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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.〔("Harrogate named as happiest place to live in Britain" ), BBC, 6 August 2015〕 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. Harrogate railway station and Harrogate bus station in the town centre provide transport connections. Leeds Bradford International Airport is south-west of Harrogate. The main roads through the town are the A61, connecting Harrogate to Leeds and Ripon, and the A59, connecting the town to York and Skipton. Harrogate is also connected to Wetherby and the A1, by the A661. The town of Harrogate had a population of 71,594 at the 2001 UK census;〔(Office for National Statistics : ''Neighbourhood Statistics ) Retrieved 18 September 2009〕〔The population of the Harrogate Unparished Area is derived from the totals for Bilton; Granby; Harlow Moor; High Harrogate; Hookstone; Low Harrogate; New Park; Pannal; Rossett; Saltergate; Starbeck; Stray; and Woodfield wards then subtracting that part of Killinghall Civil Parish within Saltergate Ward. The population for the portion of Killinghall Civil Parish is derived from subtracting the populations of Nidd and Ripley Civil Parishes from the total for Killinghall ward. This gives the portion of Killinghall Civil Parish in Killinghall Ward; this is then subtracted from the total for Killinghall Civil Parish to give the total for the portion of Killinghall Civil Parish in Saltergate Ward.〕 the urban area comprising Harrogate and nearby Knaresborough had a population of 85,128, while the figure for the much wider Borough of Harrogate, comprising Harrogate, Knaresborough, Ripon and a large rural area, was 151,339. The town motto is ''Arx celebris fontibus'', which means "a citadel famous for its springs." ==History== In 2007, two metal detectorists found the Harrogate hoard, a 10th-century Viking treasure hoard, near Harrogate. The hoard contains almost 700 coins and other items from as far away as Afghanistan. The hoard was described by the British Museum as the most important find of its type in Britain for 150 years. The name ''Harrogate'' is first attested in the 1330s as ''Harwegate''. It seems to derive from Old Norse ''hǫrgr'' 'a heap of stones, cairn' + ''gata'' 'street', in which case the name presumably meant 'road to the cairn'.〔Victor Watts (ed.), ''The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), s.v. ''HARROGATE''.〕 For hundreds of years from medieval times to the Victorian times, Harrogate was a township in the ancient Parish of Knaresborough. Before the discovery of its iron and sulphur rich water, Harrogate comprised two hamlets, High Harrogate and Low Harrogate. The first mineral spring was discovered in 1571 by William Slingsby who found that water from the Tewit Well possessed similar properties to that from springs in the Belgian town of Spa, which gave its name to spa towns. The medicinal properties of the waters were publicised by Edmund Deane. His book, ''Spadacrene Anglica, or the English Spa Fountain'' was published in 1626. Harrogate developed a spa town following the enclosure of surrounding lands in 1770, when were reserved as a public common, the Stray, which has remained public open space.〔(Harrogate Borough Council: the Stray )〕 To provide entertainment for the increasing numbers of visitors the Georgian Theatre was built in 1788. Bath Hospital (later the Royal Bath Hospital) was built in 1826. The Royal Pump Room was built in 1842. The site of Tewit Well is marked by a dome on the Stray. Other wells can be found in the Valley Gardens and Royal Pump Room museum. In 1870, engineering inventor Samson Fox perfected the process of creating water gas, in the basement laboratory of Grove House. After constructing a trial plant at his home on Scarborough Road, making it the first house in Yorkshire to have gas lighting and heating; he built a town-sized plant to supply Harrogate. After Parliament Street became the world's first route to be lit by water-gas, newspapers commented: "Samson Fox has captured the sunlight for Harrogate." After donating the town's first fire engine, and building the town's theatre, he was elected mayor for three years, an unbroken record. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Harrogate was popular among the English élite and frequented by nobility from mainland Europe . Its popularity declined after the First World War. During the Second World War, Harrogate's large hotels accommodated government offices evacuated from London paving the way for the town to become a commercial, conference, and exhibition centre. In 1893 Harrogate doctor George Oliver was the first to observe the effect of adrenaline on the circulation. Former employers in the town were the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB), the Milk Marketing Board and ICI who occupied offices and laboratories at Hornbeam Park where Crimplene was invented in the 1950s and named after the nearby Crimple Valley and beck. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Harrogate」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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