EXPLORING YORKSHIRE BY RAIL

Harrogate is a spa town in the West Riding of Yorkshire, which developed significantly from the sixteenth century due to the discovery of its chalybeate and sulphur-rich spring waters, which resulted in it attracting many visitors (for anyone wondering chalybeate waters are waters containing iron salts). In medieval times, it comprised the separate villages of High and Low Harrogate, although the area between these was developed during the nineteenth century. Today, the town

Hornbeam Park is a small, primarily industrial, suburb of Harrogate that was originally home to companies including Imperial Chemical Industries, who invented Crimplene in their laboratories on the site and named it after the nearby Crimple Valley. It was developed as an office park and retains many offices, but is now also home to Harrogate College (a campus of Hull University) and retail premises. A small industrial estate may not sound like an appealing place for a walk, b

Pannal is another small village, albeit a bigger one than any of the three on the previous walk. It is located south of Harrogate, of which it is effectively a suburb, albeit one that just about remains detached. Originally named Rossett, it was mentioned in the Doomsday Book of 1086 as Roset and was subsequently located within the now-vanished Forest of Knaresborough, a royal hunting forest that once covered 45 square miles. The village was renamed Pannal (which means “nook