Whitby at Work: People and Industries Through the Years

Despite its remote location, surrounded by the high ground of the North York Moors, Whitby has featured significantly in history throughout the years. One of the earliest records of Whitby is from AD 656, when Oswy, a Christian king of Northumbria, founded the first abbey there. In AD 664, the town was the setting for the famous Synod of Whitby.

It was the town’s coastal location that would ensure its success as it grew to become a major fishing port and an important base for the whaling industry. The town’s jet jewellery industry flourished in the second half of the nineteenth century after Queen Victoria made the famous black gemstone fashionable as a mourning accessory.

Whitby has been a popular tourist destination ever since the Victorian period and today continues as a major attraction, helped in no small part by its associations with Dracula and the hugely popular Goth Weekend, when people come from far and wide to pay homage.

Whitby at Work explores the life of this picturesque Yorkshire coastal town and its people, from pre-industrial beginnings through to the present day, in a fascinating series of photographs and and informative text.