Yorkshire holiday 7
Staithes Beck runs down into the harbour and the village of Staithes itself clings improbably to the steep cliffs. Its narrow, often cobbled, streets of mostly 18th century cottages hint at the harsh lifestyle that its inhabitants once endured, either as fishermen or working in the nearby alum mine. Nowadays more than half of the dwellings are holiday lets, with the resident population mostly engaged in providing services for tourists. The shaly rocks of the cliffs themselves hold many fossils, proving attractive to geologists and visitors seeking to find a perfect ammonite. A rare fossil of a seagoing dinosaur was found nearby after a rockfall.
One of the village's most famous inhabitants was the explorer Captain James Cook, who worked here in a grocer's shop in 1745-6, discovered a passion for the sea and went off to nearby Whitby to enrol in the Royal Navy. The cottage he lived in is still preserved.
That first shot! And the seemingly endless charm and differences of English villages.
ReplyDeleteI'd never thought of Capt Cook as a sort of eighteenth-century version of Granville. No wonder he went to sea.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful shots all...my fav. was the last, with the lass in blue skirt so well centered in the lane. As always I can't tell if they're going away up or downhill, but my guess is she's going uphill.
ReplyDeleteYorkshireman Captain Geoff Holland was the well-liked Master of a 57.000 dwt tanker
ReplyDeleteon which I served on the Saudi Arabia to Australia run. One would think after 8 months at sea he had had enough of looking at water! But no: he bought himself one of these cottages and spent his leave looking out on the stormy North Sea.
I love the last shot!
ReplyDeleteA marvelous and evocative place.
ReplyDeleteEngland has so many charming villages, of so many different kinds.
ReplyDelete