04-19-2020, 10:54 AM
Geography and Town Description
Geography and Natural Resources
Whitby is situated on the East coast of Yorkshire, England. Interestingly, because of the shape of the coastline, its harbour faces north. It is surrounded by the North Yorkshire Moors, a large, hilly area with rough moorland, woods, some cultivated land and small villages and hamlets. The nearest larger cities are Middlesbrough in the north-west, York, south-west across the moors, and Scarborough to the south, all situated beyond the moors. Because of its isolated location and the poor infrastructure across the moors, the easiest way of getting to Whitby before the coming of the railway was by sea.
Whitby is built around a natural harbour between two cliffs, where the river Esk meets the North Sea. Since it is the only harbour between the river Tees (Middlesbrough) in the north, and the Humber (Hull) in the south, it has always been an important port for any ship passing by. Ships carrying coal from Newcastle to London have often found temporary shelter from rough seas in Whitby’s harbour, giving one of the beaches in the harbour the name ‘Collier hope’.
Though Whitby’s harbour provides this rare shelter on the inaccessible Yorkshire coast, and though it is historically one of the most important ports in England, the coastline here is still treacherous. Directly east of the harbour we find an area of shale known as the Scaur (or Scar), stretching far along the coast and running treacherously far into sea, as countless seamen have discovered to their doom. When the tide is out, one may still find old wrecks along the Scaur (take a look at the site's banner!), especially further along the coast around Saltwick Nab.
As a result of its geological history, the Whitby area holds several natural treasures. Yorkshire was once a prehistorical tropical sea and at another point a prehistorical tropical forest. The Scaur is a great place to find ammonites and other fossilized sea creatures. Even fossilized dinosaur, horse, and human bones have been discovered in the shale! Jet, the pressed and fossilized remains of the monkey puzzle tree, is widely found in the cliffs and moors as well. This black gemstone has been used to make jewellery since before Roman times, but became particularly popular from the middle of the nineteenth century on and became one of Whitby’s main industries. In the seventeenth century, alum was discovered in the Whitby area. Alum was used in the tanning and cloth dying industry, and mining and processing alum became another big industry, until the mid-nineteenth century, when new dying techniques caused a decrease in the demand. All alum works in the vicinity have been closed since the 1870’s, but the landscape around Whitby still bears the marks: old mineshafts, abandoned pits and channels, and heaps of waste product can be found near Sandsend, Saltwick Bay and other places in the area. Coal has been mined on the moors, and ironstone is still being mined there at this time (1895), and these too have left scars on the landscape. Some of the villages on the moors began as, or still are, mining communities.
The Town
Now let us look at the town itself. To get a rough idea of the town’s geography, you can find a map from around this time here. The town is divided into an east part and a west part, connected by a swing bridge. The children of the town might well meet on the bridge for their occasional fights between eastsiders and westsiders. The river Esk is tidal for the whole Whitby area. The area from the bridge to the sea is known as the lower harbour. There are two landing piers in the lower harbour and a quay. Two piers at the end of the river protect the harbour and the town against heavy tides, but even so floods are not uncommon, especially in winter. The swing bridge allows for a 45 ft opening to the upper harbour. The upper harbour has several landing docks as well, but is also the traditional site of ship building and ship repair. Whitby was once the second ship building port in England. However, the harbour is small and the relatively narrow opening of the bridge does not allow larger vessels to pass through. When iron and steel replaced wood, and steam replaced sail, ships rapidly increased in size. Whitby could hardly compete with the larger ship building ports. Today (1895), only one shipbuilding yard remains in Whitby’s upper harbour.
No doubt, Whitby’s most significant landmark is the Abbey, which towers high above the town on the East cliff. It was abandoned when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and it fell into ruins over the following centuries. Nevertheless, the abbey is still a favourite destination for tourist, painter and photographer alike. Also on the Abbey plain, we find St. Martha’s church and its graveyard, which features in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”. A flight of 199 steps leads down into town. Church Street, running parallel to the river, is the main street on the east side, and probably the oldest street in Whitby. The Market is also found on the east side of town. Henrietta street clings to the cliff under St. Martha’s. It used to be much longer, but several landslides destroyed the farthest end of it.
On the west side of town, one finds two railway stations, the Central Station near the harbour, and the West Cliff Station, on the cliff, beyond the edge of our map. The area just in front of the Central Station, around Baxtergate and Flowergate, and the part alongside the river, underneath the cliff, are the older parts on this side of the river. Further to the west, on Bagdale and St. Hilda’s Terrace (still Flowergate on the map) are some stately Georgian houses, built in the late eighteenth century when the wealthier members of the community moved away from the harbour into the suburbs. South of the Central Station, new rows of terraced houses have been built during the second half of the 19th century, to serve as middle class homes, boarding houses, and better working class homes. When the railway came to Whitby in the 1830’s, the area on top of the West Cliff was bought and developed in one grand scheme to provide hotels and boarding houses for the expected influx of tourists. Alas, only half of what was planned was finished before the developer went bankrupt. This area, with its orderly, well-planned streets and stately houses, stands in stark contrast with the ‘old town’. Almost all the buildings here are hotels and boarding houses. The East terrace offers a magnificent view of the town and sea below. The Spa Pavilion is located on the north side of this area, on the slope between the Promenade, on the cliff, and the beach below.
In the older parts of Whitby, many yards are tucked away behind the houses facing the streets. Originally, many of the houses had plots behind them. When the population of the town grew during the 18th and 19th century, these were filled in with tons of cottages and tenements, stacked next to and on top of each other. These yards and their small dwellings are the home of many of Whitby’s poor people. Some yards run down to the river and are locally known as ‘ghauts’. Others lead up to the cliff, its houses clinging precariously to the cliff side. Some lead to other yards and lanes, providing a network of shortcuts for those who know the town well.
Below the East Cliff, on the seafront, we find the Scaur. Though it might not be a good area for traditional beach enjoyment, tourists may still visit this area to go fossil hunting. More often, fisher women and girls may be encountered here looking for driftwood, seaweed and limpets for the fishing lines. On the other side of the Esk, below the West Cliff, lies a sandy beach, accessible when the tide is out. In the summer, one may encounter many a tourist here, as well as those offering beach entertainment such as donkey rides and Punch and Judy Shows. Some ladies might make use of machines to bathe ‘modestly’. Here too one will encounter local women and children gathering driftwood, seaweed, limpets and limestone.
Old Whitby Photographs
If you would like to get a better impression of the town, why not take a look at the photographs by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe (some of which have already been linked to above). Sutcliffe was a local photographer who took many pictures of Whitby in the late 19th century. The online gallery can be found here.
This document is written by Jack.
Geography and Natural Resources
Whitby is situated on the East coast of Yorkshire, England. Interestingly, because of the shape of the coastline, its harbour faces north. It is surrounded by the North Yorkshire Moors, a large, hilly area with rough moorland, woods, some cultivated land and small villages and hamlets. The nearest larger cities are Middlesbrough in the north-west, York, south-west across the moors, and Scarborough to the south, all situated beyond the moors. Because of its isolated location and the poor infrastructure across the moors, the easiest way of getting to Whitby before the coming of the railway was by sea.
Whitby is built around a natural harbour between two cliffs, where the river Esk meets the North Sea. Since it is the only harbour between the river Tees (Middlesbrough) in the north, and the Humber (Hull) in the south, it has always been an important port for any ship passing by. Ships carrying coal from Newcastle to London have often found temporary shelter from rough seas in Whitby’s harbour, giving one of the beaches in the harbour the name ‘Collier hope’.
Though Whitby’s harbour provides this rare shelter on the inaccessible Yorkshire coast, and though it is historically one of the most important ports in England, the coastline here is still treacherous. Directly east of the harbour we find an area of shale known as the Scaur (or Scar), stretching far along the coast and running treacherously far into sea, as countless seamen have discovered to their doom. When the tide is out, one may still find old wrecks along the Scaur (take a look at the site's banner!), especially further along the coast around Saltwick Nab.
As a result of its geological history, the Whitby area holds several natural treasures. Yorkshire was once a prehistorical tropical sea and at another point a prehistorical tropical forest. The Scaur is a great place to find ammonites and other fossilized sea creatures. Even fossilized dinosaur, horse, and human bones have been discovered in the shale! Jet, the pressed and fossilized remains of the monkey puzzle tree, is widely found in the cliffs and moors as well. This black gemstone has been used to make jewellery since before Roman times, but became particularly popular from the middle of the nineteenth century on and became one of Whitby’s main industries. In the seventeenth century, alum was discovered in the Whitby area. Alum was used in the tanning and cloth dying industry, and mining and processing alum became another big industry, until the mid-nineteenth century, when new dying techniques caused a decrease in the demand. All alum works in the vicinity have been closed since the 1870’s, but the landscape around Whitby still bears the marks: old mineshafts, abandoned pits and channels, and heaps of waste product can be found near Sandsend, Saltwick Bay and other places in the area. Coal has been mined on the moors, and ironstone is still being mined there at this time (1895), and these too have left scars on the landscape. Some of the villages on the moors began as, or still are, mining communities.
The Town
Now let us look at the town itself. To get a rough idea of the town’s geography, you can find a map from around this time here. The town is divided into an east part and a west part, connected by a swing bridge. The children of the town might well meet on the bridge for their occasional fights between eastsiders and westsiders. The river Esk is tidal for the whole Whitby area. The area from the bridge to the sea is known as the lower harbour. There are two landing piers in the lower harbour and a quay. Two piers at the end of the river protect the harbour and the town against heavy tides, but even so floods are not uncommon, especially in winter. The swing bridge allows for a 45 ft opening to the upper harbour. The upper harbour has several landing docks as well, but is also the traditional site of ship building and ship repair. Whitby was once the second ship building port in England. However, the harbour is small and the relatively narrow opening of the bridge does not allow larger vessels to pass through. When iron and steel replaced wood, and steam replaced sail, ships rapidly increased in size. Whitby could hardly compete with the larger ship building ports. Today (1895), only one shipbuilding yard remains in Whitby’s upper harbour.
No doubt, Whitby’s most significant landmark is the Abbey, which towers high above the town on the East cliff. It was abandoned when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and it fell into ruins over the following centuries. Nevertheless, the abbey is still a favourite destination for tourist, painter and photographer alike. Also on the Abbey plain, we find St. Martha’s church and its graveyard, which features in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”. A flight of 199 steps leads down into town. Church Street, running parallel to the river, is the main street on the east side, and probably the oldest street in Whitby. The Market is also found on the east side of town. Henrietta street clings to the cliff under St. Martha’s. It used to be much longer, but several landslides destroyed the farthest end of it.
On the west side of town, one finds two railway stations, the Central Station near the harbour, and the West Cliff Station, on the cliff, beyond the edge of our map. The area just in front of the Central Station, around Baxtergate and Flowergate, and the part alongside the river, underneath the cliff, are the older parts on this side of the river. Further to the west, on Bagdale and St. Hilda’s Terrace (still Flowergate on the map) are some stately Georgian houses, built in the late eighteenth century when the wealthier members of the community moved away from the harbour into the suburbs. South of the Central Station, new rows of terraced houses have been built during the second half of the 19th century, to serve as middle class homes, boarding houses, and better working class homes. When the railway came to Whitby in the 1830’s, the area on top of the West Cliff was bought and developed in one grand scheme to provide hotels and boarding houses for the expected influx of tourists. Alas, only half of what was planned was finished before the developer went bankrupt. This area, with its orderly, well-planned streets and stately houses, stands in stark contrast with the ‘old town’. Almost all the buildings here are hotels and boarding houses. The East terrace offers a magnificent view of the town and sea below. The Spa Pavilion is located on the north side of this area, on the slope between the Promenade, on the cliff, and the beach below.
In the older parts of Whitby, many yards are tucked away behind the houses facing the streets. Originally, many of the houses had plots behind them. When the population of the town grew during the 18th and 19th century, these were filled in with tons of cottages and tenements, stacked next to and on top of each other. These yards and their small dwellings are the home of many of Whitby’s poor people. Some yards run down to the river and are locally known as ‘ghauts’. Others lead up to the cliff, its houses clinging precariously to the cliff side. Some lead to other yards and lanes, providing a network of shortcuts for those who know the town well.
Below the East Cliff, on the seafront, we find the Scaur. Though it might not be a good area for traditional beach enjoyment, tourists may still visit this area to go fossil hunting. More often, fisher women and girls may be encountered here looking for driftwood, seaweed and limpets for the fishing lines. On the other side of the Esk, below the West Cliff, lies a sandy beach, accessible when the tide is out. In the summer, one may encounter many a tourist here, as well as those offering beach entertainment such as donkey rides and Punch and Judy Shows. Some ladies might make use of machines to bathe ‘modestly’. Here too one will encounter local women and children gathering driftwood, seaweed, limpets and limestone.
Old Whitby Photographs
If you would like to get a better impression of the town, why not take a look at the photographs by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe (some of which have already been linked to above). Sutcliffe was a local photographer who took many pictures of Whitby in the late 19th century. The online gallery can be found here.
This document is written by Jack.
