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 Cornell University Library 
 DA 690.W57H75 
 pts.1- 
 
 Whitby, past and present. 
 
 3 1924 028 281 933 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028281933 
 
/*'-Jf 
 
 
 WWtbp 
 
 Past and present 
 
 ROBERT B. HOLT, F.R.S.L. 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 ' KVNWITH," "Elfrida," " The Scald," etc. 
 
 ' Souvenir of Runswick Bay 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 Messrs. COPAS & Co. 
 41, Gray's Inn Road, London 
 
 AND 
 
 Messrs HORNE & Son, "Gazette" Office, Bridge St., Whitby. 
 
 T 
 
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 H 
 
 ^2- 
 
 f\.\W)STV 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Battering Stone i5 
 
 Baxtergate 4 
 
 Birth Observances 32 
 
 Carl Sunday 35 
 
 Captains' Curios 8 
 
 Catholic Church 3 
 
 Collop Monday ^ 35 
 
 Conveyance 22 
 
 Customs, Curious 26 
 
 Cures for Ailments " 27 
 
 Easter Usages 3^ 
 
 Election, The first 20 
 
 Female Vanity 29 
 
 French Prisoners - 12 
 
 Funeral Customs 32 
 
 Harbour of Refuge 7 
 
 Home Industries 30 
 
 Love Charms ■ • - - 28 
 
Madgy-pegs 34 
 
 Magistrates 5 
 
 Market Prices ^i 
 
 Matrimonial Matters 3^ 
 
 Merry Christmas - 39 
 
 Methodists 12 
 
 Parish Boundaries 35 
 
 Parish Church 16 
 
 Parliamentary Borough 19 
 
 Pin Hunting 4^ 
 
 Plough Monday 33 
 
 Police 5 
 
 Press Gang 13 
 
 Railway 23 
 
 Royal Days 18 
 
 Royal Oak Day 37 
 
 Sailor King's Accession 17 
 
 Saint Hilda 15 
 
 Scate Lane 4 
 
 Shipping Company 25 
 
 Spa 2 
 
 Tea Parties 21 
 
 Timber Ships - - 6 
 
 Toms • • ■ - 34 
 
7 
 
 Union Mill - lo 
 
 Volunteers 14 
 
 Waits and Mummers 3^ 
 
 War Times ' 14 
 
 Worthies of Whitby 9 
 
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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 In 1830 we were living in the house in Baxtergate 
 now known as the Station Hotel. At that time the 
 lower part of Bagdale Beck was uncovered, and from a 
 gallery which connected the upper floors of a couple 
 of out-houses that overlooked the beck, we occasionally 
 caught fish in it at high water. 
 
 Victoria Square was then an enclosed paddock, and 
 at the east end there were stepping stones on which you 
 crossed the beck at low tide. Just before it reached 
 the harbour some warehouses abutted on the beck. 
 Under one end of them was a darkish passage through 
 which you passed to the ship-yards, to be welcomed by 
 a colony of rooks who tenanted some tall elms which 
 flourished at the further end of it, and to be confronted 
 by the Stocks which there awaited all evil-doers. 
 
 The site of the present railway station was Mr. 
 Barry's ^ip-yard, while his dock and that of Mr. 
 Hobkirk lay beyond it. 
 
 A little further on was a rope walk which extended 
 to Boghall, where was another dock and also a couple 
 of quays. One of these was occupied by Mr. John 
 Bolton whose oxen used to draw stone to it from the 
 
2 Whitby Spa. 
 
 Aisleby quarries. To meet one of his wagons in 
 Waterstead Lane was a terror to nervous people. The 
 big horns and straining eyes of the huge brutes were 
 bad enough, but instead of keeping upright in a respec- 
 table fashion they leaned inwards and sloped their legs 
 outwards, so that your only choice was' to turn back, 
 to find a refuge in some gateway or to scramble into a 
 hedge and hold on by the thorn bushes till the creatures 
 had lumbered past you. 
 
 Higher up the river, on the site of the present gas- 
 works, were boiling houses where oil was extracted from 
 the blubber when the whalers came home, at which 
 times when they and two more on the other side of the 
 river were in active operation, a stench was created 
 that pervaded the whole town and was never to be 
 forgotten by anyone whose nostrils had once been 
 afflicted by it. 
 
 Bagdale is but little changed, except that a few new 
 
 .houses have been built at the top, and an iron pump 
 
 has replaced the old wooden one that used to give 
 
 lessons in discord to the neighbours' parrots whenever 
 
 anyone attempted to draw water by it. 
 
 The Spa was an open stone trough, copiously coated 
 inside with iron oxide, and every one was free to drink 
 from it. But the Spa for which Whitby was famous 
 in the last century, was situated, not in Bagdale, but 
 at the bottom of the cliff about half-way to Upgang. 
 It was protected from the tide by a staith, on which 
 was built a house provided with all requisites for visitors. 
 
The Catholic Church. 3 
 
 The water was esteemed a " great'diuretic, anti-icteric 
 and emenagogic," and many wonderful cures were 
 imputed to it. The sea, however, washed down the 
 staith, and filled the fountain with stones, after which 
 it was only to be discovered by its glaring scum and 
 ochre. In 1806 a wooden tube was fixed in the spring, 
 with a spout on the top, and the whole was protected 
 by four large squared blocks of stone. In two or three 
 years, the sea swept all away, and the exact site of it 
 was long unknown. A few years ago, however, the 
 spring was re-discovered, but too far underground to be 
 available. Probably its original outlet was at a 
 considerable distance from the present cliff foot, and is 
 now hidden under the sand. 
 
 Where St. Hilda's Church now stands was a garden, 
 tenanted by Dr. Ripley, in which we used to dig for 
 licorice roots whenever we had an opportunity of doing 
 so. The Catholic chapel was in the back lane, now 
 Walker Street, but in those days the Romanists were 
 few in number and received a half contemptuous 
 toleration from other sectarians. It was a current 
 slander that on certain festivals the priests were accus- 
 tomed to dress frogs in fancy costumes and to exhibit 
 them as incarnations of the Holy Ghost. Divers other 
 puerile practices were imputed to the Papists in order 
 to foster the self-complacency of saintly simpletons, but 
 without in any way retarding the reaction, which had 
 •commenced in religious communities. 
 
 At one time " Back Lane " was the scene of nightly 
 
4 Baxtergate & Scale Lane. 
 
 fights between the towns' lads and Breckons' scholars, 
 who thought that they could bully the vulgarians, but 
 were ultimately overpowered by numbers. Here too, a 
 gentleman still living, tested the solidity of his skull, 
 by bursting through a sweet-briar hedge, while engaged 
 in a wrestling match with a school-fellow, and falling 
 some eight or ten feet into the road-way. 
 
 The site of St. John's Church was occupied by a row 
 of cottages with gardens running down to the street. 
 The tenants cultivated flowers to perfection, and every 
 Spring their display of tulips was one of the sights of 
 the town. 
 
 Baxtergate had an iron foundry and pipe factory, 
 but few shops were in it. The only public building 
 was St. Ninian's, then a chapel of ease, where the 
 Rev. F. S. Pope, a burly sea-chaplain, droned 
 decorously, and where Varley, his one-armed clerk, 
 once astonished the congregation by announcing that 
 " Next Thursday being Good Friday, divine service will 
 be held in this place." 
 
 Scate Lane was noted for an extensive rookery, a 
 bald, stone Methodist , Chapel (built in 1814) and a 
 couple of wells to which the servant lasses used to 
 come with their skeels. These they filled, and then 
 carried home on their heads, a flat piece of wood, called 
 a stiller, floating on the water to prevent its splashing 
 over. 
 
 The old play-house stood on the raised ground facing 
 the chapel gates ; but after it was burnt, some houses 
 
Magistrates and Police. 5 
 
 were built there, in one of which dwelt a couple of 
 artistic ladies who scandalised Mrs. Grundy by the very 
 vivid roseation of their faces, whenever they courted 
 the admiration of their unembellished town's folk. 
 
 Flowergate contained the Primitive Methodist and 
 Unitarian Chapels, and also the Court in which the 
 Magistrates dispensed justice, under tutelage of the 
 town clerk. This, however, was only a recent arrange- 
 ment, their former office having been in Grape Lane. 
 A couple of constables sufficed to carry out their 
 behests, and to maintain order in the neighbourhood. 
 
 There were, however, night watchmen whose " past 
 one o'clock and a stormy morning," often gave bad 
 dreams to ship-owners, whose vessels were at sea and 
 uninsured. The hoppet (Awe pit) or jail had recently 
 been removed from Staith-side to a building adjoining 
 the Coast Guard Station, near the battery, but it was 
 seldom occupied. 
 
 The post office was in a corner of the old Market 
 Place, and there the principal townsmen had pigeon 
 holes in which their letters were placed till they called 
 for them. Between the post office and Golden-Lion 
 Bank was Richardson and Holt's banking house. 
 
 The houses on the North side of West Bridge 
 End were built on piles driven into the bed of the 
 river and overhung the water. This was also the case 
 on the East of Staith-side, the narrow dingy street 
 which then represented St. Ann's Staith. 
 
 Haggersgate and the pier are not much altered and 
 
6 Timber Ships. 
 
 the Craig is substantially the same, while the harbour 
 retains much of its old aspect. But the number of 
 vessels frequenting the Port has woefully diminished. 
 In the shipbuilding days, timber laden craft were 
 constantly anchoring at the "red buoy" to unload 
 part of the cargo before they attempted to cross the 
 bar, and the cheery voices of the sailors were pleasant 
 enough as they heaved at the windlass. This worked 
 the tackling fixed to the bowsprit, drew big balks of 
 timber out of the bow-port and let them fall into the 
 water, with a great smack and splash, to be added to 
 the raft, which, when completed, was towed up the 
 river to the owner's ship-yard. 
 
 One of the sailors' songs ran thus : — 
 
 Heigh 1 Hoi and up she rises ! 
 Heigh ! Ho ! and up she rises ! 
 Heigh 1 Ho 1 and up she rises ! 
 Early in the morning ! 
 
 Whitby lasses love their glasses 1 
 Whitby lasses love their glasses ! 
 Whitby lasses love their glasses 
 Early in the morning 1 
 Heigh 1 ho 1 etc. 
 
 What will you do with a drunken barber ? 
 What will you do with a drunken barber ? 
 What will you do with a drnnken barber ? 
 Putim i't lather box and set him out o't harbour ! 
 Heigh ! ho ! etc. 
 
 Then when the wind had been blowing some time 
 
>t3 
 
 a- 
 o 
 
 
The Harbour of Refuge. 7 
 
 from the North West, directly it chopped round, it was 
 a grand sight to see the wind-bound fleet of Colliers 
 race across the bay, with every stitch of canvas set 
 that could possibly be crowded on them ; each eager to 
 save the tide, and to secure the first berth, at 
 Middlesborough, Sunderland or Newcastle as might be. 
 Whitby ships always showed their colours, when pass- 
 ing the harbour, to salute the town and to notify 
 owners of their well-being. 
 
 Then perhaps the wind would veer back to the old 
 quarter, and if it came on to blow hard, scores of 
 vessels would take refuge in Whitby, chasing each 
 other so closely, that if one grounded in Collier's Hope 
 and swung across the channel, those immediately 
 behind, would be sure to run into her, and then there 
 was a grand melee in which spars were splintered, 
 bulwarks crashed in and sails came fluttering down like 
 birds which had suddenly been wounded on the wing. 
 
 Similar scenes occurred the day when the clubs 
 expired in the autumn. 
 
 But the grandest sight of all, was when the whalers 
 came home, battered and weather-beaten, but with 
 every flag flying, the huge jaw bones triced up to the 
 lower spars and a garland at the mast head, to denote 
 a successful venture. The piers were speedily crowded 
 with people, excited and expectant, who eagerly scanned 
 the crews as the ships rounded the pier end ; women 
 growing wild with delight, as a husband or sweetheart 
 answered their greeting, or paling with a sudden 
 
8 Captains^ Curios, etc. 
 
 desolation, if the loved one was not there to respond 
 to their welcome. 
 
 At that time there were no steam tugs, so if the wind 
 was off land, a ship would run in as close as possible ; a 
 line was then flung aboard her, and a warp was drawn 
 ashore. This was laid hold of by the hawlers, who, 
 running along the pier, tugged the vessel up the harbour 
 as far as the coffee-house-end, where the pier finished, 
 and then left her to the crew's devices. 
 
 The ship-captains generally brought some foreign 
 luxuries or curios home with them. From the Baltic 
 came cranberries, reindeer tongues, Riga drops, Danzic 
 black beer and Russia leather boots. From Greenland, 
 Esquimaux dresses, bear and seal skins, and models of 
 native boats, animals and houses. From the Indies came 
 cocoa-nuts, rum, spices, monkeys, parrots, shells, corals 
 and birds' skins, all which were duly appreciated, 
 while the carvings by savage islanders were wondered at 
 for their beauty, and the idols exhibited at missionary 
 meetings never failed to excite lucrative compassion for 
 their deluded worshippers. 
 
 Not unfrequently too, the captains would bring a 
 goodly store of Spanish dollars, the townsfolk being 
 under the delusion that such silver made better spoons 
 and forks than any other which could be procured. 
 
 On the cliff there were only two or three cottages 
 beyond the National Schools, nor was there any other 
 road up to it, from the pier, than the Crag stairs ; the 
 Khyber Pass having been formed only when King 
 
Whitby Worthies. g 
 
 Hudson induced the Railway Company to develope 
 Whitby as a watering place. Cliff Lane ended at a 
 gateway, beyond which was a track along the cliff edge. 
 Silver Street was continued for some distance through 
 the fields by a flagged pathway. Dull respectable 
 Skinner Street was abruptly terminated by a ropery, 
 which ran from Cliff House up to Crescent Avenue. 
 Wellclose Square was a pleasant enough place. It 
 contained another of the town wells, and the principal 
 boys' school. This was kept by Dicky Breckon, a 
 dapper little man with large features and a deep bass 
 voice, in which, when convivially inclined, he sang 
 with considerable effect. His mode of administering 
 corporal punishment was very original. He would 
 tuck a delinquent's head between his legs, draw the 
 boy's trousers tight with one hand, and ply his cane 
 most vigorously with the other. 
 
 Silver Street Chapel was pastored first by Mr. 
 Blackburn, who baptised me from a slop-basin in my 
 grandfather's dining-room, and afterwards by Mr. 
 Potter, a sallow, round-faced theosoph, who tried to 
 propitiate Deity with excruciating prayers, and 
 afflicted the junior members of his congregation with 
 dogmatic deliverances, whose minimum duration was 
 sixty minutes. 
 
 The top house in the New Buildings, now St. Hilda's 
 Terrace, was inhabited by Dr. Young, the one-armed 
 Scotchman, who wrote the history of Whitby, and 
 officiated at the Presbyterian Chapel in Cliff Lane. In 
 
lo The Union Hill. 
 
 face and figure he much resembled the first Duke of 
 Wellington, and though somewhat formal in manner, 
 was by no means an unlovable man. He diedat the age 
 of seventy, May 8th, 1848. 
 
 A few doors from him lived the Abernethian 
 practitioner. Dr. Loy, whose local repute was so great 
 that it was currently believed that the Queen would 
 certainly command his attendance, in case any serious 
 illness should attack her. 
 
 In a fine house nearer the town dwelt little Billie 
 Usherwood in intermittent harmony with his ponderous 
 wife, and just over the cross-road was poor David 
 Chapman, who fell into a ship's hold, and so 
 prematurely ended a useful life. Still lower down lived 
 the kindly, eccentric, Peter Barker, whose dashing 
 spouse ostentated in a smart pony carriage postilioned 
 by a page in fancy costume. 
 
 The present drill hall was originally the Union Mill, 
 conducted on co-operative principles ; each share- 
 holder being entitled to a certain number of stones of 
 flour in lieu of interest. They were furnished with 
 cards, in which holes were punched, whenever flour 
 was delivered to them. 
 
 You crossed the water by a drawbridge, with huge 
 beams overhead for lifting it, and the water-way was 
 so narrow, that it was no easy matter to get a big ship 
 safely through it. 
 
 In 1832, this bridge had become so unsafe that an 
 indictment was preferred against the inhabitants of 
 

Market Prices. 1 1 
 
 the North Riding, and a true bill being found, a 
 committee was formed to consider what should be 
 done. It was decided to replace the draw, with a swing 
 bridge, and the contractors began operations on the 
 20th of June, 1832, a temporary bridge having been con- 
 structed for foot passengers a few yards higher up the 
 harbour. 
 
 The Saturday market was held in Church Street, 
 where the farmers' wives and daughters stood in rows, 
 and offered their produce for sale. Half-a-crownwasthe 
 usual price for a fat goose, including the giblets, and a 
 blood pudding ! eighteen pence or two shillings would 
 buy a couple of ducks or fowls. Butter was sometimes 
 bought under sixpence a pound, and housewives 
 grumbled if they could not get fourteen eggs for sixpence. 
 The best joints of meat were retailed at sixpence a 
 pound, but even that was considered a ruinous price by 
 the Ancients, who lamented those good old days when 
 the prime of the market could be had for fourpence 
 the " long " pound. 
 
 To appreciate this, it must be explained that 
 formerly goods were computed by the pound-stone, a 
 pebble which weighed twenty-two ounces, a penny 
 piece being considered as the equivalent of an ounce ; 
 but in those days, bronze coinage had not supplanted 
 the big copper pieces of our ancestors which weighed 
 quite twenty dwts. 
 
 During the season, one old fish-wife used to 
 vociferate, " Here's your herrings, honey; here's your 
 
12 Methodists, Quakers & French Prisoners. 
 
 herrings ; ten a penny ; ten a penny ; as long as ever I 
 have any," between the whiffs of her tobacco pipe. 
 Cod, But and Ling sold at from twopence to fourpence 
 a pound according to the supply. 
 
 Up a yard between the Town Hall and Church stair 
 foot, stood, what was called, the old Methodist Chapel. 
 This, however, is really the third meeting house which 
 was built : the first was at the top of Cappleman's Yard, 
 near Boulby Bank. That, proving too small, in 1764 
 the congregation removed to an octagonal building 
 they had erected at the beginning of Henrietta Street, 
 but this being rendered unsafe by the land-slip, a still 
 larger one was built on the present site. The " Old 
 Chapel" has now been opened to Church Street by a 
 removal of the intervening houses. 
 
 The Quakers formerly were an important element in 
 Whitby society, but for many years that sect has been 
 dying out, and the only existing tokens of it are the 
 small congregation meeting at their house in Church 
 Street, and the burying ground in Bagdale. 
 
 In one of the houses facing the harbour, at the 
 bottom of Church Street, sundry French war prisoners 
 were once confined. Our elders used to tell wonder- 
 ful tales of their doings, and some treasured the 
 dainty toys that the aliens manufactured and sold to 
 eke out their scanty subsistence money ; but the only 
 French visitors, I remember, were those who came to 
 buy or poach herrings, and smugglers, captured by the 
 coast guards, whose ships were brought into port, 
 
\^\^ ^1 
 
 f^. 
 
 1| rmg rgcrarri r— n— tttoi 
 
 
The Press-gang 13 
 
 sawn in two and sold for firewood. Speaking of fuel, 
 reminds me that we had no lucifer matches in those 
 days, so when a fire was wanted, the tinder box had to 
 be got out, and a flint struck upon the steel till a spark 
 from it caught on the burnt rag, when a brimstone- 
 tipped wood-splint could be lighted from the fiery 
 circles that skirried in the tinder. 
 
 Opposite the end of Green Lane were Barrick's 
 Docks and Ship-yard which employed a goodly number 
 of hands. They were kindly disposed gentlemen, and 
 always willing to lend us their little green boat when- 
 ever we were minded to row on the river. 
 
 At Spital Bridge were a sail loft and a ropery, out of 
 which my father tried to make a living, and where he 
 kept a polar bear which was occasionally indulged with 
 a swim, when friends were assembled to witness the 
 performance. The ropery was an ancient institution, 
 and the house belonging to it was a curious old place 
 with all sorts of stow-holes for sailors to hide in when 
 the press-gang was about. This gang was a very 
 objectionable instrument of oppression, and occasioned 
 a serious riot in 1793, when the Whitby sailors rose 
 against their would-be captors, demolished their 
 rendezvous in Haggersgate, and utterly put them to 
 rout. For this exploit, an old man, who was seen 
 encouraging the rioters, was duly hanged at York. 
 
 These war times must have been very exciting ones 
 for all who dwelt on the sea coast, and a good deal of 
 public spirit was displayed. Like the rest of England, 
 
14 War Times and Vohtnteers. 
 
 Whitby had its band of volunteers, and the old folk 
 used to treasure the memory of days when, as young 
 men, they strutted in scarlet to the admiration of 
 school-girls and nursery maids. My grandfather's 
 ■captain's coat was reverentially enshrined in the best 
 wardrobe, and, as a great favour, was occasionally 
 exhibited to us as a priceless relic of the past. 
 
 We were also told wonderful tales of the precautions 
 which had to be taken, especially of how, when Paul 
 Jones or Bonaparte was reported to be in the neigh- 
 bourhood, wagons were kept packed with valuables 
 and the ladies held themselves ready to start inland at 
 a moment's notice, leaving their fathers, husbands, sons 
 and brothers to exterminate the frog-eating sansculottes, 
 or be exterminated by them as the fortune of war 
 should determine. It is true a pot-valiant poet of 
 Robin Hood's Bay had vowed, on behalf of his towns- 
 men, that the French "should never reach Whitby, 
 they'd keep them at bay," but that was hardly the 
 security in which prudent men should invest their all, 
 and so our grandfathers took such precautions as they 
 deemed expedient. But to continue. 
 
 Still further up the river was Campion's (now 
 Turnbull's) ship-yard, and beyond it the same owner 
 had chemical works, which proved a very unfortunate 
 speculation. 
 
 At that time the Abbey was free to all who chose to 
 visit it, and many a time did we scramble up the ruins, 
 mount the spiral staircases in the towers and run along 
 
Saint Hilda, 15 
 
 the passages in the walls that connect the upper 
 windows of the chancel. In the adjoining plain 
 stood the "battering stone" which we half believed 
 would bleed on Holy Thursday provided we hit it 
 hard enough, but pelt the boulder as we might, never 
 a drop could we extract from it. 
 
 We had also a semi-belief that St. Hilda was to be 
 seen from time to time when she visited the ruins of 
 her abbey, or flitted round a certain hollow near the 
 cliff edge. As for her having rid the land of poisonous 
 snakes that was hardly to be disputed. Had we not 
 ourselves repeatedly found them coiled up inside of 
 small boulders, or had any of them heads except those 
 that artistic tricksters had substituted for the natural 
 fang-cases which were broken off when the curse of the 
 indignant saint swept them over the precipice. 
 
 It may here be noted that neither the Abbey nor 
 the Parish Church is within the seventy-eight acres 
 and six poles which constitute the township of Whitby 
 proper, though both they and part of Ruswarp parish 
 are commonly so regarded.* 
 
 The Rev. James Andrew was incumbent of the 
 parish church when I first knew it. He was a vener- 
 able old man, much respected by everyone and all 
 rejoiced when his three sons obtained double-firsts at 
 Oxford. Greenbury, his clerk, was a very ostentatious 
 devotionalist, whose "Amens" were as incomprehensible 
 
 as they were melodious. 
 
 * Old Whitby, page 159. 
 
1 6 The Parish Church. 
 
 The living, by the way, is a very poor one, being 
 cursed with a lay rector. At the dissolution of the 
 Monastery, it was given to the Cathedral Church of 
 York and became a perpetual curacy in the gift of the 
 Archbishop. The incumbent received ^lo from the 
 Archbishop, and £40 from the lessee of the tithes ; the 
 surplice fees, however, are considerable."' The church 
 is dedicated to St. Mary and, except Baxtergate Chapel, 
 it was the only orthodox sanctuary in the town, so 
 every Sunday morning the igg stairs were climbed by 
 the devout, irrespective of the weather. One very 
 tempestuous day a ship was in distress in the offing. 
 Henry Simpson, a retired sea captain, who lived in the 
 large house facing Bagdale Hall, was half way up 
 when he observed her. Seeing there was some slack- 
 ness in getting out the Life Boat he at once turned 
 back, hurried to the pier, and regardless of his Sunday 
 clothes, took command of the craft and succeeded in 
 rescuing the crew. 
 
 Towards the end of 1830, Swing the incendiary 
 created quite a sensation in the neighbourhood by 
 sending letters to Thos. Beeforth of Cross Buts and 
 also to Thos. Booth of High Whithy, threatening to 
 destroy their property and also that of several others 
 whom he named. In consequence of this a number of 
 special constables was sworn in, constant watch was 
 kept for several weeks and a reward of one hundred 
 
 * Young's Whithy, page 609. 
 
X 
 
The Sailor King. 17 
 
 guineas was offered for the conviction of the writer of 
 the letters. 
 
 On the 26th June, 1830, George the Fourth died and 
 the Duke of Clarence ascended the throne. The 
 succession of our sailor king was duly celebrated at 
 Whitby. 
 
 On Monday, July 5th, a procession started from the 
 Angel Inn. It was headed by Mr. D. Dale, the chief 
 constable; he was followed by two men bearing a 
 banner on which was inscribed " Long live William 
 the Fourth." Then came the brass band and after it 
 the coastguard men of Whitby, Staithes and Robin 
 Hood's Bay, looking very smart in their new uniforms, 
 and then followed a number of gentlemen and trades- 
 men, marching three abreast. 
 
 When they arrived at the town hall, Henry Belcher, 
 Esq., steward to the lord of the manor, read the 
 proclamation, and the people cheered, while the band 
 thundered out the National Anthem and a bottle of 
 wine was emptied in drinking the health of the new 
 king. 
 
 After this they marched to the old market place, 
 where the formalities were repeated. Then they 
 climbed Golden-Lion Bank, passed up Flowergate, and 
 halted at the top of Scate Lane to make a third 
 demonstration of loyalty, after which they returned to 
 the Angel Inn, where the gentlefolk and coastguards 
 were feasted, while the people regaled themselves 
 with three barrels of beer which Messrs. Ellerby, 
 
1 8 Royal Days. 
 
 Simpson and Stonehouse, the three principal brewers, 
 broached outside the town hall. 
 
 Coronation day, the following year, also was a 
 grand event. About noon, the children from the free 
 and Sunday schools assembled on the West Pier, and 
 thence marched to the Abbey Plain. There they 
 were ranged in a hollow square, and the Vicar gave 
 them a short address, after which they sang " God 
 save the King," and were each presented with a sixpence, 
 of the new coinage. 
 
 Fourteen hundred and fifteen tickets also were 
 distributed among the people, each entitling the holder 
 to one shilling's worth of ale or other provision. 
 
 For amusement the coastguards, under Lieutenant 
 Jones, exhibited Captain Manby's life-saving apparatus. 
 During this display, however, there was a somewhat 
 serious accident, a boy flung a fire brand in the air and 
 it fell upon some loose gunpowder, which exploding, 
 three coastguard men and a boy suffered considerably 
 from the effects of it. 
 
 Of Lieutenant Jones I have but little recollection. 
 His successor, Lieutenant Lingard, was a great friend 
 of my father's and presented me with a beautiful model 
 of a revenue cutter which I still possess. Poor fellow, 
 he was drowned when the lifeboat was upset oif 
 Kettleness. 
 
 Another royal day was when the Queen and Prince 
 Albert paid their first visit to Scotland. Everycraft in 
 the harbour was decked with flags, and the roads were 
 
Whitby a Parliamentary Borough. 19 
 
 thronged with boats, which ventured far out to sea, but 
 waited in vain for the royal yacht and her escort, as 
 they did not pass Whitby till after dark. 
 
 Swing's threats seem to have convinced the people 
 of Whitby that Parliamentary Reform had become 
 necessary for their safety. Several public meetings 
 were held and they petitioned Parliament to give 
 them a borough member. In 1831 Lord Morpeth 
 presented another petition, urging immediate action, 
 and soon after a third, signed by 1,481 persons in a 
 little more than two days, was presented by the Marquis 
 of Normandy. 
 
 In this year a census was taken and it was found 
 that Whitby had 8,529 inhabitants, being 168 fewer 
 than were counted in 182 1, so the bad times had 
 seriously affected the prosperity of the town. 
 
 In 1832, Whitby became a parliamentary borough, 
 with a total electorate of 425. The first candidate in 
 the field was Mr. Moorsom, of Airy Hill, who professed 
 Liberal principles and adopted blue as his party colour. 
 Shortly after, Aaron Chapman, Esq., of London, came 
 forward as a Conservative and made a grand display of 
 pink. His party cries were " Chapman and the 
 Shipping Interest," " Chapman and the Railway," to 
 which the Liberals responded "True blue will never 
 fade," " Nasty pink is sure to stink " and for some weeks 
 the town was given over to electioneering amenities. 
 But the Chapmans being the great bankers, and the 
 head of the firm making a personal canvass for his 
 
20 The First Election. 
 
 relative, the result was never doubtful, and ultimately it 
 was found that there were 217 votes for Chapman, 139 
 for Moorsom. 
 
 So sure were the Tories of success, that a trium- 
 phal car was prepared beforehand, and directly 
 the result of the poll was declared, the elaborate 
 structure was produced. It was in form of a boat, 
 painted white, with a gilt band by way of decoration. 
 Overhead was a gorgeous canopy, and pink flags 
 fluttered from the poles of it, while the Union Jack 
 trailed astern. Into this vehicle stepped the new 
 member, and with some difficulty maintained his 
 equilibrium and acknowledged the greetings of by- 
 standers, while his admirers laid hold of a pink-tagged 
 cable and jolted him through the streets, amid boundless 
 enthusiasm. The journey ended at the Angel Inn, 
 and Mr. Chapman had hardly alighted when the crowd 
 made a rush, smashed the boat into a thousand pieces, 
 fought for the fragments and decorations, and carried 
 them off as souvenirs of the day. 
 
 To commemorate their triumph the Tories decided 
 to give a grand public tea-drinking, and with singular 
 good taste, the spot selected was a field close to 
 the residence of the defeated candidate. Scores of 
 tables and benches were constructed and an unlimited 
 supply of goqjd things was provided. The tea was to 
 be prepared at the Bagdale Brewery and brought up in 
 beer barrels. 
 
 In due time the dray started with them and all 
 
>«vi«fc:_« 
 
Whitby Tea Partus. 21 
 
 seemed well till the top of Down-dinner Hill was 
 reached, when it was discovered that someone had 
 knocked the plugs out of the casks, and that their 
 odorous contents were streaming all down the road-way. 
 Naturally, the authorities were very wrathful, but being 
 unable to discover the delinquents, their only course 
 was to send for a fresh supply and to make the best 
 excuses they could to the expectant guests. 
 
 Speaking of teas, it may be noted that tea-drinkings 
 were the favourite gatherings of old Whitby gossips. 
 The meal itself was often a very elaborate affair. Fowls, 
 tongue, ham and potted meats were generally provided, 
 but the housewife's special pride was in her cakes. Of 
 these, there would sometimes be more than twenty 
 varieties. Amongthe favourite sorts were " fat rascals," 
 little disks composed of flour, cream and butter, 
 studded with currants. These were cut open, but- 
 tered, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and served 
 up hot. Then there were " sly cakes " or "cheats" 
 that externally looked innocent morsels of pastry, but 
 internally were the richest compound of fruit, almonds, 
 spices, etc., that ever feminine kitchen-craft could 
 devise. Cheese-cakes were in many varieties, from 
 giants twelve inches in diameter, containing masses of 
 rum-flavoured curd overlaid with fantastic trellises of 
 pastry, to lemon miracles that were hardly one mouthful, 
 and which were cheese in nothing but name. Pound 
 cake, almond cake, seed cake, brandy snaps and Scotch 
 bread duly tantalized and tempted, so that if you did 
 
22 Improved Conveyance. 
 
 not go home qualified for a bilious attack or fit of 
 indigestion it was no fault of your hospitable enter- 
 tainers. 
 
 Shut in by its zone of moors, Old Whitby had but 
 little intercourse with the rest of England. Such 
 traffic as existed was mainly carried on by pack-horses 
 and afterwards by wagons. But in 1788, a diligence 
 commenced running twice a week to York. So perilous 
 was the journey considered, that those who had not 
 already made their wills, were particular to do so before 
 starting on it. In 1795, the diligence was superseded 
 by a coach, which also ran twice a week. The house 
 on Spring Hill, adjoining the pathway to Meadow 
 Fields, was known as Lobster Hall, having been built 
 by a guard of the York coach, out of his profits derived 
 from carrying lobsters. A coach to Sunderland was 
 started in 1796, and another to Scarborough about the 
 same time. It became a favourite feat of athletes to 
 run with the Scarborough coach, and to enter Whitby 
 before it. 
 
 In 1793, a canal was projected between Whitby and 
 Pickering, but a survey proved it to be impracticable. 
 
 This was the state of affairs till the railway era com- 
 menced. Then the self-resourcefulness, fostered by 
 their isolation, impelled the towns-folk to be among 
 the first to avail themselves of the new invention. On 
 March 2nd, 1831, Mr. Storey reported upon a line that 
 was projected between Whitby and Darlington, and his 
 scheme was considered by the Literary and Philosoph- 
 
r~-~^-™T— — 
 
 
 1 
 
 •1 " « ' /^ 
 
 
 
 ■^ .. 
 
 Tate Hill (from a photo by Mr. E. Hall of Whitby) 
 
Whitby and Pickering Railway. 23 
 
 ical society ; but this was abandoned in favour of a line 
 to Pickering, which, it was estimated, would pay the 
 shareholders at least ten per cent. So sanguine were 
 the promoters, that they subscribed £30,000 at their 
 first public meeting, and the remainder was speedily 
 forthcoming. The necessary capital having been 
 obtained, operations were commenced in 1833- ^'^ ^'^" 
 bankment was made from Boghall, a " new cut " was 
 dug near Larpool, and the Esk diverted, where the 
 airy viaduct of the Scarborough Railway now spans it. 
 The old course of the river remained as a lake, and was 
 a favourite resort of eel fishers and skaters till it silted 
 up. A number of bridges was made over the wind- 
 ing stream, a hill was tunnelled at Grosmont, and an 
 incline constructed at Godeland ; then the track was 
 carried across the moor till it reached its destination, 
 and the Whitby and Pickering Railway became an 
 accomplished fact. 
 
 The elder Robert Stephenson drew the plans, and 
 these were ably carried out by Messrs. Swanwick and 
 Harding ; Robert Campion was chairman of the Com- 
 pany, and Thomas Fishburn his deputy. The six miles 
 to Grosmont were opened in June, 1835, and it was 
 computed that during the first three months, six thou- 
 sand persons travelled on it. But the grand day was 
 May 26th, 1836, when the chairman, directors and friends, 
 assembled at the Angel Inn, and, preceded by the 
 Whitby brass band, marched in much be-flagged pro- 
 cession to the station, entered the carriages and rode 
 
24 opening Festivities. 
 
 to Pickering, partook of a plenteous repast at the Black 
 Swan, and returned, duly elated, in the afternoon. The 
 carriages passed the incline three at a time, and on the 
 return journey came down part of the way at, what 
 was then considered, the prodigious rate of twenty 
 miles an hour. The total length of the line was twenty- 
 four miles, and the entire railway, including nine bridges, 
 cost only ;r8o,ooo. The rails used weighed forty pounds 
 per yard. It was not a very grand affair. One or two 
 composite carriages drawn by horses were all that the 
 directors could afford to employ, still it was a great 
 boon and, considering the time it was made, the general 
 inexperience of railway engineers, and the absolute 
 dependence of Whitby people on their own resources, 
 for a small country town to have a railway before York, 
 Birmingham or Bristol, was really a very meritorious 
 achievement. Whitby can claim also the honour of 
 having constructed the first suspension bridge in York- 
 shire ; the one which crossed the Ruswarp Dam having 
 been built by Col. Wilson before any other in the 
 county. 
 
 Of course there were various inconveniences, the 
 speed attained on the railway was but little more than 
 that of the mail coach, and the wire rope by which a 
 stationary engine drew the train up the incline was 
 constantly breaking, sometimes with serious results. 
 Still, the first step having been taken the rest was only 
 a question of time, and in 1847, ^ locomotive engine 
 entered Whitby, when a new era was commenced. 
 
Improvements Effected. 25 
 
 In 1831, at the suggestion of Mr. Hugill, the Whitby 
 Shipping Company was formed, and the following year 
 four ships, the " Smales," the " Corsair," the 
 "Regent," and the " Columbus," sailed from Whitby 
 for America, having 245 emigrants on board. In 
 that year the town suffered from cholera, and on 
 September 20th, the Repository reported twenty 
 deaths and fifteen recoveries during the previous 
 month, so there was naturally a general alarm. This, 
 however, did not impair the public spirit, for, a Floral 
 and Horticultural Society having been formed, the first 
 meeting was held on September 25th, in the Auction 
 Mart, and proved a great success. 
 
 Since then many things have been improved in Whitby, 
 notably the substitution of flagstones for the toe-tortur- 
 ing pebbles of which the old pathways were composed, 
 and the cleansing of the harbour, but still old landmarks 
 are pleasant to encounter, and it is to be hoped that 
 Loggerhead Yard and Dark Entry, etc., will escape 
 the fate of the New Buildings and Skate Lane. Fresh 
 names to old places destroy pleasant associations 
 and make a return to one's birthplace still more like 
 a visit to a city of the dead. 
 
CURIOUS CUSTOMS 
 
 Seventy years ago there were many quaint old 
 customs still surviving in Whitby, at least in memory. 
 One of them was that of counting fish in triplets. 
 "Thoo'syan! but thoo's not yan ! but thoo's yan ! 
 thoo's twa ! but thoo's not twa ! but thoo's twa ! " 
 Or, as an old fisherman gave it me, " One to pay ! one 
 to give away, and one to tally there " was once the 
 ordinary mode of counting herrings, etc. 
 
 A publican was called an ale draper, a spirit 
 merchant a brandy spinner. A huckster was termed a 
 badger ; he used to go about the country with an ass 
 and panniers to barter needles, threads and other 
 small articles for butter, eggs and fruit ; these he sold 
 in the market towns. A cadger was a man who 
 collected the corn of small farmers and took it to be 
 ground. 
 
 Another most interesting survival ' of an old 
 practice, was that of designating people by their 
 occupations. But instead of the trade being affixed to 
 the Christiaii name as in the case of Richard le teler, 
 John le Fuler, etc., it was used as a prefix to the 
 surname, and so we spoke of Saddler Wilson, Butcher 
 
^ 
 '£ 
 
 
Cures for Ailments. 27 
 
 Breckon, etc.; it was however, only in a few instances 
 that this occurred and now it has practically ceased. 
 
 The worked flints, which are often found about the 
 fields, were termed " awfshots " and were believed to 
 be used by fairies for shooting cattle. " Church-lead- 
 water," or the rain which runs off the lead roof of a 
 church, was used to sprinkle the sick ; that from 
 the chancel being esteemed peculiarly beneficial. 
 " Cinder- water," i.e., water in which hot cinders had 
 been slaked, was used to wash infants where they had 
 become chafed. 
 
 As an antidote for the itch half an ounce of quick- 
 silver was pounded in a mortar till it mixed with the 
 white of an egg. This compound was spread on a long 
 narrow strip of flannel which, having been covered with 
 leather, was worn round the waist next the skin. 
 
 Finger rings were made of lead, taken from a coffin, 
 and worn as a cure for cramp. A " sacrament piece " 
 was a half-crown given as a sacramental offering and 
 purchased of the parson with thirty pence, begged of 
 thirty poor widows. After having been carried nine 
 times up and down the church aisle, a hole was drilled 
 in the coin and it was then worn on a ribbon as a 
 certain cure for epilepsy. 
 
 To secure good luck, or a fair wind, the wives and 
 sweethearts of sailors and fishermen used to put on 
 their shifts inside out. "Ash riddHng" was the 
 custom of sifting ashes over the hearth on St. Mark's 
 Eve, April 24th. If any of the family were destined to 
 
28 Love Charms. 
 
 die within the year the print of their shoe would be 
 found there the next morning. On the same eve 
 persons used to watch all night in the church porch. 
 Those who did so expected to see the images of all 
 who were to be buried during the ensuing year. 
 
 If a girl wished to know her destined husband she 
 would look at the new moon, for the first time, through 
 a new black silk handkerchief, and say : — 
 
 " New moon I new moon 1 I hail thee 
 This night my true love for to see, 
 Not in his best nor worst array 
 But his apparel for every day 
 That I to-morrow may him ken 
 From among all other men." 
 
 She then retired to bed backwards without speaking to 
 anyone and if she fell asleep before twelve o'clock the 
 right man was certain to appear to her in a dream. 
 
 For the same purpose a girl would fast on St. Agnes's 
 Eve, and perform similar ceremonies. 
 
 Another mode was for three young women to make 
 a cake of flour with the first egg of a young hen. 
 Having baked it over the fire the cake was broken 
 into three parts. Each girl ate a portion of her share 
 and, putting the rest into the stocking taken from her 
 left leg, hid it under her pillow and went to bed back- 
 wards. If a word was spoken the charm had no effect. 
 
 Spinning was still a necessary accomplishment at 
 the end of last century, and each year every young 
 lady was expected to produce as much yarn as would 
 
X 
 
 
 a 
 O 
 
Female Vanity. 29 
 
 weave a web of linen. This web was carefully put 
 away and kept for her till she married. Stockings too 
 were always knitted at home and the making of under- 
 clothing was also a domestic duty. Silk dresses were 
 rare and precious, only^^rteen Jor sixteen yards of 
 silk, fifteen inches wide, were allowed for a frock. 
 This was expected to last several years for " bettermy 
 best," and then it was turned and remade as the best 
 gown for ordinary occasions. Boots and shoes were 
 made to wear indifferently on either foot ; those who 
 indulged in " rights and lefts" were regarded as wickedly 
 extravagant. 
 
 But, though such industrious members of a house- 
 hold, the ladies were, as now, always prone to bedeck 
 themselves whenever they had the opportunity. A 
 curious instance of this occurred in our own family. 
 My grandfather went to Liverpool on business at the 
 time when red and blue checkered tablecloths were 
 first introduced. These were so much to his liking 
 that he bought half-a-dozen duly assorted and sent 
 them home by carrier. As the number that arrived 
 corresponded exactly with the number of his daughters, 
 the girls concluded that these were the latest thing in 
 shawls which papa had kindly sent for them. Acting 
 on this assumption, each appropriated one, and the 
 party created an immense sensation when the next 
 Sunday they marched into chapel proudly arrayed in 
 such resplendent drapery. 
 
 Hearth rugs were commonly made of cloth shreds 
 
30 Home Industries. 
 
 knitted together with stout twine. Counterpanes were 
 composed of patchwork, and samplers fraught with 
 gaudy monstrosities were elaborated by school girls to 
 gratify parental vanity- As for music, but few were 
 proficient in it, and " The Battle of Prague " was 
 regarded as a classical composition. 
 
 Bread was always made and baked at home and was 
 much more wholesome and appetising than the. modern 
 compound of dubious ingredients leavened with yeast 
 "made in Germany" and sometimes kneaded with 
 feet that are not altogether irreproachable. 
 
 Washing, mangling and ironing, too, were rarely 
 " put out " and during these operations the house was 
 pervaded by a pungent savour of soap, soda and singed 
 blanket, that made fresh air a very appreciated luxury. 
 Therefore, notwithstanding the havoc made among 
 garments by modern laundry-folk, the fortnightly wash 
 is an institution that few would wish to revive, for, 
 in spite of the proverb, it is best not to " wash dirty 
 linen at home." 
 
 When people were " asked " at church, in some 
 places the clerk responded " God speed them well !" 
 
 After a wedding, young men used to race for the "bride- 
 door" — usually a ribbon which was worn in the hat of 
 the winner. The " bride-wain " was a waggon filled 
 with household stuff. It was drawn by oxen garlanded 
 with ribbons, while a young woman sat at her spinning 
 wheel in the centre of the load. Friends added their 
 gifts as it went along. " Heat-pots," that is pots of 
 
j5 
 > 
 
 
 u 
 
Matrimonial Matters. 31 
 
 ale, sweetened and spiced, were offered to the bridal 
 party on their return from church. When the bride 
 cake was cut, pieces of it were passed through the 
 ring and given to young people as "dreaming bread." 
 
 For two or three days after her wedding, it was 
 customary for the bride to receive morning calls from 
 her friends, and after their first appearance in church, 
 the young couple sat in state for three evenings. The 
 wife returned the calls attended by her bridesmaids. 
 
 If husband and wife quarrelled, or one of them went 
 astray a " stang " was ridden ; that is, a boy got 
 astride of a long pole, and beating an old kettle or 
 pan with a stick, sang satirical verses, while men bore 
 him on their shoulders before the house of the 
 delinquent. 
 
 These were the words commonly used — 
 
 " With a ran, tan, tan, 
 On my old tin can, 
 
 Mrs. and her good man. 
 
 She bang'd him, she bang'd him 
 
 For spending a penny when he stood in need. 
 
 She up with a three-footed stool ; 
 
 She struck him so hard, and she cut so deep 
 
 Till the blood ran down like a new stuck sheep." 
 
 Part of the ceremony was to sweep before the door 
 of the person they intended to satirize and if any 
 others were suspected of like delinquency they stopped 
 and swept at their doors also, but without the musical 
 accompaniment. 
 
32 Birth and Funeral Observances. 
 
 At the birth of the first child a gingerbread cake was 
 provided. The first slice of it was cut into small 
 pieces and used by the unmarried as " dreaming bread." 
 The rest of it was eaten with cheese and washed down 
 by suitable cordials. When it was first carried into 
 the house of a friend or neighbour, the infant was pre- 
 sented with an e^g and a roll, while a small packet of 
 salt was pinned to its long clothes. 
 
 At funerals a number of women, called " servers " 
 were dressed in white for a young person and in black 
 for an elder. They had broad white ribbons, which 
 were worn " scarf-wise," an elaborate bow resting on 
 their left breasts. They went in pairs to the neighbours' 
 houses, one distributing wine, the other macaroons. 
 Sometimes they carried "burnt wine " (mulled port) and 
 handed it round in a loving cup. Afterwards they 
 walked at the head of the funeral procession. 
 
 At the burial of a maiden a garland composed of two 
 hoops, crossing each other, was prepared. It was 
 dressed with flowers and leaves made of white paper, 
 while a white paper glove, bearing the name and age of 
 the deceased, was hung in the centre. This garland 
 was carried before the coffin and afterwards suspended 
 from the roof of the church. The passing bell was 
 tolled immediately after a death, no matter at what 
 hour of the day or night it might occur. The parish 
 clerk acted as "bidder" to the burying and, as many 
 objected to be " hearsed," the coffin was often carried 
 through the streets, women bearing women, men men, 
 

 I J (Hi '=^-^5^ 
 
 
Plough Monday. 33 
 
 and children children. A woman who died in child- 
 bed had a white sheet thrown over her coffin. Plain 
 wainscot coffins were generally used, the inscription on 
 the lid being composed of brass nails. Gloves and 
 hat-bands were given, as now. Corpse wakings were 
 occasionally held but were not in much repute. In 
 the olden time it was customary to give doles to the 
 poor, who in return undertook to pray for the departed. 
 In some cases, a hearty meal of meat, bread, cheese and 
 ale was given to all comers. 
 
 These feasts were termed Arvills, and special thin, 
 light, sweet cakes were made to be eaten at them. 
 
 If a woman was the first to enter a house on New 
 Year's Day it was considered very unlucky. It was 
 also deemed dangerous to give a light out of the house, 
 or even to throw out the ashes or to sweep out the 
 dust on that day. 
 
 The first Monday after Twelfth Day was called 
 Plough Monday. During the forenoon, a procession of 
 rustics entered the town dragging a plough. They 
 were called plough-stots because they acted as oxen. 
 They wore their shirts over their jackets, sashes of gay 
 ribbon were passed over their backs and breasts, 
 finishing at the waist in a grand knot. Bows and 
 rosettes garnished their hats and sleeves, all of the 
 brightest colours. Six of them were sword bearers, 
 who from time to time gave a dance in the old 
 Danish fashion. They ranged themselves in a ring, 
 raised their swords and began a series of evolutions, 
 
 c 
 
34 Toms and Madgv-Pegs. 
 
 at first slow and simple, but which gradually became 
 quick and complicated. Toward the close, each seized 
 the point of his neighbour's weapon and after various 
 typical movements, the blades were dexterously woven 
 together so as to form a hexagon. This was held over 
 head by the chief of the band, after which, each with- 
 drew his sword and the procession moved on again. 
 
 During the dance a number of "Toms" (clowns), 
 dressed and painted fantastically, played all sorts of 
 comical tricks, while another set, called Madgy-Pegs, 
 dressed in women's clothes, went about from door to 
 door rattling old tin canisters and collecting money ! 
 Some were mounted on high stilts and their office was 
 to requisition spectators at the windows of the upper 
 storeys. When people were liberal to them they 
 huzzahed ! when they got nothing they shouted " hunger 
 and starvation." Occasionally a kind of farce was 
 performed in which songs were introduced. The 
 principal characters were the king, the miller, the 
 clown and the doctor. 
 
 In one of the songs were these words : — 
 
 " I once killed an otchin (hedgehog) as big as mysen, 
 Which made me a rare apple pie 1 ' 
 
 This will give an idea of their literary merit. The 
 party went from town to town for two or three days 
 and ended with a grand feast, to which they invited 
 the girls who had furnished the ribbons and other 
 decorations. 
 
 Egton has long been famous for the number and 
 
en 
 
 o 
 
 
Parish Boundaries. 35 
 
 skill of its sword dancers, so that town might be 
 regarded as the headquarters of plough-stots. 
 
 The Sunday before Easter was called " Carl Sunday." 
 On that day an orthodox dinner consisted of " car lings " 
 (grey peas) steeped in water and then fried in butter. 
 For this day, houses were decorated with "palm 
 crosses." These were made of peeled willow twigs 
 stuck together with pins and tastefully studded with 
 the golden blossoms. 
 
 The next day, Collop Monday, people feasted on eggs 
 and bacon, and it was customary to furnish the table 
 of poor neighbours. The rich, too, generally gave 
 away considerable quantities of bread every week and 
 so a kindly feeling was preserved. 
 
 On Shrove Tuesday the town bell was rung at 
 eleven in the forenoon. On hearing this the house- 
 wives began to fry pancakes for dinner, while children 
 and apprentices claimed a holiday. 
 
 After morning service on Holy Thursday, the 
 parish boundaries were perambulated by the clergy 
 and churchwardens, who stopped at certain stations 
 and threw stay-laces, papers of pins and biscuits 
 among the crowd who followed them. 
 
 The pins were not done up in packets as now but a 
 couple of parallel ridges were made on a strip of blue 
 paper, and the regulation number of pins was stuck 
 through them. About six pairs of these ridges made a 
 paper of pins, which was then rolled up, and, as the 
 points were but little protected, pricked fingers were 
 
36 Easter Usages. 
 
 plentiful among the scramblers ! — but that only added 
 to the fun. 
 
 On Good Friday, hot cross buns and herb puddings 
 were eaten, and it was customary to make special 
 biscuits. These were kept to be grated into milk or 
 brandy and water whenever diarrhoea occurred. If 
 clothes were hung out to dry on this day it was believed 
 that when taken down they would be found to be 
 spotted with blood. 
 
 Easter Sunday was know as "paste-egg-day" on 
 account of the large number of baked custards which 
 were then consumed, and for the same reason the East 
 winds which generally prevailed at this season were 
 called "custard winds." On Easter Sunday, to avoid 
 ill luck, everyone wore something new, even if it were 
 only a pair of garters or shoe-strings. The rooks were 
 supposed to be specially interested in the preservation 
 of this custom, and to put a very objectionable mark on 
 anyone who failed to observe it. In the afternoon 
 and evening, boys and young men used to steal girls' 
 shoes and to claim forfeits of money or kisses before 
 they would restore them. 
 
 On Easter Monday and Tuesday a fair for children 
 was held in the Abbey Plain, where hard-boiled eggs, 
 gaily coloured and decorated, were offered for sale. 
 The dyes commonly used were gorse blossoms for yellow 
 or logwood for blue, but sometimes ribbons or tapes 
 were wound round the eggs so as to produce various 
 patterns in different colours. These eggs were trolled 
 
Royal Oak Day. 37 
 
 in the neighbouring fields till broken, but sometimes a 
 pugnacious boy would pit his egg against that of a 
 fellow, the one which first broke when they were struck 
 together becoming the prize of the lad whose shell 
 remained intact. The shoe stealing was continued — 
 the girls retorting by making off with the men's hats 
 whenever they had the chance. A shilling had to be 
 paid for every one they captured. 
 
 May Day was very little regarded, but on Royal Oak 
 Day many people procured oak leaves for decorating 
 their persons or houses. A figure-head which was 
 supposed to represent the Merry Monarch, and which 
 was fixed outside a boat builder's yard in Church 
 Street, was always embellished with a profusion of 
 greenery. 
 
 Midsummer Day and Michaelmas had no special 
 honour, but on All Souls' Day, November 2nd, small 
 round loaves called Soul-Mass loaves were baked and 
 mainly given to children. Some persons kept two or 
 three of them for good luck, and Dr. Young mentions 
 one that was reputed to be a hundred years old. 
 
 The most important festivities, however, were those 
 of Yule-tide. As that season approached, " waits " and 
 mummers appeared, while, sometimes singly, some- 
 times in pairs, dirty tatterdemalions went from door 
 to door carrying circular baskets or boxes containing 
 an Infant-Jesus, embowered in sprigs of box and 
 garnished with a few apples or oranges. With no 
 pretension to harmony they screamed : — ■ 
 
38 Waits and Mummers 
 
 " God bless you, merry gentlemen ! 
 May no ill you dismay, 
 Remember Christ our Sa-vi-our' 
 Was born on Christmas Day. 
 Glory to God ! The Angels sing, 
 Peace and right good-will we bring ! 
 
 " God bless the master of this house. 
 The mis-ter-ess also ! 
 And all the little chil-der-en 
 That round the table go I 
 God bless your kith and kin-der-ed 
 That live both far and near, 
 We wish you a merry Christmas 
 And a happy New Year." 
 
 When this had been yelled a dozen times during 
 one day and the yellers were known to be disreputable 
 persons, a householder might well be excused if he 
 declined to pay for such an annoyance, but it was 
 unlucky to send them away empty, and so the black- 
 mail was levied with impunity. 
 
 Then frumity had to be purchased in the market, 
 or the wheat for it bruised and creaved at home. 
 Yule cakes, mince pies, and plum puddings had to be 
 made, and a great store of cheese and gingerbread 
 provided. So great was the demand for this last 
 named dainty that Dr. Young estimates the quantity 
 consumed in the Whitby district at no less than 
 twelve tons every year. A Yule log was also 
 indispensable, while Yule candles were given by the 
 grocers to almost every customer. 
 

 X 
 
 
Merry Christmas. 39 
 
 On Christmas Eve, the family assembled in a room 
 generally decorated with evergreens, the Yule log was 
 put on the fire, and the Yule candles were lighted. It 
 was unlucky to do this till just before the meal, or to 
 stir either of them till supper was ended. Meat 
 and apple pie were generally provided, but the great 
 dish was frumity. This was a porridge made of wheat 
 duly creaved, boiled with milk and seasoned with sugar 
 and spices. A more fragrant or appetising triumph of 
 culinary art it is impossible to imagine. Cheese and 
 gingerbread concluded the meal, after which there was 
 generally a game at cards or a merry romp till near 
 midnight. Then the remains of the Yule log were 
 secured and stored under the master's bed to insure the 
 house against fire and to light the new log on the next 
 Christmas Eve. 
 
 The following morning, long before daylight, you 
 were awakened by small voices reiterating " Wish you 
 
 merry Kissmass and happy New Year, Mr. ," 
 
 and this was persisted in till the persecuted slumberer 
 rose, opened the window and threw out his donation, 
 generally with a merry threat, but sometimes as 
 graciously as a boot is flung at an amorous cat who 
 utters his felicitations too discordantly. 
 
 None but boys were allowed to go out of doors till 
 the threshold had been consecrated by the entry of a 
 male person : for a female to be the first incomer was ^^ , 
 a harbinger of disaster. The first man who entered ' 
 was given money, feasted on cheese and gingerbread, 
 
40 Christmas Fare. 
 
 and treated to gin or some other stimulating beverage. 
 This fare was liberally dispensed to all who called 
 during the day, so by noon those whose business took 
 them to many houses were in a tolerably jovial con- 
 dition. 
 
 All who possibly could do so attended morning 
 service at the parish church. Sprigs of holly were 
 stuck all over the building, but crosses or other 
 devices never appeared. 
 
 The dinner-hour was from one to two o'clock. The 
 favourite dishes of old were roast beef and goose pie, 
 but roast goose or turkey was not unknown in my 
 day. This was followed by apple pie, plum pudding, 
 mince pies and the inevitable cheese and gingerbread. 
 
 The beverages were ale, with "white" and "red" 
 wine at dessert, after which the men-folk indulged in 
 tobacco and grog till teatime, when the ladies 
 reappeared, and cake cramming was the order of the 
 day ; then more tobacco and grog till supper time, 
 and finally one or two "night caps," in which the 
 ladies often participated. 
 
 So heavy eating and hard drinking duly desecrated 
 the day, and after noon the towns-folk had little 
 thought for any other object of devotion. 
 
 On " Childermass " Day, December 28th, the 
 massacre of the Innocents was commemorated. This 
 was the most unlucky day in the whole year and the 
 week-day on which it fell was a black letter-day for the 
 following twelve months. Few persons would begin any 
 
Pin Hunting. 41 
 
 important affair on Childermass Day, and not many 
 sailors would, under any consideration, leave port, 
 however favourable the wind and weather might 
 happen to be. 
 
 Children, too, had their little superstitions. One of 
 these imputed special intelligence to needles. In 
 wet weather, youngsters were accustomed to go pin 
 hunting. Before starting they always provided them- 
 selves with a box in which was placed the largest 
 needle they could borrow. Thus equipped they crawled 
 from room to room reiterating: — 
 
 " Needle ! Needle 1 find a pin 
 I've a box to put it in." 
 
 and they firmly believed that this invocation enhanced 
 their chances of success. 
 
 The penny hedge fable was long accepted as a 
 genuine tradition, but Canon Atkinson has so thoroughly 
 discredited it that in spite of the hermitage still 
 remaining at Eskdale side, the tale can be regarded 
 only as an imaginary episode concocted by a fourteenth 
 or fifteenth century romancer. The custom of plant- 
 ing stakes in the river has probably some connection 
 with an old local fishery. 
 
London : 
 
 PRINTED BY THE WOMEN's PRINTING SOCIETY, LIMITED, 
 66, WHITCOMB STREET, W.C. 
 
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST. 
 
mm 
 
 Past and Prmnt 
 
 ROBERT B. HOLT F.R.S-L. 
 
 author of 
 ' Kynwith," " Elfrida," "The Scald," ktc. 
 
 AND 
 
 " Souvenir of Runswick Bay 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 Messes. COPAS & Co. 
 41, Gray's Inn Road, London 
 
 AND 
 
 Messrs. HORNE & Son, "Gazette" Office, Bridge St., Whitbv 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Abbey, the present one erected 17 
 
 Dissolution of 26 
 
 Early Endowments 20 
 
 Library 24 
 
 Revenues 22 
 
 Ruin of 27 
 
 Abbots' Magnificence 25 
 
 Alum Manufactory 38 
 
 Banks 46 
 
 Barbarism of the People 9 
 
 Bernicia 4 
 
 Bondi 15 
 
 Bridges 37 
 
 British Social Customs 2 
 
 Burgage Rights obtained 14 
 
 Caedmon 9 
 
 Cholmley, Sir Hugh 35 
 
 Coinage of Whitby 46 
 
 Convent founded by Hilda 5 
 
 Conventual Buildings 19 
 Cotters - - 15 
 
 Danes colonize - n 
 
 Deira - 4 
 
Fashions in 1827 44 
 
 Gas Company 47 
 
 Harbour Improvements 34 
 
 Harbour Trust, Revenues 36 
 
 Hilda's Days 7 
 
 Institutions, Public 41 
 
 Invasions of Britain 3 
 
 King John seizes the Abbey 17 
 
 Land Tenures 21 
 
 Landslip at Henrietta Street 33 
 
 Manufactures 36 
 
 Monks of Whitby 23 
 
 Pagan Times i 
 
 Parish Church 28 
 
 Priory becomes an Abbey 13 
 
 Publications, Local 43 
 
 Reinfrid destroys and restores the Priory 12 
 
 Roads, State of 48 
 
 Saxon Wars 5 
 
 Social Conditions 16 
 
 Societies, Various 42 
 
 Streets, Condition of 32 
 
 Synod at Streoneshalh • 8 
 
Theatres - ■ ak 
 
 Town, Extension of • - ji 
 
 Trade, Revival of 30 
 
 Whale Fishery - . 40 
 
 Whitby, Sixteenth Century 29 
 

GLIMPSES OF THE PAST. 
 
 PAGAN TIMES. 
 
 Anterior to the Roman invasion Yorkshire was 
 inhabited by the Brigantes. Whether they were 
 aborigines or how long they had dwelt there is un- 
 known. By them a town was built at the mouth of the 
 Esk and called Streoneshalh, which is variously trans- 
 lated a lighthouse, a promontory and a strong place. 
 From this name it is inferred that they were a Cymric 
 tribe, and as "Esk" is also a British name meaning- 
 "river" or "water" the evidence is tolerably conclu- 
 sive. Their grave-mounds usually contain bronze 
 objects, but Canon Atkinson has found finely moulded 
 and nicely polished axe-hammers, as well as jet beads 
 of very rude workmanship.* 
 
 As regards their social state the Cymri generally 
 dwelt in hamlets, each of which consisted of nine 
 dwellings inhabited by the ploughman and his eight 
 co-tillers. t Besides this, garths and stables were 
 erected in suitable spots, where herdsmen kept the 
 
 * Old Whitby, p. 62. f Laws and Institutes nf Wales. 
 
2 Old British Society and Customs. 
 
 tribal cattle and in many cases slept with them. 
 Every man had his lord, to whom he rendered certain 
 services, and to whom he paid a fine when his 
 daughter was married.* 
 
 In townships, which contained sixteen houses, 
 twelve acres were set apart for dwellings, so three- 
 quarters of an acre was the average allotted to themt 
 as garden ground. 
 
 A Briton of the best class usually had three dwell- 
 ings : his permanent abode, at which was a hall valued 
 at twenty pence for each fork that supported the roof 
 ridge ; the ridge beam was estimated at forty pence, 
 while the pillars, benches, stanchions, door-posts and 
 lintels were valued at fourpence each, the poles and 
 rods at one penny each ; a door hurdle was worth two- 
 pence, ordinary hurdles one penny each. 
 
 Around the main building were grouped a number of 
 penthouses, used as the chamber, the cowhouse, the 
 barn, the kiln, the sheep-cote, and the pigsty, etc. 
 
 In addition to this he had his summer and his 
 autumn houses, both of slighter construction. + In no 
 case are windows mentioned, so for light they proba- 
 bly depended by day on the door and chimney, and 
 by night on torches and the fire. 
 
 For dress. Carte tells us they wore striped plaids with 
 a belt round the waist ; their trousers were of various 
 
 * Laws and Institutes of Wales. 
 
 t Dimetian Code, Book II., chap, xx., p. 7. 
 
 J Dimetian Code, Book II., chap, xxiv., p. 34. 
 
Invasions of Britain. 3 
 
 colours and reached to the ankle. They also had 
 dresses made of the skins of various animals for 
 rougher weather. Their hair was allowed to grow 
 long but they shaved their beards.* 
 
 When the Romans had subdued the tribesmen, they 
 established stations at Saltburn and at the Peak, and, 
 to a limited extent, introduced the villa system, under 
 which large tracts of land were cultivated by slave 
 labour. The Roman road beginning near Sandsend 
 and terminating not far from Pickering shows that the 
 Whitby district was also of considerable importance 
 to them ; though Dr. Young tells us that only one 
 Roman coin, a silver denarius, is known to have been 
 found in the town itself.t 
 
 On the departure of the Romans the Brigantes re- 
 covered their freedom, but as they were periodically 
 harried by the Picts, Scots and Saxons they had only 
 a sorry time of it. 
 
 In A.D. 547 Ina landed at Flamborough and founded 
 the Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. In 559 he was 
 slain in a battle that he fought with the British King 
 Owen, after which Northumbria was divided, and in 
 560 Ella, son of the God-descended Iffi, began to 
 reign over Deira,J a kingdom which extended from 
 the Tyne to the Humber, and of which York was the 
 capital city. 
 
 The kingdom of Bernicia extended from the Tyne 
 
 * FairhoWs-Costumes. \ History of Whitby. J Saxon Chronicle. 
 
4 Kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia. 
 
 to the Frith of Forth, and was ruled by various sons 
 of Ina. On the death of Ella in 588, Ethelric, the 
 last of these, seized Deira and re-united the kingdom 
 of Northumbria. 
 
 Ella had left a son only two or three years old, 
 named Edwin. The boy's friends conveyed him to 
 the court of Cadwin, a British prince, who not only 
 educated him but, when of age, married him to his 
 daughter Quenburga. This roused the fears and 
 enmity of Ethelfrid, who had succeeded his father 
 Ethelric, and the young couple, driven from their 
 home, sought refuge with Redwald, king of the East 
 Saxons. Thither his enemy pursued Edwin, but, in- 
 stigated by his queen, Redwald suddenly assembled a 
 strong force, defeated the Northumbrians on the 
 banks of the Idle, and slew their king. 
 
 Edwin then ascended the vacant throne while the 
 sons of Ethelfrid fled to Scotland. For many years 
 he reigned gloriously, but ultimately he was attacked 
 by Penda, King of Mercia, in conjunction with Cad- 
 wallon, a British prince. In 633 a great battle was 
 fought at Hethfield in which the Northumbrian army 
 was almost annihilated, and both Edwin and his son 
 Osfrid perished. The king's body was buried at 
 Streoneshalh, but his head was deposited in St. 
 Peter's at York.* 
 
 After this Northumbria was re-divided, Osric reign- 
 
 * Old Whitby, 91. 
 
The Ckagg (Irom a photo by Mr. E. Hall of Whitby). 
 
Civil Wars of the Saxons. 5 
 
 ing in Deira, Eanfrid in Bernice, but both were slain a 
 few months later by Cadwallon, who ruthlessly devas- 
 tated the land. 
 
 Oswald, son of Ethelfrid and nephew of Edwin, 
 next ascended the throne. With a small but gallant 
 band he attacked Cadwallon, defeated and slew him. 
 Having restored peace to Northumbria Oswald en- 
 deavoured to promote the prosperity of his kingdom, 
 but in 642 he was attacked by Penda and, with the 
 flower of his army, was slain at Maserfield in Shrop- 
 shire, now called Oswestry (Oswalds Tree). 
 
 After the death of Oswald Northumbria was again 
 ■divided, Oswy, his brother, taking possession of Ber- 
 nice, while Oswin, son of Edwin's cousin Osric, 
 reigned in Deira. 
 
 Seven years later the King of Bernice invaded 
 Deira, and Oswin, dismissing his army, took refuge in 
 the house of Earl Hunwald. This chief, however, 
 delivered up his guest to Oswy, who promptly executed 
 him at Yeddingham. 
 
 The Deirans then elected Ethelwald, son of Oswald, 
 as their king, and to maintain his throne he formed an 
 alliance with Penda, who, though eighty years old, 
 aided by Ethelhere, King of the East Saxons, undertook 
 to dethrone the King of Bernice. But though Oswy's 
 force was only one-thirtieth of those which were opposed 
 to him, he overthrew them with great slaughter at Win- 
 -widfield, (near Leeds:)* Penda being killed in the battle. 
 * Bede and Geofrey of Monmouth. 
 
6 Hilda founds the Convent. 
 
 This victory was largely due to the treachery of 
 Ethelwald, who retired witii his forces at the com- 
 mencement of the fight, and so threw the armies of 
 his allies into confusion. What became of him after- 
 wards is uncertain, but two years later Oswy founded 
 the monastery of Streoneshalh, so it is probable that 
 Ethelwald had then ceased to reign in Deira. 
 
 FOUNDING OF THE CONVENT. 
 
 At this period the famous foundress of Whitby 
 Abbey first became an historical personage. Hilda, 
 according to Charlton, was of Irish descent. She was 
 a daughter of Prince Hereric, and had taken the veil, 
 at the instigation of her sister, Heru, who had accepted 
 the direction of the pious Aidan. Hilda, who at that 
 time was thirty-three years old, first entered a small 
 nunnery on the banks of the Wear, about a.d. 649, but 
 a year later she removed to Heruten (Hartlepool),, 
 and there established a convent of her own*, but this 
 also proved only a temporary abode for her. 
 
 Before encountering Penda, Oswy had vowed that, 
 if he were victorious, he would devote his daughter, 
 ^Ifleda, to the Lord, and would give her twelve 
 manors for founding monasteries. t As the princess 
 was hardly a year old, it was necessary to provide her 
 with a suitable guardian, so the Lady Hilda was ap- 
 
 * Charlton's Whitby, p. 20. ' f Young's Whitby. 
 

 5" 
 
Whitby in Hilda's Days. 7 
 
 pointed and she selected Streoneshalh for the site of 
 her new convent. 
 
 Accordingly, about 656, Hilda, accompanied by her 
 young charge, founded the first religious settlement on 
 the East Cliff. Canon Atkinson thinks that King 
 Oswy bestowed on her the land of ten families, and 
 that by some means she obtained the land of four other 
 families. As regards the convent itself, he says : 
 "The church was probably framed of split trunks of 
 trees, having side lights partially secured by light 
 lattices or boards pierced with holes. The building 
 would be thatched with rushes."* Aroundit were huts 
 of the simplest character in which the nuns resided. 
 
 Hilda's reputation for learning was so great that she 
 was called the " female Gamaliel," She strenuously 
 opposed " the introduction of the tonsure into Deira 
 as being more of superstition than decency or 
 necessity,"t and in everyway proved herself not only a 
 pious but a very sensible ruler. She died in 680, and 
 was succeeded by the Princess ^Ifleda, who lived 
 till 713. 
 
 To get any idea of what "Whitby then was we must 
 sweep away the bridge and all the piers, and imagine the 
 cliffs as encroaching on the river so as to leave its 
 entrance about half the present width. The east cliff, 
 too, would extend seaward, possibly as far as Saltwick 
 Nab now does. Even for the small craft then used the 
 
 • Old Whitby, p. 90. t Magna Britannia, Vol. vi., p. 640. 
 
8 Synod held at Streoneshalh. 
 
 haven would be difficult of access and the possibility 
 of exit very uncertain. On the whole, therefore, Sand- 
 send, where ships or galleys were well sheltered from the 
 north-west winds to which Whitby is so fully exposed, 
 where they could readily be beached, and where there 
 was a constant supply of fresh water, would generally 
 be preferred as a landing place. At any rate Ubba 
 chose it in 867, just as Caesar and Duke William both 
 chose an open beach rather than to enter a tidal river. 
 A few huts, mainly on the east side of the Esk, con- 
 stituted the town of Streoneshalh. 
 
 The convent, however, soon attained to national 
 importance, for about 664 a Synod was held in it to 
 settle the dispute about Easter and one or two minor 
 matters. Two Kings and two Bishops were present, 
 and King Oswy presided. 
 
 In course of time the buildings were improved and 
 apparently a stone church was erected, for when the 
 place was destroyed by the Danes in 807 there were 
 about " forty cells built for prayer and reading as well 
 as for occupation by the recluses." * 
 
 Charlton says : " Oswy copied the cathedral church 
 of York, and erected a building a hundred yards long 
 and forty-nine yards wide, the nave being twenty-four 
 yards high, the tower fifty yards. The architecture was 
 Gothic, and there were forty pillars in the church,"t but 
 this seems to be almost beyond credence. 
 
 An important change, too, had occurred in the con- 
 * Old Whitby, p. 120. t Charlton's Whitby, p. 22. 
 
Barbarism of the People. g 
 
 stitution of the convent. In 685 Ecgfrid, King of 
 Northumbria, was slain by the Picts, after which 
 Bishop Trumwine, no longer feeling secure in the 
 monastery he had founded at Abercorn, retired to 
 Streoneshalh, accompanied by some of his monks,* and 
 assisted ^Ifleda in governing the convent. 
 
 As regards the state of the people, Silas Taylor very 
 justly remarks that " the laws and customs of Britain 
 were not altered by the conquests of the Romans and 
 Saxons. When they first came, the Saxons were 
 barbarous, the Britains civil, so either out of a desire 
 for quiet, or else upon good liking, they did yield to 
 the reception of those laws they found the Britons 
 possessed of." t The old Cymric customs, therefore, 
 probably still predominated. 
 
 There is little doubt, however, that through Saxon 
 ravages British civilisation had sadly deteriorated in 
 Northumbria, and that Hilda established her house in 
 the midst of a very degraded population. Dr. McLean 
 Andrews says: "The lowest class of freemen were 
 basely ignorant and superstitious, they worshipped the 
 heathen gods, sun, moon, stones, men, trees, running 
 water and wells. They believed in witchcraft, enchant- 
 ments, auguries, divinations, the telling of fortunes, 
 the interpretation of dreams, the mixing of love- 
 potions and torturing with pins. They used charms 
 to make the fields fertile, to find things lost or stolen, 
 
 * Young's Whitby, p. 215. f History of Gavelkind. 
 
10 ■ Hilda discovers Caedmon. 
 
 and wore amulets to guard against poison, disease 
 and the risks of battle."* 
 
 As regards morals, one of our Saxon kings writes : 
 " The nuns as well as others destroy their children 
 born out of wedlock, whereby the graves are filled with 
 dead bodies and hell itself with damned souls," so it 
 is evident that an age of simplicity is not necessarily 
 one of innocence. t 
 
 Under such circumstances the discovery of bardic 
 gifts and pious proclivities in one of her herdsmen 
 was hailed with gladness by Hilda, while Caedmon 
 was nothing loth to quit his lowly calling and become 
 an honoured member of the religious community. 
 His great poem still exists, but it is most noteworthy 
 as having suggested " Paradise Lost " to John Milton,, 
 whose copy, copiously annotated, is now in the 
 Bodleian library at Oxford. 
 
 About this time the Danes began to assert them- 
 selves, and in one of their ruthless ravagings the con- 
 vent at Streoneshalh was destroyed. 
 
 There is no record of what' occurred for a long time 
 after this inroad, but most likely the people who sur- 
 vived repaired their houses and resumed their custom- 
 ary occupations. The Danes, too, began to colonise ; 
 the name of the place was changed to Whitby, and it 
 soon became an important social centre, in which a 
 Thingwald was established. This was a public ground 
 plot on which gatherings of freemen were held under 
 * Old Whitby, p. lo. f Charlton's Whitby, p. 39. 
 
J3 
 o 
 
Colonization by the Danes. ii 
 
 the auspices of Tiews, the German equivalent of Zeus. 
 He was the god of assembUes, and Tuesday was the 
 day dedicated to him.* On this field booths were 
 erected and a fair was held periodically. At these 
 times the inhabitants of the neighbourhood met to 
 discuss public matters, to decide lawsuits, to arrange 
 marriages, to exchange commodities, and to settle the 
 policy of the colony.f "As late as 1080 Thingwald 
 was a recognised name for a territorial division of land 
 at Whitby, and it is repeatedly mentioned in docu- 
 ments of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. J The 
 ground between Alders — Waste, Ghaut and .Grape 
 Lane is not improbably the site of the old Thingwald. 
 With the advent of the Danes fresh names were 
 given to five-sixths of the settlements, and these have 
 been so persistent that in 1852 Worsaae computed that 
 in Yorkshire there are 405 places still bearing Danish- 
 Norwegian names, § while Danish preponderance is 
 attested by the fact that much of the language of the 
 country folk is to this day essentially Danish. || 
 
 The new name, Whitby, seems to imply that the 
 houses were built of some material naturally white, or 
 rendered white by some artificial means, but this is not 
 certain. If 
 
 Under the Saxon and Danish rules land tenures had 
 tended to become allodial, and the land-greed of the 
 
 * Migration of Symbols. f Burnt Nj'al. J Old Whitby, p. 158. 
 
 § Danes in England, p. 71. || Old Whitby, p. gg. %Old Whitby, p. 77. 
 
12 Rein/rid destroys and restores the Priory. 
 
 great Norman earls threatened to dismember the king- 
 dom, but in 1086 King William assembled all land- 
 owners at Salisbury, and by advice of his parliament, 
 obliged every man to relinquish his absolute claims 
 and to accept a tenancy under the King, as steward 
 of the Nation,* the country being divided into 60,000 
 fiefs. 
 
 The enforcement of Norman supremacy was stoutly 
 resisted by the Northumbrian Danes, and as they 
 persisted in their rebellion, William ravaged the 
 district. 
 
 Reinfrid, one of his best captains, executed the 
 King's commands with much brutality at Whitby, 
 destroying even the renovated priory, while the 2,800 
 acres of arable land were utterly desolated. 
 
 Some years later this Reinfrid having become a 
 monk at Evesham, he determined to redress the 
 wrongs he had inflicted. Accordingly, after residing 
 some time at Jarrow, about 1078 he returned to 
 Whitby, restored the monastery and became prior of 
 it.t 
 
 Most of the land in the neighbourhood was then 
 held by William de Percy, first under the Earl of 
 Chester and afterwards direct from the Crown. With 
 the consent of his lord, De Percy endowed the priory, 
 after which he joined the crusade of 1096, and died in 
 the Holy Land. 
 
 * Saxon Chronicle. \ History of Cleveland, p. mS. 
 
IIelle or St. Ann's Lane (from a photo by 
 Mr. E, Hall of Whitby). 
 
The Priory becomes an Abbey. 13, 
 
 Reinfrid also died and was buried at Hackness.* 
 He was succeeded by Serlo de Percy, during whose 
 rule the monastery was again destroyed by the Danes 
 while " banditti and plunderers emerged from the 
 woods and their lurking places and carried away the 
 goods of the monks and laying the sacred place itself 
 utterly waste."! 
 
 THE ABBOTS AND THEIR DEPENDANTS. 
 
 Serlo and his monks found refuge at Hackness, but 
 afterwards returned accompanied by Godfrey, a skilled 
 architect, under whose direction a third stone church 
 was begun, but of this building, which was dedicated 
 to St. Peter and St. Hilda, there are no remains. 
 Serlo seems to have quarrelled with his family and was. 
 supplanted by his brother William. About this period 
 there was an increase in the dignity of the house ; for 
 some time previous to iioo the prior relinquished 
 certain forest rights to the king, and in return was 
 created an abbot. 
 
 About 1128 William was succeeded by Nicholas, of 
 whom nothing special is recorded. The third abbot 
 was Benedict ; said to have been a foreigner. He 
 became unpopular and resigned his office in 1148. 
 
 Richard, prior of Peterborough, was next elected. 
 In his time " the King of Norway entered the port of 
 
 * Young's Whitby, p, 251. f Old Whitby, p. 123. 
 
14 Abbot Richard II. obtains burgage rights. 
 
 Whitby with many ships, ransacked the goods of the 
 monks, both within and without, and though he shed 
 no blood yet he carried off with him whatever he 
 could find.* 
 
 After the invader's departure the monks seem to 
 have returned to their desolated home, to have erected 
 ■dwelling huts, and by placing beams covered with turf 
 above the walls of their ruined church to have made it 
 .available for the customary services. They have, how- 
 ■ever, left no record of their doings, t 
 
 When Richard died, the Abbey contained thirty- 
 eight monks, so the community had evidently re- 
 ■covered its prosperity. 
 
 In 1 176, the second year after his death, Richard de 
 Waterville, prior of Kirchebi, was chosen Abbot and by 
 his direction a record of the transactions of the monks 
 was begun. Having also obtained a grant of burgage 
 from the King he conceded free laws and free rights to 
 the burghers of Whitby. J 
 
 In those days the population was of a very mixed 
 ■character. First there were the remains of the old 
 British tribes, who were probably mainly represented 
 by the Cotarie. "They held from one and a half to 
 two acres of land, for which they paid sixpence or 
 eightpence (equal to eight or ten shillings of our 
 money). They had also to render two fowls, a score 
 of eggs, and often a prebend (say two bushels) of nuts. 
 
 ' Old Whitby, p. 12^. f History 0/ Cleveland. I Old Whitby, P- 280. 
 
Cotters and Bondi. 15 
 
 A cotter had also to weed, hoe and mow for his lord 
 four times a year, to cut rushes, for thatching, one day, 
 to help to maintain the mill, to assist in capturing 
 horses and in driving beasts for slaughter whenever 
 his lord was in the neighbourhood.* He was also 
 subject to " tol," an arbitrary tax levied once a year, to 
 " tac," a special fee on obtaining a holding, and to 
 "mercet," the fine paid on the marriage of a daughter.! 
 There is a good deal of misunderstanding respecting this 
 fine which in reality was of the nature of a heriot. When 
 a woman married she entered her husband's family, 
 and so was regarded as dead to her own, and conse- 
 quently her death-debt became payable to her father's 
 lord. As no person can die more than once, no second 
 marriage fee could be claimed from any woman, no 
 matter how many subsequent husbands she might 
 marry.+ The Dimetian Code also says : "A maiden is 
 designated ' the King's waste ' (land which Britons had 
 the right to cultivate for their own profit) and on that 
 account he is entitled to her amobyr"§ (marriage fine). 
 The Bondi seem to have been the class afterwards 
 known as husband, i.e., housebound men. They pro- 
 bably largely consisted of Saxons, debased by the 
 Danes, but not in such a servile state as the Britons, 
 whom they had previously subdued. " This class held 
 from twenty to thirty-six acres and paid twenty-four 
 pence (about thirty shillings of our money). They had 
 
 ' OU Whitby, p. 235. t Old Whitby, p. 232. 
 
 } Laws and Institutes of Wales. § Book II., chap, xxiii., p. 39. 
 
1 6 Social Conditions. 
 
 to grind their corn at the lord's mill, giving him one- 
 thirteenth as multure. In most cases they had to pay 
 tol, tac and mercet, to aid in reaping and mowing, 
 leading and stacking hay and corn, also in leading 
 wood and turf for firing.* 
 
 The socage tenants, or freeholders, probably repre- 
 sented the Danes, whose lands had been only nomin- 
 ally included in the estate of a Norman lord. They 
 had a certain tenure and rendered fixed dues or ser- 
 vices, but were never subject to week service or to 
 mercet. 
 
 " The houses of all, agriculturists or burghers, were 
 mud or wood-framed huts with gabled roofs of thatch. 
 They lined the narrow lanes and sheltered a people 
 who accepted a common poverty and traded in little 
 more than the mere necessaries of life.t" 
 
 That Whitby, however, soon attained a prosperous 
 condition is evident from the fact that from 1050 to 
 1060 the town was assessed for Danegeld in the sum of 
 '£t-12 (about :£'2,5oo of our money) but doubtless this 
 included all the outlying places which were repre- 
 sented at the Whitby Thingwald. 
 
 Of course after the re-nationalisation of the land in 
 1086 the lord's court superseded the Thingwald in 
 legal matters, but the fair was formally re-estabHshed 
 by Abbot Richard II., and ordered to be held on the 
 feast of St. Hilda. I 
 
 * Old Whitby, p. 132. f Old Whitby, p. 276. J Old Whitby, 17. 
 
"TW Tp^ -r'^ w ^^jr^ip^fKr 
 
 J3 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 H 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 
The A bbey seized by King John. 17 
 
 As regards the size of the place, the manor. of Whit- 
 by with the berewitch of Sneton contained fifteen 
 carucates, which Canon Atkinson estimates as equal to 
 1,500 acres of arable land, while Fylingdales, Haws- 
 ker, Priestby, Ugglebarnby, Sourby, Brecca, Florum, 
 Stakesby, and Neuham were reckoned at 28f caru- 
 cates; so there were about 4,375 acres under cultiva- 
 tion, and this, with the pasture and waste, would pro- 
 vide for a very considerable number of inhabitants. 
 
 The outlying country, however, was by no means 
 thickly populated, and wild beasts appear to have been 
 numerous, for " in the eleventh century thirteen wolf 
 skins were tanned in one lot at Whitby, being probably 
 obtained from the Eskdale forest."* 
 
 In 1211 the Abbey was seized by King John and 
 held by him for three years. t When Nicholas, the 
 Pope's legate, had triumphed over this weak monarch, 
 he appointed John de Evesham as Abbey warden, but 
 the arrangement was of short duration. 
 
 The eighth Abbot was Roger de Scardeburgh, who 
 began the reconstruction of the Abbey. Between 
 1223 and 1235 the still existing choir was erected. It 
 is in the Early English style but of a transitional 
 character.! Probably Roger also built the eastern 
 piers of the tower and the adjoining bays of the tran- 
 sept both north and south. § 
 
 * Old Whitby, p. 243. f History of Cleveland. 
 
 \ History of Cleveland. § Old Whitby, p. 129. 
 
 B 
 
1 8 Erection of the existing Abbey. 
 
 After this there was a rest of ten or fifteen years. 
 
 The next Abbot was John de Steyngrave, who ruled 
 from 1245 to 1258 and erected the glorious north 
 transept, the two ■yvestern piers of the tower and two and 
 a half bays of the nave* These are also Early English 
 but of a later date.f 
 
 Robert de Langtoft was the next head of the house, 
 and was the first Abbot of Whitby who was sunamoned 
 to Parliament. He died 1278. 
 
 William de Kirkham ruled till 1304 and was suc- 
 ceeded by Thomas de Malton, who, on account of his 
 age and infirmities, resigned in 1322, as did Thomas de 
 Hawkesgarth in 1352. Under Thomas a third build- 
 ing period was commenced and continued till the 
 Abbey was completed. In order to cover the cost, on 
 October 7th, 1333, an Episcopal brief was issued in 
 aid of the Fabric Fund. By it the Archbishop em- 
 powers John de Lumby, the proctor appointed by the 
 Abbot and convent, to receive the alms of the faithful 
 •throughout the city, diocese and province of York, in 
 aid of the fabric of a work so sumptuous, and to ex- 
 hibit the indulgences specially conceded in furtherance 
 of the same. The brief was to be in force for the 
 space of one year, and the bearer was to have prece- 
 dence over all other collectors and proctors, save only 
 those of the cathedral church of York. J 
 
 • Old Whitby, p. 129. f History of Cleveland. 
 
 \ Old Whitby, p. 131. 
 
> 
 
 a 
 
The various Conventual Buildings. 19 
 
 THE ABBEY. 
 
 Though very beautiful, Whitby Abbey was by no 
 means a large church. According to Sharpe's plan 
 the length of the nave and choir was 291 ft., of the 
 transept 135 ft. 8 in. The breadth of the nave was 
 60 ft. 9 in., of the transept and aisle 45 ft. 6 in. The 
 height of the walls was about 60 ft., and the four 
 large arches of the tower were the same, while the 
 tower itself was 104 ft. highi Dr. Young's measure- 
 ments differ but slightly. 
 
 The other buildings were the chapter house, adjoin- 
 ing the nave of the church ; the hall, where the Abbot 
 held his civil court, where honourable visitors were 
 received, and where entertainments were occasionally 
 given ; the Abbot's hall and kitchen ; the great 
 kitchen ; the refectory ; the dormitory ; the guest- 
 house ; the almshouse, and the usual inferior offices.* 
 
 The Cholmley stables are on the site of the convent 
 almshouses, and the hospital was near what is still 
 called " Spital Bridge." In the same neighbourhood 
 is a field known as Gallows Close, where criminals 
 condemned by the Abbot's court are supposed to have 
 been executed. 
 
 Canon Atkinson thinks that what is now called the 
 Abbey plain was originally part of the monks' grave- 
 yard, and that the pillar in the centre of it is what 
 remains of the great cross, on the east side of which 
 
 » Young's Whitby, p 350. 
 
20 The endowments of the Abbey. 
 
 John Stevenson, Rector of Sneaton, in 1483, directed 
 that his body should be buried.* 
 
 That Whitby Abbey was most Hberally endowed is 
 beyond question. The Abbots' book, which begins 
 about 1155, records that William de Percy joined with 
 his son and heir in granting to the monastery, "the vill 
 and seaport of Whitby ; Overby (High Whitby or 
 Priestby) ; Netherby (Stainsacre), Thingwala; Leirpel 
 (Larpool) ; Helredale ; Gnip (Hawsker) ; Normaneby ; 
 FieHng (Fylingdales) Bertwait ; Setwait : Snetune 
 (Sneaton) ; Hugelbardeby (Ugglebarnby) ; Soureby ; 
 Risewarp (Ruswarp) ; Neuham (Newholm) ; Stachesby 
 (Stakesby) ; Baldeby ; Breccha ; Flore and Dunsleia. 
 The hermitages of Eschedala (Eskdale) and Mulegrif 
 (Mulgrave); the forests of which appertain to the 
 church of Whitby. Also the church of St. Mary of the 
 said vill, with its chapels of Fyling, Hawksgarth, 
 Sneaton, Ugglebarnby, Dunsley, Aislaby and other 
 appurtenances; Agge (Rig) Mill; Kocehe (Cock) 
 Mill ; Ruswarp Mill ; New Mill and Fyling Mill ; the 
 vill of Hackness and two mills there and also the 
 church of St. Mary at that place, besides the church 
 of St. Peter, where Whitby monks used to serve God, 
 died and were buried ; Harwood Dale, with the lands 
 adjoining; Everley ; Brocchesei (Broxa) ; Northfield, 
 with the Danegeld remitted; Silfhou; all Gayteley 
 and Suffield ; the Vaccaries of Stoup, Thornley, Kese- 
 beck, and Bilroche (Biliary)."! 
 
 * Old Whitby, p. 193. f Old Whitby, p. 239. 
 
Various tenures of land. 21 
 
 These were possibly actual gifts, but it is not im- 
 probable that, according to a custom noted in the 
 SaxoH Chronicle, the lord, who had only a life interest 
 in the estates, transferred that interest to an immortal 
 corporation in consideration of certain benefits reserved 
 to him and his heirs for ever. Any way, the convent 
 henceforth held these lands in Frank Almoigne ; that 
 is, the monks undertook to pray constantly for the soul 
 of the donor, dead or alive, but their tenure was always 
 subject to the dues of the Crown as over-lord. 
 
 According to old British custom these dues would 
 be, from all laics, fines, compensations, marriage fees, 
 heriots, hosts and theft money,* but it is most likely 
 that some of them had been acquired by the Church. 
 Besides these Charlton gives a long list of dues paid 
 in respect of certain lands held by the Abbey on the 
 death of Abbot Peter in 1394. These were both in 
 money and in kind, so it is tolerably clear that, in some 
 cases at least, benefactofs did reserve a substantial 
 interest in their benefactions. t 
 
 Alan de Percy not only confirmed William's grant but 
 added to it all the lands required to complete the 
 territory since known as Whitby Strand. This, 
 beginning at Sandsend, comprises all the sea coast to 
 Blawych, a small creek at the far side of Robin Hood's 
 Bay. Froin thence the boundary runs, a little inland, 
 
 * Welsh Laws, Book xi., chap, i., p. 19. 
 t Charlton's Whitby, p. 259. 
 
22 Revenues of the Abbey. 
 
 to within four miles of Scarborough, then, sweeping 
 round Everby, Hackness and Broxay, it returns to 
 Grosmont, then turning seaward it ends at East Row. 
 The Strand, therefore, is about eighteen miles long and 
 seven miles broad. It was reputed to contain thirty 
 to forty thousand acres of arable land. 
 
 In addition to this the monks became possessed of 
 considerable estates at Middleburgh, Ayton, Ingleby, 
 Liverton, Hinderwell, and other parts of Cleveland, at 
 Hutton-Bushell, Cayton, Burniston and other places 
 in Pickering-Lythe. Of their distant possessions the 
 chief part lay at Newton on the Wolds, Skirpenbeck 
 near Stamford Bridge, Bustard-Thorpe near York,' 
 Crosby- Ravensworth in Westmoreland, and at Hetune 
 and Oxman, near Jedburgh in Scotland.* With all 
 these possessions the Abbey's revenues were not 
 enormous. Charlton states that in 1396 they only 
 amounted to £654 4s. 2\d. or £7,848 of our money. 
 Of this in one half year the treasurer received £37 2,^. 
 for wool, about £1 los. for hides, £2 13s. M. for fish, 
 and for beasts nearly £27, so a considerable portion was 
 derived from the sale of produce. 
 
 Rent, too, was often paid in kind, and among other 
 things enumerated are a pound of pepper, half a pound 
 of cummin, a pound of wax, two pounds of incense, 
 and a pair of scarlet garters, as the annual payments 
 for lands or tenements. 
 
 Clearly then the monks were very considerate land- 
 * Young's Whitby. 
 
Matters concerning the Monks. 23 
 
 lords, while their liberality to the poor and care for 
 the sick were very noteworthy. It was, therefore, a 
 sorry day for their tenants and dependents when a 
 crowned carnalist despoiled the Church, of whose faith 
 he was the reputed defender, and pillaged the patri- 
 mony of the poor that he might pander to the rapacity 
 of his courtiers. 
 
 THE MONKS. 
 
 The Whitby monks were of the Benedictine order ; 
 their dress was a loose, black gown, with large white 
 sleeves, and a cowl ending in a point behind.* Their 
 discipline was extremely strict ; it required the most 
 abject submission to their superiors, and they had to 
 perform their devotions seven times in every twenty- 
 four hours. A chapter was held every morning, when 
 cognizance was taken of every transgression or neg- 
 lect. Great offences were punished with mortifying 
 penances, with exclusion from the chapel, and even with 
 corporal chastisement. 
 
 When the monks went out of the convent they were 
 obliged to go in couples ; they all slept in the same 
 dormitory and lay in their clothes, but never two in 
 one bed. Every monk had two coats, two cowls, a 
 table book, a knife, a needle, and a handkerchief ; the 
 furniture of his bed was a mat, a blanket, a rug and a 
 
 * Hook's Ch. Diet. 
 
24 The Abbey Library. 
 
 pillow. In 1072 Archbishop Lanfranc issued an in- 
 junction that at the beginning of Lent the librarian 
 should deliver a book to each of the religious. In the 
 following Lent those monks who had neglected to read 
 the books they had respectively received are com- 
 manded to prostrate themselves before the Abbot and 
 to supplicate his indulgence. 
 
 About the time of Abbot Richard II. the Abbey 
 Library contained sixty volumes on theology, some of 
 which contained two or three works bound together. 
 The principal authors were Isidore, Ambrose, Rabanus, 
 Nazianzen, Eusebius, Basil, Csesarius, Ephraim, 
 Rufinus, Ccessian, Origen, Bede and Josephus. There 
 were a number of commentaries, decrees, canons and 
 rules, a few sermons, and a large number of lives of 
 saints. 
 
 The grammatical department contained twenty- 
 seven volumes, among which were Homer, Plato, 
 Cicero, Juvenal, Persius, Statins, Bochus and Virgil. 
 There were also introductions to arithmetic and music 
 bound together. 
 
 The monastery was surrounded by a high strong 
 wall, and all ingress or egress was by the massive side 
 door. This was guarded by the convent porter, who 
 knew that his place depended on his fidelity in the 
 discharge of his duty. Individually the monks had 
 no private bargains to make, and they were supposed to 
 have no money.* The bailiff, burser and cellarer 
 * Old Whitby, p. 197. 
 
The Abbot's Magnificence. 25 
 
 "transacted all business. The brotherhood grew their 
 grain of all sorts, used what they wanted and sold the 
 surplus. This applies also to their beef, mutton, pork, 
 cheese, butter, eggs, fish, etc. They, therefore, were 
 of little benefit to the trade of Whitby. 
 
 If a monk died early in the morning he was buried 
 the same day, if later, on the following day. A written 
 absolution was read by one of the brethren and then 
 laid on the breast of the deceased as his passport for 
 heaven. For thirty days mass was said for his soul, 
 his grave was sprinkled daily with holy water, and his 
 allowance of bread, meat and beer was given to the 
 almoner to distribute among the poor. The anniver- 
 sary of his death was commemorated by a similar 
 distribution as well as by appropriate rites.* 
 
 As regards the Abbot, by his ordination vow he 
 undertook not to squander the property of the monas- 
 tery, but to preserve it for the use of the Church, of 
 poor brethren, and of str angers. t True, the head of 
 the house lived handsomely ; he had his hall, his 
 chamber, his kitchen and other offices apart from the 
 convent ; he had his pages, his valets, and other ser- 
 vants. In his journeys he was attended by a retinue 
 on horseback, even his cook being allowed a horse, 
 and chambers were provided for his reception in those 
 parts of the territory which he had occasion to visit, 
 just as was customary at a " progress " of an old 
 British kiag. 
 
 * Young's Whitby, p. 399. t Young's Whitby, p. 385. 
 
26 Dissolution of the Abbey. 
 
 It was the rule to change his chaplain every year, 
 professedly that the witnesses of his good deeds might 
 be the more numerous, but probably as a political pre- 
 caution. The Abbot's dress and ornaments resembled 
 those of a bishop ; they included the dalmatic, or 
 seamless coat of Christ, the mitre, the crosier, the 
 gloves, the sandals and the ring. When he attended 
 Parliament he wore the robes of a spiritual peer.* 
 
 Under the Abbot were the prior and sub-prior, with 
 a regular staff of officers. 
 
 In course of time, however, luxury crept in and dis- 
 cipline was relaxed. At the election of 1393 the Chap- 
 ter had been reduced from thirty-eight to twenty, 
 while of these fifteen were office bearers, and only five 
 were private monks, t The dependent churches also 
 were stinted to supply the Abbey table. There was 
 therefore considerable need of a reformation, but to 
 destroy an institution so beneficial to the poor without 
 arranging for an efficient substitute can only be re- 
 garded as a social crime Some little provision, how- 
 ever, was made for the brotherhood. John Hexham. 
 (a former Abbot) was given an annuity of £26 ; Robert 
 Woods, £8 ; Peter Thompson, £6. Four others were 
 given £^ 6s. 8rf. each, and other four ^^5 each, making' 
 altogether £81 6s. 8i. Henry de Val, the last Abbot, 
 is not in the list, so he must either have died or have 
 obtained some lucrative office.f 
 
 * Voung's Whitby, p. 385. 'J Young's Whitby, p. 395. 
 
 } Young's Whitby, p. 461. 
 
6 
 
 Q 
 
 o 
 
Ruin of the Holy House. 27 
 
 PROTESTANT PERIOD. 
 
 Part of the lead of the Abbey roof is said to have 
 been used to replace the old slate roof of St. Mary's 
 Church, while according to tradition the bells were lost 
 through the sinking of a ship that was conveying them 
 to London. 
 
 The site of the Abbey and several parcels of land 
 were let to Richard Cholmley, Esq., but were sold, 
 before his lease expired, in 1550, to John, Earl of War- 
 wick, who in the following year resold them to Sir 
 Edward Yorke, from whom they were purchased on 
 July 2nd, 1555, by the original leaseholdSf, who in the 
 meantime had been knighted. Sir Richard afterwards 
 secured a large portion of the Abbey estates and they 
 are still held by his descendants.* 
 
 Unfortunately the Cholmleys did not recognise that 
 it is incumbent on the custodians of national monu- 
 ments to take proper measures for their preservation. 
 The unroofed Abbey was left to the mercy of the 
 elements ; year after year its stability was impaired, 
 and in 1794 a great storm swept down the west end of 
 the building. Still the custodian neglected his duty, and 
 a large crack in the great tower was not amended, so on 
 a quiet summer day in 1830 this grand structure crumbled 
 into chaos, and thus seamen lost a very useful land- 
 mark, the Abbey one of its most distinctive features. 
 
 * Young's Whitby, p. 463. 
 
28 Whttby Parish Church. 
 
 The parish church, dedicated to St. Mary, was 
 erected about sixty years before the oldest part of the 
 existing Abbey, and is a speciftieh of early Norman 
 architecture. Originally it was a plain oblong building 
 with a chancel at the eastern end. It had no aisles 
 and there was but one row of windows, twenty inches 
 broad, and from four to six feet high. These have all 
 been enlarged or closed up. The original arches are 
 all semi-circular ; the pointed arch of the great west 
 door and that of the chancel door are of later date. 
 
 About a hundred years after the church was en- 
 larged by adding transepts. The oldest of these has 
 windows with pointed arches, the other is Gothic in 
 style. The tower was erected long after the church 
 was built.* Originally four discordant bells were 
 placed in the tower. The smallest of them cracked 
 and was recast. It bore the motto "Repent in time, 
 1708." In 1762 the whole were replaced by a peal of 
 six bells. t In 1829 an organ was purchased and the 
 musical arrangements were improved. Mr. Mercer 
 was appointed organist with a salary of twenty pounds 
 a year. For this he was obliged to attend on Sundays, 
 Good Friday, Christmas Day and New Year's Day ; 
 in addition to which he had to practise the choir two 
 days in each week, so he certainly earned his money. 
 Ther'e were about a dozen singers, and ^^22 ids. was 
 divided among them. 
 
 * Young's IVhitbv. ■[ Charlton's Whitby, p. 332-340. 
 
Whitby of the Sixteenth Century. 29 
 
 There was also a chapel dedicated to St. Ninian, 
 situated near Horse Mill Ghaut, at the east end of 
 Baxtergate, where either a bridge or ferry is supposed 
 to have been.* 
 
 Besides St. Ninian there was another local saint 
 named Lothwick, who received eightpence every year 
 as an acknowledgment of the care he bestowed upon 
 the horses belonging to the township.t St. Ninian on 
 the contrary was a source of considerable revenue to- 
 the priests. 
 
 In 1540 the town of Whitby consisted of about a 
 hundred houses, each built in its own toft without any 
 regard for the position of its neighbours. 
 
 The streets were Haglithe and Church Stair Foot ; 
 High Gate, which, beginning at Church Lane, extended 
 to the present Bridge Street ; from thence the road was. 
 called Cross Gate as far as the Ghaut, where South 
 Gate began. The Abbot's Tolbooth seems to have 
 been erected at the junction of Grape Lane and Cross. 
 Gate ; the market being held where the street widens. 
 
 There were also some houses in Greffer Gate (now 
 Sandgate). 
 
 On the west side of the river were Bridge End,. 
 Baxtergate, Backdale, Scategate (Brunswick Street), 
 Flowergate, Russell Lane (Cliff Lane), Helle (St.^ 
 Anne's Lane) and Hagilsougate (Haggersgate).J 
 
 Young's Whitby. f Charlton's Whitby, chap. xvi. 
 
 % Old Whitby, p. i8o. 
 
30 The Revival of Trade. 
 
 As regards the occupations ■ of the inhabitants, in 
 1301 there was not a single mercator, merchant, chap- 
 man or mercer. Neither was there any master of a 
 fishing or trading vessel. There was a grocer, a 
 barber, a fellmonger, a baker, a bricklayer, a taker of 
 tolls, a porter, a cobbler and a goldsmith.* 
 
 According to the Abbey Roll for 1394 there were 
 then five owners or masters of Whitby vessels which 
 brought coals for the monastery that year, but pre- 
 viously the supply had been obtained from Shields, 
 Newcastle, Sunderland, Barton and Lynn ships. t 
 
 A little later there were eight or nine men owning 
 fishing vessels and paying from thirty to sixty shillings 
 as tithes of their catches. Besides this there were 
 three smaller boats engaged in lobster-catching and 
 paying the convent is. ^d. and 2s. each. Among 
 ■other names there were Richard le teler (weaver), 
 Nicholas le teler and Henry le teler, also John le 
 Fulur (fuller), Richard le Tinctor (dyer), and a John 
 Fleming,! probably a foreigner engaged in cloth manu- 
 facturing. 
 
 Up to this time then the district produced all that 
 its inhabitants needed, so that except coal, wine and 
 other luxuries nothing had to be imported, conse- 
 quently it was only for fishing that any vessels were 
 required ; but after the dissolution of the monastery a 
 ■considerable impetus was given to trade. 
 
 * Old Whitby, p. 274. f Young's Whitby, p. 529. 
 
 %■ Old Whitby, p. 274. 
 
Extension of the Tower. 31 
 
 In 1595 there were two herring-houses on the north 
 side of Baxtergate. The south side was then open to 
 the river, and what were called the Walker Sands ex- 
 tended from the Slike (Bagdale Beck) to Boghall. At 
 the time of the dissolution of the monastery the site 
 of it formed part of the Bell,* as the mud bank in the 
 harbour is called, According to Canon Atkinson this 
 street derived its name from a family of the name of 
 Baxter, which held considerable property there, and 
 which in 1603 purchased the site of the present 
 St. Niriian's from the parish church authorities. 
 Charlton says it was so called because a bakery was 
 there erected ; but this seems hardly likely, as till even 
 our own day, almost all baking was done at home. 
 
 Sir Thomas 'Gower, Sir William Gaskoyne, the 
 Bushells and Linskills lived in Baxtergate, while 
 Nicholas Conyers, Esq., occupied Bagdale Hall. 
 This, therefore, was the aristocratic part of the town 
 at the beginning of the seventeenth century. 
 
 Young believes that Skate Lane took its name from 
 skate and other fish being dried there. In 1700 
 Flowergate was called High Street. Haggersgate was 
 named after a family called Hagges, who lived there 
 about 1670. 
 
 Before 1639 St. Anne's Staith was formed and at 
 this time Burtry Crag was inhabited. 
 
 At the beginning of the eighteenth century Whitby 
 was considered a well-built town, but with few excep- 
 • Charlton's WhUby, p. 288. 
 
32 Condition of the Streets. 
 
 tions the houses were merely thatched cottages, the 
 windows having only small diamond panes, and it was 
 not till 1725 that there was any sashed window in the 
 place. Rents ranged from forty shillings to five 
 pounds, and before 1740 no house was let at ten 
 pounds. " The streets, being paved only at the sides, 
 were worn deep and hollow ; as there were no drains 
 the waste water either ran in torrents or stagnated as 
 the case might be. During winter the streets, espe- 
 cially at the entrance of the town, were scarcely 
 passable. In some cases, especially on the south side 
 of Flowergate, the pavement was so elevated that 
 there were steps descending to the street, and as it 
 was not continuous, passengers who wished to avoid 
 the muddy roadway had to scramble up and down as 
 best they might."* 
 
 In 1762 a townsman of the name of Skinner began 
 the street which is called after him on what had been 
 previously known as Farndale Fields. The end house 
 adjoining Flowergate was built by John Addison and 
 was supposed to be an exact model of the London 
 Mansion House. A few years later Silver Street was 
 commenced and shortly after the New Buildings (St. 
 Hilda's Terrace) were erected. 
 
 About this time John Twistleton wrote a long poem 
 in praise of the town. It begins : — 
 
 What a place Whitby is grown ! 
 Once but a poor fishing town ; 
 
 * Young's Whitby, p. 498. 
 
The Great Landslip. 33 
 
 Barren of trade, all callings dead, 
 
 A poor man could scarce get his bread ; 
 
 For he was thought a man of note 
 
 Who governed a fishing boat. 
 
 But though he gained a homely fare 
 
 By daily toil and constant care, 
 
 He'd to the poor more kindness show 
 
 Than some who have their thousands now. 
 
 Their houses then were very low. 
 
 The covering only made of straw. 
 
 Daubed up with mortar, lime and lath. 
 
 The outside white, the inside black. 
 
 But now, like Yarmouth, as it's said, 
 
 They've changed white herrings into red. 
 
 ^' ^: :i: >[: 
 
 Nigh to the church all such as list 
 
 May go to hear the Methodist, 
 
 And if I be not told a lie, 
 
 A play-house will be built close by ; 
 
 So as you choose may spend your time, 
 
 In carnal pleasures or divine. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 In 1761 Henrietta Street (Haggerlyth) was built. It 
 was named after the second wife of Nathaniel 
 Cholmley, Esq., and extended northward from the 
 Church Stair foot. In little more than twenty years 
 it was threatened with destruction. Its foundations 
 were undermined by the waves and heavy masses kept 
 falling from the clifE above it. 
 
 A staith was built to stay the ravages of the water, 
 and precautions were taken against the crumbling of 
 the cliff; but all was of no avail. In 1785 part of the 
 
34 Improvement of the Harbour. 
 
 battery at the end of the " Hag " fell into the sea, 
 while on the 24th of December, 1787, the new staith 
 gave way about midnight and the buildings which it 
 supported fell with a tremendous crash, followed by 
 large masses of earth and stone. Shortly after several 
 of the adjacent houses crumbled into ruin. Next day 
 many of the buildings on the opposite side of the 
 street were buried by the falling of the cliff, and several 
 other houses were rendered uninhabitable. 
 
 Fortunately no lives were lost, but many saved little 
 beyond their clothes, and no fewer than 196 families 
 were deprived of their habitations.* 
 
 Up to 1780 the road between the Crag and Haggers- 
 gate was deep and broken, and, like a part of Church 
 Street, was covered at high water. 
 
 THE HARBOUR TRUST. 
 
 When the commercial prosperity of Whitby began a 
 new quay was erected and the pier was enlarged. At the 
 beginning of the seventeenth century the townsmen 
 owned a hundred ships and a Custom House had been 
 established on St. Anne's Staith. The harbour being 
 still in a bad plight, in 1632 Sir Hugh Cholmley obtained 
 permission to ask for a general contribution through- 
 out England for rebuilding the West Pier, and about 
 five hundred pounds were thus obtained. 
 
 * Young's Whitby, p. 491. 
 
Cappleman's Yard from a photo by Mr. Hall of Whitby) 
 
Sir Hugh and the Dutchmen. 35 
 
 Sir Hugh seems to have been a brave man as well 
 as an enterprising citizen. It is recorded that a 
 Spanish vessel was chased by two Dutch privateers 
 into Whitby Harbour and sought safety above bridge. 
 The Dutchmen, however, followed in their boats and 
 captured her. Hearing what had occurred. Sir Hugh 
 hastened to the spot and confronted the captain of the 
 invaders. Finding he was determined to retain his 
 prize the . knight sprang suddenly upon him, wrested 
 the pistol from his hand, and presently lodged him 
 securely in jail. Afterwards learning that the priva- 
 teersmen, to the number of two hundred, intended, to 
 land and rescue the prisoner, Sir Hugh marched him 
 off inland, summoned the local militia and showed such 
 a bold front that the Dutchmen sheered off without 
 risking an encounter. 
 
 It was not however till 1702 that effective steps were 
 taken for making Whitby a safe and suitable harbour 
 of refuge for colliers and coasting vessels. In that 
 year Parliament imposed a duty of one farthing a ton 
 on all coals shipped at Newcastle and other northern 
 ports, excepting those carried in Yarmouth vessels. 
 Every chaldron landed at Whitby was to pay six- 
 pence ; every weigh of salt two shillings ; every quarter 
 of malt, corn, or grain, fourpence ; all foreign goods 
 imported in English bottoms threepence a ton. 
 Butter shipped at Whitby paid one penny a firkin ; all 
 dried fish and mudd fish one penny a score ; barrelled 
 fish threepence a barrel. Every Enghsh ship entering 
 
36 Revenues of the Harbour Trust. 
 
 within the piers paid one shilling, besides fourpence for 
 each top ; every foreign ship two shillings and four- 
 pence for each top. 
 
 Trustees were appointed to receive these sums and 
 to employ them in repairing and rebuilding the piers 
 of Whitby. They were also empowered to mortgage 
 the dues and to borrow money on them at 6 per cent. 
 The Act also imposed a fine of forty shillings on anyone 
 throwing ballast or rubbish into the harbour. 
 
 This Act was to continue in force till 1709 only, but in 
 that year, instead of the expected accumulation of funds 
 it was found that the duties were heavily mortaged, so 
 the term was extended to 1723. In 1720 a new Act 
 was passed perpetuating all the duties except that on 
 coals shipped at Newcastle, but, the funds proving 
 inadequate to the work, this duty was re-imposed for 
 thirty-one years in 1734, and in 1749 an additional 
 duty of one farthing a chaldron was granted for thirty- 
 one years. In 1765 this Act was again renewed for 
 the same term, and in 1780 the additional duty was 
 also continued and each was again renewed in 1796 
 and 181 2. The amounts then raised amounted to 
 about ;r2,ooo a year.* 
 
 By an Act passed in the reign of George IV. all 
 previous Acts relating to Whitby harbour were re- 
 pealed and in 1861 those substituted for them were 
 also repealed. By this means the town lost an income 
 of nearly five thousand pounds, and the amount received 
 * Young's Whitby. 
 
Building of the Bridges. 37 
 
 in dues has now fallen to an average of about £700 a 
 year. 
 
 It was only in 1730 that the harbour became 
 available even at high water for vessels of any size. The 
 East Pier, Scotch Head and Burgess Pier were theft 
 enlarged, and about 1780 the Fish Pier was built. 
 
 The harbour being sufficiently protected, through 
 the influence of Sir Hugh Cholmley, the wooden 
 bridge for foot passengers at Boghall was removed to 
 the present site, and probably was converted 
 into a drawbridge in 1630,* the bridge at the 
 end of Baxtergate seemingly being beyond repair. At 
 any rate on July 12th, 1609, "The surveyor of Whitby 
 Bridge was, by order of the Court of Quarter Sessions 
 holden at Thirsk, to receive three shillings and four- 
 pence for trial of fit ground for the placing of the new 
 bridge there" + This structure lasted till 1766, when 
 Whitby Bridge was completely rebuilt on stone pillars 
 at a cost to the county of three thousand pounds. 
 
 When once its harbour was amended the develop- 
 ment of shipping and the correlated interests, at 
 Whitby, was very rapid. In 1676 there were but two fly 
 boats and seventy-four small craft belonging to the 
 town. By 1700 there were one hundred and thirteen 
 sail, some of them of four or five hundred tons burden, 
 besides small craft, while the registered seamen num- 
 bered about three thousand. + 
 
 The first industry of any importance to trade in the 
 * Young's Whitby, p. 542. t Old Whitby, p. 185. } Young's Whitby. 
 
38 Beginning of the Alum Manufactory. 
 
 district was the manufacture of alum. Towards the 
 end of Queen Elizabeth's reign a gentleman named 
 Chaloner White, while travelling in Italy, remarked 
 that the mineral, from which alum was extracted in the 
 Pope's works, was identical with that which abounded in 
 Cleveland. Being of an enterprising disposition, he 
 obtained a quantity of this material, and engaged some 
 competent workmen to return to England with him. 
 
 In a few months he began operations, which were so 
 successful that they seriously injured the trade of his 
 Roman competitor. His Holiness was of course very 
 wrath and cursed the delinquent in the choice phrase- 
 ology that was customary on such occasions, but this 
 in no way affected Chaloner, who for many years de- 
 rived a handsome income from the industry he had 
 created.* 
 
 But it was largely the transport service that en- 
 riched the Whitby shipowners and enabled them to 
 build so many beautiful residences at the end of the last 
 century. When a vessel had a time charter from 
 Government, at war rates, and lay in port for months 
 or even for years with only the captain, mate and one 
 or two caretakers on board, she soon paid her cost 
 several times over, and large fortunes were realised 
 without risk or trouble. Still few of us would care 
 to revive a system under which the present generation 
 could attain wealth by creating national debts that 
 would burden. the industry of their children's children. 
 * Charlton's Whitby, p. 305. 
 
Manufactures. 39 
 
 The coal trade and whale fishery also were great 
 sources of gain ; while ship-building, rope and sail- 
 making also were very profitable occupations. 
 
 So extensive was the ship-building that in 1802 no 
 fewer than thirty-nine vessels were launched at Whitby, 
 the largest being about 500 tons burden, the average 
 235 tons. In proof of the strength of these craft it 
 may be mentioned that one of them, the " Phoenix," 
 being driven on the Scar when she was starting for 
 Greenland, instead of going to pieces as an ordinary 
 vessel would have done, pounded a big hole in the 
 rock, and after some weeks was brought safely into 
 harbour, repaired, and made a ship, seaworthy for many 
 years after. The effects of her performance are still 
 discernible just outside the East Pier. 
 
 The first rope walk was at the top of Boulby Bank, 
 but in 1740 it was still uncovered. 
 
 In 1756 sailcloth manufacturing was begun at 
 Whitby by John Sanders, who had a weaving shop, 
 containing eleven looms, near the Town Hall, and 
 another on Tate Hill, containing fifteen looms. 
 
 Afterwards there was a shop on Boulby Bank con- 
 taining twenty-one looms, and a fourth in the Vale 
 above Bagdale containing fifteen looms. Yarn spin- 
 ning was performed in private houses till 1807. In 
 that year Mr. Campion erected a steam spinning 
 factory in connection with his weaving shop in Bagdale 
 Vale and from that the name of Factory-fields was 
 given to the adjoining lands. From thirty to forty 
 
40 The Whale Fishery. 
 
 hands were employed,and the output was about 3,000 lbs. 
 each week.* A little jet also was worked, but that was 
 a minor industry, and only became a considerable one 
 within the last fifty years, Tommy Andrew and Mr. 
 Greenbury being the pioneers, while Stater and Wright, 
 Turnbull and others soon after engaged in it. 
 
 The first ships that went whale fishing were the 
 " Henry and Mary " and the " Sea Nymph." They 
 sailed for Greenland in 1753. From 1758 to 1767 no 
 whalers left Whitby, but then the trade was resumed 
 with much spirit, and in 1789 eighteen vessels were 
 employed in it. The most successful year was 1814, 
 when eight vessels captured 171 whales, which yielded 
 1,390 tons of oil and 42 tons of fins. The most fortu- 
 nate ship was the " Resolution " ; that year she brought 
 home 28 fish, which yielded 230 tons of oil. This 
 realized ^37 a ton, or a total of £8510, besides the bone 
 and refuse and the ^20 a ton bounty paid by the 
 Government. She, however, had been far outdone in 
 1811, when the " Henrietta " captured 36 whales, the 
 greatest number ever brought home by a Whitby ship. 
 
 At one time there was a considerable salmon fishery 
 in the Esk, the water between Whitby and Raswarp 
 being let for £1.00 a year, but when the harbour be- 
 came thronged with shipping the fish forsook the 
 river. 
 
 The Customs House was established by Charles II. 
 
 * Young's Whitby, p. 558. 
 
Public Institutions. 41 
 
 and was originally at Staithside, but afterwards it was 
 removed to Sandgate. Young says that at the begin- 
 ning of this century the average receipts were £9,000, 
 now of course they are comparatively small. 
 
 When the West part of the town became the most 
 important the market was removed to what is now 
 called the Old Market Place, but about 1640 Sir Hugh 
 Cholmley restored it to the East side where he erected 
 a Toll-booth. This becoming decayed, in 1788 
 Nathaniel Cholmley, Esq., had it taken down and 
 erected the present Town Hall on the same site. A 
 bell was placed in the clock tower to summon the in- 
 habitants when a manorial court was to be held. This 
 Court has now lost much of its former importance, 
 and the institution of burgesses ceased at the beginning 
 of the present century.* The bell is still rung at six 
 o'clock morning and evening to mark the time for 
 beginning and ending work. 
 
 The first poor-house was built in 1727 on a piece of 
 land opposite Boulby Bank, and close to the harbour. 
 The present one, near Green Lane, was opened May 
 2nd, 1794, at a cost of £1684 15s. In 1804 another 
 poor-house was built in the Stakesby Road for Ruswarp 
 parish, but that has been demolished. A seamen's 
 hospital also was established and supported by a volun- 
 tary rate levied on every Whitby vessel, above twenty 
 tons, for every time she passed the port. Her master 
 
 * Young's Whitby, p. 590. 
 
42 Various Societies Formed. 
 
 also paid sixpence, and each sailor receiving wages of 
 twenty shillings and upwards contributed twopence. 
 This charity flourished till 1748, when the bulk of the 
 contributors withdrew, and it was finally closed in 
 1756. During its existence ^4,459 were distributed, 
 and forty-two almshouses were erected in Church 
 Street, which are still available for the poor. 
 
 A public school, on the Lancastrian system, was 
 opened in Cliff Lane for boys in 1810, and in 1814 a 
 girls' school also was commenced. 
 
 The Whitby Auxiliary Bible Society was established 
 in 1812 and branches were formed in a number of 
 neighbouring villages. The Religious Tract Society 
 began operations in 1813 and the Auxiliary London 
 Missionary Society in the same year. The Methodist 
 Missions were commenced in 1815. 
 
 The first printing press was set up in 1770 by Charles 
 Plummer, a draper, whose house was at West Bridge 
 End. There was no regular bookseller in the town 
 till 1773, when a book shop was opened by Mr. G. 
 Clark. 
 
 The first Whitby periodical was " Anomalice," issued 
 by I. Webster, and published by him in book form in 
 1798 with a dedication to Francis Gibson, Esq., F.S.A. 
 It consists of a series of second-rate poems relieved by 
 prose essays, mainly by the editor, but a few pieces are 
 by other contributors. 
 
 The author, possibly S. Jones, begins by informing us 
 that " the frivolous and interested, or in other words 
 

 c -^ 
 
 to 
 o 
 U 
 
Local Publications. 43 
 
 the selfish and the vain, compose the aggregate of that 
 portion of mankind which is united in the ties of civil 
 society, by motives of reciprocal convenience," etc., 
 etc., after v^^hich he exclaims " May the style of these 
 papers be far removed from arrogant, presumptuous, 
 ostentation and the contemptable meanness of cowardly 
 and servile humility." 
 
 As a specimen of his verse the following may be 
 taken — 
 
 Ah ! never yet for faith unstained 
 Was changeful woman known 1 
 The female virtues are but feigned, 
 Their faults are all their own. 
 
 This publication appeared every Tuesday from the 
 31st October, 1797, till June 12th, 1798. 
 
 In 1815, the New Whitby Medley was published by 
 R. Rodgers. It advocated the interests of unlicensed 
 hawkers, and its writers displayed their wit by dubbing 
 
 a new traders' society " The redoubtable Ass for the 
 
 prosecution of unlicensed hawkers " and they suggested 
 that at some future day people would encounter one of 
 this Ass * ■ • ation wandering over the earth's surface 
 outside of a horse with a pack behind, and to avoid 
 prosecution, with the words " Licensed Hawker, Num- 
 ber Three," affixed to the animal's ." The rest of the 
 
 work consisted of rather scurrilous poems of small 
 literary merit. 
 
 The next periodical was the Whitby Repository, which 
 was published monthly by R. Kirby, price sixpence. 
 
44 Fashions in 1827. 
 
 It professed to " comprise a fund of instruction and 
 entertainment, original and select." The first number 
 begins with an essay on " Slavery " followed by one on 
 "Economy"; then come "Remarks on the freedom of 
 trade," a paper on the use of pleasure, another on 
 "Chinese Literature", some poetry, a little' local 
 gossip, a good Miscellanea and some literary notices. 
 
 There being nothing more lively to be had in those 
 days this publication had considerable success. The 
 first series appeared regularly till the end of 1830, when 
 the Rev. J. Ketley undertook the editorship of a 
 second series. The change, however, only prolonged 
 its existence for three years, when it finally ceased to be. 
 
 The Whitby Magazine, published by Ralph Home, of 
 Bridge Street, made its bid for popularity in 1827. 
 
 It commences with an essay on "Love," by 
 "Anthophilos," which runs through several numbers. 
 In the April issue, " Ben Adam " asserts that the 
 " Hebrew is the parent of all languages; it is the holy 
 language which the Almighty taught our first parents 
 after he had endowed them with the power of reason." 
 
 But though strictly proper and orthodox, the editor 
 so far considered human frailty as to introduce a 
 monthly article on "The Fashions." Ladies will 
 doubtless be interested to learn that in 1827 the 
 fashionable evening head-dress was " A Beret -toque of 
 light coloured crape or tulle with a chain bandeau 
 across the hair in front, the caul "en resille" and the 
 toque covered with a profusion of feathers." Morning, 
 
Whitby Theatres. 45 
 
 walking, and evening dresses also are minutely des- 
 cribed. 
 
 Another innovation was a column of theatrical 
 reminiscences, and another of facetiae, so without omitt- 
 ing the usual solid fare there was a decided attempt to 
 brighten the publication. In this, however, it was 
 probably before its time, for it had but a brief existence. 
 Another ephemeral periodical was theWhitby Panorama, 
 which lasted but one year. Mr. John Buchanan was a 
 contributor to these works, and attained such a local 
 reputation that in 1828 his poems were collected and 
 published in book form. They were so well received 
 that a second edition was issued in 1831. 
 
 In 1832 it was proposed to start a local newspaper, 
 but that had to be postponed. 
 
 The subscription library in Haggersgate was begun 
 in 1775, the news-room in 1814, while the Museum was 
 established in 1823 by the Whitby Literary and 
 Philosophical Society, who in 1856 acquired the Bath 
 Building by aid of a public subscription. 
 
 Botanical Gardens, in connection with the New 
 Gardens, established by Sir Hugh Cholmley about 
 1650 in Green Lane, were commenced about the same 
 time, but the collection of plants has never been large 
 or important. 
 
 The first theatre in Whitby was erected in the 
 paddock, Cliff Lane. It existed from 1763 to 1784. 
 In that year a larger one was opened in Scate Lane, 
 and after that was burned, a third was built in 1830, in 
 
46 Banks and Coinage. 
 
 connection with the Freemason's Tavern, Baxtergate, 
 near the Angel Inn ; this also was destroyed by . fire in 
 
 1853- 
 
 A religious meeting was once held in this building, 
 
 after which one of the devout, proclaimed the extinction 
 
 of his charity by pasting the following verses on the 
 
 door — 
 
 Reader, if you have time to spare 
 
 Turn to St. Matthew's leaves : 
 
 You'll find that once a house of prayer 
 
 Became a den of thieves. 
 
 But now the scene is altered quite, 
 
 O I reformation rare ; 
 
 This modern den of thieves, to-night 
 
 Became a house of prayer. 
 
 A post-office was established in 1784, and the 
 following year the Old Bank was established by Messrs. 
 Simpson, Chapman & Co., to carry on and extend the 
 business, which Mr. Simpson had conducted for some 
 ten years previous. 
 
 The savings bank was opened June 7th, i8ig. 
 
 Norwas Whitby without its special coinage. In 1667 
 a token was issued inscribed " John Sneaton, his half- 
 penny," and on the reverse " Flowergate in Whitby," 
 with the three coiled snakes in the centre. A similar 
 one was issued by William Lotherington in 1669. 
 John Riemer also coined a brass halfpenny, while John 
 Hird issued a farthing token. At the beginning of this 
 century the Whitby shilling was still in circulation. 
 On one side it was inscribed, " Silver token one 
 
Tjn Ghaut (from a photo by Mr. Hall of Whitby). 
 
Gas Company. Ay 
 
 shilling," and on the other " Whitby Association, 1811 " 
 with the town's arms on a shield in the centre.* One 
 pound notes also were circulated by the banks as late 
 as 1828. 
 
 In 1827 a Fire Prevention Society was established, the 
 subscription not to exceed los. Twelve firemen were 
 appointed, with an annual salary of 5s. each. A cap and 
 badge were provided for them, and they undertook to 
 exercise their engines once every three months, and on 
 such occasions they were to receive a gratuity of zs. 6d. 
 each. 
 
 In the same year, an Oil Gas Company was formed,, 
 which supplied eighty-four shops, eleven private and 
 eight public houses, eight offices, two news-rooms, 
 two chapels, and sixty-eight street lamps. The price 
 charged was five shillings per hundred feet, the illumin- 
 ating power being three and a half times that of coal 
 gas. The Company's capital was ;^i,ooo, and the first 
 year they made a profit of £260 19s. 
 
 All this shows considerable enterprise, but other 
 matters were by no means in a creditable condition. 
 As late as 1817 the town had no public lamps, and so 
 little attention was paid to cleansing the streets, that 
 those who were out after dark had to grope their way 
 through the mire, with the aid of hand lanterns, mostly 
 glazed with horn, and clogs or pattens were commonly 
 used even by ladies. 
 
 * Young's Whtthy, 583. 
 
48 State of the Roads. 
 
 Nor were there any regular roads connecting Whitby 
 with other places till 1759 ; bridle paths and flagged 
 footways sufficed for the scant inland traffic. The old 
 town, therefore, though regarded with much admiration 
 by the neighbouring villagers, and very progressive to 
 the extent of its possibilities, was really only the petty 
 metropolis of a primitive community, shut in by the 
 sea on one side and by wild moorlands on the other, 
 satisfied with its local importance, and caring little for 
 anything beyond its limits. 
 
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