Jacob Smith.
 
 
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