The Adventures of Pearl !!! Host list post's #22 and #23

[Prester John]

Knaresborough is an attractive and ancient market town a couple of miles north of Harrogate, and sits atop the hill looming over the River Nidd. I used to have some business interests here, and visited on a weekly basis, but now I travel there only very occasionally. As with Harrogate, long-term members may remember my numerous posts about Knaresborough from the past, and you may be surprised to learn that the pretender to the the post of Knaresborough Town Crier, the one who got Earl into trouble with the Law, passed away last year, and that Madame Gi Gi's Emporium is no more - no danger of running into the bulldog-faced harridan with the Freddy May perm

Here's a pic of Earl with Simon the pretend Town Crier for the sake of posterity

I usually go to Knaresborough on market days, when it has a thriving and attractive market. Unfortunately, it's best pub, Blind Jack's, is not open on market day, but it is open on Saturday



Blind Jack's is named after one of Knaresborough's innumerable characters, Blind Jack Metcalf, who among other things, built roads. He was actually blind, they didn't just call him that, in the way they might call some other road builders Stupid Joe Smith or Environmentally Insensitive Harry Adams You might notice that a couple of windows have been bricked up in the building, there's a lot of houses like that in Knaresborough, as it's an old town with houses which were built prior to the introduction of the Window Tax (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_tax).

From the pub I headed to the ruins of Knaresborough Castle, where another character used to stay, Prince John, the baddie from the Robin Hood films! The castle was originally surrounded by a royal hunting forest, which stretched for many miles in each direction. The poor peasants who lived in the forest were forbidden to hunt so much as a rabbit, and could neither cultivate land, nor move away. Eventually, due to fatalities brought on by empty bellies, they let them grow a few carrots, but it was a notoriously rotten place to live, even for vegetarians

No love, there's no need to glare at me, it's not you I want a photo of, it's the darn great ancient monument behind you! (Come on guys, I'm talking about the castle! )

That's better, I thought she'd never move on!

Talking of po-faced old sods, the castle ruins are still haunted by the silly old bat who keeps crows on a string, and cons tourists into believing she's 'Her Majesty's Keeper of Ravens'!

You do get a good view though

After visiting the castle, I thought I'd go and check out another antiques centre, and though they were quite pricey, I did find a couple of knives (I'll edit in a pic in a bit as they're still in my bag )

Another Knaresborough character was local hag Mother Shipton, who lived in a cave, and prophesied nonsense (she was probably an ancestor of the 'Ravenmistress') To be fair she may have been wildly misquoted, but it looks like she did OK for herself in the end, judging from that 'cave', the Liquorice Allsorts paintwork (common hereabouts) was probably designed to lure in children so she could feed them to her pet ravens

One of Mother Shipton's prophesies related to the local bridge, the one next to her 'cave', where I took these photos from

It's been rebuilt twice, and if it goes again the world will end, the old lass supposedly claimed, which is the reason the pub opposite Mother Shipton's old cave is called 'The World's End'. It has a nice beer garden, and used to do a good chip butty. Since I went here with Earl, I thought I better go with Pearl, but I had to settle for a pint

You're a master tour guide, Jack. Thanks.

 

[r redden]

Great stuff Jack Black I remember you posting about Chesterman's before.

 

[JohnDF]

Fantastic, Jack.

 

[Fodderwing]

Knaresborough is an attractive and ancient market town a couple of miles north of Harrogate, and sits atop the hill looming over the River Nidd. I used to have some business interests here, and visited on a weekly basis, but now I travel there only very occasionally. As with Harrogate, long-term members may remember my numerous posts about Knaresborough from the past, and you may be surprised to learn that the pretender to the the post of Knaresborough Town Crier, the one who got Earl into trouble with the Law, passed away last year, and that Madame Gi Gi's Emporium is no more - no danger of running into the bulldog-faced harridan with the Freddy May perm

Here's a pic of Earl with Simon the pretend Town Crier for the sake of posterity

I am saddened to learn of his passing. Jack do you know what became of Madame Gi Gi?

You might notice that a couple of windows have been bricked up in the building, there's a lot of houses like that in Knaresborough, as it's an old town with houses which were built prior to the introduction of the Window Tax

Fascinating link to read about this window tax.

Talking of po-faced old sods, the castle ruins are still haunted by the silly old bat who keeps crows on a string, and cons tourists into believing she's 'Her Majesty's Keeper of Ravens'!

It's been rebuilt twice, and if it goes again the world will end, the old lass supposedly claimed, which is the reason the pub opposite Mother Shipton's old cave is called 'The World's End'

The bridge is so beautiful.

It carries the mark of James Chesterman, a company whose Bow Works was located just down the road from where I grew up. My great grandmother and grandmother lived on the same street, and both worked there, as did my brother's Godfather later.

The other knife was made by Thomas Renshaw & Son, a 19th century Sheffield firm. The blade looks like it was actually ground for a two-blade penknife.

Fantastic knives Jack!

An enchanting tour Jack. I can't express how much I enjoy your richly documented narratives of the mezmerising world in which you move about. Glorious it is my friend. And how fortunate are we to be able to share your love and appreciation for that which surrounds you. You and Chin are in a class of observers and writers apart from the rest. You are a busy individual and yet you always take the time necessary to deliver quality, be it in the form of entertainment, cutlery or kindness. Thank you sir.

 

[cigarrodog]

I keep meaning to go through this thread, but only have managed to catch it in fits and starts. Tonight, I really plugged in. It is a captivating and thoroughly enjoyable intimate glimpse into your world through your eyes. I’m hooked. Thank you and much appreciation, Jack.

 

[btb01]

I was a week or so behind in this thread, and just caught up. Thank goodness it doesn't take as long as catching up in the Guardians or Totin' threads! Jack, wonderful posts! Thank you for sharing!

Lovely indoor garden and interesting construction with the huge wooden arches. The trees in full blossom (cherry?) are a beautiful sight after the winter we had.
Thanks for taking us with you, Jack.

Thanks guys, that's the Winter Garden in the centre of Sheffield, it was built for the Millenium

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheffield_Winter_Garden

I can attest that the Winter Garden is a beautiful place, although it does feel oddly tropical there in the middle of Sheffield. It's located just behind the hotel I stayed in when I had a chance to visit in December. Jack, I don't remember if I told you this, but before meeting up with you that morning, having been awake since around 1 am thanks to jet lag, I walked around the city centre a bit on my own just for something to do. At one point, as I was sort of meandering around trying to find my way back to the hotel without using Google maps, I walked by the Peace Gardens and past the entrance to the Winter Garden, yet still somehow ended up walking right past the hotel! It wasn't until we walked by there later that day that I realized I couldn't have been more than 100 feet from the back entrance!

Jack, all your Pearl posts so far have been a treat, but this photo in particular made me smile. If you take your hand and cover up the bottom half of the photo, and maybe squint a little, it could almost pass for a small blues/biker bar in America, what with the flaming "BLUES" and neon Budweiser signs (and is that a Red Bull flag up in the corner?). But take your hand away, and from the bar top down, it's 100% English pub!

Also, "Earplugs available behind the bar"!

 

[Prester John]

I was a week or so behind in this thread, and just caught up. Thank goodness it doesn't take as long as catching up in the Guardians or Totin' threads! Jack, wonderful posts! Thank you for sharing!





I can attest that the Winter Garden is a beautiful place, although it does feel oddly tropical there in the middle of Sheffield. It's located just behind the hotel I stayed in when I had a chance to visit in December. Jack, I don't remember if I told you this, but before meeting up with you that morning, having been awake since around 1 am thanks to jet lag, I walked around the city centre a bit on my own just for something to do. At one point, as I was sort of meandering around trying to find my way back to the hotel without using Google maps, I walked by the Peace Gardens and past the entrance to the Winter Garden, yet still somehow ended up walking right past the hotel! It wasn't until we walked by there later that day that I realized I couldn't have been more than 100 feet from the back entrance!



Jack, all your Pearl posts so far have been a treat, but this photo in particular made me smile. If you take your hand and cover up the bottom half of the photo, and maybe squint a little, it could almost pass for a small blues/biker bar in America, what with the flaming "BLUES" and neon Budweiser signs (and is that a Red Bull flag up in the corner?). But take your hand away, and from the bar top down, it's 100% English pub!

Also, "Earplugs available behind the bar"!

Astute observations, Barrett!

 

[Jack Black]

I am saddened to learn of his passing. Jack do you know what became of Madame Gi Gi?

Fascinating link to read about this window tax.



The bridge is so beautiful.



Fantastic knives Jack!

An enchanting tour Jack. I can't express how much I enjoy your richly documented narratives of the mezmerising world in which you move about. Glorious it is my friend. And how fortunate are we to be able to share your love and appreciation for that which surrounds you. You and Chin are in a class of observers and writers apart from the rest. You are a busy individual and yet you always take the time necessary to deliver quality, be it in the form of entertainment, cutlery or kindness. Thank you sir.

It was quite unexpected. He was a well-known character in Knaresborough, both troubled and troublesome. I'm sure he is missed. Madame Gi Gi is still around I'm told, but her Emporium is no more (3 other jink/antique shops have closed in the past year).

Thank you for your very kind words Dwight, I am flattered, and just wish I was able to spend more time on this I'm afraid I just don't have the time I had in the past. It's sad that the forum software changes effectively destroyed the Wizard's Quest posts, they not only involved a lot of time and effort, but cost me thousands of pounds in lost earnings and travel, it took my bank balance a good two years to recover afterwards!

I keep meaning to go through this thread, but only have managed to catch it in fits and starts. Tonight, I really plugged in. It is a captivating and thoroughly enjoyable intimate glimpse into your world through your eyes. I’m hooked. Thank you and much appreciation, Jack.

Thank you Harvey, you are very kind

I was a week or so behind in this thread, and just caught up. Thank goodness it doesn't take as long as catching up in the Guardians or Totin' threads! Jack, wonderful posts! Thank you for sharing!





I can attest that the Winter Garden is a beautiful place, although it does feel oddly tropical there in the middle of Sheffield. It's located just behind the hotel I stayed in when I had a chance to visit in December. Jack, I don't remember if I told you this, but before meeting up with you that morning, having been awake since around 1 am thanks to jet lag, I walked around the city centre a bit on my own just for something to do. At one point, as I was sort of meandering around trying to find my way back to the hotel without using Google maps, I walked by the Peace Gardens and past the entrance to the Winter Garden, yet still somehow ended up walking right past the hotel! It wasn't until we walked by there later that day that I realized I couldn't have been more than 100 feet from the back entrance!



Jack, all your Pearl posts so far have been a treat, but this photo in particular made me smile. If you take your hand and cover up the bottom half of the photo, and maybe squint a little, it could almost pass for a small blues/biker bar in America, what with the flaming "BLUES" and neon Budweiser signs (and is that a Red Bull flag up in the corner?). But take your hand away, and from the bar top down, it's 100% English pub!

Also, "Earplugs available behind the bar"!

Thank you Barrett I wish I had realised you would have been up all night in Sheffield, I would have stayed with you! That entrance can be quite hard to find can't it?!

I have only been in the Blues Bar a couple of times, and only then for coffee. The coffee is good, and I even got a choice of biscuits! I'll definitely have to go back, maybe it's where the non-snooty Harrogate people hang out

 

[Whetstone39]

Thanks for taking us along on the tour Jack, just fantastic

 

[zolthar]

Great tour Jack! Thanks!

 

[Jack Black]

Thanks for taking us along on the tour Jack, just fantastic

Great tour Jack! Thanks!

Thanks a lot guys, I'll try to post some more pics soon

 

[peanutsxx]

I took Pearl into North Yorkshire yesterday, to visit a couple of towns, which aren't too far away from me, Harrogate and Knaresborough, both of which may be familiar to long-standing members from my previous visits, with Earl, and on The Wizard's Quest, for example.

Harrogate is probably Yorkshire poshest town, and has been dating back to its heydays as a spa town, when the gentry came to imbibe its supposedly beneficial waters. They just drink Prosecco these days

One of the interesting things about Harrogate is the broad ribbon of open grassland which surrounds the centre. If it wasn't protected, it would certainly be chocker-block with swanky hotels and yuppie apartments now - just like the rest of the place

I called in at an antiques centre, but only found an old US Goloid Dollar (an old fake I think) in the bargain basket. I called in at the Orvis shop, and then went for a coffee at this 'Blues Bar', nice coffee, must return for a pint sometime - even if they did manage to get my birthday wrong

I then proceeded down the hill into the town's 'Montpellier Quarter'. There's another up-market antiques centre there, but I thought Pearl might start demanding a pearl necklace, which is the sort of thing it's stuffed with, and there's never any lowly pocket knives. So I headed back into the town centre again, and then onto Knaresborough

YEAH! Thank you Jack Black for the stroll through Harrogate. One of my most favorite places on earth. Knaresborough is another favorite. I will have to go get my wife to show her your posts.

 

[Fodderwing]

I'm afraid I just don't have the time I had in the past. It's sad that the forum software changes effectively destroyed the Wizard's Quest posts, they not only involved a lot of time and effort, but cost me thousands of pounds in lost earnings and travel, it took my bank balance a good two years to recover afterwards!

I don't understand why some of the "parts" of the Wizard's Quest are still available and others are gone. Have you looked into it Jack with the administrators to make sure the rest is irretrievable?

 

[Gevonovich]

Awesome posts as usual, Jack !! You are a gem among men !!!!

 

[Jack Black]

YEAH! Thank you Jack Black for the stroll through Harrogate. One of my most favorite places on earth. Knaresborough is another favorite. I will have to go get my wife to show her your posts.

I forgot you had lived there Michael, I'll have to post some more pics, I go there regularly enough

I don't understand why some of the "parts" of the Wizard's Quest are still available and others are gone. Have you looked into it Jack with the administrators to make sure the rest is irretrievable?

I have Dwight, it was very disappointing when the software changes happened Because of the change in the maximum size of posts, I can't even edit most of my old threads, and it has put me off spending time writing the sort of posts I used to make regularly

Awesome posts as usual, Jack !! You are a gem among men !!!!

Thanks Gev

 

[Jack Black]

Like Knaresborough, Otley is a rural market town, but the similarity really ends there. It is in West Yorkshire, rather than North Yorkshire, with a less well-to-do demographic, it has no train line, no castle, and very little by way of tourism. Despite that it is an interesting and unpretentious little town, with a thriving market, and a high street full of long-established independent shops. Like Knaresborough, it is surrounded by some beautiful countryside.

Otley was one of the first places I wrote about in my 'Round Yorkshire With A Knife' series of the distant past, and it has changed little in the years since then. Typically of a market town, it has a large number of pubs, the oldest of which, The Black Bull, was drunk dry by Oliver Cromwell's troops before the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marston_Moor

Otley's most famous son was master carpenter Thomas Chippendale, whose house still stands (and has recently become yet another pub). Even today British carpenters are known as 'chippies'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Chippendale

Since Pearl and I arrived in Otley mid-morning, coffee rather than beer was on the agenda

Otley has a good little market, which serves local residents well, it is great for fruit 'n' veg, freshly-baked bread, cakes and biscuits, fresh fish, and all sorts of other provisions, clothing, and household goods, but it's not the sort of market you're going to find any penknives

After looking round the market, I took Pearl to see one of Otley's more obscure corners, where tucked away up a cobbled lane next to the church, is a memorial to the navigation workers who died building one of the many local railway tunnels. With sad irony, while the memorial is still there, the railway line to Otley was closed, in savage cuts to the British railway network, many years ago

Edit - Just realised that text is hard to read in its uploaded form.


...

 

[Jack Black]

Close by is one of Otley's gems, a small Victorian shopping arcade, lined with small independent shops, everything from a old-fashioned sweet (candy) shop to a clock repairers.

There is a 'collector's centre' run by an eccentric old lady, who is invariably swathed in multiple layers of cardigans. Most of the interior of the shop is taken up with her own private collection of packaging, but another, less eccentric, old lady rents space to sell off old tools, among which i found this old 'Hook Knife' made for the once huge Scottish linoleum firm, Nairn of Kirkcaldy.

There used to be a quaint old fly-fishing shop in the arcade, mainly specialising in fly-tying equipment and materials. It has now gone unfortunately, but it has been replaced by another interesting shop, in which a local blacksmith sells the bushcraft knives he makes.

In another shop, another new arrival to the arcade, I found an inexpensive, but important (to me at least) pointy treasure I was the first of a generation in my extended family, and as a young child, knives were gifted to me before I could walk. There was a small Richards knife, which had a Native American warrior on the front, and the legend 'Little Chief', it had probably been carried previously by one of my uncles, the youngest of whom is only ten years older than me, and had a patinaed blade, and a fair bit of wear. It was the first pocket knife I slipped in my pocket 51 years ago, and I have never seen another exactly like it. This knife is not exactly the same, but it is clearly part of the same series, and in better condition than my knife ever was. I had always thought that the point of the clip-blade on mine had been blunted by too many games of splits (mumblety-peg), but it seems not. If it ever had a plastic lanyard, it had gone long before I was given the knife.

I also picked up this inter-war German-made Penknife for a couple of Pounds

I decided to celebrate by taking Pearl for a stroll along the banks of the River Wharfe

 

[Prester John]

Close by is one of Otley's gems, a small Victorian shopping arcade, lined with small independent shops, everything from a old-fashioned sweet (candy) shop to a clock repairers.

There is a 'collector's centre' run by an eccentric old lady, who is invariably swathed in multiple layers of cardigans. Most of the interior of the shop is taken up with her own private collection of packaging, but another, less eccentric, old lady rents space to sell off old tools, among which i found this old 'Hook Knife' made for the once huge Scottish linoleum firm, Nairn of Kirkcaldy.

There used to be a quaint old fly-fishing shop in the arcade, mainly specialising in fly-tying equipment and materials. It has now gone unfortunately, but it has been replaced by another interesting shop, in which a local blacksmith sells the bushcraft knives he makes.

In another shop, another new arrival to the arcade, I found an inexpensive, but important (to me at least) pointy treasure I was the first of a generation in my extended family, and as a young child, knives were gifted to me before I could walk. There was a small Richards knife, which had a Native American warrior on the front, and the legend 'Little Chief', it had probably been carried previously by one of my uncles, the youngest of whom is only ten years older than me, and had a patinaed blade, and a fair bit of wear. It was the first pocket knife I slipped in my pocket 51 years ago, and I have never seen another exactly like it. This knife is not exactly the same, but it is clearly part of the same series, and in better condition than my knife ever was. I had always thought that the point of the clip-blade on mine had been blunted by too many games of splits (mumblety-peg), but it seems not. If it ever had a plastic lanyard, it had gone long before I was given the knife.

I also picked up this inter-war German-made Penknife for a couple of Pounds

I decided to celebrate by taking Pearl for a stroll along the banks of the River Wharfe

Fascinating stuff, Jack. Thanks.

 

[Fodderwing]

Jack Black Wonderful tour of Otley Jack! So the "interwar" penknife being marked "foreign", was this during the time that it was unpopular for the tang stamp to say "Germany"? Great posts and thank you.

 

[Jack Black]

Jack Black Wonderful tour of Otley Jack! So the "interwar" penknife being marked "foreign", was this during the time that it was unpopular for the tang stamp to say "Germany"? Great posts and thank you.

Thank you Yes Dwight better to mark a knife 'Foreign' than 'Made in Germany' at that time I come across a lot of such knives, most are of very good quality, with better cover materials than that one