Pictures & images of Whitby, Yorkshire. Today Whitby is an old fishing port that straddles both sides of a steep valley where the river Esk flows out of the North Yorks Moors into the sea. Above the town to the south are the ruins of Whitby Abbey which was founded by King Oswy in 657. In the beginning it was a double Abbey for men and women with Anglko Saxon princess Hild being its first Abbess. The Abbey later became a nunnery and burial place of the royal family of the Kingdom of Deira....
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Pictures & images of Whitby, Yorkshire. Today Whitby is an old fishing port that straddles both sides of a steep valley where the river Esk flows out of the North Yorks Moors into the sea. Above the town to the south are the ruins of Whitby Abbey which was founded by King Oswy in 657. In the beginning it was a double Abbey for men and women with Anglko Saxon princess Hild being its first Abbess. The Abbey later became a nunnery and burial place of the royal family of the Kingdom of Deira.

Between 867 and 870 Whitby Abbey was destroyed by the Vikings and remained in ruins until it was rebuilt by the Norman, William de Percy who gave the monastery to the Benedictines and dedicated it to Saint Hilda.

In 1539, when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, the town of Whitby had about 30 houses and a population of 200 or so. 200 years later Whitby was a bustling port exporting the alum, for fixing the pigments in dyed cloth, Whale products such as oil & dress stays made from the whale bones, jewellery made from Jet and fish. The town produced great seamen such as Captain Cooke who sailed to Australia in HMS Endeavour which was built in Whitby.

In the mid 1800's the coming of the railway not only opened up trade but allowed the first tourism. The Georgians of the 19th century fell in love with the seaside and the health giving properties of sea water. Spa towns boomed all around the coast and in Whitby lodging houses and a Royal Crescent were built along the northern cliffs to accommodate the tourists. The Victorian tourists fell in love with the dense black Jet jewellery that was made in Whitby making it an essential fashion accessory for the well to do.

In 1897 Irish Novelist Bram Stoker gave Whitby one of its greatest legends by making Whitby Abbey the site where Dracula's coffin rested when it first arrived in England by ship. On a stormy day the ruins of Whitby Abbey stands above the town making it the perfect setting for the Transylvanian Dracula's home.
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