WHITBY. 



■546 niilcb from London. Tlic town is placed at llie mouth of 

 tht fmall river Eflf , which divides it into two unequal parts. 

 The direftion of the river, running nearly due north towards 

 the fea, cjetermines that of the town, which extends along 

 its banks. Thefe banks rife almoft fuddenly from the river 

 Jon both fides ; particularly on the eaft, fo as to leave but a 

 ■very narrow ftretch of level ground at the bottom, of 

 which, indeed, a great part has, at different times, been 

 gained from the bed of the river. This narrow fpace is 

 literally covered with lioufes ; but the town afcends the 

 fteep banks on both fides, and thus prefents a romantic 

 appearance, efpecially when viewed from the fea ; the 

 whole furmounted by the old weather-beaten church, on the 

 verge of the eaftern cliff, and the venerable remains of the 

 abbey behind. The eaftern half of the town extends about 

 three-quarters of a mile ; but the breadth where greateft 

 does not exceed 150 yards. The weftern divifion is the 

 largeft, the moft compaft, and the moll elegant. Although 

 now of importance, Whitby was but inconiiderable in trade 

 and population, until towards the beginning of the laft cen- 

 tury. Its origin may, however, be carried back to the 

 foundation of the celebrated monaftery in the feventh cen- 

 tury. That the Romans, or the original Britons, had any 

 eftablilhment at Whitby, we have no grounds to affirm ; al- 

 though the opening of the river into the fea muft have 

 afforded a convenient ftation for fifhing and navigation ; of 

 which, had the Romans been a commercial people, they 

 would doubtlefs have availed themfclves, efpecially on a 

 traft of coall fo little furnilhed with harbours adapted to 

 their {hipping. On this part of the coaft may, perhaps, be 

 placed the bay mentioned by Ptolemy, under the romanized 

 name Dunum Sinus, of which the moll commodious inlet 

 was the mouth of the river, now, by a pecuhar appro- 

 priation of a generic Britifh name for water, called the Elli. 

 After the eilablifliment of the monaftery of St. Hilda in 

 the feventh century, the vicinity began to be inliabited. 

 Under her fucceft'or ^Ifleda, daughter of Ofwv, the port 

 had fome ftiare of ftiipping ; for, in 684, the abbels took 

 a voyage, with fome monks of the abbey, to the ifle of 

 Coquet, on the coaft of modern Northumberland, to have 

 an interview with St. Cuthbert. Suffering and again re- 

 ftored with the abbey, after the devaftation by the Danes 

 in 867, Whitby obtained its prefenl name, fignifying the 

 White town. It was alfo from the monaftery occafionally 

 called Prefteby, or Priefttown. Although unnoticed in 

 Domefday-book, Whitby, prior to 1189, had become of 

 fuch importance, that the abbot erefted it into a borough, 

 with the cuttomary privileges. Thofe privileges were foon 

 after confirmed by a royal charter ; and had no unfair means 

 been employed to fet them afide, Whitby might now 

 have been a royal borough. But the liberties of Whitby 

 were of ftiort duration : the monks repented of their libera- 

 lity to the town, and Peter, the fucceeding abbot, in 1200, 

 procured from king John a repeal of the charter of his pre- 

 deceffor. About the year 1538, Whitby is defcribed by 

 Leland as a " great fifchar toune ;" and nothing more is 

 added by Camden, who mentions the place fifty years later. 

 For many years after the diffolution of the abbey, the 

 veffels of the port were few and fmall ; and the trade was 

 inconfiderable until the eftablilhment of the alum-works at 

 Guilborough, at the clofe of Elizabeth's reign. A Ipirit 

 of emulation being excited by the fuccefs of thofe works, 

 a fimilar eftablilhment was formed in 1615 at Sand'send, 

 within three miles of the town. The vicinity of Whitby 

 abounding with the alum-mineral, other undertakings of the 

 fame kind were begun. Hence two important branches of in- 

 dullry were formed in the town ; the one to fupply the 

 Vol. XXXVIII. 



alum-works with coal, the other to export the aluhi to 

 diltant parts. From thele beginnings, the trade of Whitby 

 increafed ; the fchemes of the inhabitants were enlarged • 

 the number of (hipping was augmented ; and new ftiips 

 were conftruded, tor which timber was drawn from the 

 oak-woods of the vicinity. In this manner, the trade and 

 navigation of the town grew up to fuch a height, that 

 in the beginning of the prefent century, Whitby was the 

 feventh in rank for tonnage among the ports of England. 

 In 18 1 6, the number of veffels belonging to the town was 

 280, carrying 46,341 tons, and navigated by 2674 feamen. 

 Befides the carrying of coal, with the alum trade, and a 

 ftiare of foreign commerce, the number of veffels fitted out 

 from Whitby for the Greenland whale-fiftiery, begun in 1753, 

 was, in 1800, next to that of thofe faihng from London. 

 As early as the middle of the i6th century, fmall wooden 

 piers were conftrufted at the mouth of the Elk, for the 

 proteftion of the fiftiing-craft : but in 1632 ftone piers were 

 begun, through the exertions of fir Hugh Cholmley, who, 

 by the favour of the earl of Strafford, his relation, obtained 

 a general contribution over England in aid of the work, 

 when nearly 500/. were coUeded. The navigation of 

 Whitby becoming of importance, adls of parliament were 

 obtained, in 1702 and 1723, for conftruding a pier, which 

 now extends above two hundred yards from the cHff on 

 the eaft fide of the harbour, weftward to the channel of 

 the Eflc. By this work, fecurity was obtained for the 

 town as well as the ftiipping, both of which were greatly 

 expofed to north-eafterly winds. Another pier, on the 

 weft fide, was afterwards added, running out about an 

 eqnal diftance towards the fea. By fubfequent additions 

 and improvements, the harbour has been effentially bene- 

 fited. The weft pier, now carried out to the length of 

 three hundred and forty yards, is couftruded with large 

 blocks of fquared ftone, and terminates in a circular head, 

 witli embrafures for a battery. Within the piers, veffels to 

 the number of five hundred may lie, but all on the ground 

 at low water. The harbour is divided into the outer and 

 the inner by a drawbridge, fo conftrucled as to allow 

 fhips of two hundred tons to pafs through. In the latter, 

 which is capacious and fecure, on both fides of the river 

 are conftruded feveral dry docks, and other accommoda- 

 tions for Ihip-building. The veffels built for the coal-trade 

 are particularly valued for their ftrength and durability. 

 One built in 1724 was loft on the Lincolnftiire coaft in 

 i8io, but did not go to pieces: another, wrecked a few 

 years ago, was above one hundred years old. In neap-tides 

 the water rifes from ten to twelve feet at the entrance of 

 the harbour; but in ordinary fpring-tides the depth ex- 

 tends from fifteen to eighteen feet. In the equinodial 

 gales, the depth of water is fometimes increafed to twenty- 

 three or twenty-four feet. The trade of the port of 

 Whitby is but fmall in proportion to its (hipping, as many 

 of the largeft velfels are employed in time of war as 

 tranfports, and at other times by the merchants of London, 

 and of other ports. The trade of the town is, however, 

 confiderable for its fituation, in a country abounding with 

 moors, where few manufadures are carried on. The alum- 

 works in the environs are of great antiquity, and may not 

 improbably be carried back to the Roman times. But 

 the firft work eftablilhed lu Britain, in later times, was 

 begun by fir Thomas Chaloner in 1595, on his eftate at 

 Btlman-rock, near Guilborough, twenty miles to the well- 

 ward of Whitby. Since that period, alum-mmeral has been 

 cxtraded in various other places, particularly at Sand's-end, 

 three miles well from Whitby, where the work is ftill in 

 a profperous flate. Until the year 1789, the alkaline lees 

 3 D employed 



