IS Harrogate in Yorkshire? - Yes. Is Sedbergh in Yorkshire? - Yes.

Is Sedbergh in Yorkshire? – No. Is Harrogate in Yorkshire? – No.

This is a little catechism I devised some time ago. The first line relates to the county of Yorkshire, the second to the administrative areas created by the 1972 Local Government Act.

The act made no reference to the geographical counties. The Conservative local government minister at the time and his Labour successor both said, when asked, that the counties continued to exist.

The fact that no mention was made in the act was no doubt influenced by cynical too clever by half civil servants. They realised that if the act contained a clause abolishing the counties there would have been a public outcry. Better to keep quiet and let the matter wither on the vine. How right they were!

Several times in recent weeks reference has been made to Ingleborough as Yorkshire’s second highest mountain. It is not, it is third behind Mickle Fell and Whernside. It is the second highest in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, in the administrative area of North Yorkshire and in the West Riding (anyone remember).

So, reporters at the Craven Herald, please use your computer correction keys to good effect.

Bernard Peel

Cross Hills