Yorkshire Day
When is Yorkshire Day?
Yorkshire Day is celebrated on 1st August each year.
What is Yorkshire Day?
Yorkshire Day is a celebration of food, traditions and pride in the county … in short it’s a celebration of everything that’s special about Yorkshire.
Festivities take place throughout the whole county but each year a different town is chosen to be the Yorkshire Day host and the focal point of celebrations. All of Yorkshire’s mayors and civic dignitaries gather in the host town where they dress in full ceremonial regalia for a grand parade through the streets. The Yorkshire Day flag is presented to the town council and their coat of arms is added to the flag to record their year as host.
Across the county whole communities take part in street festivals, fun activities and local history events. Traditional foods are celebrated with an abundance of Yorkshire cheese, ham, parkin and other delicious treats on sale at food halls and markets. There’s even a challenge to come up with the best, most innovative Yorkshire pudding creation.
In the City of York, reading the Declaration of Integrity is an important part of the celebration. It is read four times: once within the city walls and once in each of the Yorkshire Ridings which adjoin the ancient walls and are reached through three different gateways. The Declaration confirms that all people born or resident in (and loyal to) these four areas are Yorkshire men and women.
Why is Yorkshire Day on 1st August?
The date of 1st August was chosen as it was already significant in Yorkshire as a military holiday known as Minden Day and celebrated by the Light Infantry, successor to the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. The holiday marked the Battle of Minden which took place in Prussia on 1st August 1759 and was a great victory for the Anglo-German army.
The date is also appropriate as it is the anniversary of the day on which Yorkshireman William Wilberforce’s tireless campaigning finally achieved its goal: on 1st August 1834 the Slavery Abolition Act came into force and slavery was officially abolished.
When was Yorkshire Day first celebrated?
Yorkshire Day was first celebrated in 1975 as a reaction against local government reforms which led local people to believe that their county boundary might be altered. It began as an expression of pride in the county and in its early years it simply involved the reading of the Declaration of Integrity as a defiant reminder to politicians in Westminster that all people born in or living within the historic boundaries of the City of York and the North Riding, South Riding and East Riding are Yorkshire men and women.
Interesting facts about Yorkshire Day
- Despite many people’s belief that Yorkshire’s county boundary was changed in 1974, this is not true. The Local Government Reform of 1974 only rearranged the administrative areas and did not change any county boundaries. Whilst some parts of Yorkshire were transferred to Cumbria, Durham or Lancashire for administrative purposes, the actual county boundary was never altered.
- On the military holiday of Minden Day on 1st August, soldiers were allowed to wear a red or white rose in their headdress. Members of the Light Infantry always wore a white rose.
- A Yorkshire Day trip on the North York Moors Railway’s Pullman Dining Train combines three ‘bests’ of Yorkshire: its steam train heritage; its moorland landscape and a feast of its delicious food and drink.
