Our next 360 day out was to Whitby
There will be several videos in this series, and this is number one – the church of saint mary and the famous steps down to the town. We parked at the Abbey carpark which is a pay and display
Let’s start with the confusing graves with the skull and crossbones, so far we have found 4 stories around these graves and depending on which one resonates with you can choose from Pirates, Masons, Knights Templars or even Dracula himself. One is probably more fanciful than the others, but the choice is yours
Before we move too far from this spot turn to the church and where the white steps are, you will find the grave of the Huntrodds.
- Francis Huntrodds and his wife Mary were both actually born on the same day – on 19th September 1600
- They married each other on their shared birthday – 19th September
- Together they raised 12 children
- They both died on the actual same-day – on their joint 80th birthdays – 19th September 1680, and with around only five hours between their passing.
Now is the time for the story of the phantom hearse – this is meant to thunder up to the church, all in black the night after a seaman is buried with a train of mourners who circle the grave three times. They then collect the recently deceased, return to the coach and the whole lot speed off towards the cliff plunging from view. This story was reported in the local paper in the 1800s, so it must be true. Whoever heard of a newspaper making a story up.
Interestingly Burials in Whitby took place at night up to the 19th century, and the hearses and mourners were also decked in black with lit torches – talk about macabre
Perhaps it’s a good job that the churchyard is now closed for burials
Most of the tombstones have had their inscriptions eroded by the weather but are worth reading if you can find some. Humpty Dumpty, Tom Thumb, the man who invented the Crow’s Nest are all meant to be resting here. Some of the gravestones say in memory of rather than here lies – this is because the bodies were lost at sea. You will also see tombstone resting against the side of the church, and these are the gravestones of the poor souls whose graves have been washed from the cliff during the many landslides that have occurred to this church.
One of the graves you find might be that of a pirate and his beautiful wife. The story is that the pirate liked to treat his wife with trinkets that he plundered from other unlucky sea travellers. One voyage he grabbed a beautiful shawl from the body of a girl he murdered on a ship. He presented this prize to his wife who took it, and because it was so glorious, she decided to keep it for her Sunday best. The next Sunday, she got ready and wrapped it around her. However, when she went to admire herself in the mirror, the face that looked back at her was that of the murdered girl. Understandably after this incident she went mad and died shortly after
Now the coast of Whitby has been the scene of many shipwrecks, tragedy and bravery. During the first world war, a hospital ship was sunk, and many lives were lost but what I found remarkable about this story was that one of the women rescued from the stricken vessel was a Mrs Mary Roberts. This woman had also been on the Titanic and had been rescued from that terror as well. I can’t make up my mind if she was either incredibly lucky or unlucky. Whatever she was she was a resilient and remarkable woman who by all accounts continued working on ships for many years after this incident
The church itself is said to be of Norman origin, and the interior is well worth a visit. We intend to come back and do a special video just of the church when it’s a little quieter but until we do here are some details
2500 people could fit in the church, but that was changed in 1905, but it still holds most of its original design – it is designed more for preaching so much so that the original pulpit was originally meant to be suspended between the pews
The pulpit has two lengths of leather tubing attached to it which are ear trumpets made for a deaf wife of one of the rectors
There are pews which were bought for the families attending the church, the more prosperous the family, the grander the pew
A lot of the pews have unique carvings of over 40 ships cut into the backs, seats and bookrests. I suppose some of the sermons were very long in those days
As is tradition for churches at that time when St Marys was first built an animal would have been walled up alive in the foundation of the church. The poor animal would then it was believed become the Church Grim or protector. The grim would also have a role during the burial as the rector would normally be able to see the grim on the roof of the church and the direction the grim’s head was pointing indicated where the soul was heading
There is a legend that on St Marks eve {24th April} if you watch from the porch of the church as the clock strikes 11 and through until 1 am you will see a procession of all the spectres of the people who will die in the coming year. This is a custom that was widespread in England in the past with records of people actually using this as a way of making money by giving details of the names of those likely to die
Caedmon memorial as we leave the church to go down the famous steps just a quick note on the cross which is a memorial to Caedmon the first English poet It is recorded that in 680 ad Caedmon had a vision and this middle-aged uneducated man started turning scripture into verse
He is commonly regarded as the first poet laureate and even has another monument in Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey
Ok so here we go down the steps if you are unsteady on your feet, I would advise caution and hold tight onto any children you may have with you
Now I have got the safety notice out of the way another warning that I must pass on to you is the legend surrounding counting the steps. If you count them and miss one or don’t get to 199 then you will have a spell of bad luck – my advice is don’t count them
Every so often on your journey down the steps, you can see Platforms – these were for resting coffins as the mourners brought their loved ones to be buried. Obviously the rich just drove their hearses up the street to the side. I have walked up these steps many times and in my youth and I can tell you the thought of carrying a coffin up these steps would make me go for cremation.
For some, these are one of the most famous landmarks of Whitby, and they have the added bonus of being featured in a certain novel. Love it or hate it, thanks to Bram Stoker Whitby will be forever linked to Vampires. It wasn’t until I started researching this video that I realised just how much Whitby is in Dracula and how much this has actually been ignored by most of the films that I have certainly seen. Even the supposedly back to the roots film by Scorcese just plonked Dracula in London to save time.
In the Novel Lucy and Mina are both in Whitby, staying in the Crescent, across the bay from here they speak to locals and in particular an old sailor in the graveyard we have just been in. The ship that Dracula arrives in is based on a real ship that ran aground at Whitby while Stoker was in Whitby himself. The dog that Dracula turns into seems to be close to the local legend of the barghest that we will come to later. The first person that Dracula kills in England is the old man that Lucy and Mina talk to, and his body is found on one of the seats with his neck broken.
As we continue down the steps, you can see, in the distance, the cliff face with the statue of Captain Cook on it and that is the site of the Crescent where Lucy and Mina stay on their visit. Coincidently on certain nights, a wraith is meant to jump off this cliff face but disappear before it reaches the ground. I don’t know why maybe its something wraiths does when they come to the beach.
