Whitby at Work
Regular price
€19.99
Despite its remote location, surrounded by the high ground of the North York Moors, Whitby has featured significantly in history throughout the years. One of the earliest records of Whitby is from AD 656, when Oswy, a Christian king of Northumbria, founded the first abbey there. In AD 664, the town was the setting for the famous Synod of Whitby.
It was the town’s coastal location that would ensure its success as it grew to become a major fishing port and an important base for the whaling industry. The town’s jet jewellery industry flourished in the second half of the nineteenth century after Queen Victoria made the famous black gemstone fashionable as a mourning accessory.
Whitby has been a popular tourist destination ever since the Victorian period and today continues as a major attraction, helped in no small part by its associations with Dracula and the hugely popular Goth Weekend, when people come from far and wide to pay homage.
Whitby at Work explores the life of this picturesque Yorkshire coastal town and its people, from pre-industrial beginnings through to the present day, in a fascinating series of photographs and and informative text.
Paul Chrystal was educated at the Universities of Hull and Southampton where he took degrees in Classics and wrote his MPhil thesis on attitudes to women in Roman love poetry. He appears regularly on BBC local radio the World Service as well as publishing features for national newspapers and history magazines. He has been history advisor for a number of York tourist attractions and is the author of many books on a wide range of subjects, including histories of northern places focussing on Yorkshire, social histories of tea, chocolate and confectionery and various aspects of classical literature and Roman history. Paul lives near York and is married with three grown up children.