WHITBY

Right: Whitby Abbey, the ruin that inspired Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' Below:The Church of St Mary and Whitby Abbey on East Cliff

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“ A most noble ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and romantic bits”; Bram Stoker’s description of Whitby Abbey in Dracula, his masterpiece of Gothic horror, rings just as true today. 2022 will mark the 125th anniversary of the book’s publication, and there’s no better time to plan a visit to this atmospheric Yorkshire town.

The idea for Dracula rst came to Stoker while on a summer holiday in Whitby, a former shing village turned genteel Victorian resort. He arrived at the guesthouse of one Mrs Veazey at 6 Royal Crescent at the end of July 1890. He was to be joined a week later by his wife and baby son, and – turfed out of the guesthouse in the mornings so his landlady could clean his room – he used his free time to explore.

Stoker wandered the windswept headland, soaking up the atmosphere and hearing salty tales from the local shermen. Inspired by the town’s narrow alleys, secret staircases, and the looming, skeletal abbey, he began taking notes for what would become his most famous novel. Little has changed since, and the “beautiful and romantic bits” are still shadowed by a dark Gothic edge. The town’s historic core on the East Cliff is captivating – all cobbled streets, quaint cottages, tearooms and antiques shops, as well as shops selling jet, an industry that took off in the time of Queen Victoria, who popularized the wearing of the black stone in mourning jewellery. On the side streets you might spot some more esoteric offerings – shops selling Goth clothes, and jewellery in the shape of bats and skulls; it’s no surprise that Whitby is beloved of Goths, and hosts a twice-yearly Goth festival, attracting fans from the world over.

Stoker honoured his muse by including key Whitby landmarks in his tale. The 199 steps that lead to the abbey, for example, are in the novel ascended by a shape-shifting

How did this well-to-do Victorian resort town become the inspiration for one of Gothic fiction’s darkest tales?

WORDS NATASHA FOGES

Dracula in the form of a black dog. At the top of the steps, the ancient church of St Mary provided further inspiration: among the weather-worn gravestones in the churchyard he noted down several names for use in his book, including ‘Swales’, Dracula’s first Whitby victim. Some visitors, unaware that Dracula is a work of fiction, trawl the churchyard in search of the Count’s grave – a misconception so common that this year, a notice appeared in the churchyard politely informing visitors of the character’s fictional status.

Above the church, the 13th-century abbey, the ruin of a once-great Benedictine monastery, has towered over Whitby for nearly 700 years. It was first founded in around AD 657 by St Hilda, who, as local legend has it, got rid of all the town’s snakes by throwing them from the cliff here, whereupon they turned to stone in the heat of her anger: a medieval explanation for the coiled form of the ammonites embedded in the rocks below. An interactive trail allows you to unravel the abbey’s history – or you could simply stroll beneath the soaring arches and soak up the views, as Stoker did.

Beyond Stoker-style wanderings, there’s plenty to occupy you in Whitby. The town is also famous as the place where Captain James Cook began his seafaring career in 1746. Climb aboard the Bark Endeavour, a full-size replica of the ship in which Cook sailed to Australia and New Zealand. Now a permanent fixture in the harbour, it has interactive displays that help you imagine what life was like for the 95 crew during the ship’s three-year voyage.

You can learn more about the explorer’s adventures at the Captain Cook Memorial Museum, in the 17th-century harbourside building where he served his apprenticeship. Paintings, letters and objects collected on Cook’s voyages bring his story to life.

THE PLANNER

GETTING THERE It takes around 2hr 50min to reach Whitby from York by train, with a change at Thornaby, or there’s a direct bus, no. 840, from York to Whitby (2hr 20min). www.thetrainline.com; www.transdevbus.co.uk

EAT, DRINK, SLEEP The Bagdale Hall Hotel is a Tudor manor near the Thomas Cook Memorial, on the West Cliff where Stoker stayed. It has traditional, beamed rooms, four-posters and plenty of charm. Don’t leave Whitby without trying fish and chips; best in town are to be found at Trenchers, right on the harbour. For an atmospheric pub, try the Duke of York, at the bottom of the 199 steps to the abbey, a favourite haunt of Bram Stoker. www.bagdale.co.uk; www.trenchersrestaurant.co.uk; www.dukeofyork.co.uk

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FURTHER INFORMATION www.visitwhitby.com For a taste of the seafaring life, choose from an array of pleasure-boat trips departing from the harbour. The Captain Cook Experience is accompanied by traditional Whitby sea shanties; Whitby Coastal Cruises explore the Yorkshire coastline; while whale-watching trips take place in late summer and autumn. The harbour is also the place for Yorkshire’s best fish and chips, fried in beef dripping – an essential Whitby experience. Back on the Captain Cook trail, the well-curated Whitby Museum above the harbour on the West Cliff has more Cook memorabilia, as well as an array of eclectic displays covering everything from embroidery to ships’ compasses. Nearby, proudly surveying the harbour from his lofty perch is the bronze Captain Cook Memorial Monument. Its inscription, “To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield” might just as well describe the mission of Whitby’s whalers. A thriving industry in the 18th and 19th centuries, the pursuit of whales (specifically, their blubber to be rendered down into oil) saw countless ships navigate a dangerous course from Whitby to the Arctic. Many never came back, but those that returned to port would tie a whale’s jawbone to the ship’s mast – a sign that they had conquered the beast and not the other way around.

Next to Cook’s memorial is the 15-foot Whale Bone Arch, a landmark erected in 1853. The current arch is actually the third to stand in this spot; it was donated in 2003 by Anchorage, Alaska, Whitby’s sister town. The breathtaking view framed by the arch – the clifftop abbey ruins above a jumble of russet-roofed houses – is just as Bram Stoker would have seen it, walking out from his guesthouse one long-ago summer’s morning.

You might puzzle at the mind that would conjure one of Gothic horror’s most famous villains from this tranquil place – but it’s little wonder that this magical little town inspired a masterpiece.

The breathtaking view framed by the Whale Bone Arch is just as Bram Stoker would have seen it

Clockwise, from this image: The Whale Bone Arch frames Whitby Harbour and Whitby Abbey; Church Street; the famous 199 steps leading up to the abbey