Whitby, a town of no small commercial importance, owes its origin to a famous abbey founded here in the year 650, by Oswy, King of Northumberland. The original Saxon name of Whitby, was Streanshall. This place, with its abbey, was so completely destroyed by the Danes in 867, that its very name was lost in the ruins, and the place remained desolate till nearly the time of the Norman Conquest, when a few huts being erected, it took the name of Presteby. Its present name some derive from the original white houses, which being seen from sea, occasioned its being called White Bay, or Whitby.

Even in 1540, this town did not contain above 200 inhabitants, and about forty houses. The degrees by which Whitby rose to its high commercial importance, would occupy too much space in their detail for this work: the building of the piers, however, have been highly instrumental in increasing its consequence as a sea-port. Batteries being erected on both these works, form a complete line of defence to the town and harbour during war time, against the privateers and ships of war of an enemy. Whitby is extremely cold, and the coast often stormy, like Scarborough; not with standing these temporary inconveniences, the climate is uncommonly healthy. This town stands on two opposite declivities on the banks of the river Esk, which forms the harbour. From the number of docks, the business of ship-building has been very brisk. Whitby is very closely and irregularly built, though the houses of the opulent are spacious and elegant. Most of the streets are narrow, and here are no public buildings worthy of notice. The Town- hall, erected by the late Mr. Cholmley, is a heavy pile of the Tuscan order; but the Poor-house is on an extensive plan, and being judiciously managed, is a comfortable asylum for the distressed. The parish church, seated near the top of a hill, is approached from the bottom of the vale by an ascent of 190 stone steps. Near the door of the vestry is a superb monument erected in 1772, over the grave of General Lascelles, who was a native of Whitby. A spacious chapel of ease has been erected in the lower part of the town, for the convenience of the inhabitants; besides which, there are three others in the country places belonging to the parish; one of these, at Sleights, is remarkably elegant; Dissenters of various denominations have also their different places of worship. Whitby Abbey was founded by Oswy, about the year 655. At the Dissolution, the site of the abbey and its lands came into the possession of Sir Richard Cholmley, a descendant from the Cholmondeleys of Cheshire. Of Whitby Abbey nothing remains but the ruins of the church, which appear upon a commanding situation on a high cliff on the east side of the town, which it overlooks, with the river Esk, and a beautiful country, the elevations of which, crowned with the elegant mansions of the opulent, greatly embellish the scenery. The eastern half of the town is the longest, being three quarters of a mile in length; but its breadth is very inconsiderable. Church-street constitutes the principal part of this half of Whitby, being upwards of half a mile long. In the north part it is extremely crowded, as numbers of populous yards climb the steep bank behind, on the sides of which houses are seen perched on situations almost inaccessible. To these the ascent is by flights of stone steps, often very steep, and sometimes running in a zig-zag direction. On the opposite side of the street the yards have a descent towards the water. One remarkable opening unoccupied, forming a sloping square, is called Boulby-bank. To the south of these is Ripley’s-buildings, erected by the late Mr. John Ripley. Another opening a little further south, has been filled by Mr. Gideon Smales, with handsomer buildings, rising in parallel ranges one above another. The new row of houses near the termination of this street, is properly named Prospect-row. The other streets on this side the Esk occupy but little ground; those that lie between Church-street and the harbour are all small and crowded.

The western division of Whitby is the largest and the most elegant. The low part of the town follows the course of the river upward till it approaches Bagdale-beck. Flowergate, Skinner-street, and the New- buildings, with the quay or front street of the crag, are spacious and convenient. Bagdale, in fine, may be numbered among the new streets; the north side is wholly new, and the houses, with small neat gardens in front, are finished in a style of superior elegance; but Skinner-street is the most regular in the town.

But though building with brick has generally prevailed for fifty or sixty years past, within a short period, stone has again begun to have the preference. The most handsome stone house is that of John Campion Coates, esq. built after the plan of the Mansion-house in London. Field-house, the seat of Christopher Richardson, esq. recently rebuilt, is also a stately residence with a stone front, finished in the best style of architecture.

Very interesting views of Whitby may be taken from the Larpool road: from that point the New- buildings are seen to most advantage, while venerable structures that crown the eastern cliff are also in full view. The prospect is nearly as complete from Airy-hill, Meadow-field, and the vicinity; but probably the most romantic view of the town, is that from the woody banks of the Esk, beyond Boghall, or from the middle of the river, in sailing down the Ruswarp.

The approach by Bagdale, though more confined, is also highly interesting: near the Friends’ burying-ground it is worth the traveller’s while to halt and enjoy the picturesque scenery before him. On the left, half concealed by trees, a portion of the New-buildings are highly elevated, with sloping gardens before them; whilst those on the opposite side, with Bagdale-water in front, exhibit a pleasing contrast. Beyond and above all, is the ancient mansion of the Cholmleys, the north front of which is about fifty yards in extent. Cholmley-hall was erected by Sir Hugh Cholmley in the time of Charles II.

There is usually more business done in the shops at fairs, and on market-days, than in the market, not because the country people then supply themselves with groceries, draperies, &c. but because Saturday is the grand day of purchase for the town itself, as the workmen are usually paid on a Friday night. Whitby is furnished with no less than 48 inns, coffee-houses, and public-houses. The principal inns are the Angel, the Golden Lion, and the White Horse. What is extraordinary in this large town is, that in 1816 there was only one resident Jew.

The Post-office is in the Old Market-place: the post comes in every morning about nine or ten o’clock, and goes out every day at one.

Two different courts belong to the manor of Whitby: the Court Leet, and the Court of Pleas, and Court Baron. Whitby contains nine places of worship belonging to seven different sects; among these are one for the Friends, and one for the Catholics. Whitby church is not yet furnished with an organ; but though crowded with galleries, is scarcely sufficient to contain the congregation.

The new quay is furnished with commodious stairs for going down into the harbour, on both sides of which there are openings at various places, termed ghauts or gauts, perhaps simply a contraction for go out. Some of these are wide enough to allow waggons to go down to the ships. Whitby-bridge was completely rebuilt on stone pillars in 1768, when it assumed the form it now wears.

The population of Whitby is stated by the ingenious and indefatigable Mr. George Young, in his History of Whitby published in 1817, at 10, 203, who noticed in one family twelve brothers all seamen; a circumstance perhaps without a parallel. Hitherto Whitby has been almost without lamps; but the cheapness of gas and its superior utility, it is hoped, will soon remedy all the complaints occasioned by darkness.

Among the benevolent institutions here, is the Seamen’s Hospital, which affords a comfortable asylum to 42 widows, besides children. The Dispensary was opened in 1806; the Female Charity in 1808; and the Charity for clothing the Aged Female Poor, about the end of 1814, not to mention the Clubs or Benefit Societies, Sunday Schools, Bible Societies, &c.

The present theatre in Scate-lane belongs to a number of subscribers. Sometimes this house, when well filled, will hold about 500 persons. Balls and assemblies are not frequent. To a public library and the news room, may be added the botanical garden, as a source of innocent and rational instruction. But the sale of fruit and sweetmeats on a Sunday, is brought forward as a deviation from the precepts of religion.

Besides the new streets which have been added to Whitby since 1817, a splendid house has been erected by Edward Chapman, esq. in the vacant space in the middle of the New-buildings. Three elegant houses have been added to Bagdale, by Mr. Michael Teasdale, and a very handsome house, Clairmont-lodge, has been built at High Stakesby, by the Rev. J. T. Holloway, A. M. who receives a limited number of pupils. All these buildings are of stone.

The guns belonging to the batteries have been dismounted since the year 1816, and laid up in the storehouse.

R. Campion, esq. has constructed a large dry-dock in the Ship-yard beyond Spital-bridge, in digging of which several oak trees were discovered at a great depth from the surface; one of them measured above 20 feet long, and 2 feet in diameter. A most interesting crocodile’s head, having the two sockets for the eyes very distinct, has also been found near Whitby, and is now in possession of Thomas Hinderwell, esq. of Scarborough.

Whitby is noted for the great quantity of rocks close to the town, called the Ammonitae, or Snake Stones, which are found in the scar or scair, between high and low water-mark.

This scar or rock is formed by a stratum of alumine, nearly level with the surface of the ocean. The snakes are of two sorts, round bodied, fluted or inflated, or flat bodied, ridged on the backs, and pitted on the sides. The former are most numerous and beautiful. The spiral convolutions are from one to six or seven inches in diameter. The bivalves, trochisae, and petrified wood, are also found in great abundance. The wood before it acquires hardness by drying, will burn freely with a bright flame. Dr. Woodward dug up a petrified human arm. In the year 1743, a complete human skeleton was found; in 1758, that of a crocodile; in 1762, that of a horn, and about the same time a live road. About the year 1750, a complete ossification of part of a human skeleton, consisting of three ribs, with the flesh between and within them, was taken up by a gentleman bathing in the sea on the north side of the pier.

The foot of these cliffs or scars is washed by the waves at high water, and the sea retires at low water, leaving a dry shore of considerable breadth.

The shore here is a hard, smooth, flat rock, called by the inhabitants the scar; and this is, in a manner, overspread with loose, ragged stones, scattered about in great disorder and confusion.

As fishing was the original employment of the inhabitants of this place, so there is abundance of fish caught, and exclusive of what is cured, the pannier men dispose of great quantities of fresh fish through all the places round about, to near 100 miles distance.

The coasting-trade of Whitby, in time of peace, has been very large; the exports are butter, fish, hams, tallow, alum, &c. About 6000 barrels of this butter come yearly to London, and 500 barrels of fish to the same market. On the other hand they import 1000 ton of lime from Scarborough, and many thousand chaldron of coals for the use of the alum works, &c. besides a multitude of useful commodities from thence; sending thither usually between 40 and 50 vessels a year.

They have, in common with the rest of the ports upon the coasts, a considerable share in the coal trade; and in time of war are generally much engaged in letting out their shipping for the transport service.

What they import chiefly are rice, salt, iron, timber, hemp, pitch, tar, turpentine, and other bulky commodities for their ship-building.

Exclusive of private agreements among merchants, and owners of ships, they have three insurance companies, to indemnify each other from losses, by sea, fire, or war; which have excellent effects, and keep up a spirit of industry and enterprise, by securing individuals from the consequence of hazardous speculations; which is a point of great importance to a place like this, and contributes to the raising many competent fortunes, instead of a very few large ones.

The following melancholy event took place in December, 1787. The eastern extremity of the town is situated on a strata of alum-rock and free-stone, covered with a loose soil, that hath gradually accumulated to the depth of fourteen feet, by lapses in wet seasons from an high and steep cliff, running parallel to, and at a small distance from, the edge of the precipice next the sea. This had imperceptibly formed an esplanade, 300 yards long, and 80 in breadth; on which, in the year 1761, the foundations of a regular street were laid. The buildings rapidly increased to the number of 130, containing above 1000 inhabitants. On the north-east point of this plain, stood a three gun battery, part of which in 1785 sliding into the sea, the cannon were removed; at the same time, a narrow deep chasm of considerable length was observed to run behind the houses, on a line with the base of the high cliff. Into this aperture, the rain water entering to co-operate with innumerable quick springs below, the seeds of destruction, although slightly observed, were diffusely sown, and prepared those, not so sanguine in their hopes as the poor people interested, to expect such a terrible catastrophe as happened on the 24th of December.

At midnight, a strong new built quay, supporting a pile of buildings, 80 feet above the margin of the sea, unable to sustain the pressure of the earth above, menaced approaching danger. The people had hardly time to escape with their clothes, before it bowed and fell with a thundering crash, followed by large masses of earth intermixed with stones of three to six tons in weight. Five houses more shared the same fate, torn from others which were left impending in different inclinations over the tremendous precipice. Next morning presented a most affecting scene; buildings parting from their adjoining ones, forming rents from their roofs to the foundations several feet wide; others partly gone, leaving their unsupported walls and hanging rafters to follow; and, to add to this distress, weighty portions of earth and stones began to descend from the high cliff upon the house situated at its foot. It was now dangerous to advance near, the back buildings were soon buried, and the fronts impelled towards the street, overhanging their bases, and seeming to threaten the acceleration of those on the opposite side over the wasting rock. Upon the high cliff about thirty yards from its extremity, stands the massy old church, founded eleven hundred years since, by one of the Northumbrian kings; this venerable pile appeared in imminent danger, as the ground was observed to sink at ten yards distance from its tower. Had this part of the church-yard given way, a body of earth, whose surface contained above two acres, must inevitably have overwhelmed the remaining buildings in Henrietta-street. But this view, although awful, was little, compared with the affecting exclamations of above 200 poor people, who escaped half-naked, with a scanty portion of their goods from the general wreck. The feeling heart will easily imagine how distressing the appearance of numbers of the sick and dying must be, carried by their friends, perhaps, to expire in the first hospitable place that would afford them shelter. One hundred and ninety-six families became destitute, in this inclement season, of house, fire, or food. The doors of the humane were thrown open, and every comfort administered. One person, whose rental amounted to one hundred pounds annually, could not discover the place on which his property stood.

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WHITBY is a seaport, watering place, market and union town, head of a county court district, parish and township, and the terminus of the York, Scarborough and Whitby branch of the North Eastern railway; 247 ¾ miles by rail from London, 56 ¾ north-east from York, 21 north-west from Scarborough, 21 north from Pickering, 35 north from Malton, 53 ½ north-east from Thirsk, 54 ½ from Driffield, 74 ¼ from Hull; and by road 21 miles east from Guisborough, 26 south-east from Redcar, 6 north-west from Robin Hood’s Bay, and 21 south-east from Saltburn-by-the-Sea, in the Whitby division of the North Riding, liberty and petty sessional division of Whitby Strand, rural deanery of Whitby, archdeaconry of Cleveland and diocese of York. Whitby has direct railway communication with the metropolis via Malton and York, the local branch there joining the main line of the North Eastern railway to Selby and Doncaster; the northern coast line from Whitby to Loftus, Saltburn, Redcar and Middlesbrough, begun in May, 1872, was completed in 1883; and there is an inland branch, taking an almost parallel course, via Battersby Junction and Picton to Stockton and Darlington, either branch thus affording immediate connection with the north; the Southern coast line runs from, Whitby to Scarborough, Filey and Bridlington, and thence to Hull. From York communication is readily obtained with the manufacturing districts, the Midlands and the south-west.

The river Esk divides the town into two parts; the larger division being on the west bank of the river, but the more ancient on the east. The river is spanned by an iron and stone bridge erected in 1909 at a cost of over £13,000. The bridge is worked by electric power, enabling it to be swung open in a very few seconds. The space between the centres of the piers is 100 feet. The roadway is 14 feet wide, and the two footpaths are each 4 feet 6 inches in width. Extensive dredging operations are being carried out for the purpose of admitting vessels of larger tonnage into the harbour, which is tidal. The piers extend from the bridge to a distance of 800 yards and are now (1913) being enlarged; at the end of the west pier, which forms a promenade, is a lighthouse, erected in 1831 by the Commissioners of the Pier, after a design by Mr. Francis Pickernell C.E.; it consists of a fluted Doric column, 75 feet in height, with an octagonal light room above, and gallery-the lights are shown at night, at high water, and for two hours before and after, and are visible at a distance of 13 miles. A second lighthouse, 54 feet above the sea level, was erected on the east pier in 1855.

The views seaward are extremely fine, and the country round, particularly to the west, across the Cleveland moors, is varied and strikingly picturesque, and includes many spots of especial interest; the town itself and the immediate neighbourhood have been accurately described in Mrs. Gaskell’s novel “Sylvia’s Lovers,” in Which. Whitby appears under the pseudonym of “Monkshaven.”

The Reform Act of 1832 (2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 45) conferred upon. Whitby the privilege of sending one representative to Parliament, but under the provisions of the Redistribution of seats Act, 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 23), it was disfranchised as a borough, and merged into the Whitby parliamentary division of the North Riding.

The town was from 1872 under the control of a Local Board, but under the provisions of the “Local Government Act, 1894” (56 and 57 Vict. c. 73), an Urban District council of 15 members was formed 17 Dec. 1894, and includes in its jurisdiction the townships of Whitby, Ruswarp and Helredale. The district is divided into five wards. The Whitby Waterworks Company was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1864: the supply is obtained from the moors at sleights and Goathland, and there is a reservoir for ten million gallons of water at Randay-mere for the better supply of the town. The electric works of the Urban District Council were opened in 1902, at a cost of £29,000. Gas is also supplied by a private company. A large sum has also been expended on drainage.

The parish church of St. Mary, standing on the summit of the east cliff, is a building of stone, originally Norman, and erected c. 1100, but subsequently enlarged by the addition of transepts, in the Early English style: of the Norman church, the south wall of the nave, the chancel, and the fine arch between the nave and chancel still remain, but the fabric, both within and without, has been so completely modernized that traces of ancient work are difficult to discover: it now consists of chancel, nave, north aisle, transepts, south porch and a low embattled western tower, containing a chiming clock and 8 bells: the chancel, owing to the rise in the site eastward, is considerably higher than the nave, and is approached by a flight of steps: the interior has now a flat boarded ceiling, with skylights, similar to those in a ship’s cabin, and between the nave and north aisle is a species of arcade, consisting of wide flattened arches, encased in wood, and supported on clustered iron piers; there are not less than eight galleries, surrounding not only the nave and aisle, but also the transepts: the western gallery is in two tiers, and one gallery, more ornamental than the others, and possibly a survival of the ancient rood loft, crosses in front of the chancel arch, and has a boldly projecting centre carried on twisted pillars: the transept galleries are reached by covered staircases from the outside: both the octagonal wooden pulpit and the reading desk below it are placed within the rectory pew, in the centre of the nave, and over the pulpit is a sounding board, ornamented with scroll work; under these is a reading desk and beneath this is a clerk’s desk: the pews are mostly of the old-fashioned box type, but some appear bo be of earlier date: in the church are numerous mural monuments to the Cholmley, Lascelles, Yeoman and Chapman families, and to the Richardsons of Field House, Whitby, and near the vestry is a memorial to General Peregrine Lascelles, who served in Spain during the reign of Queen Anne, and in the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745; he died March 26, 1772; the church was renovated during the period 1880—85, at a cost of £1,174, and in 1908 the chancel was restored by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners: the church affords 2,400 sittings: the churchyard, which covers an area of 2 acres, and is crowded with tombstones, was partly closed by Order in Council, Oct. 31, 1862; it is reached from the town by a winding ascent of 199 stone steps: in the churchyard is a memorial cross of durable stone, erected in 1898, in honour of Caedmon, the father of English poetry, died 680; it is richly carved on all four sides. The register dates from the year 1608. The living was declared a rectory, July 24, 1866, with the chapelries of St. John, St. Michael, St. Hilda and St. Ninian’s (proprietary) annexed, net yearly value £454, with residence, in the gift of the Archbishop of York, and held since 1875 by the Rev. George Austen M.A. of St. John’s College, Cambridge, Chancellor and residentiary canon of York, rural dean of Whitby and surrogate.

The church of St. John the Evangelist, Baxtergate, built by public subscription in 1848—9, as a chapel of ease, and consecrated in 1850, is a plain edifice of local stone in the Early English style, consisting of a chancel and nave with galleries; it was renovated in 1885, at a cost of £744, and has 800 sittings.

St. Michael’s, Church street, also a chapel of ease, consecrated in 1856, is a building of local stone in the Early English style, consisting of a chancel and nave: the church was renovated during the period 1876—86, at a cost of £575; when a new organ was provided, and there are 750 sittings.

The church of St. Hilda, also a chapel of ease, on the West cliff, erected in 1885, at a cost of £18,500, and consecrated in 1886, is a cruciform building of local stone in the Decorated style, from designs by Mr. R. J. Johnson, architect, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and consists of chancel, clerestoried nave of five bays, aisles, transepts, side chapel, vestries and an unfinished central tower: in 1894 a reredos of carved oak was erected as a memorial to the late Rev. Ernest Wigram, rector of Whitby, 1873: a stained window was presented in 1901 by Sir George Elliot bart. in memory of his parents: there are 800 sittings.

St. Ninian’s Episcopal chapel, Baxtergate, which takes the place of an ancient chapel formerly attached to the abbey, is a structure of brick, erected in 1778, and renovated during the period 1881—90, at a cost of £630: in the tower is a peal of 3 tubular bells: there are 1,200 sittings.

The Catholic church, in Bagdale, opened in 1867, and dedicated to St. Hilda, is a building in the Gothic style of the 13th century, from designs by Hadfield and son, architects, of Sheffield, and contains some good stained glass and a very elaborate high altar.

The Brunswick Wesleyan chapel, erected in 1891 at a cost of over £10,000, is a building of local and Bath stone, in the Romanesque style, from plans by Waddington and son, architects, of Manchester, and will seat 1,250 persons. Connected with the chapel is the Brunswick room, which has been elaborately decorated at the cost of Robert Elliott Pannett esq.

The Wesleyan chapel, in Church street, erected in 1788, will seat 700 persons.

The Congregational chapel on the West cliff was opened in 1868, and has 950 sittings: the old chapel, founded in 1770, in silver street is now used as a lecture room.

The Primitive Methodist chapel, Church street, built in 1903, at a cost of £4,150, will hold 500 persons: the chapel, in Fishburn Park, erected in 1866, has 250 sittings.

Trinity Presbyterian Church of England, Flowergate, built in 1877—8, is an edifice of stone, in the Gothic style of the 15th century, with a tower 80 feet in height at the north-west angle, and seats 500 persons.

The Unitarian chapel, Flowergate, erected in 1812 on the site of an earlier structure, dating from 1726, has 100 sittings.

There is also a Church Mission Boom in Church street, a Congregational Mission Hall, in Grape lane, erected in 1898, and a Friends’ Meeting House, in Church street.

The Cemetery, on the east side of the river, about one mile from the town, has an area of about 24 acres, divided into equal portions, one being reserved for the Church of England, and the other for Nonconformists; there are two chapels of stone, built in 1857, forming a combined structure in the Geometric Decorated style, with a tower and spire. The graveyard of the parish church was closed, with modifications, by order of the Privy Council on October 31st, 1862, and the cemetery was opened November 1st of the same year for the use of the townships of Whitby, Ruswarp and Hawsker-cum-Stainsacre, The cemetery is now controlled by a joint committee of 12 persons, of whom 9 are appointed by the Urban District Council of Whitby and 3 by the Parish Council of Hawsker-cum-Stainsacre. The superintendent of the cemetery resides at the lodge.

The Court-house, on spring hill, built in 1877 and enlarged in 1887, is a structure of red brick faced with local stone. The petty sessions and county courts are held in the large room, and underneath are the cells and police offices, as well as apartments for single constables.

The Town Hall, in the Market place, is an edifice in the Classic style, supported by sixteen pillars of the Tuscan order, and has a turret containing a bell and a clock with four dials.

St. Hilda’s Hall, Baxtergate, a spacious room connected with the Angel Hotel, is used for public meetings, bazaars and other purposes.

The Temperance Hall, Victoria place, erected in 1887, is a plain building of red brick faced with local stone, used for public meetings and entertainments and will seat 1,200 persons.

A Life Boat station was opened in 1895 on the Pier, and a shelter erected by the Urban District Council was opened in 1901.

The museum, on the west pier, has on the ground floor baths, on the first floor a subscription library of 30,000 volumes, established in 1775; and on the second floor a museum belonging to the Whitby Literary and Philosophical society, containing a most valuable collection of fossil organic remains discovered in the adjacent cliffs: the finest specimens being an enormous Ichthyosaurus, found in the Upper Lias, Whitby; a Plesiosaurus, 15 feet long, dug out of an alum pit about six miles north of Whitby in 1824; a giant lobster from Newfoundland, measuring 38 ¾ inches, and a model of the ship “Resolution,” of 462 tons burden, built at Whitby in 1709, and in which Capt. Cook made his second voyage to the south seas.

Great improvements were effected on the West Cliff by the late Sir George Elliot bart. M.P. (d. 1895), including the construction of a terrace 500ft. long and 100ft. wide, carved out of the side of the cliff, and supported by a retaining wall 360ft. in length, from 10ft. in height and 6ft. in thickness. Upon this terrace, at a depth of 45ft. from the top of the cliff, a handsome building of red brick with stone dressings, in the Queen Anne style, was erected in 1876—9, with a sea frontage of 175ft.: in the centre is a concert room 90ft. by 42ft. with an open roof, galleries round three sides and a stage at the end, and seating about 800 people; the east wing contains a spacious entrance hall, reading and cloak rooms, and a manager’s residence: the west wing is devoted to the refreshment department. The building is surrounded with pleasure grounds, and in front is a covered promenade of iron, overhanging the cliff, and laid down with asphalte; adjoining the saloon grounds and in connection therewith are spacious lawn tennis grounds containing 16 courts.

The provision market is held weekly on Saturday, in the Market hall in Church street, built in 1877, and is well supplied. A cattle show is held in August.

In Grape lane is a house bearing the date 1688, in which it is said Capt. Cook served a three years’ apprenticeship to a shipowner of Whitby. The fishing cobles used on this coast are nearly flat-bottomed, and carry three men only. Quantities of fish are caught here and sent inland, especially during the herring season. The number of fishing boats registered under Part IV. of the Merchant shipping Act, 1904, as belonging to the port in 1911 was 188, with a tonnage of 677, requiring 565 men and boys to work them. The number of fishermen (men and boys) resident within the port in 1911 was 450. Fishing boats and their implements are lettered WY.

In 1911 in the general coasting trade, 484 sailing and 815 steam vessels of a total tonnage of 163,550 entered the port with cargoes and in ballast and 269 sailing and 617 steam vessels cleared of a total of 162,263 tons. The number of vessels registered as belonging to Whitby on December 31, 1911, was 62 steam vessels of 116,777 tons and 3 sailing vessels of 204 tons.

Whitby, however, derives its chief notoriety from its jet industry, and the polishing of jet and ammonites found here now constitutes a trade of great importance, fostered by the number of visitors who frequent this watering place during the summer months: the district of which this town is the centre appears to be the only one where jet of any great commercial value is met with either here or abroad; it is made into brooches, ladies’ neckchains and other trinkets, in a very tasteful manner and upon an extensive scale, many of the productions being imitations of beautiful Roman cameos and antique gems, executed in high relief: the jet is obtained from the laminated lias shale which chiefly forms the lower part of the cliffs between Whitby and the south end of Robin Hood’s bay, but is also found at various spots inland; the best jet takes a beautiful velvet black polish, is rather lighter than coal and varies much in hardness and tenacity: it has been considered to be of ligneous origin, but of late years that idea has been abandoned in favour of the probability of its being bituminous matter in the lias, formed into masses by chemical attraction, in the same way as different substances are deposited in other strata.

The total exports of produce and manufacture of the United Kingdom in 1911 was £25,242.

There are four first-class hotels: the Royal and the Metropole on the West Cliff, the Angel and the Bells, in the centre of the town, being old established family and commercial houses, the Angel containing stock rooms.

There is one weekly newspaper.

The seamen’s Institute, in Haggersgate, contains reading, recreation and smoke rooms. Divine service is held on Sundays.

The seamen’s Hospital, Church street, founded in 1676, is a building in the Elizabethan style, and affords an asylum for 50 aged seamen, or widows of seamen.

The Cottage Hospital was first established in 1899; the present building in Grape lane was erected in 1901, at a cost of £1,300; it contains 9 beds and 2 cots, and is supported by voluntary subscriptions. The Dispensary in Church street was founded in the year 1786, and has the interest of £1,737, by William Stone-house, of Crescent place, Whitby, who died Feb. 28the 1898. The seaside Home, opened in 1882, is a spacious building, delightfully situated in the most healthy part of the town, and affords extensive views: it contains six wards, holding 30 patients, and is available for women and children and for boys up to 10 years of age.

George Chambers, the marine painter, was born here about 1800; and the Rev. William Scoresby D.D., F.R.S, better known as an Arctic explorer than as a clergyman (b. October 5, 1789), is also claimed as a native of Whitby, although some authorities give Cropton, near Pickering, as his birthplace.

The Abbey of Whitby, originally called “Streonshalch” (A.S. Streonsheal, treasure hall), was first founded as a priory A.D. 657 by Hilda, a lady of the royal house of Northumbria, under the patronage of Oswy, King of Northumbria, and dedicated to St. Peter, and she continued to preside over it until her death in 680: here five of the early Saxon bishops received their training, and Caedmon, the father of Anglo-Saxon poetry, whose verses for six centuries formed the model for all succeeding poets, was a brother of the monastery, and died about the same time as the foundress; here too, in 664, the famous council or synod was held to determine the controversy concerning Easter. Hilda was succeeded by AElfleda, daughter of King Oswy, and both these royal persons, together with many Northumbrian nobles, were buried within the convent. In or about 867 the establishment was destroyed by the Danes, the prior, Titus, escaping to Glastonbury with the relics of St. Hilda; and in 1074 the monastery was refounded by William de Percy, for monks of the Benedictine order, and in the reign of Henry I. was raised to the dignity of an abbey. The church originally consisted of a choir of seven bays with aisles, transepts of three bays each, with eastern aisles forming chapels, central tower 106 feet in height, and nave of eight bays with aisles; the south side of the nave was blown down in 1763 during a great storm; and the tower fell in 1830; the still existing choir, now propped with huge balks of timber, is Early English, exquisitely beautiful in design, and much enriched with dog-tooth ornaments; the triforium, which extended over the vaulted aisles, displays a circular arch, inclosing two pointed arches, which are in turn sub-divided; the clerestory is arcaded; the square east end is pierced by three tiers of lancets, the uppermost being in the gable, which is flanked by octagonal turrets, with clustered shafts at the angles, and pyramidal stone capping; the north transept is similar but of later date; of the south transept one pier only remains; and of the nave, part of the north aisle and a fragment of the west front, including the central doorway; the three easternmost windows of the nave aisle are Early English, and the others exhibit a peculiar but exceedingly graceful variety of Decora ted tracery, the greater part of the nave having been in this style; the church, when perfect, was 300 feet in length by 69 wide, with an internal height of 60 feet, although only the aisles, as it seems, were vaulted; the transept had a total length of 150 feet, and the whole structure rose to a height of 250 feet above the sea level; on the south side of the nave it is possible to trace the foundations of the cloisters and south transept, and of the chapter house which adjoined it; of the domestic buildings a portion remains in the Abbey House, supposed to be the prior’s kitchen; it is now used as a boarding-house by the Co-operative Holidays Association. The fallen portions of the church lie in grass-grown heaps. From the church the ground slopes towards the south-and west, and at a short distance to the south-west, within a spacious courtyard, entered through a modern Gothic archway, stands the Abbey house, a mansion in the Late Tudor or Jacobean style, erected about 1580 by the Cholmleys, who became, after the Dissolution, the possessors of the abbey: it was enlarged in 1672 by Sir Hugh Cholmley, and is now the property of the trustees of the late Sir Charles William Strickland, 8th bart. (d. 1909). To the south-east below the terrace on which the ruins stand is a mutilated cross, consisting of a slender shaft with part of the head, rising from a massive pediment, and a circular base of five steps. Under the direction of the late Sir C. W. Strickland bart, the ruins were carefully surveyed by Mr. John Bilson F.S.A, of Hessle, near Hull, and certain repairs suggested by him were effected by Mr. Anelay, of York, during the years 1909—11. The Hon. Mrs. Tatton Willoughby and Henry Peter Marriott esq. hold the manorial rights.

The area of Whitby township is 48 acres of land, 11 of water and 32 of foreshore; rateable value, £16,476.

The area of the Urban District is 1,944 acres; rateable value, £53,971; the population in 1911 was Whitby township, 5,897, which includes 10 officers and 89 inmates in the workhouse; Ruswarp township, 4,831; and Helredale township (formerly Hawsker Urban), 411; total, 11,139.

The population of the ecclesiastical parish in 1911 was 10,947.

The population of the wards in 1911 was:-Fishburn Park, 1,907; Ruswarp, 874; West Cliff, 2,050; Whitby East, 3,960; Whitby West, 2,348.

By an Order of the County Council, May 2, 1894, under the provisions of the “Local Government Act, 1894” (56 and 57 Vict. c. 73), section 1, sub-section 3, the parish of Hawsker-cum-Stainsacre was divided into two townships, the urban part to be known as Helredale and forming part of the Whitby Urban District, and the rural as Hawsker-cum-Stainsacre; the order came into effect Dec. 17, 1894.

The area of Helredale is 182 acres of land, 5 of water and 20 of foreshore; rateable value, £1,728; the population in 1911 was 411.

Petty sessions are held at the Court house every Tuesday & Saturday at 12 noon. The following places are included in the petty sessional division:-Aislaby, Barnby, Borrowby, Egton, Ellerby, Eskdaleside-cum-Cgglebarnby, Fylingdales, Glaisdale, Hawsker-cum-Stainsacre, Helredale, Hinderwell, Hutton Mulgrave, Lythe, Mickleby, Newholm-cum-Dunsley, Newton Mulgrave, Roxby, Ruswarp, Sneaton, Ugthorpe & Whitby.

TERRITORIAL FORCE.

2nd Northumbrian Brigade Royal Field Artillery (left section North Riding Battery), Lieut. Percy Ness-Walker, commanding; Rev. Canon George Austen M.A. hon chaplain; Quartermaster-Sergt. Frank Burnett, instructor.

WHITBY UNION

Board day, every alternate Saturday, at the Board room, Church street, at 1 p.m.

Whitby union includes the following places:-Aislaby, Barnby, Borrowby, Egton, Ellerby, Eskdaleside-cum-Ugglebarnby, Fylingdales, Glaisdale, Goathland, Hawsker-cum-Stainsacre, Helredale, Hinderwell, Hutton Mulgrave, Lythe, Mickleby, Newholm-cum-Dunsley, Newton Mulgrave, Roxby, Ruswarp, Sneaton, Ugthorpe, Whitby. The area is 90,740 acres; rateable value at Michaelmas, 1912, £125,686; the population in 1911 was 22,131.

The Workhouse, erected in 1798 & enlarged in 1858, is a structure of Ted brick, available for 250.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of services

St. Mary’s Parish Church, Rev. Chancellor George Austen M.A, rector; Revs. Arthur Llewelyn Meyricke M.A. Charles Hopwood Hart M.A. Robert William Oakeley M.A. Walter Bancroft M.A. Basil Gordon Dunmore Clarke B.A. Maurice Hope Richomod B.A. & Harold Dymond Peel B.A. curates; 10.30 a.m.; holy communion 1st Sunday in month, 12 noon.

St. Hilda Chapel of Ease, West cliff; 10.30 a.m. & 6.33 p.m, & 8 a.m. & 7 p.m. daily; holy communion, Sunday 8 & 11.45 a.m.; saints’ days & Wed. 8 a.m.

St. John Chapel of Ease, Baxtergate; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; holy communion every Sunday at 8 a.m. & 2nd & 4th, 12 noon.

St. Michael Chapel of Ease, Church street; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.; holy communion every Sunday, 8 a.m. & 1st & 3rd Sunday, mid-day.

St. Ninian’s Episcopal Chapel, Baxtergate; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m,; daily, 7.30 p.m.; holy communion, Sunday & saints’ days, 8 & 10.30 a.m.; daily, 7.30 a.m. during week.

Seamen’s Institute Mission Room, Haggersgate; 6.30 p.m.

St. Bartholomew’s Church, Ruswarp, Rev. John Groves th,A.K.C. vicar; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; holy communion, 8 a.m.

St. Hilda’s Catholic, Bagdale, The Very Rev. Canon Bernard Joseph McCabe & Rev. Matthew O’Connell, priests; 8.30 & 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; holy days, 8.30 & 10 a.m. & 7.30 p.m.

Friends’ Meeting House, Church street; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Presbyterian Church of England (Trinity), Flowergate, Rev. George Morrison Storrar B.A.; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Christadelphian, Meeting Room, Temperance Hall, Victoria place; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Congregational, West cliff, Rev. Joseph Walter Bowman M.A., B.D., A.T.S.; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Primitive Methodist, Church street, Rev. Joseph Toyn (supt.); Rev. William Robson, supernumerary; 10 30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Tue. 7.30 p.m. Fishburn Park, 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Tue. 7.30 p.m; Ruswarp, 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Unitarian, Flowergate, Rev. George Knight; 6.30 p.m.

Wesleyan Methodist, Brunswick church, 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m. Mon. 7.30 p.m.

Wesleyan Methodist, Church st. 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.15 p.m.

SCHOOLS

Under the Education Act, 1902, committees were appointed consisting of 18 managers, 9 of whom are for the-Council schools, Robert William White being clerk; the remainder managing the voluntary schools, under the chairmanship of the Rev. Chancellor Austen M.A.; Charles G. Wright, 25 Gray street & William Prentice, George street, attendance officers.

Cholmley, Church street, erected in 1869 & endowed by the late Mrs. Hannah Cholmley, as a memorial to her husband, Colonel George Cholmley, of Whitby Abbey & Howsham. The endowment derived from property near York, besides partially supporting the school, provides a scripture reader; the school will hold 150 children; average attendance, 100.

COUNCIL SCHOOLS

County school (secondary), erected in 1912, for 150 children (boys & girls); average attendance, 110.

Church street, erected in 1879, for 303 children; average attendance, 219.

Cliff street (girls & infants), erected in 1894, for 347 children; average attendance, 305.

Green lane (infants), built in 1879, for 81 children; average attendance, 40.

The Mount school, Cliff street, was erected in 1810, enlarged in 1888 & again in 1896, for 227 children; average attendance, 175.

VOLUNTARY SCHOOLS.

St. Michael’s, Church street, for 466 children; average attendance, 420.

St. John’s, Springhill, erected in 1874, for 580 children; average attendance, 410.

St. Hilda’s Catholic (mixed), Springhill, erected in 1874; St. Patrick’s, Church street & Prospect place (infants), for 565 children; the three schools’ average attendance, 230; these schools are under the care of the sisters of Mercy.