The piers at the entrance to Whitby harbour are not built and maintained at the sole expense of the place, but by a duty on coals shipped at Newcastle, Sunderland, Blyth, and their dependencies—Yarmouth vessels only being exempt—and the sum thus raised amounts to upwards of £2,000 per annum. It is doubtless a great advantage to the people of Whitby to have their piers built and kept in repair at the expense of other ports; but it is equally certain that the same sum might be employed more to the advantage of those by whom it is paid in improving other places—Scarborough and Burlington, for instance—as harbours of refuge on the eastern coast. In a gale of wind from the eastward, Whitby is perhaps one of the most dangerous harbours that a vessel can attempt to take between Yarmouth roads and the Frith of Forth, and captains of coasting vessels cannot be too frequently warned to avoid it. As the flood tide sets strong to the southward across the entrance to the harbour, vessels in attempting to enter with a gale of wind from the north-east are extremely liable to be driven on the rocks and wrecked at the foot of the cliff beyond the east pier.
A singular customary duty, called "making the penny-stake hedge," is annually performed at Whitby, by certain tenants of the Lord of the Manor. It consists in driving a certain number of stakes, which, according to the ancient prescribed form, were to be cut with a knife of the value of one penny, on the shore of the south side of the Esk, at low-water mark, at nine o'clock on the morning of the day before Ascension-day, while a man with a horn blows, "Out on you! Out on you!" to the shame of the persons whose duty it is to drive the stakes. When it shall be full sea or high-water at nine o'clock on the day of performing this service, it was to cease; but as Ascension-day is regulated by the change of the moon this can never happen. This custom is of great antiquity, as the horngarth, the enclosure formed by the stakes, is mentioned about 1315 in the registers of the Abbey, in an account of certain disputes between the abbot, Thomas de Malton, and Alexander de Percy, of Sneaton. Tradition reports that this custom was imposed as a penance on three persons of the families of Percy, Bruce, and Allatson, who held lands of the Abbey, for having killed a hermit in the chapel of Eskdale-side, when hunting a wild boar which had there taken refuge. The penance imposed was the tenure by which they and their successors were to hold the Abbey lands.
Leland, who visited Whitby a few years before the suppression of the monastery, describes it as a "great fisher town;" and he mentions that when he was there a new quay and pier were in course of erection. Until the establishment of the alum works in its neighbourhood, towards the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Whitby appears to have been a place of little trade. As this new branch of commerce extended, the trade and population of Whitby steadily increased until it has attained its present importance.
WHITBY,
FROM THE NORTH-WEST.
The view of Whitby from the north-west, by Balmer, is taken from the sands near Upgang, between Whitby and the village of Sandsend. From this point nearly the whole of the west pier is seen, extending directly from the shore, and having a light-house near its outer extremity. Beyond the pier, and on the other side of the river, are seen the houses built on the sloping side of the cliff, and on its top the ruins of Whitby abbey, which
"In solemn grandeur, calm and still,
O'erlook the restless flood."
The first authentic notice that we have of Whitby, is contained in Bede's Ecclesiastical History. In the time of the venerable historian it was called in the Anglo-Saxon language Streoneshalh, a name which he interprets in Latin by the words Sinus Fari; that is, in English, "Light-house bay." Subsequently it received from the Danes its present name of Whitby, a word which is probably derived from hvit or whit, white; and by, a dwelling, or in its more extended sense, a village or town. It has been supposed that this name might be given to the village in consequence of its being built chiefly with stone taken from the ruins of the monastic buildings; but the supposition is untenable, unless we at the same time presume that the stones, which were taken from buildings which had been destroyed by fire, were rendered white by being burnt. In Domesday Book the place appears to be called Prestebi—Priestby—as well as Witeby—Whitby. The name Priestby, which soon became obsolete, probably denoted that part of the village which lay on the east side of the Esk, and was more immediately dependent on the monastery.
The abbey of Whitby, founded by St. Hilda in 658, acquired considerable importance as the residence of this saint, of whose miracles certain marvellous traditions are still current in this vicinity. At the dissolution, under Henry VIII., Richard Cholmley, Esq., obtained a lease for twenty-one years of the site of the abbey and several parcels of its lands. In 1550 those lands were sold by the crown to John, earl of Warwick, who again sold them to Sir John Yorke, of whom they were purchased by the original lessee, then Sir Richard Cholmley, in 1555. Since that time the property has continued in the family of Cholmley, who enjoy many valuable rights and privileges as lords of the manor of Whitby. On the dissolution of the monastery, the abbey was stripped of every thing that was valuable. The bells were taken down, and the church was unroofed for the sake of the timber and lead. The walls only were spared, as the cost of taking them down would probably have been greater than the value of the stones. Though time has destroyed much of Whitby Abbey, yet the ruins still form a conspicuous and interesting object when viewed from the sea. The tower, which for several preceding years had been in a tottering state, fell down 25th June, 1830. The parish church, a plain structure, probably founded about the beginning of the twelfth century, stands at a short distance to the north-westward of the abbey. The direct foot-way to the church-yard from the town is by a steep ascent of one hundred and ninety steps.
It is worthy of remark that the number of ships registered at Whitby by no means affords a criterion of the trade of the place, for the greatest part of them are freighted to and from other ports. Perhaps no port in the kingdom presents so great a difference as Whitby between the number of ships registered at the port, and the number annually entered and cleared. This discrepancy between the trade and the tonnage of the port arises from the circumstance of many wealthy persons who live there having their ships built and registered at Whitby, but chiefly employed, on freight, in the trade of other places. When speaking of the shipping of Whitby, it would be unpardonable not to mention that Captain James Cook one of the most distinguished of British circumnavigators, served an apprenticeship in a vessel belonging to that port.
The principal trades carried on at Whitby are ship-building, and the manufacture of sail-cloth. Its chief imports are coals from Newcastle and Sunderland, and timber, hemp, flax, tar, iron, and tallow, from the Baltic. Alum manufactured in the neighbourhood is shipped at Whitby, but the principal article of export is at present stones for building, of which great quantities are sent to London.
From the light-house, on the western pier, a tide-light is displayed at night time, as long as there is eight feet water on the bar. The light is stationary, and is visible at the distance of two leagues in clear weather. During the same period of tide, in the day, a flag is hoisted on the west cliff. It is high water at Whitby pier at forty minutes past three o'clock at the full and change of the moon.
ROBIN HOOD'S BAY.
The above is the name of a fine bay on the Yorkshire coast, between Whitby and Scarborough, and also of the fishing village, situated towards its northern