Knaresborough

Knaresborough, a market-town in the West Riding of Yorkshire, on the Nidd, 3½ miles NE. of Harrogate and 17 WNW. of York. It has a church (restored 1872), with interesting monuments of the Slingsbys; a grammar-school (1616); remains of a castle (1170), in which Richard II. was imprisoned, and which was dismantled in 1648; a 'dropping well,' with petrifying properties; and St Robert's Cave, in which Eugene Aram buried his victim in 1745. Mother Shipton is claimed as a native, and Jack Metcalf, the blind road-surveyor. Linen and woollen rugs are the staple manufactures. Knaresborough returned two members from 1550 till 1867, and one until 1885. Pop. (1851) 5556; (1881) 5000; (1891) 4770. See works by Calvert (1844) and Grainge (1871).