Whitby Gansey

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

Old Whitby Ad

A gansey is the traditional fisherman’s knitted pullover. The word is related to Guernsey and/or Jersey, islands that became synonymous with stockinet fabric after Elizabeth 1 created stocking knitting guilds there. Gansey origins are debatable, though. Evolution is linked to fishing fleet activity, in which harbours like Whitby berthed vessels from other areas, spreading the idea of the garment and its patterns.

Ganseys were work clothing. Densely knit in 5-ply wool, they were comfortable and warm even when wet. Ideally they were of simple square shape, plain and reversible to equalise wear. Uniquely, an underarm gusset minimised fabric strain. They were knitted ‘in the round’ using several double point needles to hold the work while another formed stitches. The resulting fabric tubes eliminated stitched seam weaknesses. Arms were knitted similarly, usually outwards from the body. High wrist cuffs reduced water wicking under oilskins. Necks were almost always a ‘crew’ type with any buttons on one side to avoid snagging fishing gear. Patterned items were often plain below the upper chest and arms, making repair quick and easy. Stray folds could be hazardous, so close fitting was normal, but a looser fit also reduced fabric strain. Other damage limiting features might be double wool strengthened extremities and a side split welt. Wearers probably didn’t appreciate the subtleties. Turning up the lower body made a convenient pouch for pipe and tobacco.

See Whitby icon, Henry Freeman, here wearing what’s often called the ‘Staithes Pattern’ gansey.

Women were the main knitters, but men were often capable. Knitting was a vital craft among the poorly paid, girls learned it young and a gansey was a natural betrothal gift. A wife was expected to provide and maintain working and Sunday-best items, the latter proudly displaying her skill. Her main tools were suitable ‘wires’ sharpened on doorsteps or stones. But fishing income was very uncertain, so many women also knitted for sale, casually or on contract. A speed aid was a wooden ‘knitting stick’ again often a betrothal token.

Stick used for making a gansey

Pushed into a waistband or cord it held one end of a wire, conferring control. The fastest could manage two hundred stitches a minute and knit a gansey a week. Women routinely walked many miles carrying their work to collection or sale points.

It’s often said that all fishermen in a village wore the same gansey pattern, so a dead man’s origin could be determined if his body was found. Perhaps there was some truth this once, when such communities were very small, isolated and insular. Then it might have been possible for family or popular patterns to dominate a locality, but there is no contemporary evidence to confirm this. As for corpse identification, well, any knitter knows her work, but none ever averred this was the reason for her design. The notion is romantic, though, so it’s repeated despite surviving evidence like photographs strongly indicating otherwise.

See the ‘Sheringham Fishermen’ here to see a photo in which two men at top right look like brothers wearing similar ganseys, but variety rules otherwise. Indeed, at frame left is a variant of the ‘Staithes’ pattern worn by Henry Feeman in Whitby.

Compare with another Frank Meadow Sutcliffe photo. Note mostly plain ganseys.

Consider photo contexts. The Sheringham men are in a formal studio setting, so they probably dressed in Sunday-best. The Whitby image records daily garb more truthfully. Yet the content of neither agrees with the popular assertion. Consider also that marriages between partners from different places and knitting for sale undermine any attempt at rigid geographical classification. Finally, by the 1930’s gansey knitting was in rapid decline and patterns hadn’t been recorded, so one Gladys Thompson collected as many as possible. Her book carefully attributes patterns to individuals and details fourteen found in Filey. Authors like Michael Pearson and Rae Compton followed suit, but such works are out of print, so published patterns with names like ‘Filey’ seem to substantiate what is essentially myth. Below, a Storm family pattern from Robin Hood’s Bay available from Bobbins of Whitby. See real life Bobbins examples in the old Wesley Hall building on Church Street.

Gansey article continued on next page here

Whitby is famous for?

THE GANSEY