Whitby is famous for?
Whitby (St Hilda's) Abbey, Dracula, Bram Stoker, Captain Cook, Whitby Goths, Whitby Regatta, Whitby Whaling, Fishing, St Mary's Church, Whitby Jet, Whitby Witches, Whitby Town, The Whitby Seagull, 199 Steps, Harbour, Whitby Piers, Shipping Trades, Alum Production, B&Bs, The East Cliff, Captain William Scoresby, Fisherman's Cottages, Whitby's Yards, Steps and cobbled streets, Fish and Chips, The Endeavour, Ghost Walks, Sea Food, Seaside, The West Cliff, Whitby Folk Festival, Caedmon, Frank Sutcliffe, Whitby Kippers, Lobster, Crabs and Scampi, Synod of A.D. 664, Australian 'First Fleet' supply vessels,
Do you know any other things Whitby is famous for? Let us know and we'll add it to the list, see here!
Discover Whitby's street names and their history here
Break the ice, Jury, Binge drinking, Incredible Hulk, Down the hatch, ...discover these and many more well known phrases from our maritime past here
Find out about the building styles and architecture found in the buildings of Whitby here.
Whitby in times gone by, ads from the past here
Given the geographical isolation Whitby has had since it's establishment by the first monastery around 657a.d, it's no wonder that fishing has played such a big part in Whitby's history and survival. The inhabitants of the first monastery were probably the first to fish the seas for a source of food. Records exist showing that as early as the 1200's whitby was using boats for fishing.
The early fishing boats were either sailed or rowed. Fishing was either done inshore or out at sea. The boats used inshore were called cobles. These small wooden boats (17ft - 40ft long) were rowed or sailed by a 3 man crew head on into the waves. Catching fish was done with either nets, multi hooked multiple lines or multi pot multiple lines. As today, many sea food is seasonal and the fisherman would work different methods depending on the time of year. Salmon was caught using nets between the months of March and August. Cod was caught all through the year with lines and hooks. Lobsters and Crabs were caught with lobster and crab pots in the months outside of March and August when the salmon fishing had stopped.
Herring fishing became popular in summer months from the 19th to 20th century, due to the fisherman travelling from Cornwall and Scotland to Whitby to make the most of the shoals. The cornish boats (luggers) and scottish boats (zulus and fifies) were much larger than the coble and fished much further out to sea. Herring would be taken to the harbour, gutted, put into barrels and preserved in salt or ice. From the harbour the prepared fish would be bought by wholesalers and distributed around the country by rail. Unfortunately for the fishermen, during the 18th and 19th centuries, fishing diminished substantially from the previous centuries. The reduction in the fishing trade, was as a result of a more prosperous trade, namely ship building, which caused a lot of fisherman to relocate to Staithes and Robin Hoods bay.
Herring that was not directly sold on, would be kippered, a process that involved dipping the split herring in brine, hanging them on racks and then smoking them. Smoking preserves and flavours the fish. The smoking would usually be done using oak wood chips, which gives a distinctive flavour and aroma.
Out at sea, larger boats were more suitable and Whitby has a long history of these larger fishing boats. The earliest known are the 5 man boats, known to exist as early as 1541, but probably in use long before then. The five man boats weighed over 30 tons and were over 40ft long 16ft wide (beam) and had 4 sails. Later, models of boats were the Staithes Yacker and Marshall Lugger (1850) with two sails and The Dandies (late 19thC). All these boats carried at least one coble on deck. On the larger boats, there was sufficient room to allow the the crew live aboard for days at a time.
It was not until the 1920's that whitby saw the first boats with engines. The keel boats were much more efficient than the sail boats. In the 1960's Whitby saw the first steel trawlers. The trawlers came from scotland and were later sold on to whitby fisherman.
An important part of the fishing trade is the fish market. In whitby the fish market location has moved several times. The first known recorded fish market was at sandgate, this moved to Brewster Lane around 1790, then to Coffee House End (outside the Marine Hotel, Marine Parade). Today the fish auction take place next to the derrick in covered sheds.
Today the variety of fish caught in the north sea off the the coast of whitby is ever increasing, mainly due to climate change around the world, which is bringing in some unusual varieties. The fishing boats, and fishing boat trips today are catching cod (a whitby favourite), herring, haddock, mackerel, whiting, salmon, crab, lobster, coal fish, pouting, ling and pollock. There is a range of flat fish available such as sole, turbot, brill, rays, dabs, plaice and skate. It's also known that tope, hounds, shark, dogs and swordfish can be caught. The bait, hooks, rod, net, basket, location, season, weather are all factors in the success of fishing. Fishing today is very popular with anglers during the summer and many boats are rented to these groups, where they often fish around ship wrecks where shoals gather. The piers of whitby are still very popular with anglers.
Discover the maritime history and origin of everyday sayings and words with The Whitby Seagull.
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