·         During the reign of King John, the castle at Knaresborough was a royal arsenal for the manufacture of "quarrels" – the missiles fired from crossbows. The phrase "to pick a quarrel" derives from the crossbow-man's choosing the best weapon to shoot against a particular target.

·         In the churchyard of Ripley's parish church is what is claimed to be the only weeping cross in Yorkshire; around the base are eight niches in which sinners may kneel, repent and seek forgiveness.

·         In 1980, during an archaeological excavation on Scarborough Castle's headland, a Bronze Age sword was found. The sword is about 3,000 years old, and is particularly interesting as it was found almost perfectly preserved, not broken into fragments for ritual purposes as most finds have appeared to be. The sword can now be seen at the visitor centre at Scarborough Castle.

·         In AD306 Constantine I was hailed as the Roman emperor by his troops in York, the only Roman emperor to be proclaimed in Britain. He became known as Constantine the Great because he was the emperor responsible for the official acceptance of Christianity in the Roman Empire, in AD313. A modern statue of Constantine can be seen outside York Minster, but it is interesting to compare this with a marble head of the emperor which was sculpted in Roman times, which was found in Stonegate in York and can be seen in the Yorkshire Museum in the city.

·         The highwayman Dick Turpin was arrested and tried in York in 1739. He spent his final days in the condemned cell of York's prison, and was hanged at the gallows at Tyburn, on the Tadcaster Road. Turpin's grave may be seen in St George's churchyard in York.

·         The seaside resort of Robin Hood's Bay is now half the size of the original village – in 1780 the centre section of the village slid into the sea, taking with it 22 cottages.

·         An old folklore belief in the Leeds area was that the souls of babies who died before they were baptised would return to haunt their parents, in the shape of devil dogs known as Gabble Retchets.