"Whitby from the Pier Oct 15 1874"
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk and has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy. From the Middle Ages, Whitby had significant herring and whaling fleets, and was where Captain Cook learned seamanship. He first explored the southern ocean in HMS Endeavour, built there. Alum was mined locally, and Whitby jet jewellery was fashionable during the 19th century. Tourism started in Whitby during the Georgian period and developed with the arrival of the railway in 1839. 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 sheltered by grade II listed east and west piers. There are statues of Captain Cook and William Scoresby, and a whalebone arch on the West Cliff. Whitby featured in literary works including Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. Whitby is 47 miles (76 km) from York and 22 miles (35 km) from Middlesbrough.
Tate Hill Pier (also known as the East Pier and the Burgess Hill Pier) was deemed to have been at least 105 yards (96 m) in length when it was rebuilt c. 1766, with the join of the extension being quite visible. Its original name of Burgess Pier is thought to derive from its original sponsors, the Burgesses of Whitby who had the pier built before the Trustees board was enacted by Parliament in 1702. Evidence points to a pier at this location as far back as 1190, when fallen rocks were arranged at that location to protect boats in the harbour. This has led to some writers referring to Tate Hill Pier as the "oldest non-religious building in the town [Whitby]," and possibly the oldest pier in the world (though not of original construction).
At some point it became known as Tate Hill Pier because of the narrow lane (Tate Hill) that led onto the pier. A document of 1545 stated "it is verye necessarye that all the Woods within the Parishe of Whitbye or elce where nere thereunto be reservyde for the maintenance of the Kyyngs Tenements and cottages in Whitbye and at Robynhood baye, and of the Peyr against the Sea at Whitbye where the Kyngs Majestie hath adredye imployed great somes of Money." In 1626, the pier was described as being "much decayed". This pier is long held to be that which now occupies the site of Tate Hill Pier.
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The position of Tate Hill Pier from the east cliff has led to some suggesting that the pier was the original East Pier, which predates the building of the current West and East Piers by some time. As stated, its creation around 1190 meant that it was the only pier protecting the harbour until the 17th century. When Scotch Head pier was constructed, it was said that the two piers projecting out into the river were protecting the harbour from the power of the sea, and the distance between the two is 72 yards (66 m). The pier was noted as being unusual in that its rectangular blocks were stacked facing upwards rather than horizontally.There is a possibility that the remnants of earlier piers lie underneath the one at Tate Hill.
Between 1822 and 1863, the Whitby lifeboat was kept here, overhanging the water from the south side of the pier. The davits for the suspended lifeboat were not removed until the 1970s. At the start of the kipper industry in Whitby in the 1830s, many kipper houses (where the herrings where smoked over oak) were built at the head of Tate Hill Pier. The pier was grade II listed in December 1972.
In Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), the pier features as a landing point for Dracula as a dog, who the comes ashore and leaps up the 199 steps. This event was inspired by the wreck of the Demeter in 1855, which was photographed by Frank Sutcliffe, and seen in print by Bram Stoker in 1890. At the end of Tate Hill Pier is a large black anchor, which was caught in the nets of the MV Ocean venture in November 1991. It is unsure which ship the anchor came from, but was gifted to Whitby as a symbol of its nautical heritage.
The patch of land between Tate Hill Pier and the East Pier is known as Collier (or) Collier's Hope, where Whitby Cats (flat-bottomed collier ships, hence Collier's Hope) landed to offload coal. Whilst this is overlaid with sand, it is hard alum shale underneath. Indeed, both the West and East piers sit on different rocks due to the Eskdale Anticline: the West Pier is built on oolitic sandstone, and the East Pier is built on hard alum shale (which can also be seen in the West and East Cliffs at Whitby respectively). This is why there is sand westwards from the West Pier to Sandsend and hard rock eastwards from the East Pier through Saltwick Nab.
Mary Keightley (1854-1946) was the youngest daughter of Archibald Keightley (1795-1877), executor of Sir Thomas Lawrence’s estate. She was a good amateur artist. Archibald Keightley (1795-1877), who was a solicitor who was the executor for Sir Thomas Lawrence, who had died earlier in 1830. Mr Keightley was responsible for the sale of Sir Thomas's collections, some of which were not paid for! There is a very interesting story about Sir Thomas's collection of old master drawings which were part of the assets Mr Keightley hadto dispose of. Following his work as a solicitor, Mr Keightley a few years later became the Registrar for the Charterhouse School, where he remained for 39 years.
Mary Keightley was born in 1854, in Charterhouse, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom, her father, Archibald Keightley, was 58 and her mother, Sarah Elizabeth Yates, was 41. She lived in London, England for about 20 years and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, United Kingdom in 1891. She died on 20 April 1946, in Camberley, Surrey, England, United Kingdom, at the age of 93.