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Whitby

Sights in Whitby

  1. A

    Captain Cook Memorial Museum

    This fascinating museum occupies the house of the ship owner with whom Cook began his seafaring career. Highlights include the attic where Cook lodged as a young apprentice, Cook's own maps and letters, etchings from the South Seas and a wonderful model of the Endeavour, with all the crew and stores laid out for inspection.

    reviewed

  2. B

    Whitby Museum & Art Gallery

    In a park overlooking the town, is the wonderfully eclectic Whitby Museum & Art Gallery, with fossils, Cook memorabilia, ships in bottles and weird stuff like an amputated hand and an invention for weather forecasting using live leeches. The gallery contains work by the Staithes group of artists.

    reviewed

  3. C

    Whitby Abbey

    There are ruined abbeys and there are picturesque ruined abbeys, and then there's Whitby Abbey, dominating the skyline above the East Cliff like a great Gothic tombstone silhouetted against the sky. Looking more like it was built as an atmospheric film set than as a monastic establishment, it is hardly surprising that this medieval hulk inspired the Victorian novelist Bram Stoker – who holidayed in Whitby – to make it the setting for Count Dracula's dramatic landfall.

    From the end of Church St, which has many shops selling jet jewellery, the 199 steps of Church Stairs lead steeply up to Whitby Abbey passing the equally atmospheric St Mary's Church and its spooky…

    reviewed

  4. D

    St Mary's Church

    St Mary's Church has an atmospheric interior full of skewed and tilting galleries and box pews. You reach the abbey and the church via the famous 199 steps up the cliff side. Take time out to catch your breath and admire the fantastic view.

    reviewed

  5. E

    Captain Cook Monument

    At the top of the cliff near East Tce, the Captain Cook Monument shows the great man looking out to sea (usually with a seagull perched on his head).

    reviewed

  6. F

    Whalebone Arch

    The Whalebone Arch (it's just that), near the Captain Cook Monument, recalls Whitby's days as a whaling port.

    reviewed

  7. G
  8. H

    St Mary's Church

    The atmospheric interior of St Mary's Church is full of skewed and tilting galleries and box pews. You reach the abbey and the church via the famous 199 steps up the cliff side. Take time out to catch your breath and admire the fantastic view.

    reviewed

  9. Whitby Sands

    Whitby's days as a seaside resort continue with donkey rides, ice cream and bucket-and-spade escapades on Whitby Sands, stretching west from the harbour mouth. Atop the cliff on the harbour's west side, the Captain Cook Monument shows the great man looking out to sea, often with a seagull perched on his head. Nearby is the Whalebone Arch, which recalls Whitby's days as a whaling port. Whitby Sands can be reached from West Cliff via the cliff lift, a tram-elevator that has been running since 1931.

    reviewed

  10. I

    Whitby Museum

    Set in a park to the west of the town centre is the wonderfully eclectic Whitby Museum with its displays of fossil plesiosaurs and dinosaur footprints, Captain Cook memorabilia, ships in bottles, jet jewellery and even the 'Hand of Glory' – a preserved human hand reputedly cut from the corpse of an executed criminal.

    reviewed

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