Whitby and the Hartlepool Headland

This weekend Jason and I decided to take a drive out to Whitby. I had never been there before but it was definitely worth seeing. Everything about the trip was not quite what I expected. I didn't realize quite how close we were to the North Yorkshire Moors which is a national park area of what here is known as "hills" but I think by American standards they could be called low mountains. The term moor does not actually refer to elevation but rather to the vegetation. The moors are covered in a spongy acidic earth that is layer of peat covered over by a dark bushy moss. 

Sadly we chose a cold and windy day to go make the trip and didn't wear our warmest clothes since it turned out to be colder than forecasted. At the top of the moors everything was covered in a beautiful layer of frost and snow.

Whitby itself was not quite what I expected. I expected a small village but it was actually a good sized town and it reminded me a lot of Durham except it was on a beautiful harbor. The highlight of Whitby is the headland where the ruined remains of Whitby Abbey are hauntingly perched.

Whitby Abbey was founded by the Abbess of Hartlepool, St. Hilda in 657 AD. The first Abbey fell to viking attack in 876 and was later resurrected in 1078 by William de Percy. During the Dissolution in 1540 the Abbey was destroyed by Henry VIII leaving the ruins that stand today. Bram Stoker was a frequent visitor to Whitby Abbey and it is believed that Whitby Abbey was his inspiration for his legendary novel Dracula.  It is no mystery why this site inspired Stoker to write Dracula. 

Had the weather been a bit warmer we probably would have explored inside a bit more but we will probably do this in April when my parents come to visit and the weather is nice. 

Keeping with the theme of headlands and St Hilda, Jason took me up to the Hartlepool headland yesterday afternoon to take some photos of St. Hilda's. The original monastery of St. Hilda was founded in 640, but the church that stands on the headland today was built in the late twelfth century. 

The weather yesterday was beautiful (51 degrees and sunny) so Jason and I had a nice walk around the headland. The town wall surrounding the headland was built by the famous Bruce family (also know by their Norman name "de Brus"). The most famous descendent of the Harltepool Bruces was Robert the Bruce who was considered one of the greatest kings of Scotland. 

The town wall, built by the Bruce family

Waves crashing on the sea wall

The lighthouse and a Russian cannon

We had a great weekend, it turned out to be more eventful than I expected it to be. Thanks for reading! More to come next week!

A little update, this news story came out today! Study queries monkey legend roots