Mother Shipton is believed to have been an actual person that lived in York and Knaresborough. She is also alleged to have had precognition abilities; she could predict events with great accuracy. Her name was probably Ursula Sondyall.

The legend has it that through her prophecies she predicted the Spanish Armada, the Great Fire of London and even the plague that wiped out approximately 68,000 people in London. During the witch hunt mania in the 17^th century, she became the most famous witch because of her powers.

Drawings of her were published and distributed all over the country and they established the image of the witch being hideous, terrifying old evil women. Her image gave a stereotype for what a witch looks like and that she has to be hunted for that.

What contributed if not established this opinion for Mother, was that she predicted that a powerful cardinal will never manage to reach the city of York, in an attempt to reclaim his authority, since London took it away, so he tried going to other cities like York in 1529. But Mother had predicted that he will never make it to the city. Thus, she made the cardinal angry, as she was embarrassing him, so the accusation of her witchcraft was a good way to undermine the credibility of her predictions..

Although her prophesy was fulfilled, as the cardinal never reached York , because of bandit and after that, his  death she did not enjoy positive fame, rather she was prosecuted many times from 1700 till 1736 when the law of accusing whoever you wanted for witchcraft got repealed.  After that, she returned to her previous status as a respected prophet.

So if you wish to visit places related to Mother, like theme parks and water hole caves dedicated to her, the car rental companies for you to get around are Europcar, Car Hire UK, Easy Car, Thrifty, Auto Europe

Leeds derives its name from the ancient forested area of the Celtic kingdom of Elmet, called Loidis. There are not clear evidence or references that indicate a settlement of the Romans and Anglo-Saxons. The first recorded reference is from a Latin historian named Bede, who speaks in his ‘Historia ecclesiastica’ of an altar located in a region called Loidis, approximately year 730 AD.

Leeds is believed by historians that developed into an agricultural domain during the Norman Conquest period. It was divided into 7 manors, inhabited by the same number of thanes. For 400 years after the Norman invasion in England, Leeds was growing at a very slow pace. The glory of the region was put in the strategic city of Pontefract. Leeds was not either a commercial trade point

There is no mention of an education system, not until 1552, when a priest called William Sheafield left his property in the town in order for a school to be established, where a school- master will teach, as long as the citizens of Leeds set his wage at 10 pounds per year and find a suitable building for the school. This is actually the origin of the Leeds Grammar School, which expanded by the end of the 16^th century to be an institution of huge importance and contribution

Leeds began to grow vastly during the Industrial Revolution, comparing to the pre Industrial era growth. Railways and factories producing woolen cloth, cotton, machinery and tools, steam engines and gears and other industries based on chemicals, textiles, leather and pottery, along with the extraction of coal led the government of England to promote Leeds and  grant it city status.

If you want to visit the city of Leeds, the car and van rentals are Leeds Car Rentals, Yellohire and TJS Selfdrive.

Leeds is the biggest city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the fastest growing city in the UK according to the British National Statistics Bureau. Its economy is mostly based around the service sector and is considered the second most important city when it comes to business, legal and financial services after the capital London.

Economic Development

Traditionally Leeds built its economic base on trading and manufacturing businesses. It recent decades those have been overtaken by the service sector, retail, offices and media businesses.

Modern Leeds city line is dominated by skyscrapers with more than 15 skyscrapers above 80 meters in construction now. Till recently the tallest building in the city was the West Riding House but will soon be overtaken by the 171-meter Lumiere building planned to be finished by 2012.

Financial Sector

More than 250,000 are currently employed in this sphere. The region has an output of more than 13 billion pounds based in this business area alone. The majority of the financially related companies are situated in the old business quarters in the city center as well as the newly developed South bank of the river.

The diversity of the industry base proved a very good hedge against business uncertainties. The city has gone through the previous industrial decline well and experienced a very good growth of the financial sector- more specifically in the accounting, legal, consultancy, banking, insurance and recruitment sectors.

The recent financial crisis has had its impact on the sector with around 30 thousand people losing their jobs in finance alone. The local government and big business are confident however that the city will soon manage to go back to its previous state.

Very good places to find a good price for car and van rentals when it comes to Leeds are Leeds Car Rentals, Yellohire and TJS Selfdrive.

Salford Van Hire offers a wide range of options; small vans including Combo type van, Transit type van with short wheel base and long wheel base, 3.5 tonne GVW Luton box van and GVW tail lift Luton, 7.5 tonne GVW Box, Tail lift and Curtain sided trucks.

Leeds Car Rentals offers Van Hire Leeds the solution to whatever the reason for hiring a van; Moving House, Moving Office, Motorcycle Track Days, Waste Disposal, Business Users, such as Builders, Plumbers, Electricians, Gardeners etc or just One Off Events.

Thrifty Car & Van Rental offers three options; Short Wheel Base Van, Extra Long Wheel Base Van and Luton with Tail Lift. Most vehicles are air conditioned though it is not guaranteed. Some vehicles have interior wheel arches or tapered body shape and please make actual measurements of the items being transported to select a van. Reservations are made by vehicle group and subject to availability.

My Local Van Hire offers direct links to easyVan, National Van Rental, Sixt, Europcar 4 Vans and Van Hire 3000. Each of these van hire companies is highly reputable and offers a wide choice of rental vans throughout the UK.

Leeds Commercial Ltd offers Car / Car Derived Van, Van up to 3.5T Rental, 7.5T Truck Rental and 17T Truck Rental.

Yellohire offers low cost van hire across the UK from over 450 locations; from a small box van to a large long wheel base, they even offer a one way van hire service throughout Great Britain.

Van Hire 3000 has vans from Small Van, The Transit with the Short Wheel Base panel, long wheel base van with higher roof, and the Transit 350 Luton with Tail Lift.

TJS Self Drive has to offer VW Caddy small van, the Ford Transit SWB, the Ford Transit LWB, the Ford Transit Jumbo and the Ford Transit Luton T/L.