140 THE SEA-COAST. 



Strandshall, the tower on the strand, viz. Whitby Strand, a 

 large district, whose name survives to our time. 



The year 658, according to Young, saw the foundations laid 

 for the first Anglo-Saxon monastery at Streoneshalh, with ten 

 hydes of land for its use, and the saintly Hilda for its abbess. 

 Destroyed by the Danes in 867, it lay desolate for 207 years, 

 and then reappeared on the page of Norman history as the Bene- 

 dictine Abbey of Whitby, which was surrendered to the crown 

 in 1539. The existing building is for the most part a structure 

 of the early English style (middle of 12th century). The sand- 

 stone of which it is built is not of very good quality, and in this 

 exposed situation it is no wonder if 



the wasting sea-breeze keen 



Has worn the pillar's carving quaint, 

 And moulder'd in his niche the saint ; 



but it is matter of deep regret that the great tower and other 

 conspicuous parts of this magnificent church should have fallen 

 within our own memory. 



The vicinity of Whitby is beautiful in all the dales and glens 

 connected with the Esk. In the early part of the present cen- 

 tury it was a common enjoyment of the townsfolk to go up the 

 secluded vale of Esk in waggon-parties, and pass many happy 

 hours in the charming scenery about Goadland, Egton Bridge, 

 and the lower end of Glaizedale. The railway to York has 

 rendered these favourite spots more accessible, and opened new 

 views, which have been tastefully described in Mr. Belcher's 

 elegant volume*. 



Whitby, no longer shut out from the rest of Yorkshire, re- 

 ceives annually its share of visitors, for whom a new town (for it 

 is nothing less) has been constructed on the cliffs opposite to 

 the abbey. In the way to the handsome pier, a favourite and 

 healthful walk, is the Whitby Museum, which contains, besides 

 many other choice and rare fossils, very fine saurian remains 

 from the alum shale of the neighbouring cliff at Saltwick. 

 * See also Read's Guide to Whitby. 



