It seems we are a pretty unobservant bunch in Harrogate – except for resident Alex Pemberton.

A brown plaque installed on Regent Parade two years ago has a glaring error on it yet until this week no one had spotted it.

The plaque on Library House was placed on the property by Harrogate Civic Society due to its historically important connection to author Ely Hargrove.

Hargrove was an 18th century author and publisher who wrote Harrogate’s first guide book. He moved his shop to Library House before turning it into the town’s first subscription library.

Unveiled in December 2018, the inscription on the plaque reads that Hargrove “moved his shop from Church Square to this newly built Regent Regent Parade location“.

A Stray Ferret reader, Alex Pemberton, got in touch after spotting the error yesterday. He said:

“I was walking past and saw the plaque and just thought I’d give it a read. I had to read it a few times to check I wasn’t mis-reading it and even got my wife to check it too. I think it should be left as is and the Society should save the money. It adds to the interest of it.”

Plaques are expensive, each normally costs between £500 and £800 to manufacture and install.

At its unveiling, the current owner of the house and founder of Springfield Healthcare stood alongside the Mayor of the time, cllr Bernard Bateman, as he cut the red ribbon.

Harrogate Civic Society’s co-chair Stuart Holland said:

“We hadn’t realised there was a mistake. We’re very grateful for Alex for getting in touch and making us aware. We appreciate him being so observant. The Civic Society will speak to the manufacturer and see if there is a way of correcting the mistake.”

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The Library House is said to have been very popular with tourists in the 19th century and managed to find its way into Sir Walter Scott’s 1823 novel St Ronan’s Wall.

In 1819 the building was bought by William Langdale who continued the subscription business, issuing from September 1820 a ‘Weekly List’ of visitors’ names and their hotels.

This inspired a rival Pickersgill Palliser in 1834 who added a Stage Coach timetable, later expanding in 1836 to the ‘Harrogate Advertiser’.

The library closed in 1857 and was then converted into residential use.

A plaque to commemorate how the people in Harrogate raised funds for Spitfires during the Second World War has been unveiled today.

A government campaign in 1941 asked communities to raise funds to build more Spitfires. The people of Harrogate managed to raise £7,000 in support of the Spitfire campaign and, alongside other communities, was awarded a plaque by the government.

Over time, the plaque deteriorated and was sadly lost. The Harrogate Civic Society, and individual donors, have lead the efforts to fund a replica plaque.

Local historian, Malcolm Neesam, will write for the Stray Ferret tomorrow morning about Harrogate’s contribution to the Spitfire campaign.

The new plaque will be mounted at the Crown Hotel, in Harrogate, on Monday. It was unveiled today by Lord Houghton of Richmond – former Chief of Defence Staff.

The small group invited included MP Andrew Jones, two female war veterans, members of the armed services and donors.

Molly Todd (left) and Sheila Pantin (right) are both veterans from World War Two.

Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, said:

“I think it’s absolutely fantastic that we will have this on the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. It reflects the way the people of Harrogate came together in this moment of national emergency and contributed so much money to help the war effort. It has been a powerful and fascinating unveiling of this plaque and I look forward to to seeing it go up into location on Monday.”

Read more:

• Local historian, Malcolm Neesam, writes about the harsh realities for Harrogate residents during the war.
• Services were held across the district to commemorate VJ Day. 

Stuart Holland, Co Vice Chair of the Harrogate Civic Society, said:

“The civic society are really proud to have been given the opportunity to have a new plaque I’m quite moved by the response of the donors, people have been so generous in putting the money forward. The Civic Society now have been responsible for 86 plaques in the town now. We are working towards bringing together the masses of information about the town onto our website, before we lose it.”