I thought I'd start this thread as an interactive scrapbook for the visit I made to Whitby on 17 July. I've therefore chosen the "User Submission" forum because this is effectively a mixed media project; my partner took hundreds of photos (literally) and has graciously allowed me to use a selection to post here.

Please feel free to post with any questions, comments, or reminiscences of Whitby. If anybody has any "Dracula" related comment, that might also work here!

Anyway, as a prelude:

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The day out was organised by our local community forum, so a busload of people set out from Sheffield at 8.30 in the morning.

We were scheduled to make a stop at Goathland on the way. For those of you familiar with the "Harry Potter" movies, it's actually the site of Hogwarts Station; it's on a preserved steam railway, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

During the summer, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway has an agreement with the local rail company to allow them to use the small spur which connects to the mainline between Whitby and Middlesborough, effectively permitting through trips by steam. Therefore, we decided to leave the bus at Goathland (having notified the organiser, advising her we'd meet the party again in Whitby when it was time to leave).

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For steampunk fans:
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Sounds like a great time! Err... How is the car parking there? I feel the need to visit sometime soon.

Parking is available just off Cliff Street, and East Terrace Crescent, in the top right hand corner of the map section - there's more parking than shown up there.
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There's also a fair amount of parking space off New Quay Road, and on the south bank of the Esk, off Church Street.
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What Bram Stoker fails to mention is that to get up to St Mary's from the town you have to go up steps. A lot of them. In fact, one-hundred-and-ninety-bloody-nine of them. Why they didn't go the whole hog and go for 200, I'll never know - perhaps that one extra step would be the straw that broke the camel's back. Or, given that the whole area is steeped in dark lore, there may have been some significance to the fact.

Either way, when you get up to the top, you'll find one of the largest graveyards you could ever imagine a smallish town having. Rows upon rows of tombstones... And nearly all the "standing-up", stone type.

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Ta for that Minnie, now all I need is to wait on a weather report... for fog.

Check out the size of those pistons! *Nephele swoons and rapidly fans herself to cool her blood.*

Looks like you had a great time! I loved your pics of the cemetery, too! I can see how the place inspired Bram Stoker.

-- Nephele

Absolutely! The place just oozes atmosphere, and the abbey itself - which I'll be coming to in my next post - is just phenomenal. If I didn't know better, I'd say that some mad 18th century landowner had a massive folly built meticulously to look so gothic that it shits the proverbial bats.

On the south bank of the Esk, the town reminds me incredibly of York - it even has its own "Shambles". On the way up Church Street, leading up to the 199 Steps, there are countless little alleys, each leading somewhere interesting; while Church Street was packed with people heading up to, or coming down from, St Mary's and the abbey, passing an alleyway you could see market stalls tucked away which looked so interesting...

I am so damn JEALOUS! I would love to go to Whitby... it's become the place that I really need to visit, with or without the event of WGW.

This is going to sound really strange, but I already feel connected to the place, just from seeing your pictures, Minnie... and if it wasn't for the fact that I'd be driving solo all the way from London, I'd be on my way (that and the pesky nuisance of having to work, not being able to afford somewhere to stay and stuff like that ).


I cannot wait to see more about the Abbey, just the mention of it makes me shiver, in a good way, or course

Nice way of telling about your visit to Whitby! I like the photo's and stories, so keep 'em coming!

Edit: is the place really called Whitby outside WGW? Where does the 'WGW' stand for??

Minty, Whitby, I'm sure, would love you!

The North Yorkshire Moors are, for whatever reason, like their Western counterpart - the Lake District - an area where you feel that any post-Norman influence is there merely to pay lip service to Civilisation as we know it. The land is wild and beautiful, and with that, quite deadly to the unwary. As a result, although it's obviously a presence, Christianisation really feels as if it's only skin deep; indeed, Goathland - mentioned in a previous post - is known for alternative spiritual practices.

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To get to the abbey, you need to go through a visitor's centre, which looks like a Georgian or early Regency building. That, in itself, is of some interest for those wishing to find out more about the history of the abbey and the lifestyle of the monks who lived there. It's a two story affair, and to access the abbey you need to climb to the upper floor and enter the site via a walkway. There's a little activity centre, primarily designed for younger visitors, but where you can practice your brass rubbing skills on some beautifully reproduced plates of text.

The Visitor's Centre

And now to the abbey itself...

The description in "Dracula" is certainly correct - it is an enormous building; even at some distance, it is barely possible to capture the whole thing in a single frame.

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Some photos from other angles...

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@nachtvlinder: WGW = Whitby Goth Weekend. I wanted to do a piece on what Whitby is like normally; most people would only see it during the twice-annual event, when there is quite a strong goth presence, and there are a lot of activities, and a market, aimed specifically at our culture.

The pictures of the Abbey are heart stoppingly beautiful, MinnieWhitby is home to Whitby Gothic Weekend (WGW) twice a year... but Minnie made her visit outside of those weekends... hence Whitby ouside WGW


And I'm still incredibly jealous!

And so is the photographer, who I'm sure will be gratified to know that her work is so greatly appreciated! I will certainly be telling her. This is effectively the tip of the iceberg, though, and once this becomes slightly less structured, I'll certainly post the "best of the rest".

I look forward to it... and also maybe a sneaky pic of the photographer? Nothing I like better than drooling over a gorgeous person (not literally of course, that's just icky, gross and damp )

To do that would mean prising the camera away from her, and then getting her to stay in shot long enough for me to take a photo (which, given the way I tend to f*rt around would be easy enough for an asthmatic snail)!

I had visions of a snail on a zimmer frame then!

Make her take a picture of herself... it's the only way I'll have my picture taken (except when people get sneaky and use their mobile phone cameras on me )