What you are seeing on the live webcam

Thirsk Christmas lights – see the THIRSK BLOG.

The view is from the Tourist Information Centre in the middle of a large medieval, mainly cobbled, market square.

You will see the open-air market each Monday and Saturday. A market has been held in Thirsk since the twelfth century and from 1293 until now it has been held on a Monday. Thirsk was the home of James Herriot (real name Alf Wight) who wrote ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ and other stories about his life as a country vet.

The hotel in the background to the left has been an inn since Tudor times and is one of the oldest coaching Inns in England, serving travellers for nearly four hundred years. By 1823 seven coaches a day came and the hotel kept fifty or sixty horses to work them – you can see the entrance to where the stables used to be behind the hotel. Newcastle to London and Edinburgh to London vehicles called here.

On the right is the Clock Tower. An ancient market cross stood there until, somewhat broken, it was replaced in 1896 by the clock tower. It was built to commemorate the marriage of the Duke of York, later King George V, to Princess May of Teck, the future Queen Mary, the present Queen Elizabeth II's grandparents.

CLICK to see what’s happening in and around Thirsk in the coming days and weeks.