Knaresborough, West Riding : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Knaresborough. You may be able to find further references to Knaresborough in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Knaresborough market town, parish and township Bartholomew
KNARESBOROUGH a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district Imperial

This additional information from our descriptive gazetteers is for locations within the parish or parishes associated with Knaresborough.

Place Type of entry Source
Bilton with Harrogate township Bartholomew
BILTON-WITH-HARROGATE a township and two chapelries Imperial
BREARTON a chapelry Imperial
Scriven with Tentergate township Bartholomew
SCRIVEN-WITH-TENTERGATE a township Imperial
Walkingham Hill with Ockaney township Bartholomew

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Knaresborough within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Celia Fiennes 1697 Tour: York and Scarborough 5
Daniel Defoe Letter 8, Part 4: Leeds and North Yorkshire 3
William Camden Yorkshire: West Riding 2
Celia Fiennes 1698 Tour: Durham to Shropshire 2
Daniel Defoe Letter 8, Part 3: South and West Yorkshire 1
Celia Fiennes Hampton Court and Windsor 1
Robert Gammage Travelling in the north in 1842 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Conyngham House 0 2
Scriven 0 2
Plompton 0 3
Starbeck 0 2
Bilton 0 3
Farnham 0 2
Ferrensby 0 2
Scotton 0 2
Goldsborough 0 2
Nidderdale 0 1
Follifoot 0 2
Occaney 0 1
Harrogate 14 2
Clareton 0 2
Brearton 0 2
Walkingham Hill 0 2
Flaxby 0 2
Coneythorpe 0 2
Great Ribston 0 2
Little Ribston 0 3

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Knaresborough. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
GNARESBURG William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
KNARESBOROUGH John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
KNARESBOROUGH SPAW Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
KNARSBOROUGH Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
KNARSBORROW William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
KNARSBROUGH Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
KNARSBUROUGH Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
KNARSBUROUGHE Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
KNARSEBROUGH Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.