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The top of the Petrifying Well These pools, formed by a stream flowing into them which is saturated by calcium, feed the Petrifying Well at this visitor attraction, the waters of which can turn objects into stone within three months. This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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The Blind Jack's in Market Place This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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Entrance to Mother Shipton's Cave This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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Knaresborough map This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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Knaresborough riverside across the Nidd This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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Knaresborough Viaduct from the Castle This viaduct, which provided the town with a railway connection from 1851 is stone built, 24 metres (78 feet) high, and now Grade II listed. A half-hourly rail service in each direction still uses the structure. Mother Shipton predicted that the world would end if the bridge at Knarsborough collapsed. Whilst some of her other prophecies have come true, the viaduct has indeed collapsed twice... This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 2 people have added this picture to their favourites |
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Market Place This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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Market Place windows This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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Market Place windows This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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Market Plase, statue of John Metcalf (Blind Jack) A new (February 2009) statue of Knaresborough's most famous son, John Metcalfe - otherwise known as 'Blind Jack'. His eventful life was notable mainly for his ability to plan and construct turnpike roads, starting with the Ferrensby to Minskip stretch of the Knaresborough to Boroughbridge turnpike in 1765. Over the next 25 years or so he was responsible for the construction of around 180 miles of turnpike, setting the standard for people such as Telford and MacAdam. This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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Mother Shipton's Cave The legend goes that she spent her early life living in the cave that now carries her name. When she was about two years old, her mother apparently gave her into the care of a foster mother. Agatha herself is said to have spent the rest of her life in a convent in Nottingham. Mother Shiptons’s Cave is located along the River Nidd, in the heart of Knaresborough, on the opposite bank of the Castle. The cave sits right next to the Petrifying Well. This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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Image of Mother Shipton In 1488, Agatha, a young girl of only fifteen, gave birth to an illegitimate child, in a cave in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. Baptised Ursula Sontheil, she would become known as Mother Shipton, after she married an ordinary carpenter called Toby Shipton at the age of 24. She looked like the archetypical witch. And as England’s primary prophetess, she has equally been considered England’s primary witch. Her prophecies were printed in 1641. When the Great Plague ravaged London in 1665, there was talk of Mother Shipton’s image: “Triumphant death rides London through.” What are we to make of these statements, which seem to apply to our own age? “Carriages without horses shall goe, And accidents fill the world with woe. Around the world thoughts shall fly In the twinkling of an eye.... Under water men shall walk, Shall ride, shall sleep and talk; In the air men shall be seen, In white, in black and in green.... Iron in the water shall float, As easy as a wooden boat.” This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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Mother Shipton's Cave information board Mother Shipton (1488 - 1561) was a Yorkshire witch who prophesied about future events in the form of poems. Her prophecies predicted the fates of several rulers within and just after her lifetime - the invention of iron ships, a planes, mobile phones, Great Fire of London in 1666, the defeat of the Spanish Armada... and even the end of the world! This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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Petrifying Well This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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Petrifying Well This well is the only one of its kind in England. The well is made of two types of rock - tufa and travertine. It takes between three and five months to petrify a teddy bear. 700 gallons or 3,200 litres of water flow over the well every hour - summer, winter, rain or drought ! Many celebrities have donated items: Queen Mary visited in 1923 and took off her shoe. Items worn by cast from popular soap series, as well as a handbag belonging to Agatha Christie and a hat belonging to John Wayne have been subjected to the process. This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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Petrifying Well This is the Petrifying Well (or the Dropping Well) adjacent to Old Mother Shipton's Cave on the SW bank of the River Nidd in Knaresborough. This famous well petrifies (i.e. turns to stone) items that are hung underneath it. The calcite in the water being deposited on the suspended article in a surprisingly (and unusually) short time. The effect is particularly quick for porous objects (such as teddy bears) but considerably slower for such things as firemen's helmets, though even these will succumb eventually. The two hemispherical bumps higher up the fall were two hats left well over a hundred years ago - and never collected ! Various petrified examples are to be found in the little museum at the southern end of the park, mostly things left by famous people. Visitors used to be able to leave their own items to be petrified, but demand was such that this facility has had to be suspended ! This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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River Nidd Knaresborough is well known for this beautiful stretch of river, with the boats all lined up ready for the trip out on a summers day. Knaresborough Viaduct is in the background. This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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The Worlds End So called because of Mother Shipton's prediction that the world would end when the nearby bridge fell three times. The current bridge is the third bridge to be built. This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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The Worlds End sign This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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Weir and Castle Mill The mill, originally water powered and later steam, started as a cotton mill but for many years was a flax mill. It is now converted into apartments. This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
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