Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for WHITBY

WHITBY, a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in N. R. Yorkshire. The town stands on the coast, at the mouth of the river Esk, and at the termini of railways from York, Scarborough, and Middlesborough, 21 miles NNW of Scarborough; is thought by some writers, but without any good evidence, to occupy the site of a Roman station; was known to the Saxons as Streonesheale; appears to have originated in the founding at it of a convent, in 657, by King Oswy: suffered devastation by the Danes in 870, and then took the name of Presteby, signifying "priest town;" underwent some revival after the Norman conquest, and then began to be called Whitebye or Whitby, signifying "white town;" seems, nevertheless, to have been then and for ages afterwards, a mere village; had no more than about 40 houses and about 200 inhabitants in 1540; acquired prosperity from the erection of alum-works at Sands-End, and from the improvement of its harbour, in 1615; grew thenceforth into importance, as a seat of trade and commerce; had 60 vessels, and nearly 3,000 inhabitants, in 1690; was the scene of a great fall of rock, near its parish church, in 1787; had then, and for several years before, a population of about 10,000; made very slow increase of either trade or inhabitants from 1801 till 1861; derived, in subsequent years, an impetus from the formation of railways, and from new incitements to commerce; ranks now as the sixth port in England; is a seat of petty-sessions and county-courts, a coast guard station, and a polling place; numbers among its natives the marine painter Chambers; and, by the reform act of 1832, was made a parliamentary borough, sending one member to parliament.

The convent founded by King Oswy was the meeting- place, in 664, of a great synod for adjusting the controversy between the Culdees and the Romanists respecting Easter. Hilda, of high reputed sanctity, was its first abbess; she had charge in it of the princess Ethelfleda, from infancy upward; she is alleged to have transmuted multitudes of snakes around it into coils of stone, which now are known to be simple fossil ammonites; and she died in it in 680, and was succeeded in her office by the princess Ethelfleda. The monk Coedman, the earliest known Saxon poet, resided in the convent, in the time of Hilda and Ethelfleda; and one of his poems is preserved in Turner's "History of the Anglo-Saxons." The convent was destroyed by the Danes in 876; and it lay desolate for more than 200 years. A Benedictine abbey was founded on its site, in the time of William the Conqueror, by William de Percy; rose from a comparatively humble condition to a very splendid one, between the year 1142 and the year 1316; was raised to a mitred rank by Henry I.; suffered many troubles, at many periods, from sea-pirates and land-robbers; had, at the dissolution, revenues amounting to £437; and, after several short appropriations, passed into the possession of the family of Cholmley. Several traditions respecting it are graphically engrossed in Sir Walter Scott's "Marmion." Its site was the crown of a sea-cliff, elevated 250 feet above the beach, and commanding a magnificent view. Some remains of its church still exist, and form a prominent and picturesque object, as seen from various parts of the town and of the surrounding country. The architecture is partly early English, partly decorated; and presents many interesting details. The nave was of eight bays, the choir of six bays; both nave and choir were 69 feet wide and 60 feet high; the transepts were 150 feet long; and the entire edifice, from E to W, was 300 feet long-A tower rose from the centre to the height of 150 feet, but fell in 1830, and is now represented by only two piers. A mansion, called Whitby Hall, was erected out of the materials of the monastic buildings, and on the site of the abbot's house, in 1580; was enlarged and fortified in 1635; was seized and occupied by the parliamentarians, in the civil wars of Charles I.; and was afterwards repaired and much enlarged; but began to be little used about 1743, and suffered curtailment of its N front about 1802. A white hospital was founded at the town before 1160, and an hospital of St. John before the time of Edward II.; but both have disappeared.

The town is divided into old and new by the river Esk; and it partly occupies steep ascents, rising from the river's banks. The ascent on the E or old town side is very steep; occasions the houses on it to rise tier above tier, in a seemingly dense and irregular mass; and is traversed upward by a flight of no fewer than 199 stone steps, leading to the parish church. The ascent on the W side is more practicable; and has allowed the streets to run in lines, over its summit, to the further side. Part of the town stands also on low ground contiguous to the river. The streets, in a general view, are exceedingly narrow; but they were much improved subsequently to 1789; and they contain many excellent houses. A stone bridge, 172 feet long and 22 feet wide, spans the Esk; was rebuilt in 1835, at a cost of about £10,000; and comprises three arches, together with a cast-iron swivel centre-piece, to allow vessels to enter the inner harbour. Two piers, respectively 900 and 2,400 feet long, run out from the river's mouth, to form the outer harbour; and the W or longer one terminates in a platform 70 feet by 80, with battery and lighthouse, and serves as a delightful promenade. The lighthouse was erected in 1831; is a Doric column, springing from a rusticated basement, and rising to the height of 81½ feet; and shows a fixed light, visible at the distance of 13 miles. Another lighthouse, built in 1854, is on the E pier. A strong wooden staith, erected in 1861, 750 feet long and 25 broad, extends from the bridge to the railway station. A spacious and elegant building, called the Public baths, stands on the inner part of the W pier; is three stories high; and contains commodious baths in the first story, an extensive subscription library in the second, and a well-stored museum, with rich collection of fossils, in the third. The beach is about three miles long, and has machines for bathers. A new hotel and other new buildings were erected on the W cliff, chiefly for the accommodation of summer visitors; and they command both a marine and an inland view of surpassing beauty. There are also assembly-rooms, a public hall, a temperance hall, a theatre, a reading room, a custom-house, a spa, annual races, and charming rural walks and drives. The town hall was built in 1788, and is in the Tuscan style. The parish church, or St. Mary's, was originally Norman, but has been so much altered as to be quite incongruous. A church, called St. Ninian's chapel, was built in 1778; and two chapels of ease, called St. John's and St. Michael's, were built in 1850 and 1856. There are United Presbyterian, Independent, Quaker, Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, Unitarian, U. Free Methodist, and Roman Catholic chapels: an endowed school, built in 1862, at a cost of £2,500: national and British schools; an alms-house hospital, rebuilt in 1842, for 42 aged seamen or seamen's widows: another alms-house, a dispensary, a freemasons' lodge, a workhouse, and some general charities.

The town has a head post-office,‡ a r. station with telegraph, two banking offices, and eight hotels; and publishes a weekly newspaper. A weekly market is held on Saturday; fairs are held on 25 Aug. and Martinmas day; and ship-building, rope-making, canvas-making, fishing, and the manufacture of jet ornaments are carried on. The principal commerce is in coal, stone, alum, timber, hemp, flax, fish, and grain. The harbour almost dries at low water, but has a rise of from 10 to 15 feet at high water; and it admits vessels of 600 tons. The vessels belonging to the port at the beginning of 1864, were 61 small sailing-vessels, of aggregately 2,151 tons; 353 large sailing-vessels, of aggregately 67,144 tons; and 3 steam-vessels, of aggregately 144 tons. The vessels which entered, in 1863, were 2 British sailing-vessels, of jointly 537 tons, from British colonies; 50 British sailing-vessels, of aggregately 5,826 tons, from foreign countries; 2 foreign sailing-vessels, of jointly 172 tons, from foreign countries; 1 British steam-vessel, of 375 tons, from foreign countries; 788 sailing-vessels, of aggregately 32,580 tons, coastwise; and 121 steam-vessels, of aggregately 5,582 tons, coastwise. The amount of customs in 1862 was £6,341. The borough includes Whitby, Ruswarp, and Hawsker-cum-Stainsacre townships. Electors in 1833, 422; in 1863, 667. Pop. in 1851, 10,989; in 1861, 12,051. Houses, 2,464.

The township comprises 1,719 acres of land, and 524 of water. Real property, £18,819; of which £640 are in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 8,040; in 1861, 8,142 Houses, 1,682.—The parish includes six other townships, and comprises 15,918 acres. Pop. in 1851, 12,875; in 1861, 14,014. Houses, 2,874. The head living, or St. Marys, is a rectory, with St. Michaels and St. Johns chapelries, in the diocese of York. Value, £877. Patron, the Archbishop of York. The Episcopal chapel is a separate charge, the value and the patron of which are not reported-The vicarage of Aislaby, and the p. curacy of Eskdaleside-with-Ugglebarnby also are separate charges, but have been separately noticed.—The sub-district excludes two townships of W., but includes Fylingdales parish. Acres, 28,419. Pop., 14,484. Houses, 3,030.—The district comprehends also Lythe and Egton sub-districts, and comprises 90,371 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £9,633. Pop. in 1851, 21,592; in 1861, 23,633. Houses, 4,917. Marriages in 1863, 189; births, 841,-of which 51 were illegitimate; deaths, 552,-of which 213 were at ages under 5 years, and 21 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,775; births, 7,832; deaths, 4,620. The places of worship, in 1851, were 19 of the Church of England, with 8,701 sittings; 1 of United Presbyterians, with 450 s.; 7 of Independents, with 1,932 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 500 s.; 1 of Unitarians, with 250 s.; 16 of Wesleyans, with 4,006 s.; 3 of Primitive Methodists, with 1,245 s.; 1 of the Wesleyan Association, with 550 s.; 2 undefined, with 66 s.; and 3 of Roman Catholics, with 956 s. The schools were 17 public day-schools, with 1,641 scholars; 50 private day-schools, with 1,300 s.; and 35 Sunday schools, with 2,796 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Whitby AP/Tn/CP       Whitby SubD       Whitby RegD/PLU       Yorkshire AncC
Place names: STREONESHEALE     |     WHITBY
Place: Whitby

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