Over the past week, I may have seemed a little aloof – not responding to comments etc, but the posts I’ve shared over the last week were scheduled as I was in fact not here! No, I wasn’t here in our little village of Uphill on the west coast in Somerset, but we were 288 miles away with my family (four cousins and partners) for our annual holiday together, this year in Whitby in North Yorkshire. Many people only know of this pretty little seaside town and harbour because it is where Dracula arrived – disguised as a black dog in the famous book by Bram Stoker. Before this novel became a best seller, Whitby was mainly known as a place of pilgrimage from the middle of the seventh century when a monastery was founded by King Oswy, Nearly a thousand years later it was significant as a harbour and small fishing port (mainly for herring) and began to develop more, with an alum works which imported coal from the Durham coalfields to power the industry. Shipbuilding became an main industry, and then – in what seems like a shameful and disgusting trade, whaling came to the town. In the past, whale oil was widely used as fuel for oil lamps, domestic and municipal,
Another important mineral found in the cliffs of the town, is jet – a most beautiful black mineraloid, which can be made into ornaments, jewellery, buttons etc. Whitby was already quite renowned as a tourist destination, but ‘Dracula’ is probably what many people would think of in connection with the town. Whitby has many interesting places to visit – the harbour itself is most attractive and on the top of East Cliff is the spectacular ruins of the Abbey – we had glorious weather while we were there so it was impossible not to take a good picture of the ruins. There is also a museum, shop, and a lovely tearoom which we visited a couple of times after wandering round the ruins.
On our last afternoon in Whitby, we visited the Pannett Art Gallery and Museum and what a treasure it is! We were so sorry we hadn’t visited it sooner because one afternoon was just not enough!
The museum contains a wide range of material relating to the history of Whitby, and has specialist collections relating to Jurassic fossils, in particular ammonites and marine reptiles, Whitby jet, Captain James Cook and HM Bark Endeavour, Whitby’s whaling industry, and the natural history of the North Yorkshire coast and moors. In addition to this, there are costume and textiles exhibits as well as a collection of photography, including the collection and archive of the museum’s former curator Frank Meadow Sutcliffe. The museum has a reference library and archive documenting the industries and social history of the town and area, which is used as a research facility. The museum also contains a Hand of Glory, the dried and pickled hand of a hanged man, said to have magical powers. Between the 1890s and 1930 the museum collection included the mummy of an Egyptian man who had died around 300 BC.
Wikipedia
My featured image was taken on my phone – you can see what an amazing day we had!!
Lois Elsden 