Find transfer & transportation guides for Whitby, North Yorkshire, England. Car driving, Public bus, Taxi, Plane, Railway, Boat & Ferry and more.
Coastal town in North Yorkshire, England
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Cliff is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey, where Cædmon, the earliest recognised English poet, lived. The fishing port emerged during the Middle Ages, supporting important herring and whaling fleets, and was where Captain Cook learned seamanship. Tourism started in Whitby during the Georgian period and developed with the arrival of the railway in 1839. Its attraction as a tourist destination is enhanced by the proximity of the high ground of the North York Moors national park and the heritage coastline and by association with the horror novel Dracula. Jet and alum were mined locally, and Whitby Jet, which was mined by the Romans and Victorians, became fashionable during the 19th century. The earliest record of a permanent settlement is in 656, when as Streanæshealh it was the place where Oswy, the Christian king of Northumbria, founded the first abbey, under the abbess Hilda. The Synod of Whitby was held there in 664. In 867, the monastery was destroyed by Viking raiders. Another monastery was founded in 1078. It was in this period that the town gained its current name, Whitby (from "white settlement" in Old Norse). In the following centuries Whitby functioned as a fishing settlement until, in the 18th century, it developed as a port and centre for shipbuilding and whaling, the trade in locally mined alum, and the manufacture of Whitby jet jewellery. The abbey ruin at the top of the East Cliff is the town's oldest and most prominent landmark. Other significant features include the swing bridge, which crosses the River Esk and the harbour, which is sheltered by the grade II listed East and West piers. The town's maritime heritage is commemorated by statues of Captain Cook and William Scoresby, as well as the whalebone arch that sits at the top of the West Cliff. The town also has a strong literary tradition and has featured in literary works, television and cinema, most famously in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. While Whitby's cultural and historical heritage contribute to the local economy, the town does suffer from the economic constraints of its remote location, ongoing changes in the fishing industry, relatively underdeveloped transport infrastructure, and limitations on available land and property. As a result, tourism and some forms of fishing remain the mainstay of its economy. It is the closest port to a proposed wind farm development in the North Sea, 47 miles (76 km) from York and 22 miles (35 km) from Middlesbrough. There are transport links to the rest of North Yorkshire and North East England, primarily through national rail links to Middlesbrough and road links to Teesside, via both the A171 and A174, and Scarborough by the former. As at 2011, the town had a population of 13,213. .... Learn more at Wikipedia
Whitby is situated on the A171 road from Scarborough to Guisborough which originally passed over the swing bridge. A high level bridge over the Esk Valley was built in 1980 to avoid the bridge and ease congestion in the town centre. The A174 accesses coastal towns to the north and the A169 crosses the moors to Pickering. Whitby is served by the Yorkshire Coastliner bus line, operating from Leeds, Tadcaster, York, Scarborough, Bridlington, Pickering and Malton with connections beyond Yorkshire. In 2018 this was voted Britain's most scenic bus route. Arriva North East runs bus services connecting Whitby to Scarborough and Middlesbrough. The nearest airport, about 45 miles (72 km) from Whitby, is Durham Tees Valley Airport, which has a regular service from Amsterdam, Schiphol airport.The town is served by Whitby railway station which is the terminus of the Esk Valley Line from Middlesbrough operated by Northern. It was formerly the northern terminus of the Whitby, Pickering and York Line, and in 2007 the North Yorkshire Moors Railway began a summer service between Pickering and Whitby operated by steam locomotives, as an extension of their long-standing Pickering-Grosmont service. The Scarborough and Whitby Railway following a scenic route along the coast was built in 1885 requiring construction of the red brick Larpool Viaduct across the Esk Valley into Whitby. The line closed as a result of the Beeching axe in 1965 and the trackbed is used as a footpath, bridleway and by cyclists. The Whitby, Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway had a station at Whitby West Cliff and ran close to the cliffs to the north of the town. It opened in 1883 and closed in 1958.The coastal section of the 110-mile (180 km) Cleveland Way National Trail passes through Whitby.The Port of Whitby is strategically placed for shipping to Europe, especially Scandinavia, and is capable of handling cargoes of grain, steel products, timber and potash. Vessels of up to 3,000 tonnes deadweight tonnage are received at the wharf, which can load or unload two ships simultaneously. As of 2004 54,000 square feet (5,000 m2) of dock space is used to store all-weather cargo and there is a 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m2) warehouse for weather-critical cargoes.
| Name | Whitby |
|---|---|
| Long Name | Whitby, North Yorkshire, England |
| Region | England |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Map | Open Map |
You can find bus tickets from or to Whitby with our bus tickets search tool below
You can find taxi prices from or to Whitby with our taxi search tool below
You can find hotels and accommodations in Whitby with our hotels search tool below