Random Ramblings

Random Ramblings: Personal observations on a wide variety of subjects. Photographs of creatures and things that are taken on seeing the unusual as well as everyday things.

Whitby

Yorkshire is a beautiful county … it has all kinds of beauty from the most simple, stark scenery, to areas where you simply have to catch your breath and wonder how it could have all been sculptured by nature so perfectly.

Whitby is an ancient town that stands on the North-East coast of Yorkshire. It is unique. Noted for its jet and for the birth of Dracula … it is the one place that everyone should try and visit once in their lifetime.

Jet is the beautiful hard stone-like semi-precious jewel that was formed in pre-historic times from the Monkey Puzzle tree. It is actually pre-historic driftwood that has been squashed and submerged on the seabed; an ancient coal that has been mined at Whitby for its value as a jewel; popularised by Queen Victoria when she went into mourning over the death of Prince Albert. Tourists to the area of Whitby often find small pieces of it on the beach and unlike many other precious artefacts which are treasure-trove, these lovely deep black jewels are ‘finders keepers!’

Whitby is known as the birth place of Dracula. The ancient, still Abbey that sits on the hill was the place where Bram Stoker feasted his eyes and conjured up the character of Dracula. Whitby, the English Transylvania and the Abbey with its cold, crooked grave stones - ooze the dank, darkness of chilling fangs after the long climb of the stone steps from the town up to the ancient Abbey. Only in the twilight does the shudder of the ghosts caress the tourists.

Whitby Jet

Whitby Jet

6 comments:

Katherine said...

When I was young I had nightmares about dracula... your post gave me the shivers LOL!

Ann said...

What a beautiful stone or would you call it a gem? either way very pretty. Whitby sounds fascinating. Maybe some day I'll get to visit, even if it's just through the internet.

LizzyT said...

Whitby is one of my favourite places to visit.

Paul Baines said...

Great to read a post about Whitby, half of my family hark from there, the other half having been born within the sound of Bow Bells, which probably explains a lot about me lol. I regret to say I have never visited Whitby, the relatives who lived there moved down to Cambridgeshire, but I must drag my other half up to see the place one day, looks beautiful in the postcards...

Jan from BetterSpines said...

I didn't know that Whitby was the inspiration for Dracula. What an obscure bit of trivia! Where do you find theses interesting snippets?

John | English Wilderness said...

We visited Whitby for the weekend last year and I read "Dracula" and "The Lair of the White Worm" while at the B&B.

We didn't find any jet on the beach :-( We spent an afternoon exploring the ruins of the abbey and even found an archway made from a whale's jawbone!