Archaeological & Historical Background

Neolithic, Bronze Age and Roman artifacts have been found near the study area, although not within it, so we cannot rule out occupation or use by these peoples, but no evidence has been found. In a drought year Bill Williams however believed that he saw the images of hut circles on the viaduct field

We do know however that Bilton was mentioned in a Northumbrian ecclesiastical document dated 972 and again in the Domesday survey of 1086.

During the medieval period the township of Bilton with Harrogate existed within the Forest of Knaresborough which was likely to have been created during the late eleventh or twelfth century

The fourteenth century brought Scottish raiders, cattle death and The Plague, the textile industry began to grow in importance and various cottage industries sprung up. from the late sixteenth century mineral springs were discovered whilst the seventeenth century Bilton witnessed religious turmoil and the rapid expansion of the linen industry.

In the eighteenth century the industrial revolution arrived, Turnpike Trusts were formed and the Forest of Knaresborough was enclosed whilst in 1793 the first Bilton Endowed School was opened. the next century saw the coming of the railways. the twentieth century saw urban Harrogate spill over into Bilton and the arrival of today's modern Bilton.