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73-460: The Blue Lias is a geological formation in southern, eastern and western England and parts of South Wales , part of the Lias Group . The Blue Lias consists of a sequence of limestone and shale layers, laid down in latest Triassic and early Jurassic times, between 195 and 200 million years ago. The Blue Lias is famous for its fossils , especially ammonites . Its age corresponds to

146-431: A Blue Lias town is Street , near Glastonbury . Other examples of Blue Lias buildings can be found in the nearby towns of Somerton and Ilchester . It remains popular in more modern-day surroundings where it is used in the construction of new housing developments and extensions for existing buildings in conservation areas. Blue Lias is mainly used in flooring, walling and paving slabs – both coursed and layered. It

219-713: A Christian ministry and has a chapel, reading room and recreational facilities. The Bishop of Whitby is a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of York , in the Province of York . The town lies within the Central Vicariate of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough . Whitby is situated on the east coast of Yorkshire facing the North Sea in a deep valley at the mouth of

292-570: A coastal route and was built in 1885. It required construction of the red brick Larpool Viaduct across the Esk Valley into Whitby. The line closed as a result of the Beeching cuts in 1965; the trackbed is now 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. Whitby

365-480: A consequence the mud was seldom disturbed, which is why the fine, paper-like layering is preserved. Above the sea bed, the shallower waters supported ammonites , fish, and marine reptiles ( ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs ). Their remains were discovered in the Wilmcote Limestone quarries during the nineteenth century. The Warwickshire Museum houses a collection of these fossils and some are on display at

438-720: A deeper marine environment. The lowest beds of the formation are referred to as the "Pre- planorbis beds" in reference them being deposited before the first appearance of the ammonite Psiloceras planorbis . In certain restricted parts of Britain, the lowermost member of the Blue Lias is the Wilmcote Limestone. It lies above the Cotham Member of the Lilstock Formation and beneath the Saltford Shale Member. The Wilmcote Limestone of central England

511-542: A newly designated formation could not be named the Kaibab Formation, since the Kaibab Limestone is already established as a formation name. The first use of a name has precedence over all others, as does the first name applied to a particular formation. As with other stratigraphic units, the formal designation of a formation includes a stratotype which is usually a type section . A type section

584-617: A permanent natural or artificial feature of the geographic area in which they were first described. The name consists of the geographic name plus either "Formation" or a descriptive name. Examples include the Morrison Formation , named for the town of Morrison, Colorado , and the Kaibab Limestone , named after the Kaibab Plateau of Arizona. The names must not duplicate previous formation names, so, for example,

657-522: A region or predict likely locations for buried mineral resources. The boundaries of a formation are chosen to give it the greatest practical lithological consistency. Formations should not be defined by any criteria other than lithology. The lithology of a formation includes characteristics such as chemical and mineralogical composition, texture, color, primary depositional structures , fossils regarded as rock-forming particles, or other organic materials such as coal or kerogen . The taxonomy of fossils

730-449: A result of a strike at Hull docks in 1955, when six ships were diverted and unloaded their cargoes on the fish quay. Endeavour Wharf, near the railway station, was opened in 1964 by the local council. The number of vessels using the port in 1972 was 291, increased from 64 in 1964. Timber, paper and chemicals are imported, while exports include steel, furnace-bricks and doors. The port is owned and managed by Scarborough Borough Council since

803-458: A single lithology (rock type), or of alternating beds of two or more lithologies, or even a heterogeneous mixture of lithologies, so long as this distinguishes them from adjacent bodies of rock. The concept of a geologic formation goes back to the beginnings of modern scientific geology. The term was used by Abraham Gottlob Werner in his theory of the origin of the Earth, which was developed over

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876-477: A source of agricultural lime. It is no longer quarried, and most of the old quarries are either infilled or overgrown. Geologists think that the Wilmcote Limestone originated as layers of fine-grained mud on the floor of a sheltered, shallow muddy sea or lagoon that covered parts of central England at the dawn of the Jurassic Period. Very little life could tolerate the stagnant conditions on the seabed. As

949-471: A two tier council system by Scarborough Borough Council , one of the seven district councils in North Yorkshire . For borough council purposes the town comprised three wards: Mayfield, Streonshalh and Whitby West Cliff. The borough council was a non-metropolitan district , responsible for housing, planning, leisure and recreation, waste collection, environmental health and revenue collection. Above

1022-525: A year later the harbour was silted up. On 30 October 1914, the hospital ship Rohilla was sunk, hitting the rocks within sight of shore just off Whitby at Saltwick Bay . Of the 220 people on board, 74 died in the disaster. In a raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914, the town was shelled by the German battlecruisers Von der Tann and Derfflinger . In the final assault on

1095-449: Is not a valid lithological basis for defining a formation. The contrast in lithology between formations required to justify their establishment varies with the complexity of the geology of a region. Formations must be able to be delineated at the scale of geologic mapping normally practiced in the region; the thickness of formations may range from less than a meter to several thousand meters. Geologic formations are typically named after

1168-626: Is a terminus of the Esk Valley Line from Middlesbrough , operated by Northern . It was formerly the northern terminus of the Whitby, Pickering and York Line. In 2007, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway began a summer service on that line between Pickering and Whitby operated by steam locomotives, as an extension of their long-standing Pickering- Grosmont service. The Scarborough and Whitby Railway followed

1241-604: Is also used in the making of flagstones and cobbles . There are only four quarries in Somerset quarrying Blue Lias at present. AR Purnell at Ashen Cross Quarry in Somerton have been mining blue lias stone since 1996. Hadspen Quarry Ltd. Hadspen Quarry operate one in Keinton Mandeville. Ham & Doulting Stone Co Ltd. operate one of these, Tout Quarry near Somerton . The rock is rich in fossil remains from

1314-404: Is also used informally to describe the odd shapes (forms) that rocks acquire through erosional or depositional processes. Such a formation is abandoned when it is no longer affected by the geologic agent that produced it. Some well-known cave formations include stalactites and stalagmites . Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire , England. It

1387-573: Is an ancient foundation, St Ninian's opened in Baxtergate in 1778 and St John's, also on Baxtergate, was consecrated in 1850. St Michael's was opened in 1856 and St Hilda's on the West Cliff was built in 1885. The Roman Catholic church dedicated to St Hilda was built in 1867 on Baxtergate. There are places of worship for nonconformists including a United Reformed Church; two Methodist chapels are no longer used. The Mission to Seafarers maintains

1460-560: Is central to the geologic discipline of stratigraphy , and the formation is the fundamental unit of stratigraphy. Formations may be combined into groups of strata or divided into members . Members differ from formations in that they need not be mappable at the same scale as formations, though they must be lithologically distinctive where present. The definition and recognition of formations allow geologists to correlate geologic strata across wide distances between outcrops and exposures of rock strata . Formations were at first described as

1533-455: Is ideally a good exposure of the formation that shows its entire thickness. If the formation is nowhere entirely exposed, or if it shows considerably lateral variation, additional reference sections may be defined. Long-established formations dating to before the modern codification of stratigraphy, or which lack tabular form (such as volcanic formations), may substitute a type locality for a type section as their stratotype. The geologist defining

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1606-743: 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

1679-839: 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 North Yorkshire Moors to Pickering. Whitby is on the Yorkshire Coastliner bus route to Leeds , Tadcaster , York, Scarborough, Bridlington , Pickering and Malton . Arriva North East runs bus services connecting Whitby to Scarborough and Middlesbrough. The coastal section of

1752-514: Is the mainstay of Whitby's economy in an isolated community with poor transport infrastructure and restricted by building constraints in the surrounding North York Moors National Park . The economy is governed by the changing fortunes of fishing, tourism and to some extent, manufacturing. Structural changes have led to concentrations of deprivation, unemployment and benefit dependence. A narrowing employment base and dependence on low wage and low skill sectors has resulted in younger age groups leaving

1825-436: Is used for shipping to Europe, especially Scandinavia, and mainly handles grain, steel products, timber and potash . Vessels limited to 3,000 tonnes deadweight tonnage can dock at the wharf, which is able to load or unload two ships simultaneously. As of 2004 , 54,000 square feet (5,000 m ) of dock space is used to store all-weather cargo, with a 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m ) warehouse. Whitby railway station

1898-755: The Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, Whitby was recorded being partially waste and a small settlement lying within the Langbaurgh Wapentake of Yorkshire. Further details reveal the state of Whitby's economic and agricultural decline (when compared with its pre-Conquest state under Earl Siward ) which were due to the depredations of William the Conqueror 's army during the Harrying of the North in 1069–70. In about 1128 Henry I granted

1971-583: The Jurassic period. The blue-grey colour is provided by its iron content, enclosed to a large extent in pyrites . Dornraptor D. normani Lower cliff face, Charmouth Black Ven Marl Member? An Averostran theropod, possible Ceratosaur. In 2024 was formally described, but referred to the Blue Lias. A paper non quoted on the description relocated it on the Charmouth Mudstone Formation . Numerous fish species are known from

2044-625: The Papal States where he observed that the rock being processed was similar to that under his Guisborough estate. At that time alum was important for medicinal uses, in curing leather and for fixing dyed cloths and the Papal States and Spain maintained monopolies on its production and sale. Chaloner secretly brought workmen to develop the industry in Yorkshire, and alum was produced near Sandsend Ness 3 miles (5 km) from Whitby in

2117-788: The Rhaetian to lower Sinemurian stages of the geological timescale , thus fully including the Hettangian stage. It is the lowest of the three divisions of the Lower Jurassic period and, as such, is also given the name Lower Lias . Stratigraphically it can be subdivided into three members : the Wilmcote Limestone , Saltford Shale and Rugby Limestone. The Blue Lias comprises decimetre scale alternations of argillaceous limestone and mudstone . These alternations are caused by short-term climatic variations during

2190-428: The River Esk . It has been a bridging point since at least medieval times and several bridges have spanned the river. The current bridge, built in 1908, is a swing bridge with a 75-foot (23 m) span that separates the upper and lower harbours which have a total area of around 80.1 acres (32.40 ha). The houses are built of brick or stone, often with red pantiled roofs, in narrow, steep streets, on both sides of

2263-417: The pagan king of Mercia . At its foundation, the abbey was an Anglo-Saxon 'double monastery' for men and women. Its first abbess, the royal princess Hild , was later venerated as a saint. The abbey became a centre of learning, and here Cædmon the cowherd was "miraculously" transformed into an inspired poet whose poetry is an example of Anglo-Saxon literature . The abbey became the leading royal nunnery of

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2336-598: The ratepayers . A Local Board was formed in 1872, and lasted until Whitby Urban District Council was formed under the Local Government Act 1894 . The townships of Whitby, Ruswarp and Hawsker-cum-Stainsacre were formed into a Parliamentary borough under the Reform Act of 1832 returning one member until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 . From 1974 to 2023 Whitby was administered as part of

2409-458: The whaler , the Resolution' s catch produced 230 tons of oil. The carcases yielded 42 tons of whale bone used for ' stays ' which were used in the corsetry trade until changes in fashion made them redundant. Blubber was boiled to produce oil for use in lamps in four oil houses on the harbourside. Oil was used for street lighting until the spread of gas lighting reduced demand and

2482-562: The Blue Lias and overlying Charmouth Mudstone. referred: ROM 47697 Insect compression fossils are known from the localities of Binton in Warwickshire and Copt Heath near Birmingham. Formation (stratigraphy) A formation must be large enough that it can be mapped at the surface or traced in the subsurface. Formations are otherwise not defined by the thickness of their rock strata, which can vary widely. They are usually, but not universally, tabular in form. They may consist of

2555-522: The Borough council was North Yorkshire County Council, which was a non-metropolitan county providing education, transport, highways, fire, waste disposal, social and library services. In April 2023 both councils were replaced by North Yorkshire Council along with all district councils in North Yorkshire. The unitary authority now provides all the services previously provided separately by

2628-502: The Conquest, the area was granted to William de Percy who, in 1078 donated land to found a Benedictine monastery dedicated to St Peter and St Hilda. William de Percy's gift included land for the monastery, the town and port of Whitby and St Mary's Church and dependent chapels at Fyling , Hawsker , Sneaton , Ugglebarnby , Dunsley , and Aislaby , five mills including Ruswarp , Hackness with two mills and two churches. When

2701-643: The Early Jurassic attributed to orbital forcing ( Milankovitch cycles ). These limestone-mudstone alternations pass up into a clay member formerly known as the Lower Lias Clay now the Charmouth Mudstone . This lithology consists of monotonous mudstones weathering to clay at the surface. Sparse thin limestone and nodule bands are seen where the rocks are exposed. The deposition of a clay-rich mudstone member normally indicates deposition in

2774-582: The East Midlands. It also appears near Whitby in Yorkshire and Southam in Warwickshire where a pub is named after it. There are outcrops along the coast of South Wales , notably that of the Vale of Glamorgan . The type section of the Blue Lias is at Saltford near Bath . Blue Lias is useful as a building stone, and as a source of lime for making lime mortar . Because it is argillaceous ,

2847-575: 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

2920-544: The Harbour Commissioners relinquished responsibility in 1905. A marina was started in 1979 by dredging the upper harbour and laying pontoons. Light industry and car parks occupy the adjacent land. More pontoons were completed in 1991 and 1995. The Whitby Marina Facilities Centre was opened in June 2010. By an Act of 1837 government of the town was entrusted to a board of Improvement Commissioners, elected by

2993-760: The Market Hall Museum in Warwick . The Blue Lias is a prevalent feature of the cliffs around Lyme Regis and Charmouth , on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset , where it exists in layers of limestone interspersed with softer clay . It is also notable for its presence in Somerset , particularly around the Polden Hills , Keinton Mandeville and Glastonbury area, and it forms a broad plain across

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3066-475: 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 . Whitby was called Streanæshalc , Streneshalc , Streoneshalch , Streoneshalh , and Streunes-Alae in Lindissi in records of the 7th and 8th centuries. Prestebi , from Old Norse býr ( village ) and presta ( of

3139-671: The Whitby Whale Oil and Gas Company changed into the Whitby Coal and Gas Company. As the market for whale products fell, catches became too small to be economic and by 1831 only one whaling ship, the Phoenix, remained. Whitby benefited from trade between the Newcastle coalfield and London, both by shipbuilding and supplying transport. In his youth the explorer James Cook learned his trade on colliers , shipping coal from

3212-583: The Whitby and Pickering Railway, was the Conservative MP for the town promoted by Hudson as a fellow protectionist . The black mineraloid jet , the compressed remains of ancestors of the monkey-puzzle tree , is found in the cliffs and on the moors and has been used since the Bronze Age to make beads. The Romans are known to have mined it in the area. In Victorian times jet was brought to Whitby by pack pony to be made into decorative items. It

3285-469: The Yorkshire coast, the ships aimed their guns at the signal post on the end of the headland. Whitby Abbey sustained considerable damage in the attack, which lasted ten minutes. The German squadron responsible for the strike escaped despite attempts made by the Royal Navy. During the early 20th century the fishing fleet kept the harbour busy, and few cargo boats used the port. It was revitalised as

3358-464: The abbey burgage in Whitby and permission to hold a fair at the feast of St Hilda on 25 August. A second fair was held close to St Hilda's winter feast at Martinmas . Market rights were granted to the abbey and descended with the liberty . Whitby Abbey surrendered in December 1539 when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries. By 1540 the town had between 20 and 30 houses and a population of about 200. The burgesses , who had little independence under

3431-586: The abbey, tried to obtain self-government after the dissolution of the monasteries . The king ordered Letters Patent to be drawn up granting their requests, but it was not implemented. In 1550 the Liberty of Whitby Strand , except for Hackness, was granted to the Earl of Warwick who in 1551 conveyed it to Sir John York and his wife Anne who sold the lease to the Cholmleys. In the reign of Elizabeth I , Whitby

3504-601: The area. Smaller fossils include numerous species of ammonites , or "snake stones", from the Whitby Mudstone Formation (Alum Shale Member) and at Whitby Scar nautiloids in the lower beds of the lias strata. The town's folklore (similar to Keynsham 's in Somerset) has it that fossils were once living serpents that were common in the area. This was until the 7th century AD when Anglo-Saxon Abbess St Hilda of Whitby (614–680), first had to rid

3577-554: The area. There are few business start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises. Older people who make increasing demands on the area's health and social care capacity have moved into the area. Demographic changes, Whitby's relative isolation from the region's main growth areas and decline in traditional employment sectors pose an economic challenge. The town has a variety of self-catering accommodation, holiday cottages, caravans and campsites, and guest houses, inns, bed & breakfast establishments and hotels. The jet industry declined at

3650-466: The beach. The rock strata contain fossils and organic remains including jet. Fossils include the petrified bones of an almost complete crocodile and a specimen of plesiosaurus measuring 15 feet 6 inches (4.72 m) in length, and 8 feet 5 inches (2.57 m) in breadth was discovered in 1841. The Rotunda Museum in Scarborough has a comprehensive collection of fossils from

3723-467: The coast. Lobsters, brown and velvet crabs are important to the local fishery. From May to August, salmon is found in the Esk, and small open boats are licensed to net these off the harbour entrance. There are around 40 licensed angling party boats. The commercial catch is no longer herring but has been replaced by cod, haddock, and other fish caught within 12 miles (19 km) of the coast. A fish market on

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3796-531: The end of the 19th century, but eight shops sell jet jewellery, mainly as souvenirs to tourists. In 1996, Whitby West Cliff qualified for a 'Tidy Britain Group Seaside Award'. The town was awarded "Best Seaside Resort 2006", by Which? Holiday magazine. The harbour has a total area of about 80 acres (32 ha) and is used by commercial, fishing and pleasure craft. Inshore fishing, particularly for crustaceans and line fish, takes place along

3869-550: The essential geologic time markers, based on their relative ages and the law of superposition . The divisions of the geological time scale were described and put in chronological order by the geologists and stratigraphers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Geologic formations can be usefully defined for sedimentary rock layers, low-grade metamorphic rocks , and volcanic rocks . Intrusive igneous rocks and highly metamorphosed rocks are generally not considered to be formations, but are described instead as lithodemes . "Formation"

3942-522: The formation is expected to describe the stratotype in sufficient detail that other geologists can unequivocally recognize the formation. Although formations should not be defined by any criteria other than primary lithology, it is often useful to define biostratigraphic units on paleontological criteria, chronostratigraphic units on the age of the rocks, and chemostratigraphic units on geochemical criteria, and these are included in stratigraphic codes. The concept of formally defined layers or strata

4015-666: The kingdom of Deira , and the burial-place of its royal family. The Synod of Whitby , in 664, established the Roman date of Easter in Northumbria at the expense of the Celtic one. The monastery was destroyed between 867 and 870 in a series of raids by Vikings from Denmark under their leaders Ingwar and Ubba . Its site remained desolate for more than 200 years until after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. After

4088-496: The lime is hydraulic . Since the mid-nineteenth century, it has been used as a raw material for cement , in South Wales , Somerset, Warwickshire, and Leicestershire. The cement plant quarry at Rugby, Warwickshire is probably the best exposure of the formation: more than 100 layers can be seen. In areas where Blue Lias is quarried it has been used in buildings and churches as well as tombstones in cemeteries. An example of

4161-408: The local economy. The remaining shipbuilding firm, Parkol Marine , is a family-run business on the east side of the river. Founded in 1988, the boatyard has two berths for new build and a dry dock for repairs. St Hilda's Business Centre provides office space for a range of businesses. Whitby Business Park is a 49-acre (20 ha) site located by the A171 road, 2 miles (3 km) from the harbour on

4234-399: The period from 1774 to his death in 1817. The concept became increasingly formalized over time and is now codified in such works as the North American Stratigraphic Code and its counterparts in other regions. Geologic maps showing where various formations are exposed at the surface are fundamental to such fields as structural geology , allowing geologists to infer the tectonic history of

4307-422: The port. HMS Endeavour , the ship commanded by Cook on his voyage to Australia and New Zealand, was built in Whitby in 1764 by Tomas Fishburn as a coal carrier named Earl of Pembroke . She was bought by the Royal Navy 1768, refitted and renamed. Whitby developed as a spa town in Georgian times when three chalybeate springs were in demand for their medicinal and tonic qualities. Visitors were attracted to

4380-417: The priests ), is an 11th-century name. Its name was recorded as Hwitebi and Witebi , from the Old Norse from hvítr ( white ) and býr ( village ), in the 12th century, Whitebi in the 13th century and Qwiteby in the 14th century. A monastery was founded at Streanæshealh in 657 AD by King Oswiu or Oswy of Northumbria , as an act of thanksgiving, after defeating Penda ,

4453-401: The quayside operates as need arises. The ready supply of fresh fish has resulted in an abundance of " chippies " in the town, including the Magpie Cafe which Rick Stein has described as the best fish and chip shop in Britain. The Whitby Marina project, jointly funded by Scarborough Borough Council, Yorkshire Forward and the European Regional Development Fund , was developed to diversify

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4526-427: The region of snakes. She did so by casting a spell that turned them to stone and then threw them from the cliff tops. Local collectors and dealers in fossils often carved heads on ammonites to increase curiosity value and improve sales. Since 1935, the Whitby Coat of Arms incorporates three snakestones due to this folklore. The Hildoceras genus of ammonite is named in St Hilda's honour. Tourism supported by fishing

4599-477: The reign of James I . Once the industry was established, imports were banned and although the methods in its production were laborious, England became self-sufficient. Whitby grew significantly as a port as a result of the alum trade and by importing coal from the Durham coalfield to process it. Whitby grew in size and wealth, extending its activities to include shipbuilding using local oak timber. In 1790–91 Whitby built 11,754 tons of shipping, making it

4672-462: The river. The town is surrounded on its landward sides by the moorland of the North York Moors National Park and the North Sea abuts it on the seaward side. The coastal areas are designated part of the North Yorkshire and Cleveland Heritage Coast . The harbour and the mouth of the River Esk are on a geological fault . On the east side the cliff is tall, 187 feet (57 m), and consists of alternating layers of shale, sandstone and clay . On

4745-603: The southern outskirts of the town. Companies on the park include Supreme Plastics, Whitby Seafoods Ltd and Botham's of Whitby alongside major retailers, Homebase and Sainsbury's . The east coast has limited conventional energy generation capacity, but Whitby is the closest port to a proposed development on Dogger Bank , ideally placed to provide the offshore wind power industry with support vessel operations and logistics. The Dogger Bank wind farm could include up to 2,600 giant 400-foot (120 m) turbines covering more than 3,300 square miles (850,000 ha). Whitby's port

4818-411: The third largest shipbuilder in England, after London and Newcastle. Taxes on imports entering the port raised money to improve and extend the town's twin piers, improving the harbour and permitting further increases in trade. In 1753 the first whaling ship set sail to Greenland and by 1795 Whitby had become a major whaling port. The most successful year was 1814 when eight ships caught 172 whales, and

4891-502: The town leading to the building of "lodging-houses" and hotels, particularly on the West Cliff. In 1839, the Whitby and Pickering Railway connecting Whitby to Pickering and eventually to York was built, and played a part in the town's development as a tourism destination. George Hudson , who promoted the link to York, was responsible for the development of the Royal Crescent which was partly completed. For 12 years from 1847, Robert Stephenson , son of George Stephenson , engineer to

4964-422: The two councils. At the lowest level of governance Whitby has a town council which, for election and administrative purposes, is divided into six electoral wards represented by 19 councillors responsible for burial grounds, allotments, play areas and street lighting. Elections to the town council are held every four years. In the UK Parliament , the town is represented by Alison Hume of the Labour Party , who

5037-432: The west side the cliff is much lower and has a deep capping of boulder clay over a sandstone base making it less stable and liable to slippage. Both cliffs are being eroded quite rapidly. The town is a coastal stretch known as the Dinosaur Coast or the Fossil Coast, the area is around 35 miles (56 km) long and stretches from Staithes in the north and south to Flamborough . At Whitby dinosaur footprints are visible on

5110-423: Was a small fishing port. In 1635 the owners of the liberty governed the port and town where 24 burgesses had the privilege of buying and selling goods brought in by sea. Burgage tenure continued until 1837, when by an Act of Parliament, government of the town was entrusted to a board of Improvement Commissioners, elected by the ratepayers. At the end of the 16th century Thomas Chaloner visited alum works in

5183-410: Was at the peak of its popularity in the mid-19th century when it was favoured for mourning jewellery by Queen Victoria after the death of Prince Albert . The advent of iron ships in the late 19th century and the development of port facilities on the River Tees led to the decline of smaller Yorkshire harbours. The Monks-haven launched in 1871 was the last wooden ship built in Whitby, and

5256-552: Was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Scarborough and Whitby constituency in 2024 . In the three wards that make up the Whitby district of North Yorkshire, out of a population of 13,596 there are 10,286 who stated that their religion was Christian in the 2001 UK census. There were 19 Muslims, 17 Buddhists, 12 Jews, 3 Sikhs and 499 people had no religious affiliations. St Mary's Church

5329-530: Was formerly quarried close to Stratford-upon-Avon , for example at Wilmcote , Temple Grafton and Binton. It is roughly 200 million years old, dating back to the dawn of the Jurassic Period . Much of the Wilmcote Limestone is very fine-grained, blue-grey when fresh, and very finely layered. Fossils are quite rare, except in the lowest beds. It was formerly used for a variety of purposes, including walling, building, paving, gravestones, cement-making and as

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