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diff --git a/10795-0.txt b/10795-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e381f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/10795-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2470 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10795 *** + +YORKSHIRE COAST AND MOORLAND SCENES + +Painted and Described + +By + +GORDON HOME + +_Second Edition_ + + +1907 + + + + +_First Edition published April 26, 1904 +Second Edition published April, 1907_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +It may seem almost superfluous to explain that this book does not deal +with the whole of Yorkshire, for it would obviously be impossible to get +even a passing glimpse of such a great tract of country in a book of +this nature. But I have endeavoured to give my own impressions of much +of the beautiful coast-line, and also some idea of the character of the +moors and dales of the north-east portion of the county. + +I have described the Dale Country in a companion volume to this, +entitled 'Yorkshire Dales and Fells.' + +GORDON HOME. + +EPSOM, 1907. + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + ACROSS THE MOORS FROM PICKERING TO WHITBY + +CHAPTER II + ALONG THE ESK VALLEY + +CHAPTER III + THE COAST FROM WHITBY TO REDCAR + +CHAPTER IV + THE COAST FROM WHITBY TO SCARBOROUGH + +CHAPTER V + SCARBOROUGH + +CHAPTER VI + WHITBY + +CHAPTER VII + THE CLEVELAND HILLS + +CHAPTER VIII + GUISBOROUGH AND THE SKELTON VALLEY + +CHAPTER IX + FROM PICKERING TO RIEVAULX ABBEY + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + 1. On Barnby Moor + 2. Goathland Moor + 3. An Autumn Scene on the Esk + 4. Sleights Moor from Swart Houc Cross + 5. A Stormy Afternoon + 6. East Row, Sandsend + 7. In Mulgrave Woods + 8. Runswick Bay + 9. A Sunny Afternoon at Runswick + 10. Sunrise from Staithes Beck + 11. Three Generations at Staithes + 12. Boulby Cliffs from Staithes Scaur + 13. The Coast at Saltburn + 14. Whitby Abbey from the Cliffs + 15. Robin Hood's Bay + 16. A Street in Robin Hood's Bay + 17. Scarborough Harbour and Castle + 18. Sunlight and Shadows in Whitby Harbour + 19. The Red Roofs of Whitby + 20. Evening at Whitby + 21. The Cleveland Hills from above Kildale + 22. Hutton Woods, near Guisborough + 23. A Wide Expanse of Heather seen from Great Ayton Moor + 24. A Golden Afternoon, Danby + 25. A Sunset from Danby Beacon + 26. An Autumn Day at Guisborough + 27. A Yorkshire Postman + 28. The Skelton Valley + 29. In Pickering Church + 30. The Market-place, Helmsley + 31. Rievaulx Abbey from 'The Terrace' + +_Map at end of volume_ + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ACROSS THE MOORS FROM PICKERING TO WHITBY + + +The ancient stone-built town of Pickering is to a great extent the +gateway to the moors of Northeastern Yorkshire, for it stands at the +foot of that formerly inaccessible gorge known as Newton Dale, and is +the meeting-place of the four great roads running north, south, east, +and west, as well as of railways going in the same directions. And this +view of the little town is by no means original, for the strategic +importance of the position was recognised at least as long ago as the +days of the early Edwards, when the castle was built to command the +approach to Newton Dale and to be a menace to the whole of the Vale of +Pickering. + +The old-time traveller from York to Whitby saw practically nothing of +Newton Dale, for the great coach-road bore him towards the east, and +then, on climbing the steep hill up to Lockton Low Moor, he went almost +due north as far as Sleights. But to-day everyone passes right through +the gloomy canyon, for the railway now follows the windings of Pickering +Beck, and nursemaids and children on their way to the seaside may gaze +at the frowning cliffs which seventy years ago were only known to +travellers and a few shepherds. But although this great change has been +brought about by railway enterprise, the gorge is still uninhabited, and +has lost little of its grandeur; for when the puny train, with its +accompanying white cloud, has disappeared round one of the great bluffs, +there is nothing left but the two pairs of shining rails, laid for long +distances almost on the floor of the ravine. But though there are steep +gradients to be climbed, and the engine labours heavily, there is +scarcely sufficient time to get any idea of the astonishing scenery from +the windows of the train, and you can see nothing of the huge expanses +of moorland stretching away from the precipices on either side. So that +we, who would learn something of this region, must make the journey on +foot; for a bicycle would be an encumbrance when crossing the heather, +and there are many places where a horse would be a source of danger. The +sides of the valley are closely wooded for the first seven or eight +miles north of Pickering, but the surrounding country gradually loses +its cultivation, at first gorse and bracken, and then heather, taking +the place of the green pastures. + +At the village of Newton, perched on high ground far above the dale, we +come to the limit of civilization. The sun is nearly setting. The +cottages are scattered along the wide roadway and the strip of grass, +broken by two large ponds, which just now reflect the pale evening sky. +Straight in front, across the green, some ancient barns are thrown up +against the golden sunset, and the long perspective of white road, the +geese, and some whitewashed gables, stand out from the deepening tones +of the grass and trees. A footpath by the inn leads through some dewy +meadows to the woods, above Levisham Station in the valley below. At +first there are glimpses of the lofty moors on the opposite side of the +dale, where the sides of the bluffs are still glowing in the sunset +light; but soon the pathway plunges steeply into a close wood, where the +foxes are barking, and where the intense darkness is only emphasized by +the momentary illumination given by lightning, which now and then +flickers in the direction of Lockton Moor. At last the friendly little +oil-lamps on the platform at Levisham Station appear just below, and +soon the railway is crossed and we are mounting the steep road on the +opposite side of the valley. What is left of the waning light shows the +rough track over the heather to High Horcum. The huge shoulders of the +moors are now majestically indistinct, and towards the west the browns, +purples, and greens are all merged in one unfathomable blackness. The +tremendous silence and the desolation become almost oppressive, but +overhead the familiar arrangement of the constellations gives a sense of +companionship not to be slighted. In something less than an hour a light +glows in the distance, and, although the darkness is now complete, there +is no further need to trouble ourselves with the thought of spending the +night on the heather. The point of light develops into a lighted window, +and we are soon stamping our feet on the hard, smooth road in front of +the Saltersgate Inn. The door opens straight into a large stone-flagged +room. Everything is redolent of coaching days, for the cheery glow of +the fire shows a spotlessly clean floor, old high-backed settles, a gun +hooked to one of the beams overhead, quaint chairs and oak stools, and a +fox's mask and brush. A gamekeeper is warming himself at the fire, for +the evening is chilly, and the firelight falls on his box-cloth gaiters +and heavy boots, as we begin to talk of the loneliness and the dangers +of the moors, and of the snowstorms in winter, that almost bury the low +cottages and blot out all but the boldest landmarks. Soon we are +discussing the superstitions which still survive among the simple +country-folk, and the dark and lonely wilds we have just left make this +a subject of great fascination. + +Although we have heard it before, we hear over again with intense +interest the story of the witch who brought constant ill-luck to a +family in these parts. Their pigs were never free from some form of +illness, their cows died, their horses lamed themselves, and even the +milk was so far under the spell that on churning-days the butter refused +to come unless helped by a crooked sixpence. One day, when as usual they +had been churning in vain, instead of resorting to the sixpence, the +farmer secreted himself in an outbuilding, and, gun in hand, watched the +garden from a small opening. As it was growing dusk he saw a hare coming +cautiously through the hedge. He fired instantly, the hare rolled over, +dead, and almost as quickly the butter came. That same night they heard +that the old woman, whom they had long suspected of bewitching them, had +suddenly died at the same time as the hare, and henceforward the farmer +and his family prospered. + +In the light of morning the isolation of the inn is more apparent than +at night. A compact group of stable buildings and barns stands on the +opposite side of the road, and there are two or three lonely-looking +cottages, but everywhere else the world is purple and brown with ling +and heather. The morning sun has just climbed high enough to send a +flood of light down the steep hill at the back of the barns, and we can +hear the hum of the bees in the heather. In the direction of Levisham is +Gallows Dyke, the great purple bluff we passed in the darkness, and a +few yards off the road makes a sharp double bend to get up Saltersgate +Brow, the hill that overlooks the enormous circular bowl of Horcum Hole, +where Levisham Beck rises. The farmer whose buildings can be seen down +below contrives to paint the bottom of the bowl a bright green, but the +ling comes hungrily down on all sides, with evident longings to absorb +the scanty cultivation. The Dwarf Cornel, a little mountain-plant which +flowers in July, is found in this 'hole.' A few patches have been +discovered in the locality, but elsewhere it is not known south of +the Cheviots. + +Away to the north the road crosses the desolate country like a +pale-green ribbon. It passes over Lockton High Moor, climbs to 700 feet +at Tom Cross Rigg, and then disappears into the valley of Eller Beck, on +Goathland Moor, coming into view again as it climbs steadily up to +Sleights Moor, nearly 1,000 feet above the sea. An enormous stretch of +moorland spreads itself out towards the west. Near at hand is the +precipitous gorge of Upper Newton Dale, backed by Pickering Moor, and +beyond are the heights of Northdale Rigg and Rosedale Common, with the +blue outlines of Ralph Cross and Danby Head right on the horizon. + +The smooth, well-built road, with short grass filling the crevices +between the stones, urges us to follow its straight course northwards; +but the sternest and most remarkable portion of Upper Newton Dale lies +to the left, across the deep heather, and we are tempted aside to reach +the lip of the sinuous gorge nearly a mile away to the west, where the +railway runs along the marshy and boulder-strewn bottom of a natural +cutting 500 feet deep. The cliffs drop down quite perpendicularly for +200 feet, and the remaining distance to the bed of the stream is a rough +slope, quite bare in places, and in others densely grown over with +trees; but on every side the fortress-like scarps are as stern and bare +as any that face the ocean. Looking north or south the gorge seems +completely shut in. There is much the same effect when steaming through +the Kyles of Bute, for there the ship seems to be going full speed for +the shore of an entirely enclosed sea, and here, saving for the +tell-tale railway, there seems no way out of the abyss without scaling +the perpendicular walls. The rocks are at their finest at Killingnoble +Scar, where they take the form of a semicircle on the west side of the +railway. The scar was for a very long period famous for the breed of +hawks, which were specially watched by the Goathland men for the use of +James I., and the hawks were not displaced from their eyrie even by the +incursion of the railway into the glen, and only recently +became extinct. + +Newton Dale Well, at the foot of the scar, used to attract the country +people for miles round, to the fair held there on Midsummer Day, when +strange ceremonies were performed in order to insure the beneficent +influence of the waters. The custom survived until the beginning of last +century, but now it is not easy to even find the position of the well. +Very few people living in Whitby or Pickering had any idea of the +grandeur of the scenery of Newton Dale when the first official journey +was made by railway between the two towns. This was in 1836, but the +coaches were drawn by horses on the levels and up the inclines, for it +was before the days of the steam-locomotive. + +However, the opening of the line caused great enthusiasm and local +excitement, necessitating the services of numbers of policemen to keep +the people off the rails. When the separate coaches had been hauled to +the highest part of the dale, the horses were detached, and the vehicles +were joined up with connecting bars. Then the train was allowed to rush +through the pass at what was considered the dangerous speed of twenty +miles an hour. For the benefit of those who enjoyed the great pace, the +driver allowed the train to go at thirty miles an hour, and then, to +show his complete control over the carriages, he applied the brakes and +came to a standstill on the steep gradient. But for the existence of the +long, narrow ravine right through the heart of these lofty moors, we may +reasonably doubt whether Whitby would ever have been joined with York +other than by way of the coast-line to Scarborough. + +We can cross the line near Eller Beck, and, going over Goathland Moor, +explore the wooded sides of Wheeldale Beck and its waterfalls. Mallyan's +Spout is the most imposing, having a drop of about 76 feet. The village +of Goathland has thrown out skirmishers towards the heather in the form +of an ancient-looking but quite modern church, with a low central tower, +and a little hotel, stone-built and fitting well into its surroundings. +The rest of the village is scattered round a large triangular green, and +extends down to the railway, where there is a station named after +the village. + +The rolling masses of Sleights Moor rise up steeply towards the east, +and from the coach-road to Whitby that we deserted at the Saltersgate +Inn there is an enormous panorama over Eskdale, Whitby, and the sea. + + + +CHAPTER II + +ALONG THE ESK VALLEY + + +To see the valley of the Esk in its richest garb, one must wait for a +spell of fine autumn weather, when a prolonged ramble can be made along +the riverside and up on the moorland heights above. For the dense +woodlands, which are often merely pretty in midsummer, become +astonishingly lovely as the foliage draping the steep hillsides takes on +its gorgeous colours, and the gills and becks on the moors send down a +plentiful supply of water to fill the dales with the music of +rushing streams. + +Climbing up the road towards Larpool, we take a last look at quaint old +Whitby, spread out before us almost like those wonderful old prints of +English towns they loved to publish in the eighteenth century. But +although every feature is plainly visible--the church, the abbey, the +two piers, the harbour, the old town and the new--the detail is all lost +in that soft mellowness of a sunny autumn day. We find an enthusiastic +photographer expending plates on this familiar view, which is sold all +over the town; but we do not dare to suggest that the prints, however +successful, will be painfully hackneyed, and we go on rejoicing that the +questions of stops and exposures need not trouble us, for the world is +ablaze with colour. + +Beyond the great red viaduct, whose central piers are washed by the +river far below, the road plunges into the golden shade of the woods +near Cock Mill, and then comes out by the river's bank down below, with +the little village of Ruswarp on the opposite shore. The railway goes +over the Esk just below the dam, and does its very best to spoil every +view of the great mill built in 1752 by Mr. Nathaniel Cholmley. However, +from the road towards Sleights the huge building looks picturesque +enough, with the river flowing smoothly over the broad dam fringed by +the delicate faded greens and browns of the trees. The mill, with its +massive roof and projecting eaves, suggests in a most remarkable fashion +one of the huge gate-houses of the Chinese Imperial Palace at Peking. + +The road follows close beside the winding river, and all the way to +Sleights there are lovely glimpses of the shimmering waters, reflecting +the overhanging masses of foliage. The golden yellow of a bush growing +at the water's edge will be backed by masses of brown woods that here +and there have retained suggestions of green, contrasted with the deep +purple tones of their shadowy recesses. These lovely phases of Eskdale +scenery are denied to the summer visitor, but there are few who would +wish to have the riverside solitudes rudely broken into by the passing +of boatloads of holiday-makers. Just before reaching Sleights Bridge we +leave the tree-embowered road, and, going through a gate, find a +stone-flagged pathway that climbs up the side of the valley with great +deliberation, so that we are soon at a great height, with a magnificent +sweep of landscape towards the south-west, and the keen air blowing +freshly from the great table-land of Egton High Moor. + +A little higher, and we are on the road in Aislaby village. The steep +climb from the river and railway has kept off those modern influences +which have made Sleights and Grosmont architecturally depressing, and +thus we find a simple village on the edge of the heather, with +picturesque stone cottages and pretty gardens, free from companionship +with the painfully ugly modern stone house, with its thin slate roof. +The big house of the village stands on the very edge of the descent, +surrounded by high trees now swept bare of leaves. + +The first time I visited Aislaby I reached the little hamlet when it was +nearly dark. Sufficient light, however, remained in the west to show up +the large house standing in the midst of the swaying branches. One dim +light appeared in the blue-gray mass, and the dead leaves were blown +fiercely by the strong gusts of wind. On the other side of the road +stood an old gray house, whose appearance that gloomy evening well +supported the statement that it was haunted. The classic front appeared +behind an imposing gateway approached by a curious flat bridge across a +circular pond which had a solid stone edging. The low parapets of the +bridge were cut into a strange serpentine form. I gazed at the front of +the house, backed by the dim outline of the moor beyond; but, though the +place was silent enough, I could hear no strange sounds, and the windows +remained black and impassive. + +I left the village in the gathering gloom and was soon out on the +heather. Away on the left, but scarcely discernible, was Swart Houe +Cross, on Egton Low Moor, and straight in front lay the Skelder Inn. A +light gleamed from one of the lower windows, and by it I guided my +steps, being determined to partake of tea before turning my steps +homeward. I stepped into the little parlour, with its sanded floor, and +demanded 'fat rascals' and tea. The girl was not surprised at my +request, for the hot turf cakes supplied at the inn are known to all the +neighbourhood by this unusual name, although they are not particularly +fat, and are so extremely palatable that one would gladly call them by a +friendlier name. + +But though the gloom of an autumn evening emphasizes the loneliness of +the inn, it blots out the beautiful views which extend in every +direction over dales and woodland, as well as the sea and moors. Whitby +shows itself beyond the windmill as a big town dominated by a great +rectangular building looking as much like a castle as an hotel, the +abbey being less conspicuous from here than from most points of view. +Northwards are the dense woods at Mulgrave, the coast as far as +Kettleness, and the wide, almost limitless moors in the direction of +Guisborough. The road to that ancient town goes straight up the hill +past Swart Houe Cross, which forms the horizon in the picture reproduced +as the frontispiece of this volume. Up on that high ground you can see +right across the valley of the Esk in both directions. The course of the +river itself is hidden by the shoulders of Egton Low Moor beneath us, +but faint sounds of the shunting of trucks are carried up to the +heights. Even when the deep valleys are warmest, and when their +atmosphere is most suggestive of a hot-house, these moorland heights +rejoice in a keen, dry air, which seems to drive away the slightest +sense of fatigue, so easily felt on the lower levels, and to give in its +place a vigour that laughs at distance. Up here, too, the whole world +seems left to Nature, the levels of cultivation being almost out of +sight, and anything under 800 feet seems low. Towards the end of August +the heights are capped with purple, although the distant moors, however +brilliant they may appear when close at hand, generally assume more +delicate shades, fading into grays and blues on the horizon. + +But however much the moors may attract us, we started out with the +intention of seeing something of Eskdale. We will therefore take a +turning out of the Guisborough road, and go down the hill to Egton +village, where there is a church with some Norman pillars and arches +preserved from the rebuilding craze that despoiled Yorkshire of half its +ecclesiastical antiquities. Making our way along the riverside to +Grosmont, we come to the enormous heaps above the pits of the now +disused iron-mines. This was the birthplace of the Cleveland Ironworks, +and Grosmont was at one time more famous than Middlesbrough. The first +cargo of ironstone was sent from here in 1836, when the Pickering and +Whitby Railway was opened. However interesting Grosmont may sound in +books, it is a dull place; for the knowledge that the name was +originally Grandimont, from the small priory founded about 1200, and +named after the abbey in Normandy to which it was attached, does not +excite much interest when there is nothing to see but a farmhouse on the +site, and the modern place consists of a railway-junction, some deserted +mines, and many examples of the modern Yorkshire house. + +Everything that Nature can do to make amends for this uninteresting spot +is lavishly squandered upon the valley, for wherever man has left things +alone there are heavy canopies of foliage, and mossy boulders among the +rushing streams; and if you will but take the trouble to climb up to the +heather, even the mines are dwarfed into insignificance. We will go up +the steep road to the top of Sleights Moor. It is a long stiff climb of +nearly 900 feet, but the view is one of the very finest in this country, +where wide expanses soon become commonplace. We are sufficiently high to +look right across Fylingdales Moor to the sea beyond, a soft haze of +pearly blue over the hard, rugged outline of the ling. Away towards the +north, too, the landscape for many miles is limited only by the same +horizon of sea, so that we seem to be looking at a section of a very +large scale contour map of England. Below us on the western side runs +the Mirk Esk, draining the heights upon which we stand as well as Egton +High Moor and Wheeldale Moor. The confluence with the Esk at Grosmont is +lost in a haze of smoke and a confusion of roofs and railway-lines; and +the course of the larger river in the direction of Glaisdale is also +hidden behind the steep slopes of Egton High Moor. Towards the south we +gaze over a vast desolation, crossed by the coach-road to York as it +rises and falls over the swells of the heather. The queer isolated cone +of Blakey Topping and the summit of Gallows Dyke, close to Saltersgate, +appear above the distant ridges. + +The route of the great Roman road from the South to Dunsley Bay can also +be seen from these heights. It passes straight through Cawthorn Camp, on +the ridge to the west of the village of Newton, and then runs along +within a few yards of the by-road from Picketing to Egton. It crosses +Wheeldale Beck, and skirts the ancient dyke round July or Julian Park, +at one time a hunting-seat of the great De Mauley family. The road is +about 12 feet wide, and is now deep in heather; but it is slightly +raised above the general level of the ground, and can therefore be +followed fairly easily where it has not been taken up to build walls for +enclosures. Of greater antiquity, but much more easily discovered, are +the bride stones close at hand on Sleights Moor. Several of the stones +have fallen, but three of them are still standing erect, the tallest +being 7 feet high. It is not easy to discover any particular form from +the standing and recumbent stones, for they neither make a circle nor do +they seem to be directed to any particular point of the compass; but it +is quite possible that these monoliths were put up by Early Man as a +means of recording the seasons, in somewhat the same manner as +Stonehenge is an example of the orientated temple of Neolithic times. + +If we go down into the valley beneath us by a road bearing south-west, +we shall find ourselves at Beck Hole, where there is a pretty group of +stone cottages, backed by some tall firs. The Eller Beck is crossed by a +stone bridge close to its confluence with the Mirk Esk. Above the +bridge, a footpath among the huge boulders winds its way by the side of +the rushing beck to Thomasin Foss, where the little river falls in two +or three broad silver bands into a considerable pool. Great masses of +overhanging rock, shaded by a leafy roof, shut in the brimming waters. + +It is not difficult to find the way from Beck Hole to the Roman camp on +the hillside towards Egton Bridge. The Roman road from Cawthorn goes +right through it, but beyond this it is not easy to trace, although +fragments have been discovered as far as Aislaby, all pointing to +Dunsley or Sandsend Bay. Round the shoulder of the hill we come down +again to the deeply-wooded valley of the Esk. No river can be seen, but +when we enter the shade of the trees the sound of many waters fills the +air. What was once a thick green roof is now thin and yellow, and under +our feet is a yielding carpet of soft brown and orange leaves. Rare and +luxuriant mosses grow at the foot of the trees, on dead wood, and on the +damp stones, and everywhere the rich woodland scent of decay meets the +nostrils. In the midst of all these evidences of rampant natural +conditions we come to Glaisdale End, where a graceful stone bridge of a +single arch stands over the rushing stream. The initials of the builder +and the date appear on the eastern side of what is now known as the +Beggar's Bridge. It was formerly called Firris Bridge, after the +builder, but the popular interest in the story of its origin seems to +have killed the old name. If you ask anyone in Whitby to mention some of +the sights of the neighbourhood, he will probably head his list with the +Beggar's Bridge, but why this is so I cannot imagine. The woods are very +beautiful, but this is a country full of the loveliest dales, and the +presence of this single-arched bridge does not seem sufficient to have +attracted so much popularity. I can only attribute it to the love +interest associated with the beggar. He was, we may imagine, the +Alderman Thomas Firris who, as a penniless youth, came to bid farewell +to his betrothed, who lived somewhere on the opposite side of the river. +Finding the stream impassable, he is said to have determined that if he +came back from his travels as a rich man he would put up a bridge on the +spot he had been prevented from crossing. It is not a very remarkable +story, even if it be true, but it has given the bridge a fame scarcely +proportionate to its merits. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE COAST FROM WHITBY TO REDCAR + + +Along the three miles of sand running northwards from Whitby at the foot +of low alluvial cliffs, I have seen some of the finest sea-pictures on +this part of the coast. But although I have seen beautiful effects at +all times of the day, those that I remember more than any others are the +early mornings, when the sun was still low in the heavens, when, +standing on that fine stretch of yellow sand, one seemed to breathe an +atmosphere so pure, and to gaze at a sky so transparent, that some of +those undefined longings for surroundings that have never been realized +were instinctively uppermost in the mind. It is, I imagine, that vague +recognition of perfection which has its effect on even superficial minds +when impressed with beautiful scenery, for to what other cause can be +attributed the remark one hears, that such scenes 'make one feel good'? + +Heavy waves, overlapping one another in their fruitless bombardment of +the smooth shelving sand, are filling the air with a ceaseless thunder. +The sun, shining from a sky of burnished gold, throws into silhouette +the twin lighthouses at the entrance to Whitby Harbour, and turns the +foaming wave-tops into a dazzling white, accentuated by the long shadows +of early day. Away to the north-west is Sandsend Ness, a bold headland +full of purple and blue shadows, and straight out to sea, across the +white-capped waves, are two tramp steamers, making, no doubt, for South +Shields or some port where a cargo of coal can be picked up. They are +plunging heavily, and every moment their bows seem to go down too far +to recover. + +On mornings when the sea is quieter there are few who can resist the +desire to plunge into the blue waters, for at seven o'clock the shore is +so entirely deserted that one seems to be bathing from some primeval +shore where no other forms of life may be expected than some giant +crustaceans. This thought, perhaps, prompted the painful sensations I +allowed to prey upon me one night when I was walking along this +particular piece of shore from Whitby. I had decided to save time over +the road to Sandsend by getting on to the beach at Upgang, where the +lifeboat-house stands, by the entrance to a small beck. So dark was the +night that I could scarcely be sure that I had not lost my way, until I +had carefully felt the walls of the boat-house. Then I stepped +cautiously on to the sand, which I discovered as soon as my feet began +sinking at every step. + +The harbour lights of Whitby were bright enough, but in the other +direction I could be sure of nothing. At first I seemed to have made a +mistake as to the state of the tide, for there appeared to be a +whiteness nearly up to the base of the cliffs; but this proved to be the +suffused glow from the lighthouses. Rain had been falling heavily for +the last few days, and had produced so many wide streams across the sand +that my knowledge of the usual ones merely hampered me. At first I began +stepping carefully over large black hollows in the sand, and then a +great black mark would show itself, which, offering no resistance to my +stick as I drew it across its surface, I could only imagine to be caused +by a flood of ink poured upon the beach by some horrible squid. My +musings on whether sea-monsters did ever disport themselves on the shore +under the cover of sufficiently dark nights would be broken into by +discovering that I had plunged into a stream of undiscoverable +dimensions, whose existence only revealed itself by the splash of my +boots. Retreating cautiously, I would take a run, and then a terrific +leap into the darkness, sometimes finding myself on firm dry sand, and +as frequently in the water. + +I had decided that I should probably not reach Sandsend until daylight, +when a red lamp near the railway-bridge shone out as a beacon, and I +realized that I would soon be safe from the tentacles of sea-monsters. + +When I awoke next morning, I dashed out on to the beach, and commenced +to walk rapidly in the direction of Whitby, in the hope that the tide +had left some of those black stains still showing. I wanted, also, to +examine some of the queer ridges I had so often stepped over, and some +of the rivers I had leapt. The rivers were there wide enough in places, +but nothing in the way of a ridge or any signs of those inky patches +could I discern. Careful examination showed, however, that here and +there the smooth shore was covered with sand of a rather reddish hue, +quite unworthy of remark in daylight. The foolishness of my +apprehensions seems apparent, but nevertheless I urge everyone to choose +a moonlit night and a companion of some sort for traversing these three +miles after sunset. + +The two little becks finding their outlet at East Row and Sandsend are +lovely to-day; but their beauty must have been much more apparent before +the North-Eastern Railway put their black lattice girder bridges across +the mouth of each valley. But now that familiarity with these bridges, +which are of the same pattern across every wooded ravine up the +coast-line to Redcar, has blunted my impressions, I can think of the +picturesqueness of East Row without remembering the railway. It was in +this glen, where Lord Normanby's lovely woods make a background for the +pretty tiled cottages, the mill, and the old stone bridge, which make up +East Row, that the Saxons chose a home for their god Thor. [Since this +was written one or two new houses have been allowed to mar the +simplicity of the valley.--G. H.] Here they built some rude form of +temple, afterwards, it seems, converted into a hermitage. This was how +the spot obtained the name Thordisa, a name it retained down to 1620, +when the requirements of workmen from the newly-started alum-works at +Sandsend led to building operations by the side of the stream. The +cottages which arose became known afterwards as East Row. + +A very little way inland is the village of Dunsley, which may have been +in existence in Roman times, for Ptolemy mentions Dunus Sinus as a bay +frequently used by the Romans as a landing-place. The foundations of +some ancient building can easily be traced in the rough grass at the +village cross-roads, now overlooked by a new stone house. But whatever +surprises Dunsley may have in store for those who choose to dig in the +likely places, the hamlet need not keep one long, for on either hand +there is a choice of breezy moorland or the astonishing beauties of +Mulgrave Woods. Before I knew this part of Yorkshire, and had merely +read of the woods as a sight to be visited from Whitby, I was prepared +for something at least as hackneyed as Hayburn Wyke. I was prepared for +direction-boards and artificial helps to the charms of certain aspects +of the streams. I certainly never anticipated that I should one day sigh +for a direction-board in this forest. + +It was on my second visit to the woods that I determined to find a +particularly dramatic portion of one of the streams. My first ramble had +been in summer. I had been with one who knew the paths well, but now it +was late autumn and I was alone. I explored the paths for hours, and +traversed long glades ablaze with red and gold. I peered down through +the yellow leaves to the rushing streams below, where I could see the +great moss-grown boulders choking the narrow channels. But this +particular spot had gone. I was almost in despair, when two labourers by +great luck happened to come along one of the tracks. With their help I +found the place I was searching for, and the result of the time spent +there is given in one of the illustrations to this chapter. Go where you +will in Yorkshire, you will find no more fascinating woodland scenery +than this. From the broken walls and towers of the old Norman castle the +views over the ravines on either hand--for the castle stands on a lofty +promontory in a sea of foliage--are entrancing; and after seeing the +astoundingly brilliant colours with which autumn paints these trees, +there is a tendency to find the ordinary woodland commonplace. The +narrowest and deepest gorge is hundreds of feet deep in the shale. East +Row Beck drops into this canyon in the form of a waterfall at the upper +end, and then almost disappears among the enormous rocks strewn along +its circumscribed course. The humid, hothouse atmosphere down here +encourages the growth of many of the rarer mosses, which entirely cover +all but the newly-fallen rocks. + +We can leave the woods by a path leading near Lord Normanby's modern +castle, and come out on to the road close to Lythe Church, where a great +view of sea and land is spread out towards the south. The long curving +line of white marks the limits of the tide as far as the entrance to +Whitby Harbour. The abbey stands out in its loneliness as of yore, and +beyond it are the black-looking, precipitous cliffs ending at Saltwick +Nab. Lythe Church, standing in its wind-swept graveyard full of +blackened tombstones, need not keep us, for, although its +much-modernized exterior is simple and ancient-looking, the interior is +devoid of any interest. It is the same tale at nearly every village in +this district, and to those who are able to grow enthusiastic in +antiquarian matters some parts of the county are disappointing. In East +Anglia and the southern counties even the smallest hamlets have often a +good church, with a conspicuous tower or spire; but in how many villages +in this riding do you find no church at all, as in the case of Staithes +and Runswick? Many of the old churches of Yorkshire were in a state of +great dilapidation at the beginning of last century, and a great effort +having been initiated by the then Archbishop, a fund was instituted to +help the various parishes to restore their buildings. It was a period +when architecture was at a low ebb, and the desire to sweep away +antiquity was certainly strong, for those churches not rebuilt from the +ground were so hacked and renovated that their interest and +picturesqueness has vanished. The churches at Pickering, Middleton, +Lastingham, and Kirkdale must, however, be pointed out as priceless +exceptions. + +The road drops down a tremendous hill into Sandsend, where they talk of +going 'up t' bonk' to Lythe Church. A little chapel of ease in the +village accommodates the old and delicate folk, but the youth and the +generally able-bodied of Sandsend must climb the hill every Sunday. The +beck forms an island in the village, and the old stone cottages, bright +with new paint and neatly-trained creepers, stand in their gardens on +either side of the valley in the most picturesque fashion. + +The walk along the rocky shore to Kettleness is dangerous unless the +tide is carefully watched, and the road inland through Lythe village is +not particularly interesting, so that one is tempted to use the railway, +which cuts right through the intervening high ground by means of two +tunnels. The first one is a mile long, and somewhere near the centre has +a passage out to the cliffs, so that even if both ends of the tunnel +collapsed there would be a way of escape. But this is small comfort when +travelling from Kettleness, for the down gradient towards Sandsend is +very steep, and in the darkness of the tunnel the train gets up a +tremendous speed, bursting into the open just where a precipitous drop +into the sea could be most easily accomplished. + +The station at Kettleness is on the top of the huge cliffs, and to reach +the shore one must climb down a zigzag path. It is a broad and solid +pathway until halfway down, where it assumes the character of a +goat-track, being a mere treading down of the loose shale of which the +enormous cliff is formed. The sliding down of the crumbling rock +constantly carries away the path, but a little spade-work soon makes the +track firm again. This portion of the cliff has something of a history, +for one night in 1829 the inhabitants of many of the cottages originally +forming the village of Kettleness were warned of impending danger by +subterranean noises. Fearing a subsidence of the cliff, they betook +themselves to a small schooner lying in the bay. This wise move had not +long been accomplished, when a huge section of the ground occupied by +the cottages slid down the great cliff and the next morning there was +little to be seen but a sloping mound of lias shale at the foot of the +precipice. The villagers recovered some of their property by digging, +and some pieces of broken crockery from one of the cottages are still to +be seen on the shore near the ferryman's hut, where the path joins +the shore. + +This sandy beach, lapped by the blue waves of Runswick Bay, is one of +the finest spots on the rocky coast-line of Yorkshire. A trickling +waterfall drops perpendicularly down the blackish rocks from a +considerable height, while above it are the towering cliffs of shale, +perfectly bare in one direction, and clothed with grass and bracken in +another. At the foot of the rocks a layer of jet appears a few inches +above the sand. + +You look northwards across the sunlit sea to the rocky heights hiding +Port Mulgrave and Staithes, and on the further side of the bay you see +tiny Runswick's red roofs, one above the other, on the face of the +cliff. Here it is always cool and pleasant in the hottest weather, and +from the broad shadows cast by the precipices above one can revel in the +sunny land and sea-scapes without that fishy odour so unavoidable in the +villages. When the sun is beginning to climb down the sky in the +direction of Hinderwell, and everything is bathed in a glorious golden +light, the ferryman will row you across the bay to Runswick, but a +scramble over the rocks on the beach will be repaid by a closer view of +the now half-filled-up Hob Hole. The fisher-folk believed this cave to +be the home of a kindly-disposed fairy or hob, who seems to have been +one of the slow-dying inhabitants of the world of mythology implicitly +believed in by the Saxons. And these beliefs died so hard in these +lonely Yorkshire villages that until recent times a mother would carry +her child suffering from whooping-cough along the beach to the mouth of +the cave. There she would call in a loud voice, 'Hob-hole Hob! my +bairn's gotten t'kink cough. Tak't off, tak't off.' One can see the +child's parents gazing fearfully into the black depths of the cavern, +penetrating the cliff for 70 feet, and finally turning back to the +village in the full belief that the hob would stay the disease. + +The steep paths and flights of roughly-built steps that wind above and +below the cottages are the only means of getting about in Runswick. The +butcher's cart every Saturday penetrates into the centre of the village +by the rough track which is all that is left of the good firm road from +Hinderwell after it has climbed down the cliff. To this central +position, close to the post-box, the householders come to buy their +supply of meat for Sunday, having their purchases weighed on scales +placed on the flap at the back of the cart. While the butcher is doing +his thriving trade the postman arrives to collect letters from the +pillar-box, Placing a small horn to his lips, he blows a blast to warn +the villagers that the post is going, and, having waited for the last +letter, climbs slowly up the steep pathway to Hinderwell. + +Halfway up to the top he pauses and looks over the fruit-trees and the +tiles and chimney-pots below him, to the bright blue waters of the bay, +with Kettleness beyond, now all pink and red in the golden light of late +afternoon. This scene is more suggestive of the Mediterranean than +Yorkshire, for the blueness of the sea seems almost unnatural, and the +golden greens of the pretty little gardens among the houses seem perhaps +a trifle theatrical; but the fisher-folk play their parts too well, and +there is nothing make-believe about the delicious bread-and-butter and +the newly-baked cakes which accompany the tea awaiting us in a +spotlessly clean cottage close by. + +The same form of disaster which destroyed Kettleness village caused the +complete ruin of Runswick in 1666, for one night, when some of the +fisher-folk were holding a wake over a corpse, they had unmistakable +warnings of an approaching landslip. The alarm was given, and the +villagers, hurriedly leaving their cottages, saw the whole place slide +downwards and become a mass of ruins. No lives were lost, but, as only +one house remained standing, the poor fishermen were only saved from +destitution by the sums of money collected for their relief. + +Architecturally speaking, Hinderwell is a depressing village, and there +is little to remember about the place except an extraordinary block of +two or three shops, suitable only for a business street in a big city, +but dumped right into the middle of this village of low cottages. The +church is modern enough to be uninteresting, but in the graveyard St. +Hilda's Well, from which the name Hinderwell is a corruption, may +still be seen. + +In 1603 there was a sudden and terrible outbreak of plague in the +village. It only lasted from September 1 to November 10, but in that +short time forty-nine people died. It seems that the infection was +brought by some men from a 'Turkey ship' that had been stranded on the +coast, but, strangely enough, the disease does not appear to have been +carried into the other villages in the neighbourhood. + +Scarcely two miles from Hinderwell is the fishing-hamlet of Staithes, +wedged into the side of a deep and exceedingly picturesque beck. +Here--and it is the same at Runswick--one is obliged to walk warily +during the painter's season, for fear of either obstructing the view of +the man behind the easel you have just passed, or out of regard for the +feelings of some girls just in front. There are often no more chances of +standing still in Staithes than may be enjoyed on a popular golf-links +on a fine Saturday afternoon. These folk at Staithes do not disturb one +with cries of 'Fore!' but with that blank Chinaman's stare which comes +to anyone who paints in public. + +The average artist is a being who is quite unable to recognise +architectural merit. He sees everything to please him if the background +of his group be sufficiently tumble-down and derelict. If this be +incorrect, how could such swarms of artistic folk paint and actually +lodge in Staithes? The steep road leading past the station drops down +into the village, giving a glimpse of the beck crossed by its ramshackle +wooden foot-bridge--the view one has been prepared for by guide-books +and picture postcards. Lower down you enter the village street. Here the +smell of fish comes out to greet you, and one would forgive the place +this overflowing welcome if one were not so shocked at the dismal aspect +of the houses on either side of the way. Many are of comparatively +recent origin, others are quite new, and a few--a very few--are old; but +none have any architectural pretensions or any claims to +picturesqueness, and only a few have the neat and respectable look one +is accustomed to expect after seeing Robin Hood's Bay. + +Staithes had filled me with so much pleasant expectancy that my first +walk down this street of dirty, ugly houses had brought me into a +querulous frame of mind, and I wondered irritably why the women should +all wear lilac-coloured bonnets, when a choice of colour is not +difficult as far as calico is concerned. Those women who were in +mourning had dyed theirs black, and these assorted well with the colour +of the stone of many of the houses. + +I hurried down on to the little fish-wharf--a wooden structure facing +the sea--hoping to find something more cheering in the view of the +little bay, with its bold cliffs, and the busy scene where the cobles +were drawn up on the shingle. Here my spirits revived, and I began to +find excuses for the painters. The little wharf, in a bad state of +repair, like most things in the place, was occupied by groups of +stalwart fisher-folk, men and women. + +The men were for the most part watching their women-folk at work. They +were also to an astonishing extent mere spectators in the arduous work +of hauling the cobles one by one on to the steep bank of shingle. A +tackle hooked to one of the baulks of timber forming the staith was +being hauled at by five women and two men! Two others were in a listless +fashion leaning their shoulders against the boat itself. With the last +'Heave-ho!' at the shortened tackle the women laid hold of the nets, and +with casual male assistance laid them out on the shingle, removed any +fragments of fish, and generally prepared them for stowing in the +boat again. + +It is evidently an accepted state of things at Staithes that the work of +putting out to sea and the actual catching of the fish is sufficient for +the men-folk, for the feminine population do their arduous tasks with a +methodical matter-of-factness which surprises only the stranger. I was +particularly struck on one occasion with the sight of a good-looking and +very neatly dressed young fishwife who was engaged in that very +necessary but exceedingly unpleasant task of cutting open fish and +removing the perishable portions. With unerring precision the sharp +knife was plunged into each cod or haddock, and the fish was in its +marketable condition in shorter time than one can write. A little boy +plunged them into a pail of ruddy-looking water, and from thence into +the regulation fish box or basket that finds its way to the Metropolis. + +A change has come over the inhabitants of Staithes since 1846, when Mr. +Ord describes the fishermen as 'exceedingly civil and courteous to +strangers, and altogether free from that low, grasping knavery peculiar +to the larger class of fishing-towns.' Without wishing to be +unreasonably hard on Staithes, I am inclined to believe that this +character is infinitely better than these folk deserve, and even when +Mr. Ord wrote of the place I have reason to doubt the civility shown by +them to strangers. It is, according to some who have known Staithes for +a long while, less than fifty years ago that the fisher-folk were +hostile to a stranger on very small provocation, and only the entirely +inoffensive could expect to sojourn in the village without being a +target for stones. The incursion of the artistic hordes has been a great +factor in the demoralization of the village, for who would not be +mercenary when besought at all hours of the day to stand before a canvas +or a camera? Thus, the harmless stranger who strays on to the staith +with a camera is obliged to pay for 'an afternoon's 'baccy' if he want +an opportunity to obtain more than a snapshot of a picturesque group. He +may try to capture a lonely old fisherman by asking if he would mind +standing still for 'just one second,' but the old fellow will move away +instantly unless his demand for payment be readily complied with. + +No doubt many of the superstitions of Staithes people have languished or +died out in recent years, and among these may be included a particularly +primitive custom when the catches of fish had been unusually small. Bad +luck of this sort could only be the work of some evil influence, and to +break the spell a sheep's heart had to be procured, into which many pins +were stuck. The heart was then burnt in a bonfire on the beach, in the +presence of the fishermen, who danced round the flames. + +In happy contrast to these heathenish practices was the resolution +entered into and signed by the fishermen of Staithes, in August, 1835, +binding themselves 'on no account whatever' to follow their calling on +Sundays, 'nor to go out with our boats or cobbles to sea, either on the +Saturday or Sunday evenings.' They also agreed to forfeit ten shillings +for every offence against the resolution, and the fund accumulated in +this way, and by other means, was administered for the benefit of aged +couples and widows and orphans. + +The men of Staithes are known up and down the east coast of Great +Britain as some of the very finest types of fishermen. Their cobles, +which vary in size and colour, are uniform in design and the brilliance +of their paint. Brick red, emerald green, pungent blue and white, are +the most favoured colours, but orange, pink, yellow, and many others, +are to be seen. + +Not only are fish of the present age in evidence at Staithes, but +nowhere along this coast can one find better examples of those of the +Jurassic period. When the tide has exposed the scaur which runs out from +Colburn Nab, at the mouth of the beck, a one can examine masses of +recently fallen rocks, the new faces of which are almost invariably +covered with ammonites or clusters of fossil bivalves. The only +hindrance to a close examination of these new falls from the cliffs is +the serious danger of another fall occurring at the same spot. The +fisher-folk are very kind in pointing out this peril to ardent +geologists and those of a less scientific outlook, who merely enjoy the +exercise of scrambling over great masses of rock. After having been +warned that most of the face of the cliff above is 'qualified' to come +down at any moment, there is a strong inclination to betake one's self +to a safe distance, where, unfortunately, the wear and tear of the waves +have in most cases so battered the traces of early marine life that +there is little to attack with the hammer to compare with what can be +seen in the new falls. The scaur also presents an interesting feature in +its round ironstone nodules, half embedded in the smooth rocky floor. + +Looking northwards there is a grand piece of coast scenery. The masses +of Boulby Cliffs, rising 660 feet from the sea, are the highest on the +Yorkshire coast. The waves break all round the rocky scaur, and fill the +air with their thunder, while the strong wind blows the spray into +beards which stream backwards from the incoming crests. + +The upper course of Staithes Beck consists of two streams, flowing +through deep, richly-wooded ravines. They follow parallel courses very +close to one another for three or four miles, but their sources extend +from Lealholm Moor to Wapley Moor. Kilton Beck runs through another +lovely valley densely clothed in trees, and full of the richest woodland +scenery. It becomes more open in the neighbourhood of Loftus, and from +thence to the sea at Skinningrove the valley is green and open to the +heavens. Loftus is on the borders of the Cleveland mining district, and +it is for this reason that the town has grown to a considerable size. +But although the miners' new cottages are unpicturesque, and the church +only dates from 1811, the situation is pretty, owing to the profusion of +trees among the houses. Skinningrove has railway-sidings and +branch-lines running down to it, and on the hill above the cottages +stands a cluster of blast-furnaces. In daylight they are merely ugly, +but at night, with tongues of flame, they speak of the potency of +labour. I can still see that strange silhouette of steel cylinders and +connecting girders against a blue-black sky, with silent masses of flame +leaping into the heavens. + +It was long before iron-ore was smelted here, before even the old +alum-works had been started, that Skinningrove attained to some sort of +fame through a wonderful visit, as strange as any of those recounted by +Mr. Wells. It was in the year 1535--for the event is most carefully +recorded in a manuscript of the period--that some fishermen of +Skinningrove caught a Sea Man. This was such an astounding fact to +record that the writer of the old manuscript explains that 'old men that +would be loath to have their credyt crackt by a tale of a stale date, +report confidently that ... a _sea-man_ was taken by the fishers.' They +took him up to an old disused house, and kept him there for many weeks, +feeding him on raw fish, because he persistently refused the other sorts +of food offered him. To the people who flocked from far and near to +visit him he was very courteous, and he seems to have been particularly +pleased with any 'fayre maydes' who visited him, for he would gaze at +them with a very earnest countenance, 'as if his phlegmaticke breaste +had been touched with a sparke of love.' The Sea Man was so well behaved +that the fisher-folk began to feel sufficiently sure of his desire to +live with them to cease to keep watch on his movements. 'One day,' we +are told, 'he prively stoale out of Doores, and ere he coulde be +overtaken recovered the sea, whereinto he plunged himself; yet as one +that woulde not unmanerly depart without taking of his leave, from the +mydle upwardes he raysed his shoulders often above the waves, and +makinge signes of acknowledgeing his good enterteinment to such as +beheld him on the shore, as they interpreted yt;--after a pretty while +he dived downe and appeared no more.' + +This strangely detailed account says that instead of a voice the Sea Man +'skreaked,' but this is of small interest compared to whether he had a +tail or any fish-like attributes. The fact that he escaped would suggest +the presence of legs, but the historian is silent on this +all-important matter. + +The lofty coast-line we have followed all the way from Sandsend +terminates abruptly at Huntcliff Nab, the great promontory which is +familiar to visitors to Saltburn. Low alluvial cliffs take the place of +the rocky precipices, and the coast becomes flatter and flatter as you +approach Redcar and the marshy country at the mouth of the Tees. The +original Saltburn, consisting of a row of quaint fishermen's cottages, +still stands entirely alone, facing the sea on the Huntcliff side of the +beck, and from the wide, smooth sands there is little of modern Saltburn +to be seen besides the pier. For the rectangular streets and blocks of +houses have been wisely placed some distance from the edge of the grassy +cliffs, leaving the sea-front quite unspoiled. It would, perhaps, be +well to own that I have never seen Saltburn during the summer season, +and for this reason I may think better of the resort than if my visit +had been in midsummer. It was during October. The sun was shining +brightly, and a strong wind was blowing off the land. The wide, +new-looking streets were spotlessly clean, and in most of them there was +no sign of life at all. It was the same on the broad sweep of sands, for +when I commenced a drawing on the cliffs the only living creatures I +could see were two small dogs. About noon a girls' school was let loose +upon the sands, and for half an hour a furious game of hockey was +fought. Then I was left alone again, with the great expanse of sea, the +yellow margin of sand, and the reddish-brown cliffs, all beneath the +wind-swept sky. + +The elaborately-laid-out gardens on the steep banks of Skelton Beck are +the pride and joy of Saltburn, for they offer a pleasant contrast to the +bare slopes on the Huntcliff side and the flat country towards +Kirkleatham. But in this seemingly harmless retreat there used to be +heard horrible groanings, and I have no evidence to satisfy me that they +have altogether ceased. For in this matter-of-fact age such a story +would not be listened to, and thus those who hear the sounds may be +afraid to speak of them. The groanings were heard, they say, 'when all +wyndes are whiste and the sea restes unmoved as a standing poole.' At +times they were so loud as to be heard at least six miles inland, and +the fishermen feared to put out to sea, believing that the ocean was 'as +a greedy Beaste raginge for Hunger, desyers to be satisfyed with men's +carcases.' There were also at that time certain rocks towards Huntcliff +Nab, left bare at low-tide, where 'Seales in greate Heardes like Swine' +were to be seen basking in the sun. 'For their better scuritye,' says +the old writer, 'they put in use a kind of military discipline, warily +preparing against a soddaine surprize, for on the outermost Rocke one +great Seale or more keepes sentinell, which upon the first inklinge of +any danger, giveth the Alarme to the rest by throweing of Stones, or +making a noise in the water, when he tumbles down from the Rocke, the +rest immediately doe the like, insomuch that yt is very hard to overtake +them by cunning.' + +In 1842 Redcar was a mere village, though more apparent on the map than +Saltburn; but, like its neighbour, it has grown into a great +watering-place, having developed two piers, a long esplanade other +features, which I am glad to leave to those for whom they were made, and +betake myself to the more romantic spots so plentiful in this +broad county. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE COAST FROM WHITBY TO SCARBOROUGH + + +Although it is only six miles as the crow flies from Whitby to Robin +Hood's Bay, the exertion required to walk there along the top of the +cliffs is equal to quite double that distance, for there are so many +gullies to be climbed into and crawled out of that the measured distance +is considerably increased. It is well to remember this, for otherwise +the scenery of the last mile or two may not seem as fine as the +first stages. + +As soon as the abbey and the jet-sellers are left behind, you pass a +farm, and come out on a great expanse of close-growing smooth turf, +where the whole world seems to be made up of grass and sky. The footpath +goes close to the edge of the cliff; in some places it has gone too +close, and has disappeared altogether. But these diversions can be +avoided without spoiling the magnificent glimpses of the rock-strewn +beach nearly 200 feet below. From above Saltwick Bay there is a grand +view across the level grass to Whitby Abbey, standing out alone on the +green horizon. Down below, Saltwick Nab runs out a bare black arm into +the sea, which even in the calmest weather angrily foams along the +windward side. Beyond the sturdy lighthouse that shows itself a dazzling +white against the hot blue of the heavens commence the innumerable +gullies. Each one has its trickling stream, and bushes and low trees +grow to the limits of the shelter afforded by the ravines; but in the +open there is nothing higher than the waving corn or the stone walls +dividing the pastures--a silent testimony to the power of the north-east +wind. The village of Hawsker, with its massive though modern church, can +be seen across the fields towards the west, but it does not offer +sufficient attractions to divert you from the cliffs, unless you have a +desire to see in one or two of the fields, gateways and rubbing-posts +formed of whales' jaws, suggestive of the days when Whitby carried on a +thriving trade with the great cetaceans. To enjoy this magnificent coast +scenery, there must be plenty of time to linger in those places where it +seems impossible not to fling yourself on the long brown grass and +listen to the droning of insects and the sound of the waves down below. +At certain times of the day the most striking colours are seen among the +sunlit rocks, and the boldness of the outlines of overhanging strata and +great projecting shoulders are a continual surprise. + +After rounding the North Cheek, the whole of Robin Hood's Bay is +suddenly laid before you. I well remember my first view of the wide +sweep of sea, which lay like a blue carpet edged with white, and the +high escarpments of rock that were in deep purple shade, except where +the afternoon sun turned them into the brightest greens and umbers. +Three miles away, but seemingly very much closer, was the bold headland +of the Peak, and more inland was Stoupe Brow, with Robin Hood's Butts on +the hill-top. The fable connected with the outlaw is scarcely worth +repeating, but on the site of these butts urns have been dug up, and are +now to be found in Scarborough Museum. The Bay Town is hidden away in a +most astonishing fashion, for, until you have almost reached the two +bastions which guard the way up from the beach, there is nothing to be +seen of the charming old place. If you approach by the road past the +railway-station it is the same, for only garishly new hotels and villas +are to be seen on the high ground, and not a vestige of the fishing-town +can be discovered. But the road to the bay at last begins to drop down +very steeply, and the first old roofs appear. The path at the side of +the road develops into a very long series of steps, and in a few minutes +the narrow street, flanked by very tall houses, has swallowed you up. + +Everything is very clean and orderly, and, although most of the houses +are very old, they are generally in a good state of repair, exhibiting +in every case the seaman's love of fresh paint. Thus, the dark and worn +stone walls have bright eyes in their newly-painted doors and windows. +Over their doorsteps the fishermen's wives are quite fastidious, and you +seldom see a mark on the ochre-coloured hearthstone with which the women +love to brighten the worn stones. Even the scrapers are sleek with +blacklead, and it is not easy to find a window without spotlessly clean +curtains. The little coastguard station by the opening on to the shore +has difficulty in showing itself superior to the rest in these essential +matters of smartness. However, the coastguards glory in a little stone +pathway protected by a low wall in front of their building. On this +narrow quarter-deck the men love to walk to and fro, just as though they +were afloat and were limited to this space for exercise. At high-tide +the sea comes halfway up the steep opening between the coastguards' +quarters and the inn which is built on another bastion, and in rough +weather the waves break hungrily on to the strong stone walls, for the +bay is entirely open to the full force of gales from the east or +north-east. All the way from Scarborough to Whitby the coast offers no +shelter of any sort in heavy weather, and many vessels have been lost on +the rocks. On one occasion a small sailing-ship was driven right into +this bay at high-tide, and the bowsprit smashed into a window of the +little hotel that occupied the place of the present one. + +With angry seas periodically demolishing the outermost houses, it seems +almost unaccountable that the little town should have persisted in +clinging so tenaciously to the high-water mark; but there were probably +two paramount reasons for this. The deep gully was to a great extent +protected from the force of the winds, and, as it was soon quite brimful +of houses, every inch of space was valuable; then, smuggling was freely +practised along the coast, and the more the houses were wedged together, +the more opportunities for secret hiding-places would be afforded. The +whole town has a consciously guilty look in its evident desire to +conceal itself; and the steep narrow streets, the curious passages where +it is scarcely possible for two people to pass, and the little courts +which look like culs-de-sac but have a hidden flight of steps leading +down to another passage, seem to be purposely intricate and confusing. +For I can imagine a revenue cutter chasing a boat into Robin Hood's Bay, +and I can see the smugglers hastily landing on the beach and making for +the town, followed by the Excise officers, who are as unable to trace +the men as though they had been chasing rabbits in a warren. The stream +that made this retreat for the fishing-town is now scarcely more than a +drain when it reaches the houses, for, after passing along the foot of a +great perpendicular mass of shale, it rushes into a tunnel, and only +appears again on the shore. + +It is strange that there should be so little information as to the +associations of Robin Hood with this fishing-village. The stories of his +shooting an arrow to determine where he should make his headquarters +sound improbable, although his keeping one or two small ships in the bay +ready for making his escape if suddenly attacked seems a rational +precaution, and if only there were a little more evidence outside the +local traditions to go upon, it would be pleasant to let the imagination +play upon the wild life led by the outlawed Earl of Huntingdon in this +then inaccessible coast region. + +The railway southwards takes a curve inland, and, after winding in and +out to make the best of the contour of the hills, the train finally +steams very heavily and slowly into Ravenscar Station, right over the +Peak and 630 feet above the sea. On the way you get glimpses of the +moors inland, and grand views over the curving bay. There is a station +named Fyling Hall, after Sir Hugh Cholmley's old house, halfway to +Ravenscar. It was about the year 1625 that Sir Hugh to a great extent +rebuilt Fyling Hall, which is still standing; but he came in with his +family before the plaster on the walls was thoroughly dry, and the +household seems to have suffered in health on this account. Shortly +afterwards Sir Hugh lost his eldest son Richard, who was only five years +old, and this great trouble decided him to move to Whitby; for in 1629 +he sold Fyling Hall to Sir John Hotham, and took up his residence in the +Abbey House at Whitby. + +Raven Hall, the large house conspicuously perched on the heights above +the Peak, is now converted into an hotel. There is a wonderful view from +the castellated terraces, which in the distance suggest the remains of +some ruined fortress. At the present time there is nothing to be seen +older than the house whose foundations were dug in 1774. While the +building operations were in progress, however, a Roman stone, now in +Whitby Museum, was unearthed. The inscription has been translated: +'Justinian, governor of the province, and Vindician, general of the +forces of Upper Britain, for the second time, with the younger +provincial soldiers built this fort, the manager of public works giving +his assistance.' There is therefore ample evidence for believing that +this commanding height was used by the Romans as a military post, +although subsequently there were no further attempts to fortify the +place, Scarborough, so much more easily defensible, being chosen +instead. A rather pathetic attempt to foster the establishment of a +watering-place has, however, been lately put on foot, but beyond some +elaborately prepared roads and two or three isolated blocks of houses, +there is fortunately little response to this artificial cultivation of a +summer resort on the bare hill-top. + +Following this lofty coast southwards, you reach Hayburn Wyke, where a +stream drops perpendicularly over some square masses of rock. After very +heavy rains the waterfall attains quite a respectable size, but even +under such favourable conditions the popularity of the place to a great +extent spoils what might otherwise be a pleasant surprise to the +rambler. The woodland paths leading down to the cove from the hotel by +the station are exceedingly pretty, and in the summer it is not easy to +find your way, despite the direction-boards nailed to trees here and +there. But there are many wooded and mossy-pathed ravines equally +pretty, where no charge is made for admittance, and where you can be +away from your fellow-mortals and the silver paper they throw away from +the chocolate they eat. + +There is a small stone circle not far from Hayburn Wyke Station, to be +found without much trouble, and those who are interested in Early Man +will scarcely find a neighbourhood in this country more thickly +honeycombed with tumuli and ancient earthworks. There is no particularly +plain pathway through the fields to the valley where this stone circle +can be seen, but it can easily be found after a careful study of the +large scale Ordnance map which they will show you at the hotel; and if +there be any difficulty in locating the exact position of the stones, +the people at the neighbouring farm are exceedingly kind in giving +directions. There are about fifteen monoliths making up the circle, and +they are all lying flat on the ground, so that in the summer they are +very much overgrown with rank grass and low bushes. This was probably +the burial-place of some prehistoric chief, but no mound remains. + + + +CHAPTER V + +SCARBOROUGH + + +Dazzling sunshine, a furious wind, flapping and screaming gulls, crowds +of fishing-boats, and innumerable people jostling one another on the +seafront, made up the chief features of my first view of Scarborough. By +degrees I discovered that behind the gulls and the brown sails were old +houses, their roofs dimly red through the transparent haze, and above +them appeared a great green cliff, with its uneven outline defined by +the curtain walls and towers of the castle which had made Scarborough a +place of importance in the Civil War and in earlier times. + +The wide-curving bay was filled with huge breaking waves which looked +capable of destroying everything within their reach, but they seemed +harmless enough when I looked a little further out, where eight or ten +gray warships were riding at their anchors, apparently motionless. + +From the outer arm of the harbour, where the seas were angrily +attempting to dislodge the top row of stones, I could make out the great +mass of gray buildings stretching right to the extremity of the bay. + +I tried to pick out individual buildings from this city-like +watering-place, but, beyond discovering the position of the Spa and one +or two of the mightier hotels, I could see very little, and instead fell +to wondering how many landladies and how many foreign waiters the long +lines of gray roofs represented. This raised so many unpleasant +recollections of the various types I had encountered that I determined +to go no nearer to modern Scarborough than the pier-head upon which I +stood. A specially big wave, however, soon drove me from this position +to a drier if more crowded spot, and, reconsidering my objections, I +determined to see something of the innumerable gray streets which make +up the fashionable watering-place. The terraced gardens on the steep +cliffs along the sea-front were most elaborately well kept, but a more +striking feature of Scarborough is the magnificence of so many of the +shops. They suggest a city rather than a seaside town, and give you an +idea of the magnitude of the permanent population of the place as well +as the flood of summer and winter visitors. The origin of Scarborough's +popularity was undoubtedly due to the chalybeate waters of the Spa, +discovered in 1620, almost at the same time as those of Tunbridge Wells +and Epsom. + +The unmistakable signs of antiquity in the narrow streets adjoining the +harbour irresistibly remind one of the days when sea-bathing had still +to be popularized, when the efficacy of Scarborough's medicinal spring +had not been discovered, of the days when the place bore as little +resemblance to its present size or appearance as the fishing-town at +Robin Hood's Bay. + +We do not know that Piers Gaveston, Sir Hugh Cholmley, and other +notabilities who have left their mark on the pages of Scarborough's +history, might not, were they with us to-day, welcome the pierrot, the +switchback, the restaurant, and other means by which pleasure-loving +visitors wile away their hardly-earned holidays; but for my part the +story of Scarborough's Mayor who was tossed in a blanket is far more +entertaining than the songs of nigger minstrels or any of the commercial +attempts to amuse. + +This strangely improper procedure with one who held the highest office +in the municipality took place in the reign of James II., and the King's +leanings towards Popery were the cause of all the trouble. + +On April 27, 1688, a declaration for liberty of conscience was +published, and by royal command the said declaration was to be read in +every Protestant church in the land. Mr. Thomas Aislabie, the Mayor of +Scarborough, duly received a copy of the document, and, having handed it +to the clergyman, Mr. Noel Boteler, ordered him to read it in church on +the following Sunday morning. There seems little doubt that the worthy +Mr. Boteler at once recognised a wily move on the part of the King, who +under the cover of general tolerance would foster the growth of the +Roman religion until such time as the Catholics had attained sufficient +power to suppress Protestantism. Mr. Mayor was therefore informed that +the declaration would not be read. On Sunday morning (August 11) when +the omission had been made, the Mayor left his pew, and, stick in hand, +walked up the aisle, seized the minister, and caned him as he stood at +his reading-desk. Scenes of such a nature did not occur every day even +in 1688, and the storm of indignation and excitement among the members +of the congregation did not subside so quickly as it had risen. + +The cause of the poor minister was championed in particular by a certain +Captain Ouseley, and the discussion of the matter on the bowling-green +on the following day led to the suggestion that the Mayor should be sent +for to explain his conduct. As he took no notice of a courteous message +requesting his attendance, the Captain repeated the summons accompanied +by a file of musketeers. In the meantime many suggestions for dealing +with Mr. Aislabie in a fitting manner were doubtless made by the +Captain's brother officers, and, further, some settled course of action +seems to have been agreed upon, for we do not hear of any hesitation on +the part of the Captain on the arrival of the Mayor, whose rage must by +this time have been bordering upon apoplexy. A strong blanket was ready, +and Captains Carvil, Fitzherbert, Hanmer, and Rodney, led by Captain +Ouseley and assisted by as many others as could find room, seizing the +sides, in a very few moments Mr. Mayor was revolving and bumping, rising +and falling, as though he were no weight at all. + +This public degradation was too much to be borne without substantial +redress. He therefore set out at once for London to obtain satisfaction +from his Sovereign. But Ouseley was wise enough to look after his own +interests in that quarter himself, and in two letters we see the upshot +of the matter. + + + 'LONDON, + + 'September 22, 1688. + + '....Captain Ouseley is said to be come to + town to give reasons for tossing the mayor of + Scarborough in a blanket. As part of his plea he + has brought with him a collection of articles against + the said mayor, and the attestations of many gentlemen + of note.' + + + 'LONDON, + + 'September 29, 1688. + + 'The mayor of Scarborough and Captain Ouseley, + who tossed the other in a blanket, were heard last + night before the council: the Captain pleaded his + majesty's gracious pardon (which is in the press) + and so both were dismissed.' + + +Aislabie was the last of the only five Mayors the town had then known, +and the fact that the office had only been instituted in 1684 seems to +show that what reverence had gathered round the person of the chief +magistrate was not sufficient to stand in the face of such outrageous +conduct as the public caning of the minister. The townsfolk decided that +they had had enough of Mayors, for on November 16 in the same autumn +Scarborough was once more placed under the control of two Bailiffs, as +had been the case previous to 1684. + +If the castle does not show many interesting buildings beyond the keep +and the long line of walls and drum-towers, there is so much concerning +it that is of great human interest that I should scarcely feel able to +grumble if there were still fewer remains. Behind the ancient houses in +Quay Street rises the steep, grassy cliff, up which one must climb by +various rough pathways to the fortified summit. On the side facing the +mainland, a hollow, known as the Dyke, is bridged by a tall and narrow +archway, in place of the drawbridge of the seventeenth century and +earlier times. On the same side is a massive gateway, looking across an +open space to St. Mary's Church, which suffered so severely during the +sieges of the castle. The maimed church--for the chancel has never been +rebuilt--looks across the Dyke to the shattered keep, and so apparent +are the results of the cannonading between them that no one requires to +be told that the Parliamentary forces mounted their ordnance in the +chancel and tower of the church, and it is equally apparent that the +Royalists returned the fire hotly. + +The great siege lasted for nearly a year, and although his garrison was +small, and there was practically no hope of relief, Sir Hugh Cholmley +seems to have kept a stout heart up to the end. With him throughout this +long period of privation and suffering was his beautiful and courageous +wife, whose comparatively early death, at the age of fifty-four, must to +some extent be attributed to the strain and fatigue borne during these +months of warfare. Sir Hugh seems to have almost worshipped his wife, +for in his memoirs he is never weary of describing her perfections. + +'She was of the middle stature of women,' he writes, 'and well shaped, +yet in that not so singular as in the beauty of her face, which was but +of a little model, and yet proportionable to her body; her eyes black +and full of loveliness and sweetness, her eyebrows small and even, as if +drawn with a pencil, a very little, pretty, well-shaped mouth, which +sometimes (especially when in a muse or study) she would draw up into an +incredible little compass; her hair a sad chestnut; her complexion +brown, but clear, with a fresh colour in her cheeks, a loveliness in her +looks inexpressible; and by her whole composure was so beautiful a sweet +creature at her marriage as not many did parallel, few exceed her in the +nation; yet the inward endowments and perfections of her mind did exceed +those outward of her body, being a most pious virtuous person, of great +integrity and discerning judgment in most things.' + +Her husband speaks of her 'sweet good-nature,' and of how she was always +ready to be touched with other people's wants before her own. That such +nobleness of character should shine out brilliantly during the siege was +inevitable, and Sir Hugh tells us that, though she was of a timorous +nature, she bore herself during great danger with 'a courage above her +sex.' On one occasion Sir John Meldrum, the Parliamentary commander, +sent proposals to Sir Hugh Cholmley, which he accompanied with savage +threats, that if his terms were not immediately accepted he would make a +general assault on the castle that night, and in the event of one drop +of his men's blood being shed he would give orders for a general +massacre of the garrison, sparing neither man nor woman. + +To a man whose devotion to his beautiful wife was so great, a threat of +this nature must have been a severe shock to his determination to hold +out. But from his own writings we are able to picture for ourselves Sir +Hugh's anxious and troubled face lighting up on the approach of the +cause of his chief concern. Lady Cholmley, without any sign of the +inward misgivings or dejection which, with her gentle and shrinking +nature, must have been a great struggle, came to her husband, and +implored him to on no account let her peril influence his decision to +the detriment of his own honour or the King's affairs. + +Sir John Meldrum's proposals having been rejected, the garrison prepared +itself for the furious attack commenced on May 11. + +The assault was well planned, for while the Governor's attention was +turned towards the gateway leading to the castle entrance, another +attack was made at the southern end of the wall towards the sea, where +until the year 1730 Charles's Tower stood. The bloodshed at this point +was greater than at the gateway. At the head of a chosen division of +troops, Sir John Meldrum climbed the almost precipitous ascent with +wonderful courage, only to meet with such spirited resistance on the +part of the besieged that, when the attack was abandoned, it was +discovered that Meldrum had received a dangerous wound penetrating to +his thigh, and that several of his officers and men had been killed. +Meanwhile, at the gateway, the first success of the assailants had been +checked at the foot of the Grand Tower or Keep, for at that point the +rush of drab-coated and helmeted men was received by such a shower of +stones and missiles that many stumbled and were crushed on the steep +pathway. Not even Cromwell's men could continue to face such a +reception, and before very long the Governor could embrace his wife in +the knowledge that the great attack had failed. + +In between such scenes as these, when the air was filled with the shouts +and yells of attackers and besieged, when the crack of the muskets and +the intermittent reports of the cannon almost deafened her, Lady +Cholmley was assiduously attending to the wounded and the many cases of +scurvy, which was rampant among the garrison. One of her maids who +shared these labours crept out of the castle one night with a view to +reaching the town and escaping further drudgery and privations; but a +Roundhead sentry discovered her and sent her back to the castle, +thinking that she was a spy. When the great keep was partially +destroyed, Lady Cholmley was forced 'to lie in a little cabbin on the +ground several months together, when she took a defluction of rhume upon +one of her eyes, which troubled her ever after, and got also a touch of +the scurvy then rife in the castle, and of which it is thought she was +not well after.' Who can wonder that Sir Hugh appreciated the courage of +this noble lady, and I marvel still more at her fortitude when I read of +the frailties her husband mentions so gently, fearing, no doubt, that +without a few shadows no one would accept his picture as genuine. 'If +she had taken impression of anything, it was hard to remove it with +reason or argument, till she had considered of it herself; neither could +she well endure adversity or crosses, though it pleased the Lord to +exercise her with them, by my many troubles and the calamity of the +times. She would be much troubled at evils which could neither be +prevented nor remedied, and sometimes discontented without any great +cause, especially in her disposition of health; for, being of a tender +constitution, and spun of a fine thread, every disaster took impression +on her body and mind, and would make her both sick and often inclinable +to be melancholy, especially in my absence.' + +At last, on July 22, 1645--his forty-fifth birthday--Sir Hugh was forced +to come to an agreement with the enemy, by which he honourably +surrendered the castle three days later. It was a sad procession that +wound its way down the steep pathway, littered with the debris of broken +masonry: for many of Sir Hugh's officers and soldiers were in such a +weak condition that they had to be carried out in sheets or helped along +between two men, and the Parliamentary officer adds, rather tersely, +that 'the rest were not very fit to march.' The scurvy had depleted the +ranks of the defenders to such an extent that the women in the castle, +despite the presence of Lady Cholmley, threatened to stone the Governor +unless he capitulated. + +The reduction of Scarborough Castle was considered a profound success to +the side of the Parliament, 'The Moderate Intelligencer' of July 23, +1645, announcing the fact with great satisfaction, 'we heare likewise +that _Scarborough_ is also yeelded into our hands, Sir Hugh hath none +other conditions for himself, but with his wife and children passe +beyond seas. This is excellent good newes, and is a very terrible blow +to the enemy.' + +Three years later the castle was again besieged by the Parliamentary +forces, for Colonel Matthew Boynton, the Governor, had declared for the +King. The garrison held out from August to December, when terms were +made with Colonel Hugh Bethell, by which the Governor, officers, +gentlemen, and soldiers, marched out with 'their colours flying, drums +beating, musquets loaden, bandeleers filled, matches lighted, and bullet +in mouth, to a close called Scarborough Common,' where they laid down +their arms. + +Before I leave Scarborough I must go back to early times, in order that +the antiquity of the place may not be slighted owing to the omission of +any reference to the town in the Domesday Book. Tosti, Count of +Northumberland, who, as everyone knows, was brother of the Harold who +fought at Senlac Hill, had brought about an insurrection of the +Northumbrians, and having been dispossessed by his brother, he revenged +himself by inviting the help of Haralld Hadrada, King of Norway. The +Norseman promptly accepted the offer, and, taking with him his family +and an army of warriors, sailed for the Shetlands, where Tosti joined +him. The united forces then came down the east coast of Britain until +they reached Scardaburgum, where they landed and prepared to fight the +inhabitants. The town was then built entirely of timber, and there was, +apparently, no castle of any description on the great hill, for the +Norsemen, finding their opponents inclined to offer a stout resistance, +tried other tactics. They gained possession of the hill, constructed a +huge fire, and when the wood was burning fiercely, flung the blazing +brands down on to the wooden houses below. The fire spread from one hut +to another with sufficient speed to drive out the defenders, who in the +confusion which followed were slaughtered by the enemy. + +This occurred in the momentous year 1066, when Harold, having defeated +the Norsemen and slain Haralld Hadrada at Stamford Bridge, had to hurry +southwards to meet William the Norman at Hastings. It is not surprising, +therefore, that the compilers of the Conqueror's survey should have +failed to record the existence of the blackened embers of what had once +been a town. But such a site as the castle hill could not long remain +idle in the stormy days of the Norman Kings, and William le Gros, Earl +of Albemarle and Lord of Holderness, recognising the natural +defensibility of the rock, built the massive walls which have withstood +so many assaults, and even now form the most prominent feature of +Scarborough. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WHITBY + + + 'Behold the glorious summer sea + As night's dark wings unfold, + And o'er the waters, 'neath the stars, + The harbour lights behold.' + +E. Teschemacher. + +Despite a huge influx of summer visitors, and despite the modern town +which has grown up to receive them, Whitby is still one of the most +strikingly picturesque towns in England. But at the same time, if one +excepts the abbey, the church, and the market-house, there are scarcely +any architectural attractions in the town. The charm of the place does +not lie so much in detail as in broad effects. The narrow streets have +no surprises in the way of carved-oak brackets or curious panelled +doorways, although narrow passages and steep flights of stone steps +abound. On the other hand, the old parts of the town, when seen from a +distance, are always presenting themselves in new apparel. + +In the early morning the East Cliff generally appears merely as a pale +gray silhouette with a square projection representing the church, and a +fretted one the abbey. But as the sun climbs upwards, colour and +definition grow out of the haze of smoke and shadows, and the roofs +assume their ruddy tones. At mid-day, when the sunlight pours down upon +the medley of houses clustered along the face of the cliff, the scene is +brilliantly coloured. The predominant note is the red of the chimneys +and roofs and stray patches of brickwork, but the walls that go down to +the water's edge are green below and full of rich browns above, and in +many places the sides of the cottages are coloured with an ochre wash, +while above them all the top of the cliff appears covered with grass. On +a clear day, when detached clouds are passing across the sun, the houses +are sometimes lit up in the strangest fashion, their quaint outlines +being suddenly thrown out from the cliff by a broad patch of shadow upon +the grass and rocks behind. But there is scarcely a chimney in this old +part of Whitby that does not contribute to the mist of blue-gray smoke +that slowly drifts up the face of the cliff, and thus, when there is no +bright sunshine, colour and detail are subdued in the haze. + +In many towns whose antiquity and picturesqueness are more popular than +the attractions of Whitby, the railway deposits one in some +distressingly ugly modern excrescence, from which it may even be +necessary for a stranger to ask his way to the old-world features he has +come to see. But at Whitby the railway, without doing any harm to the +appearance of the town, at once gives a visitor as typical a scene of +fishing-life as he will ever find. When the tide is up and the wharves +are crowded with boats, this upper portion of Whitby Harbour is at its +best, and to step from the railway compartment entered at King's Cross +into this busy scene is an experience to be remembered. + +In the deepening twilight of a clear evening the harbour gathers to +itself the additional charm of mysterious indefiniteness, and among the +long-drawn-out reflections appear sinuous lines of yellow light beneath +the lamps by the bridge. Looking towards the ocean from the outer +harbour, one sees the massive arms which Whitby has thrust into the +waves, holding aloft the steady lights that + + + 'Safely guide the mighty ships + Into the harbour bay.' + +If we keep to the waterside, modern Whitby has no terrors for us. It is +out of sight, and might therefore have never existed. But when we have +crossed the bridge, and passed along the narrow thoroughfare known as +Church Street to the steps leading up the face of the cliff, we must +prepare ourselves for a new aspect of the town. There, upon the top of +the West Cliff, stand rows of sad-looking and dun-coloured +lodging-houses, relieved by the aggressive bulk of a huge hotel, with +corner turrets, that frowns savagely at the unfinished crescent, where +there are many apartments with 'rooms facing the sea.' The only +redeeming feature of this modern side of Whitby is the circumscribed +area it occupies, so that the view from the top of the 199 steps we have +climbed is not altogether vitiated. A distinctive feature of the west +side of the river has been lost in the sails of the Union Mill, which +were taken down some years ago, and the solid brick building where many +of the Whitby people, by the excellent method of cooperation, obtained +their flour at reduced prices is now the headquarters of some +volunteers. + +The town seems to have no idea of re-erecting the sails of the windmill, +and as I have so far heard of no scheme for demolishing the +unpleasant-looking houses on the West Cliff, we will shut our eyes to +these shortcomings, and admit that the task is not difficult in the +presence of such a superb view over Whitby's glorious surroundings. We +look over the chimney-stacks of the topmost houses, and see the silver +Esk winding placidly in the deep channel it has carved for itself; and +further away we see the far-off moorland heights, brown and blue, where +the sources of the broad river down below are fed by the united efforts +of innumerable tiny streams deep in the heather. Behind us stands the +massive-looking parish church, with its Norman tower, so sturdily built +that its height seems scarcely greater than its breadth. There is surely +no other church with such a ponderous exterior that is so completely +deceptive as to its internal aspect, for St. Mary's contains the most +remarkable series of beehive-like galleries that were ever crammed into +a parish church. They are not merely very wide and ill-arranged, but +they are superposed one above the other. The free use of white paint all +over the sloping tiers of pews has prevented the interior from being as +dark as it would have otherwise been, but the result of all this painted +deal has been to give the building the most eccentric and indecorous +appearance. Still, there are few who will fail to thank the good folks +of Whitby for preserving an ecclesiastical curiosity of such an unusual +nature. The box-pews on the floor of the church are separated by very +narrow gangways--we cannot call them aisles--and the gallery across the +chancel arch is particularly noticeable for the twisted wooden columns +supporting it. Various pews in the transepts and elsewhere have been +reserved for many generations for the use of people from outlying +villages, such as Aislaby, Ugglebarnby, and Hawskercum-Stainsacre, and +it was this necessity for accommodating a very large congregation that +taxed the ingenuity of the churchwardens, and resulted in the strange +interior existing to-day. + +The early history of Whitby from the time of the landing of Roman +soldiers in Dunsley Bay seems to be very closely associated with the +abbey founded by Hilda about two years after the battle of Winwidfield, +fought on November 15, A.D. 654; but I will not venture to state an +opinion here as to whether there was any town at Streoneshalh before the +building of the abbey, or whether the place that has since become known +as Whitby grew on account of the presence of the abbey. Such matters as +these have been fought out by an expert in the archaeology of +Cleveland--the late Canon Atkinson, who seemed to take infinite pleasure +in demolishing the elaborately constructed theories of those painstaking +historians of the eighteenth century, Dr. Young and Mr. Lionel Charlton. + +Many facts, however, which throw light on the early days of the abbey +are now unassailable. We see that Hilda must have been a most remarkable +woman for her times, instilling into those around her a passion for +learning as well as right-living, for despite the fact that they worked +and prayed in rude wooden buildings, with walls formed, most probably, +of split tree-trunks, after the fashion of the church at Greenstead in +Essex, we find the institution producing, among others, such men as Bosa +and John, both Bishops of York, and such a poet as Caadmon. The legend +of his inspiration, however, may be placed beside the story of how the +saintly Abbess turned the snakes into the fossil ammonites with which +the liassic shores of Whitby are strewn. Hilda, who probably died in the +year 680, was succeeded by Aelfleda, the daughter of King Oswin of +Northumbria, whom she had trained in the abbey, and there seems little +doubt that her pupil carried on successfully the beneficent work of the +foundress. + +Aelfleda had the support of her mother's presence as well as the wise +counsels of Bishop Trumwine, who had taken refuge at Streoneshalh, after +having been driven from his own sphere of work by the depredations of +the Picts and Scots. We then learn that Aelfleda died at the age of +fifty-nine, but from that year--probably 713--a complete silence falls +upon the work of the abbey; for if any records were made during the next +century and a half, they have been totally lost. About the year 867 the +Danes reached this part of Yorkshire, and we know that they laid waste +the abbey, and most probably the town also; but the invaders gradually +started new settlements, or 'bys,' and Whitby must certainly have grown +into a place of some size by the time of Edward the Confessor, for just +previous to the Norman invasion it was assessed for Danegeld to the +extent of a sum equivalent to £3,500 at the present time. + +After the Conquest a monk named Reinfrid succeeded in reviving a +monastery on the site of the old one, having probably gained the +permission of William de Percy, the lord of the district. The new +establishment, however, was for monks only, and was for some time +merely a priory. + +The form of the successive buildings from the time of Hilda until the +building of the stately abbey church, whose ruins are now to be seen, is +a subject of great interest, but, unfortunately, there are few facts to +go upon. The very first church was, as I have already suggested, a +building of rude construction, scarcely better than the humble dwellings +of the monks and nuns. The timber walls were most probably thatched, and +the windows would be of small lattice or boards pierced with small +holes. Gradually the improvements brought about would have led to the +use of stone for the walls, and the buildings destroyed by the Danes +probably resembled such examples of Anglo-Saxon work as may still be +seen in the churches of Bradford-on-Avon and Monkwearmouth. + +The buildings erected by Reinfrid under the Norman influence then +prevailing in England must have been a slight advance upon the destroyed +fabric, and we know that during the time of his successor, Serlo de +Percy, there was a certain Godfrey in charge of the building operations, +and there is every reason to believe that he completed the church during +the fifty years of prosperity the monastery passed through at that time. +But this was not the structure which survived, for towards the end of +Stephen's reign, or during that of Henry II., the unfortunate convent +was devastated by the King of Norway, who entered the harbour, and, in +the words of the chronicle, 'laid waste everything, both within doors +and without.' The abbey slowly recovered from this disaster, and if any +church were built on the ruins between 1160 and the reconstruction +commenced in 1220, there is no part of it surviving to-day in the +beautiful ruin that still makes a conspicuous landmark from the sea. + +It was after the Dissolution that the abbey buildings came into the +hands of Sir Richard Cholmley, who paid over to Henry VIII. the sum of +£333 8s. 4d. The manors of Eskdaleside and Ugglebarnby, with all 'their +rights, members and appurtenances as they formerly had belonged to the +abbey of Whitby,' henceforward belonged to Sir Richard and his +successors. Sir Hugh Cholmley, whose defence of Scarborough Castle has +made him a name in history, was born on July 22, 1600, at Roxby, near +Pickering. He has been justly called 'the father of Whitby,' and it is +to him we owe a fascinating account of his life at Whitby in Stuart and +Jacobean times. He describes how he lived for some time in the +gate-house of the abbey buildings, 'till my house was repaired and +habitable, which then was very ruinous and all unhandsome, the wall +being only of timber and plaster, and ill-contrived within: and besides +the repairs, or rather re-edifying the house, I built the stable and +barn, I heightened the outwalls of the court double to what they were, +and made all the wall round about the paddock; so that the place hath +been improved very much, both for beauty and profit, by me more than all +my ancestors, for there was not a tree about the house but was set in my +time, and almost by my own hand. The Court levels, which laid upon a +hanging ground, unhandsomely, very ill-watered, having only the low +well, which is in the Almsers-close, which I covered; and also +discovered, and erected, the other adjoining conduit, and the well in +the courtyard from whence I conveyed by leaden pipes water into the +house, brewhouse, and washhouse.' + +In the spring of 1636 the reconstruction of the abbey house was +finished, and Sir Hugh moved in with his family. 'My dear wife,' he +says, '(who was excellent at dressing and making all handsome within +doors) had put it into a fine posture, and furnished with many good +things, so that, I believe, there were few gentlemen in the country, of +my rank, exceeded it.... I was at this time made Deputy-lieutenant and +Colonel over the Train-bands within the hundred of Whitby Strand, +Ryedale, Pickering, Lythe and Scarborough town; for that, my father +being dead, the country looked upon me as the chief of my family.' + +Sir Hugh had been somewhat addicted to gambling in his younger days, and +had made a few debts of his own before he undertook to deal with his +father's heavy liabilities, and in the early years of his married life +he had been very much taken up with the difficult and arduous work of +paying off the amounts due to the clamorous creditors. During this +process he had been forced to live very quietly, and had incidentally +sifted out his real friends from among his relations and acquaintances. +Thus, it is with pardonable pride that he says: 'Having mastered my +debts, I did not only appear at all public meetings in a very +gentlemanly equipage, but lived in as handsome and plentiful fashion at +home as any gentleman in all the country, of my rank. I had between +thirty and forty in my ordinary family, a chaplain who said prayers +every morning at six, and again before dinner and supper, a porter who +merely attended the gates, which were ever shut up before dinner, when +the bell rung to prayers, and not opened till one o'clock, except for +some strangers who came to dinner, which was ever fit to receive three +or four besides my family, without any trouble; and whatever their fare +was, they were sure to have a hearty welcome. Twice a week, a certain +number of old people, widows and indigent persons, were served at my +gates with bread and good pottage made of beef, which I mention that +those which succeed may follow the example.' Not content with merely +benefiting the aged folk of his town, Sir Hugh took great pains to +extend the piers, and in 1632 went to London to petition the +'Council-table' to allow a general contribution for this purpose +throughout the country. As a result of his efforts, 'all that part of +the pier to the west end of the harbour' was erected, and yet he +complains that, though it was the means of preserving a large section of +the town from the sea, the townsfolk would not interest themselves in +the repairs necessitated by force of the waves. 'I wish, with all my +heart,' he exclaims, 'the next generation may have more public spirit.' + +Sir Hugh Cholmley also built a market-house for the town, and removed +the bridge to its present position. Owing to rebuilding, neither of +these actual works remains with us to-day, but their influence on the +progress of Whitby must have been considerable. + +On a June morning in the year after Sir Hugh had settled down so +handsomely in his refurbished house, two Dutch men-of-war chased into +the harbour 'a small pickroon belonging to the King of Spain.' The +Hollanders had 400 men in one ship and 200 in the other, but the +Spaniard had only thirty men and two small guns. The Holland ships +proceeded to anchor outside the harbour, and, lowering their longboats, +sent ashore forty men, all armed with pistols. But the Spaniards had +been on the alert, and having warped their vessel to a safer position +above the bridge, they placed their two guns on the deck, and every man +prepared himself to defend the ship. + +'I, having notice of this,' writes Sir Hugh, 'fearing they might do here +the like affront as they did at Scarborough, where they landed one +hundred men, and took a ship belonging to the King of Spain out of the +harbour, sent for the Holland Captains, and ordered them not to offer +any act of hostility; for that the Spaniard was the King's friend, and +to have protection in his ports. After some expostulations, they +promised not to meddle with the Dunkirker [Spaniard] if he offered no +injury to them; which I gave him strict charge against, and to trust to +the King's protection. These Holland Captains leaving me, and going into +the town, sent for the Dunkirk Captain to dine with them, and soon after +took occasion to quarrel with him, at the same time ordered their men to +fall on the Dunkirk ship, which they soon surprised, the Captain and +most of the men being absent. I being in my courtyard, and hearing some +pistols discharged, and being told the Dunkirker and Hollanders were at +odds, made haste unto the town, having only a cane in my hand, and one +that followed me without any weapon, thinking my presence would pacify +all differences. When I came to the river-side, on the sand between the +coal-yard and the bridge, I found the Holland Captain with a pistol in +his hand, calling to his men, then in the Dunkirk ship, to send a boat +for him. I gave him good words, and held him in treaty until I got near +him, and then, giving a leap on him, caught hold of his pistol, which I +became master of; yet not without some hazard from the ship, for one +from thence levelled a musket at me; but I espying it, turned the +Captain between me and him, which prevented his shooting.' + +When Sir Hugh had secured the Captain, he sent a boatload of men to +retake the ship, and as soon as the Hollanders saw it approaching, they +fled to their own vessels outside the harbour. In the afternoon Sir Hugh +intercepted a letter to his prisoner, telling him to be of good cheer, +for at midnight they would land 200 men and bring him away. This was a +serious matter, and Sir Hugh sent to Sir John Hotham, the High Sheriff +of the county, who at once came from Fyling, and summoned all the +adjacent train-bands. There were about 200 men on guard all through the +night, and evidently the Hollanders had observed the activity on shore, +for they made no attack. The ships continued to hover outside the +harbour for two or three days, until Sir Hugh sent the Captain to York. +He was afterwards taken to London, where he remained a prisoner, after +the fashion of those times, for nearly two years. + +It was after the troublous times of the Civil War that Sir Hugh +re-established himself at Whitby, and opened a new era of prosperity for +himself and the townsfolk in the alum-works at Saltwick Nab. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE CLEVELAND HILLS + +On their their northern and western flanks the Cleveland Hills have a +most imposing and mountainous aspect, although their greatest altitudes +do not aspire more than about 1,500 feet. But they rise so suddenly to +their full height out of the flat sea of green country that they often +appear as a coast defended by a bold range of mountains. Roseberry +Topping stands out in grim isolation, on its masses of alum rock, like a +huge seaworn crag, considerably over 1,000 feet high. But this strangely +menacing peak raises its defiant head over nothing but broad meadows, +arable land, and woodlands, and his only warfare is with the lower +strata of storm-clouds, which is a convenient thing for the people who +live in these parts; for long ago they used the peak as a sign of +approaching storms, having reduced the warning to the easily-remembered +couplet: + + 'When Roseberry Topping wears a cap, + Let Cleveland then beware of a clap.' + +In a similar manner the Scarborough folk used Oliver's Mount, the +isolated hill at the back of the town, as a ready-made barometer, for +they knew that + + 'When Oliver's Mount puts on his hat, + Scarborough town will pay for that.' + +It is difficult to decide on the correct spelling of Roseberry Topping, +as it is often spelt in the same way as the earldom, and as frequently +in old writings it appears as 'Rosebury.' Camden, who wrote in Tudor +times, called it Ounsberry Topping, which certainly does not +help matters. + +From the fact that you can see this remarkable peak from almost every +point of the compass except south-westwards, it must follow that from +the top of the hill there are views in all those directions. But to see +so much of the country at once comes as a surprise to everyone. +Stretching inland towards the backbone of England, there is spread out a +huge tract of smiling country, covered with a most complex network of +hedges, which gradually melt away into the indefinite blue edge of the +world where the hills of Wensleydale rise from the plain. Looking across +the little town of Guisborough, lying near the shelter of the hills, to +the broad sweep of the North Sea, this piece of Yorkshire seems so small +that one almost expects to see the Cheviots away in the north. But, +beyond the winding Tees and the drifting smoke of the great +manufacturing towns on its banks, one must be content with the county of +Durham, a huge section of which is plainly visible. Turning towards the +brown moorlands, the cultivation is exchanged for ridge beyond ridge of +total desolation--a huge tract of land in this crowded England where the +population for many square miles at a time consists of the inmates of a +lonely farm or two in the circumscribed cultivated areas of the dales. + +Eight or nine hundred years ago these valleys were choked up with +forests. The Early British inhabitants were more inclined to the +hill-tops than the hollows, if the innumerable indications of their +settlements be any guide, and there is every reason for believing that +many of the hollows in the folds of the heathery moorlands were rarely +visited by man. Thus, the suggestion has been made that a few of the +last representatives of now extinct monsters may have survived in these +wild retreats, for how otherwise do we find persistent stories in these +parts of Yorkshire, handed down we cannot tell how many centuries, of +strange creatures described as 'worms'? At Loftus they show you the spot +where a 'grisly worm' had its lair, and in many places there are +traditions of strange long-bodied dragons who were slain by various +valiant men. + +When we remember that the last wolf was killed in Scotland in the +seventeenth century, that Africa is still adding to the list of living +animals, and that the caves at Kirkdale, near Kirby Moorside, revealed +the bones of elephants, tigers, hyenas, and rhinoceroses, in an +excellent state of preservation, though they were all broken, we are +inclined to believe that these strange stories may have had some +basis of fact. + +On Easby Moor, a few miles to the south of Roseberry Topping, the tall +column to the memory of Captain Cook stands like a lighthouse on this +inland coast-line. The lofty position it occupies among these brown and +purply-green heights makes the monument visible over a great tract of +the sailor's native Cleveland. The people who live in Marton, the +village of his birthplace, can see the memorial of their hero's fame, +and the country lads of to-day are constantly reminded of the success +which attended the industry and perseverance of a humble Marton boy. + +The cottage where James Cook was born in 1728 has gone, but the field in +which it stood is called Cook's Garth. The shop at Staithes, generally +spoken of as a 'huckster's,' where Cook was apprenticed as a boy, has +also disappeared; but, unfortunately, that unpleasant story of his +having taken a shilling from his master's till, when the attractions of +the sea proved too much for him to resist, persistently clings to all +accounts of his early life. There seems no evidence to convict him of +this theft, but there are equally no facts by which to clear him. But if +we put into the balance his subsequent term of employment at Whitby, the +excellent character he gained when he went to sea, and Professor J.K. +Laughton's statement that he left Staithes 'after some disagreement with +his master,' there seems every reason to believe that the story is +untrue. If it were otherwise, the towering monument on Easby Moor would +be a questionable inspiration to posterity. + +I have seldom seen a more uninhabited and inhospitable-looking country +than the broad extent of purple hills that stretch away to the +south-west from Great Ayton and Kildale Moors. Walking from Guisborough +to Kildale on a wild and stormy afternoon in October, I was totally +alone for the whole distance when I had left behind me the baker's boy +who was on his way to Hutton with a heavy basket of bread and cakes. +Hutton, which is somewhat of a model village for the retainers attached +to Hutton Hall, stands in a lovely hollow at the edge of the moors. The +steep hills are richly clothed with sombre woods, and the peace and +seclusion reigning there is in marked contrast to the bleak wastes +above. When I climbed the steep road on that autumn afternoon, and, +passing the zone of tall, withered bracken, reached the open moorland, I +seemed to have come out merely to be the plaything of the elements; for +the south-westerly gale, when it chose to do so, blew so fiercely that +it was difficult to make any progress at all. Overhead was a dark roof +composed of heavy masses of cloud, forming long parallel lines of gray +right to the horizon. On each side of the rough, water-worn road the +heather made a low wall, two or three feet high, and stretched right +away to the horizon in every direction. In the lulls, between the fierce +blasts, I could hear the trickle of the water in the rivulets deep down +in the springy cushion of heather. A few nimble sheep would stare at me +from a distance, and then disappear, or some grouse might hover over a +piece of rising ground; but otherwise there were no signs of living +creatures. Nearing Kildale, the road suddenly plunged downwards to a +stream flowing through a green, cultivated valley, with a lonely farm on +the further slope. There was a fir-wood above this, and as I passed over +the hill, among the tall, bare stems, the clouds parted a little in the +west, and let a flood of golden light into the wood. Instantly the gloom +seemed to disappear, and beyond the dark shoulder of moorland, where the +Cook monument appeared against the glory of the sunset, there seemed to +reign an all-pervading peace, the wood being quite silent, for the wind +had dropped. + +The rough track through the trees descended hurriedly, and soon gave a +wide view over Kildale. The valley was full of colour from the glowing +west, and the steep hillsides opposite appeared lighter than the indigo +clouds above, now slightly tinged with purple. The little village of +Kildale nestled down below, its church half buried in yellow foliage. + +The railway comes through Eskdale from Whitby to Stockton-on-Tees, and +thus gives the formerly remote valley easy communication with the +outside world. It is dangerous, however, not to allow an ample margin +for catching the trains, for there are only two or three in each +direction in the autumn and winter, and a gap of about four hours +generally separates the trains. I had been a long ramble over the moors +on the north side of Eskdale, and had allowed the sun to set while I was +still drawing on the top of Danby Beacon. But, having a good map with +me, I was quite confident of finding the road to Lealholm without +difficulty, as the distance was only a very few miles. + +The crimson globe in the west disappeared behind the dark horizon over +the two Fryup valleys, and left the world in twilight. But it would not +be dark for an hour, and except for mistaking the sheep for boulders and +boulders for sheep, and being consequently surprised when what I had +imagined was a mass of gray stone suddenly disappeared on my approach, +nothing unusual happened. I had no fear of losing my way, but what my +map had led me to believe would be a plain road was a mere track in the +heather, and at times it became too indistinct to follow easily. +Lealholm Station lay in the valley on my right, but I could find no road +leading there, and I wasted precious time in frequent consultations with +the map. Coming to a farm, I inquired the way, and was directed over a +number of muddy fields, which gradually brought me down into the valley. +It was now sufficiently dark for all the landmarks I had noticed to be +scarcely visible, but, on inquiring at a cottage, I was told that it +would take only ten minutes to walk to the station. I had a clear +quarter of an hour, and, hurrying forward, soon found myself on a +railway-bridge over a deep cutting. There was just enough light to see +that no station was in sight, and it was impossible to find in which +direction the station lay. There was no time to go back to the cottage, +and there were no others to be seen. Looking at the map again, I could +not discover the position of this bridge, for it was on no road, as it +seemed merely to connect the pastures on either side. However, I felt +fairly certain that I had rather overstepped the station, and therefore +climbed down the bank into the cutting, and commenced walking towards +the west. Coming out into the open, I thought I saw the lamps on the +platforms about half a mile further on; but on pressing forward the +lights became suddenly bigger, and in a minute my train passed me with a +thundering rush. Evidently Lealholm was to the east, and not the west of +that cutting. It was then 5.40, and the next train left for Whitby at +about a quarter to ten. When the tail-lights of the train had +disappeared into the cutting, I felt very much alone, and the silence of +the countryside became oppressive. It seemed to me that this part of +Yorkshire was just as lonely as when Canon Atkinson first commenced his +work in Danby parish, and I was reminded of his friend's remark on +hearing that he was going there: 'Why, Danby was not found out when they +sent Bonaparte to St. Helena, or else they never would have taken the +trouble to send him all the way there!' + +The ruined Danby Castle can still be seen on the slope above the Esk, +but the ancient Bow Bridge at Castleton, which was built at the end of +the twelfth century, was barbarously and needlessly destroyed in 1873. A +picture of the bridge has, fortunately, been preserved in Canon +Atkinson's 'Forty Years in a Moorland Parish.' That book has been so +widely read that it seems scarcely necessary to refer to it here, but +without the help of the Vicar, who knew every inch of his wild parish, +the Danby district must seem much less interesting. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +GUISBOROUGH AND THE SKELTON VALLEY + + +Although a mere fragment of the Augustinian Priory of Guisborough is +standing to-day, it is sufficiently imposing to convey a powerful +impression of the former size and magnificence of the monastic church. +This fragment is the gracefully buttressed east end of the choir, which +rises from the level meadow-land to the east of the town. The stonework +is now of a greenish-gray tone, but in the shadows there is generally a +look of blue. Beyond the ruin and through the opening of the great east +window, now bare of tracery, you see the purple moors, with the +ever-formidable Roseberry Topping holding its head above the green woods +and pastures. + +The destruction of the priory took place most probably during the reign +of Henry VIII., but there are no recorded facts to give the date of the +spoiling of the stately buildings. The materials were probably sold to +the highest bidder, for in the town of Guisborough there are scattered +many fragments of richly-carved stone, and Ord, one of the historians of +Cleveland, says: 'I have beheld with sorrow, and shame, and indignation, +the richly ornamented columns and carved architraves of God's temple +supporting the thatch of a pig-house.' + +The Norman priory church, founded in 1119, by the wealthy Robert de Brus +of Skelton, was, unfortunately, burnt down on May 16, 1289. Walter of +Hemingburgh, a canon of Guisborough, has written a quaintly detailed +account of the origin of the fire. Translated from the monkish Latin, he +says: 'On the first day of rogation-week, a devouring flame consumed our +church of Gysburn, with many theological books and nine costly chalices, +as well as vestments and sumptuous images; and because past events are +serviceable as a guide to future inquiries, I have thought it desirable, +in the present little treatise, to give an account of the catastrophe, +that accidents of a similar nature may be avoided through this calamity +allotted to us. On the day above mentioned, which was very destructive +to us, a vile plumber, with his two workmen, burnt our church whilst +soldering up two holes in the old lead with fresh pewter. For some days +he had already, with a wicked disposition, commenced, and placed his +iron crucibles, along with charcoal and fire, on rubbish, or steps of a +great height, upon dry wood with some turf and other combustibles. About +noon (in the cross, in the body of the church, where he remained at his +work until after Mass) he descended before the procession of the +convent, thinking that the fire had been put out by his workmen. They, +however, came down quickly after him, without having completely +extinguished the fire; and the fire among the charcoal revived, and +partly from the heat of the iron, and partly from the sparks of the +charcoal, the fire spread itself to the wood and other combustibles +beneath. After the fire was thus commenced, the lead melted, and the +joists upon the beams ignited; and then the fire increased prodigiously, +and consumed everything.' Hemingburgh concludes by saying that all that +they could get from the culprits was the exclamation, 'Quid potui ego?' +Shortly after this disaster the Prior and convent wrote to Edward II., +excusing themselves from granting a corrody owing to their great losses +through the burning of the monastery, as well as the destruction of +their property by the Scots. But Guisborough, next to Fountains, was +almost the richest establishment in Yorkshire, and thus in a few years' +time there arose from the Norman foundations a stately church and +convent built in the Early Decorated style. + +Glimpses of the inner life of the priory are given in the Archbishop's +registers at York, which show how close and searching were the +visitations by the Archbishop in person or his commissioners, and one of +the documents throws light on the sad necessity for these inspections. +It deals with Archbishop Wickwaine's visit in 1280, and we find that the +canons are censured for many short-comings. They were not to go outside +the cloister after compline (the last service of the day) on the pretext +of visiting guests. They were not to keep expensive schools for rich or +poor, unless with special sanction. They were to turn out of the +infirmary and punish the persons lying there who were only pretending to +be ill, and the really sick were to be more kindly treated. There had +evidently been discrimination in the quality of food served out to +certain persons in the frater; but this was to be stopped, and food of +one kind was to be divided equally. A more strict silence was to be kept +in the cloister, and no one was to refrain from joining in the praises +of God whilst in the choir. There seems to have been much improper +conversation among the canons, for they are specially adjured in Christ +to abstain from repeating immoral stories. Some of the canons who had +made themselves notorious for quarrelling and caballing were to be +debarred from promotion, and were commended to the Prior and Subprior +for punishment. + +In 1309 Simon Constable, a refractory canon of Bridlington, was sent to +Guisborough to undergo a course of penance, change of residence being +always considered to give an excellent opportunity for thorough reform. +However, in this case no good seems to have resulted, for about five +years later he was sent back to Bridlington with a worse character than +before, and, besides much prayer and humiliation, he was to receive a +_disciplina_ every Friday at the hands of the Prior. This made no +improvement in his conduct, for in 1321 his behaviour brought him +another penance and still greater severity. A few years after this the +Archbishop seems to have reproached the community for the conduct of +this unruly brother, which was scarcely fair. The last vision of Simon +Constable shows him to be as impenitent as ever, and the Archbishop +makes the awful threat that, if he does not reform at once, he will be +put in a more confined place than he has ever been in before! Can this +suggest that the wicked canon was to be bricked up alive? + +These internal troubles were not, however, generally known to the +outside world, but the unfaltering searchlight of the records falls upon +such great folk as Peter de Mauley, fifth Baron Mulgrave, whose castle +at Mulgrave, near Whitby, is mentioned elsewhere; Lucy de Thweng, wife +of Sir William le Latimer; Sir Nicholas de Meynyl; and Katherine, wife +of Sir John Dentorp, whose conduct merely reflected the morals of +medieval times. It was, indeed, no uncommon event for the congregation +to hear some high-born culprit confessing his sins as he walked barefoot +and scantily clothed in the procession in York Minster. An exceedingly +beautiful crucifix of copper, richly gilded, was discovered during the +early part of last century, when some men were digging amongst the +foundations of an old building in Commondale. There seems little doubt +that this was a cell or chapel belonging to the monastery, for the +crucifix bears the date 1119, the year of the founding of Guisborough +Priory. Another metal crucifix, probably belonging to the thirteenth +century, was discovered at Ingleby Arncliffe. It was beautifully inlaid +with brilliant white, green, red, and blue enamels, and the figure of +Christ was discovered to be hollow, and to contain two ancient +parchments, written in monkish Latin and scarcely legible. One of them +was a charm, addressed to 'ye elves, and demons and all kind of +apparition,' who were called upon in the name of the Trinity, the Virgin +Mary, the Apostles, Martyrs, Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John, and the +elect generally, to 'hurt not this servant of God, Adam Osanna, by night +nor by day, but that, through the very great mercy of God Jesus Christ, +by the help of Saint Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, he may +rest in peace from all the aforesaid and other evils.' + +Another intensely interesting relic of the great priory is the +altar-tomb, believed to be that of Robert de Brus of Annandale. The +stone slabs are now built into the walls on each side of the porch of +Guisborough Church. They may have been removed there from the abbey for +safety at the time of the dissolution. Hemingburgh, in his chronicle for +the year 1294, says: 'Robert de Brus the fourth died on the eve of Good +Friday; who disputed with John de Balliol, before the King of England, +about the succession to the kingdom of Scotland. And, as he ordered when +alive, he was buried in the priory of Gysburn with great honour, beside +his own father.' A great number of other famous people were buried here +in accordance with their wills. Guisborough has even been claimed as the +resting-place of Robert Bruce, the champion of Scottish freedom, but +there is ample evidence for believing that his heart was buried at +Melrose Abbey and his body in the church of Dunfermline. + +The memory of Mr. George Venables--that most excellent man who devoted +many years to gathering funds for a charity school in the town--is +preserved on a monument in the church. He had retired from business, +but, in order to find the means to start the school, he resumed his +labours in London, and devoted the whole of the profits to this +useful object. + +The central portion of the town of Guisborough, by the market-cross and +the two chief inns, is quaint and fairly picturesque, but the long +street as it goes westward deteriorates into rows of new cottages, +inevitable in a mining country. + +Mining operations have been carried on around Guisborough since the time +of Queen Elizabeth, for the discovery of alum dates from that period, +and when that industry gradually declined, it was replaced by the +iron-mines of to-day. Mr. Thomas Chaloner of Guisborough, in his travels +on the Continent about the end of the sixteenth century, saw the Pope's +alum-works near Rome, and was determined to start the industry in his +native parish of Guisborough, feeling certain that alum could be worked +with profit in his own county. As it was essential to have one or two +men who were thoroughly versed in the processes of the manufacture, Mr. +Chaloner induced some of the Pope's workmen by heavy bribes to come to +England. The risks attending this overt act were terrible, for the +alum-works brought in a large revenue to His Holiness, and the discovery +of such a design would have meant capital punishment to the offender. +The workmen were therefore induced to get into large casks, which were +secretly conveyed on board a ship that was shortly sailing for England. + +When the Pope received the intelligence some time afterwards, he +thundered forth against Mr. Chaloner and the workmen the most awful and +comprehensive curse. They were to be cursed most wholly and thoroughly +in every part of their bodies, every saint was to curse them, and from +the thresholds of the holy church of God Almighty they were to be +sequestered, that they might 'be tormented, disposed of, and delivered +over with Dathan and Abiram, and with those who say unto the Lord God, +"Depart from us; we desire not to know Thy ways."' + +Despite the fearful nature of the curse, the venture prospered so much +that the Darcy family, about the year 1600, set up another works in the +neighbourhood of Guisborough; and as this also brought considerable +wealth to the owners, a third was started at Sandsend in 1615. Many +others followed, and in 1649 Sir Hugh Cholmley started the works close +to Saltwick Nab, within a short distance of his house at Whitby. But +although there must have been more than twenty of these works in +operation in the eighteenth century, owing to cheaper methods of +producing alum the industry is now quite extinct in Cleveland. + +The broad valley stretching from Guisborough to the sea contains the +beautifully wooded park of Skelton Castle. The trees in great masses +cover the gentle slopes on either side of the Skelton Beck, and almost +hide the modern mansion. The buildings include part of the ancient +castle of the Bruces, who were Lords of Skelton for many years. It is +recorded that Peter de Brus, one of the barons who helped to coerce John +into signing the Great Charter at Runnymede, made a curious stipulation +when he granted some lands at Leconfield to Henry Percy, his sister's +husband. The property was to be held on condition that every Christmas +Day he and his heirs should come to Skelton Castle and lead the lady by +the arm from her chamber to the chapel. + +The old church of Upleatham, standing by the road to Saltburn, is a +quaint fragment of a Norman building. The tower, bearing the inscription +'William Crow, Chvrchwarden Bvlded Stepel--1664,' is an addition to what +is probably only part of the nave of the little Norman building. It is +now used merely as a cemetery chapel, but it is picturesquely situated, +and on the north wall the carved Norman corbels may still be seen. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +FROM PICKERING TO RIEVAULX ABBEY + + +The broad Vale of Pickering, watered by the Derwent, the Rye, and their +many tributaries, is a wonderful contrast to the country we have been +exploring. The level pastures, where cattle graze and cornfields abound, +seem to suggest that we are separated from the heather by many leagues; +but we have only to look beyond the hedgerows to see that the horizon to +the north is formed by lofty moors only a few miles distant. + +Just where the low meadows are beginning to rise steadily from the vale +stands the town of Pickering, dominated by the lofty stone spire of its +parish church and by the broken towers of the castle. There is a wide +street, bordered by dark stone buildings, that leads steeply from the +river to the church. The houses are as a rule quite featureless, but we +have learnt to expect this in a county where stone is abundant, for only +the extremely old and the palpably new buildings stand Christ. Then +comes Herod's feast, with the King labelled _Herodi_. The guests are +shown with their arms on the table in the most curious positions, and +all the royal folk are wearing ermine. The coronation of the Virgin, the +martyrdom of St. Thomas a Becket, and the martyrdom of St. Edmund, who +is perforated with arrows, complete the series on the north side. Along +the south wall the paintings show the story of St. Catherine of +Alexandria and the seven Corporal Acts of Mercy. Further on come scenes +from the life of our Lord. There seems little doubt that all the +paintings, including a number of others in the transepts and elsewhere +that are now destroyed, were whitewashed over at the time of the +Reformation, and it was during some restoration work carried out in 1851 +that indications of the paintings were accidentally laid bare. When the +whole of the walls had been cleaned, careful coloured drawings were +made, then colour wash was applied again, and the priceless paintings +disappeared for a generation. The objections to what had been considered +improper wall decoration for a parish church in the nineteenth century +having been reasoned away, the pictures once more appeared, but in a +very different condition to their first resurrection. However, the +drawings were in existence, so that a careful restoration was possible, +and as we see them to-day the subdued tones closely follow the +original colours. + +The simple Norman arcade on the north side of the nave has plain round +columns and semicircular arches, but the south side belongs to later +Norman times, and has ornate columns and capitals. At least one member +of the great Bruce family, who had a house at Pickering called Bruce's +Hall, and whose ascendency at Guisborough has already been mentioned, +was buried here, for the figure of a knight in chain-mail by the lectern +probably represents Sir William Bruce. In the chapel there is a +sumptuous monument bearing the effigies of Sir David and Dame Margery +Roucliffe. The knight wears the collar of S.S., and his arms are on +his surcoat. + +When John Leland, the 'Royal Antiquary' employed by Henry VIII., came to +Pickering, he described the castle, which was in a more perfect state +than it is to-day. He says: 'In the first Court of it be a 4 Toures, of +the which one is Caullid Rosamunde's Toure.' Also of the inner court he +writes of '4 Toures, wherof the Kepe is one.' This keep and Rosamund's +Tower, as well as the ruins of some of the others, are still to be seen +on the outer walls, so that from some points of view the ruins are +dignified and picturesque. The area enclosed was large, and in early +times the castle must have been almost impregnable. But during the Civil +War it was much damaged by the soldiers quartered there, and Sir Hugh +Cholmley took lead, wood, and iron from it for the defence of +Scarborough. The wide view from the castle walls shows better than any +description the importance of the position it occupied, and we feel, as +we gaze over the vale or northwards to the moors, that this was the +dominant power over the whole countryside. + +Although Lastingham is not on the road to Helmsley, the few additional +miles will scarcely be counted when we are on our way to a church which, +besides being architecturally one of the most interesting in the county, +is perhaps unique in having at one time had a curate whose wife kept a +public house adjoining the church. Although this will scarcely be +believed, we have a detailed account of the matter in a little book +published in 1806. + +The clergyman, whose name was Carter, had to subsist on the slender +salary of £20 a year and a few surplice fees. This would not have +allowed any margin for luxuries in the case of a bachelor; but this poor +man was married, and he had thirteen children. He was a keen fisherman, +and his angling in the moorland streams produced a plentiful supply of +fish--in fact, more than his family could consume. But this, even though +he often exchanged part of his catches with neighbours, was not +sufficient to keep the wolf from the door, and drastic measures had to +be taken. The parish was large, and, as many of the people were obliged +to come 'from ten to fifteen miles' to church, it seemed possible that +some profit might be made by serving refreshments to the parishioners. +Mrs. Carter superintended this department, and it seems that the meals +between the services soon became popular. But the story of 'a +parson-publican' was soon conveyed to the Archdeacon of the diocese, who +at the next visitation endeavoured to find out the truth of the matter. +Mr. Carter explained the circumstances, and showed that, far from being +a source of disorder, his wife's public-house was an influence for good. +'I take down my violin,' he continued, 'and play them a few tunes, which +gives me an opportunity of seeing that they get no more liquor than +necessary for refreshment; and if the young people propose a dance, I +seldom answer in the negative; nevertheless, when I announce time for +return, they are ever ready to obey my commands.' The Archdeacon appears +to have been a broad-minded man, for he did not reprimand Mr. Carter at +all; and as there seems to have been no mention of an increased stipend, +the parson-publican must have continued this strange anomaly. + +It is difficult to say whether the public-house was conducted in the +crypt beneath the church or not. I am inclined to think that Mrs. +Carter's inn was the present 'Blacksmith's Arms,' but there is distinct +evidence for stating that cock-fighting used to take place secretly in +the crypt. The writings of the Venerable Bede give a special interest to +Lastingham, for he tells us how King Oidilward requested Bishop Cedd to +build a monastery there. The Saxon buildings that appeared at that time +have gone, so that the present church cannot be associated with the +seventh century. No doubt the destruction was the work of the Danes, who +plundered the whole of this part of Yorkshire. The church that exists +to-day is of Transitional Norman date, and the beautiful little crypt, +which has an apse, nave and aisles, is coeval with the superstructure. + +The situation of Lastingham in a deep and picturesque valley surrounded +by moors and overhung by woods is extremely rich. + +Further to the west there are a series of beautiful dales, watered by +becks whose sources are among the Cleveland Hills. On our way to +Ryedale, the loveliest of these, we pass through Kirby Moorside, a +little town which has gained a place in history as the scene of the +death of the notorious George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham, on +April 17, 1687. The house in which he died is on the south side of the +King's Head, and in one of the parish registers there is the entry under +the date of April 19th, 'Gorges viluas, Lord dooke of Bookingam, etc.' +Further down the street stands an inn with a curious porch, supported by +turned wooden pillars, bearing the inscription: + + + 'Anno: Dom 1632 October xi + William Wood' + + +Kirkdale, with its world-renowned cave, to which we have already +referred, lies about two miles to the west. The quaint little Saxon +church there is one of the few bearing evidences of its own date, +ascertained by the discovery in 1771 of a Saxon sundial, which had +survived under a layer of plaster, and was also protected by the porch. +A translation of the inscription reads: 'Orm, the son of Gamal, bought +St. Gregory's Minster when it was all broken and fallen, and he caused +it to be made anew from the ground, for Christ and St. Gregory, in the +days of King Edward and in the days of Earl Tosti, and Hawarth wrought +me and Brand the prior (priest or priests).' By this we are plainly told +that a church was built there in the reign of Edward the Confessor. + +A pleasant road leads through Nawton to the beautiful little town of +Helmsley. A bend of the broad, swift-flowing Rye forms one boundary of +the place, and is fed by a gushing brook that finds its way from +Rievaulx Moor, and forms a pretty feature of the main street. The +cottages in many cases have preserved their thatched roofs, and have +seldom more than one story; but they invariably appear well preserved +and carefully painted, although these stone-built houses, with leaded +casements, give little scope for ornament. But the Helmsley folk have +realized the importance of white paint, and the window-frames, and even +the strips of lead that hold the glass together, are picked out in this +cheerful fashion. In the broad market-square the houses are large, but +their gray respectability is broken by creepers and some pleasant spots +of colour. The corner nearest to the church is particularly noticeable +on account of a most picturesque gabled house, with a timber-framed +upper floor--a style of construction exceedingly rare in these parts of +Yorkshire. The old stone cross, raised above its worn steps, stands in +the open space close to the modern market hall, and humbly allows the +central position to be occupied by a Gothic cross recently erected to +the memory of the late Lord Feversham, of Duncombe Park. + +A narrow turning by the market-house shows the torn and dishevelled +fragment of the keep of Helmsley Castle towering above the thatched +roofs in the foreground. The ruin is surrounded by tall elms, and from +this point of view, when backed by a cloudy sunset, makes a wonderful +picture. Like Scarborough, this stronghold was held for the King during +the Civil War. After the Battle of Marston Moor and the fall of York, +Fairfax came to Helmsley and invested the castle. He received a wound in +the shoulder during the siege; but the garrison having surrendered on +honourable terms, the Parliament ordered that the castle should be +dismantled, and the thoroughness with which the instructions were +carried out remind one of Knaresborough, for one side of the keep was +blown to pieces by a terrific explosion and nearly everything else was +destroyed. + +All the beauty and charm of this lovely district is accentuated in +Ryedale, and when we have accomplished the three long uphill miles to +Rievaulx, and come out upon the broad grassy terrace above the abbey, +we seem to have entered a Land of Beulah. We see a peaceful valley +overlooked on all sides by lofty hills, whose steep sides are clothed +with luxuriant woods; we see the Rye flowing past broad green meadows; +and beneath the tree-covered precipice below our feet appear the +solemn, roofless remains of one of the first Cistercian monasteries +established in this country. There is nothing to disturb the peace that +broods here, for the village consists of a mere handful of old and +picturesque cottages, and we might stay on the terrace for hours, and, +beyond the distant shouts of a few children at play and the crowing of +some cocks, hear nothing but the hum of insects and the singing of +birds. We take a steep path through the wood which leads us down to the +abbey ruins. + +The magnificent Early English choir and the Norman transepts stand +astonishingly complete in their splendid decay, and the lower portions +of the nave, which, until 1922, lay buried beneath masses of +grass-grown débris, are now exposed to view. The richly-draped +hill-sides appear as a succession of beautiful pictures framed by the +columns and arches on each side of the choir. As they stand exposed to +the weather, the perfectly proportioned mouldings, the clustered +pillars in a wonderfully good state of preservation, and the almost +uninjured celestory are more impressive than in an elaborately-restored +cathedral. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Yorkshire--Coast & Moorland Scenes, by Gordon Home + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10795 *** |