The Historic Fishing Village of Staithes
This charming coastal village is full of character, huddling down to the harbour in low ranks of houses, as if crouching together will help them to survive the might of the sea. Here in 'Steers', as it is locally known, a tight-knit fishing community still lives, fiercely preserving a traditional and very ancient way of life. It has been fortunate to have seen a considerable revival of the fishing industry in recent years, unlike so many fishing communities on this coast. Staithes is now the tenth largest lobster port in England and Wales, though it also draws a proportion of its income from the tourist trade.
The first record of Staithes is in the Domesday Book of 1086. However, it is thought that the settlement is much older, although it would have been situated further inland as protection against the Danish and Viking raids which harried this coast in the Dark Ages. As the centuries passed, these raids gradually came to an end, and the settlement grew towards the sea and the landing-place that were to give it both livelihood and identity.
This gem among Yorkshire fishing villages was always very remote, more easily accessible by sea than by land, and consequently retained a distinctive character, developing peculiar customs, and a language almost of its own. Some local women still wear, on special occasions, the frilled and starched bonnets that are peculiar to this village, and many retain the skill of knitting, to very localised patterns, the fishermen's 'ganseys' or pullovers.
Like Robin Hood's Bay, Staithes was a great centre for smuggling, and has tales of the infamous 'Preventative Service', and of their search for smugglers. There are also stories of disaster at sea and the heroism of the local lifeboatmen. As much as the sea was a provider of food and income, it could be suddenly cruel and destructive. In 1815, 29 fishermen of Staithes and Runswick were lost in a storm. In the winter of 1988, the lifeboat itself was overturned by a mountainous wave. Fortunately the boat righted itself, and all but one of the crew returned safely home.
Despite the rigorous conditions on this coast, the village has fired the imagination of many visitors, as it did with Cook before them. Cook left Staithes for Whitby to seek a career on the sea, but other famous people have been inspired here too, among them the artist Dame Laura Knight who visited the village for a period of 14 years.
Staithes and the adjacent hamlet of Cowbar have a fairy-tale setting on a spectacular coastline, where the nearby Boulby cliffs at over 200 metres are among the loftiest precipices in England, and make magnificent walking. Climbing among the narrow, cobbled streets with their jumbled cottages; listening in the pubs to old tales of smuggling and Press Gangs; or watching the small cobles and trawlers in the harbour, today's visitor can share - yes, even in the twentieth century - a vision of a different era, a harsher past.
CAPTAIN COOK & STAITHES HERITAGE CENTRE
HIGH STREET, STAITHES, NEAR WHITBY, NORTH YORKSHIRE, TS13 5BQ
TEL: 01947 841454 www.captaincookatstaithes.co.uk
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