UK's Abandoned Heritage: July 2012

http://www.whitbyonline.co.uk

HDR photo by Jules

We recently visited Whitby for a few days, we were staying at low moor in our van just 4 miles up the moor and got eaten alive by Midges after the heatwave there, then the incessant downpours due to the jet stream. We went on the famous 'Whitby Ghost Walk'
The Screaming Tunnel - Whitby Ghost Walk
it was quite entertaining and funny, if you see a man running around Whitby in the middle of the night wearing a pair of striped pajamas, its a ghost! ;) If you've never visited Whitby it's a place to add to your bucket (and spade) list. 

About Whitby 

Whitby is a quaint picturesque seaside town and once international port in the English county of North Yorkshire. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, The ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the earliest English poet, lived. The fishing port emerged during the Middle Ages and developed important herring and whaling fleets and was where Captain Cook learned seamanship. Tourism started in Whitby in Georgian times and developed with the coming of the railway in 1839. Tourist interest is enhanced by its location surrounded by the high ground of the North York Moors national park and heritage coastline and by association with the horror novel Dracula. Jet and alum were mined locally, and Whitby jet, which was mined by the Romans and Victorians became fashionable during the 19th century.

Captain Cook 

Captain Cook Memorial Museum, Whitby - http://www.cookmuseumwhitby.co.uk/

Myths, Legends and Hauntings

http://www.amazon.com/Draculas-Whitby-Ian-Thompson/dp/1445602881

Dracula Whitby Experience - http://www.draculaexperience.co.uk/experience.html

St. Mary's Churchyard - Photo by Jules

St Mary’s churchyard a large hearse with four jet-black horses would appear beside the grave at night, ready to take him away. A group of ghostly mourners would appear from the coach and remove the body from its grave. The spectral coach, lit by burning torches and driven by a headless phantom coachman shrouded in a black cloak, would then gallop away at speed and plummet over the cliffs into the sea.


Whitby Abbey - photo by Jules

Whitby Abbey. Set on a headland overlooking a seaside town Whitby Abbey inspired Bram Stoker to write his famous Dracula novels. Whitby Abbey is one of those atmospheric locations that just looks haunted.

Whitby Abbey in the haar - photo by Jules

Founded in 657 AD by the Anglo-Saxon King Oswy of Northumbria Whitby Abbey eventually succumbed to a bloody Viking raid in 867 AD and lay in ruins until the 11th Century when it was rebuilt by the Normans.

Now an impressive ruin again Whitby Abbey is said to be haunted by a nun whose body was allegedly found bricked up within the abbey walls. There have been several sightings of her staring out from the empty windows.

The 199 Steps (Church Stairs)

The Church Stairs or the 199 Steps were originally made from wood, the earliest reference of there construction dates to around 1400. The steps we see today are around 200 years old and they were completely renovated in 2005/06. As you climb the stairs, you notice various landings where seating is available. These landings were originally designed to assist the coffin bearers on there long journey to reach the cliff top graveyard. In the past people have preferred to be carried up the steps rather than being taken via the ‘hearse road' Green Lane.

In Bram Stokers novel Dracula after the shipwreck of the Demeter,  Count Dracula climbs the 199 steps in the shape of a dog and takes  refuge in a grave. Historical events recall a ship called the Demeter crashing on the rocks a few years before Stoker visited Whitby.  
 

When Cholera broke out during the 19th century, the dead were  transported over the river to Tate Hill Pier. At night they were carried  up to the top of the 199 steps.  During the hours of darkness, it is  thought that the men carrying the diseased bodies, smoked clay pipes to  ward off the infection.  

Visitors today come from a far to climb the famous steps and even count  them on the way up.  Some even debate as to whether there are in fact  199 or only 198 steps.  If you do decide to count the steps you will  probably miss some great views across the harbour.  


Bagdale Hall

Bagdale hall Situated just outside the centre of Whitby, is the oldest building in Whitby built in 1516. It is now a hotel said to be haunted by Browne Bushell, a former owner who was executed for piracy. He has been seen walking up the staircase, and has also been heard in the same place.

There has been other strange phenomena associated with the hall over the years, including poltergeist activity.

The legend of the Barguest has connection with Whitby not only within the pages of novel's such as Dracula and the Whitby Witches, although it's inspiration here is evident. The name most usually refers to a massive and monstrous black dog or lupine like creature with big sharp teeth and huge haunting eyes that prowls the local countryside and prays upon those which hear it's howls. Local folklore tells us that such a beast roams the North York Moors surrounding Whitby and that any poor soul that should hear the beast's chilling howl in the night will certainly be dead by dawn.


The Hand of Glory

Gruesome Tales The mummified severed human hand in Whitby Museum was discovered in the early twentieth century hidden on the wall of a thatched cottage in Castleton by a stonemason and local historian, Joseph Ford. He immediately identified it from popular stories of such objects as a "Hand of Glory". It was given to Whitby Museum in 1935 and is the only alleged Hand known to survive. A Hand of Glory was supposedly the carefully prepared and "pickled" right hand of a felon, cut off while the body still hung from the gallows and used by burglars to send sleepers in a house into a coma from which they were unable to wake. In one version the clenched hand is used as a candleholder for a candle incorporating human fat, but in another (consistent with the Whitby hand) the outstretched hand has its own fingers lit. In this case should one of the fingers refuse to light it is a sign that someone in the household remains awake. In either case the light cannot be extinguished by water or pinching but only by blood or "blue" (skimmed) milk - the usual method in the tales.

http://www.whitbymuseum.org.uk/collections/hogg.htm

Friday 13 July 2012

Whitby