Robin Hood's Bay
Encyclopedia
Robin Hood’s Bay is a small fishing village and a bay
located five miles south of Whitby
and 15 miles north of Scarborough on the coast of North Yorkshire
, England. Bay Town, its local name, is in the ancient chapelry
of Fylingdales
in the wapentake of Whitby Strand.
was ever in the vicinity. An English ballad and legend tell a story of Robin Hood encountering French pirates who came to pillage the fisherman's boats and the northeast coast. The pirates surrendered and Robin Hood returned the loot to the poor people in the village that is now called Robin Hood's Bay.
and Danes
. After the Norman Conquest in 1069 much land in the North of England, including Fylingdales, was laid waste. William the Conqueror gave Fylingdales to Tancred the Fleming who later sold it to the Abbot of Whitby. The earliest settlements were about a mile inland at Raw but by about 1500 a settlement had grown up on the coast. "Robin Hoode Baye" was first mentioned by Leland in 1536 who described it as,
In the 16th century Robin Hood's Bay was a more important port than Whitby, it is described by a tiny picture of tall houses and an anchor on old North Sea
charts published by Waghenaer
in 1586 and now in Rotterdam
's Maritime Museum. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries
in 1540, Whitby Abbey
and its lands became the property of King Henry VIII
with King Street and King’s Beck dating from this time.
, and there is reputed to be a network of subterranean passageways linking the houses. During the late 18th century smuggling was rife on the Yorkshire coast. Vessels from the continent brought contraband which was distributed by contacts on land and the operations were financed by syndicates who made profits without the risks taken by the seamen and the villagers. Tea, gin, rum, brandy and tobacco were among the contraband smuggled into Yorkshire from the Netherlands
and France to avoid the duty.
In 1773 two excise cutters, the Mermaid and the Eagle, were outgunned and chased out of the bay by three smuggling vessels, a schooner and two shallops.
A pitched battle between smugglers and excise men took place in the dock over 200 casks of brandy and geneva (gin) and 15 bags of tea in 1779.
for line fishing in winter and a larger boat for herring fishing. Fish was loaded into panniers and men and women walked or rode over the moorland tracks to Pickering or York. Many houses in the village were built between 1650 and 1750 and whole families were involved in the fishing industry. Many families owned or part owned cobles. Later some owned ocean going craft.
A plaque in the town records that a brig
named "Visitor" ran aground in Robin Hood's Bay on 18 January 1881 during a violent storm. In order to save the crew, the lifeboat from Whitby
was pulled 6 miles overland by 18 horses, with the 7 feet deep snowdrifts present at the time cleared by 200 men. The road down to the sea through Robin Hood's Bay village was narrow and had awkward bends, and men had to go ahead demolishing garden walls and uprooting bushes to make a way for the lifeboat carriage. It was launched two hours after leaving Whitby, with the crew of the Visitor rescued on the second attempt.
The main legitimate activity had always been fishing, but this started to decline in the late 19th century. These days most of its income comes from tourism. Robin Hood's Bay is also famous for the large number of fossil
s which may be found on its beach.
with red-tiled roofs. The main street is Station Road which descends from the cliff top where the manor-house, the newer houses and the church of St Stephen stand. It passes through the village crossing the King's Beck
and reaches the beach by a cobbled slipway known as Wayfoot.
The cliffs are Upper Lias
shale
capped by Dogger and False Bedded Sandstones and shales of the Lower Oolite
.
The Wine Haven-Profil near Robin Hood’s Bay is Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of Pliensbachian
Epoch (183,0–189,6 mya), one of four chronographic substages of Early Jurassic
Epoch.
on the Scarborough and Whitby Railway line which opened in 1885 and closed in 1965. The track of the old railway is now a footpath and cycleway. The nearest railway station is in Whitby
.
The town connects to the A171
allowing access to Whitby and Scarborough. The 93 and X93 Arriva bus services between Scarborough and Middlesbrough
pass through Robin Hood's Bay. Robin Hood's Bay is the eastern terminus of Wainwright
's Coast to Coast Walk
. Robin Hood's Bay is also on the coastal section of the Cleveland Way
, a long distance footpath.
, on the hill side at Raw, above the village, replaced an ancient church which had Saxon origins and was demolished in about 1821 and was a dependent chapel of Whitby Abbey
. A new church, also St Stephens, was built in 1870 in the village from the designs of G. E. Street near to the railway station.
, who was educated in the schoolroom of the old Wesleyan Chapel
, in the lower village. Robin Hood's Bay is a poem by children's poet Michael Rosen
.
The Bayfair newspaper contains news and local information on the town. Wireless internet access is provided for visitors all around the town by the Bay Broadband Co-operative.
In 1948 Life Magazine
ran a story of an unknown Poison Penman
who had been writing spiteful anonymous letters to the inhabitants of Robin Hood Bay since 1928.
Bay
A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...
located five miles south of Whitby
Whitby
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 combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...
and 15 miles north of Scarborough on the coast of North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, England. Bay Town, its local name, is in the ancient chapelry
Chapelry
A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England, and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel which acted as a subsidiary place of worship to the main parish church...
of Fylingdales
Fylingdales
Fylingdales is a civil parish in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England situated south of Whitby. It contains the villages of Robin Hood's Bay and Fylingthorpe and Fyling Hall School....
in the wapentake of Whitby Strand.
Toponymy
The origin of the name is uncertain, and it is doubtful if Robin HoodRobin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
was ever in the vicinity. An English ballad and legend tell a story of Robin Hood encountering French pirates who came to pillage the fisherman's boats and the northeast coast. The pirates surrendered and Robin Hood returned the loot to the poor people in the village that is now called Robin Hood's Bay.
Early history
By about 1000 the neighbouring hamlet of Raw and village of Thorpe (Fylingthorpe) in Fylingdales had been settled by NorwegiansNorway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Danes
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. After the Norman Conquest in 1069 much land in the North of England, including Fylingdales, was laid waste. William the Conqueror gave Fylingdales to Tancred the Fleming who later sold it to the Abbot of Whitby. The earliest settlements were about a mile inland at Raw but by about 1500 a settlement had grown up on the coast. "Robin Hoode Baye" was first mentioned by Leland in 1536 who described it as,
In the 16th century Robin Hood's Bay was a more important port than Whitby, it is described by a tiny picture of tall houses and an anchor on old North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
charts published by Waghenaer
Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer
Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer was a Dutch chief officer and cartographer who was born in Enkhuizen.He is one of the founding fathers and most famous members of the North Holland school, which played a major role in the early development of Dutch nautical chart-making.Between 1550 and 1579 Waghenaer...
in 1586 and now in Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
's Maritime Museum. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
in 1540, Whitby Abbey
Whitby Abbey
Whitby Abbey is a ruined Benedictine abbey overlooking the North Sea on the East Cliff above Whitby in North Yorkshire, England. It was disestablished during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under the auspices of Henry VIII...
and its lands became the property of King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
with King Street and King’s Beck dating from this time.
Smuggling
The town, which consists of a maze of tiny streets, has a tradition of smugglingSmuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
, and there is reputed to be a network of subterranean passageways linking the houses. During the late 18th century smuggling was rife on the Yorkshire coast. Vessels from the continent brought contraband which was distributed by contacts on land and the operations were financed by syndicates who made profits without the risks taken by the seamen and the villagers. Tea, gin, rum, brandy and tobacco were among the contraband smuggled into Yorkshire from the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and France to avoid the duty.
In 1773 two excise cutters, the Mermaid and the Eagle, were outgunned and chased out of the bay by three smuggling vessels, a schooner and two shallops.
A pitched battle between smugglers and excise men took place in the dock over 200 casks of brandy and geneva (gin) and 15 bags of tea in 1779.
Fishing and lifeboats
Fishing and farming were the original occupations followed by generations of Bay folk. Fishing reached its peak in the mid 19th century, fishermen used the cobleCoble
The coble is a type of open traditional fishing boat which developed on the North East coast of England. The southern-most examples occur around Hull The coble is a type of open traditional fishing boat which developed on the North East coast of England. The southern-most examples occur around Hull...
for line fishing in winter and a larger boat for herring fishing. Fish was loaded into panniers and men and women walked or rode over the moorland tracks to Pickering or York. Many houses in the village were built between 1650 and 1750 and whole families were involved in the fishing industry. Many families owned or part owned cobles. Later some owned ocean going craft.
A plaque in the town records that a brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
named "Visitor" ran aground in Robin Hood's Bay on 18 January 1881 during a violent storm. In order to save the crew, the lifeboat from Whitby
Whitby
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 combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...
was pulled 6 miles overland by 18 horses, with the 7 feet deep snowdrifts present at the time cleared by 200 men. The road down to the sea through Robin Hood's Bay village was narrow and had awkward bends, and men had to go ahead demolishing garden walls and uprooting bushes to make a way for the lifeboat carriage. It was launched two hours after leaving Whitby, with the crew of the Visitor rescued on the second attempt.
The main legitimate activity had always been fishing, but this started to decline in the late 19th century. These days most of its income comes from tourism. Robin Hood's Bay is also famous for the large number of fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s which may be found on its beach.
Governance
Robin Hood's Bay was part of the chapelry of Fylingdales in the Liberty of Whitby Stand which was a wapentake in the North Riding of Yorkshire.Geography
Robin Hood's Bay is built in a fissure between two steep cliffs. The village houses were built mostly of sandstoneSandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
with red-tiled roofs. The main street is Station Road which descends from the cliff top where the manor-house, the newer houses and the church of St Stephen stand. It passes through the village crossing the King's Beck
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
and reaches the beach by a cobbled slipway known as Wayfoot.
The cliffs are Upper Lias
Lias Group
The Lias Group or Lias is a lithostratigraphic unit found in a large area of western Europe, including the British Isles, the North Sea, the low countries and the north of Germany...
shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
capped by Dogger and False Bedded Sandstones and shales of the Lower Oolite
Oolite
Oolite is a sedimentary rock formed from ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers. The name derives from the Hellenic word òoion for egg. Strictly, oolites consist of ooids of diameter 0.25–2 mm; rocks composed of ooids larger than 2 mm are called pisolites...
.
The Wine Haven-Profil near Robin Hood’s Bay is Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of Pliensbachian
Pliensbachian
The Pliensbachian is an age of the geologic timescale or stage in the stratigraphic column. It is part of the Early or Lower Jurassic epoch or series and spans the time between 189.6 ± 1.5 Ma and 183 ± 1.5 Ma . The Pliensbachian is preceded by the Sinemurian and followed by the Toarcian.The...
Epoch (183,0–189,6 mya), one of four chronographic substages of Early Jurassic
Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic epoch is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic period...
Epoch.
Transport
The town was once served by Robin Hood's Bay railway stationRobin Hood's Bay railway station
Robin Hood's Bay railway station was a railway station on the Scarborough & Whitby Railway situated 15 miles from Scarborough and 6 miles from Whitby It opened on 16 July 1885, and served the fishing village of Robin Hood's Bay, and to a lesser extent the village of Fylingthorpe.On the north-bound...
on the Scarborough and Whitby Railway line which opened in 1885 and closed in 1965. The track of the old railway is now a footpath and cycleway. The nearest railway station is in Whitby
Whitby railway station
Whitby railway station serves the town of Whitby in North Yorkshire, England. It is the terminus of the Esk Valley Line, connecting with the North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Grosmont, and provides mainline running for NYMR trains during the summer months...
.
The town connects to the A171
A171 road
The A171 is a road in England that links the North Yorkshire towns of Middlesbrough and Scarborough. Locally it is known as The Moors Road.It takes the following route*starts at Middlesbrough, heads south*turns east at Nunthorpe*past Guisborough...
allowing access to Whitby and Scarborough. The 93 and X93 Arriva bus services between Scarborough and Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
pass through Robin Hood's Bay. Robin Hood's Bay is the eastern terminus of Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright MBE was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, published between 1955 and 1966 and consisting entirely of reproductions of his manuscript, has become the standard reference work to 214 of the fells of the...
's Coast to Coast Walk
Coast to Coast Walk
The Coast to Coast Walk is a 192-mile unofficial and mostly unsignposted long distance footpath in Northern England...
. Robin Hood's Bay is also on the coastal section of the Cleveland Way
Cleveland Way
The Cleveland Way is a National Trail in ancient Cleveland in Northern England. It runs 110 miles from Helmsley to Filey, skirting the North York Moors National Park.-History:The trail was opened in 1969...
, a long distance footpath.
Religion
Robin Hood's Bay is in the parish of Fylingdales which contains two churches both dedicated to St Stephen. The Old St Stephen's Church, FylingdalesOld St Stephen's Church, Fylingdales
Old St Stephen's Church, Fylingdales, is a redundant Anglican church standing on a hillside in Fylingdales, overlooking Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire, England...
, on the hill side at Raw, above the village, replaced an ancient church which had Saxon origins and was demolished in about 1821 and was a dependent chapel of Whitby Abbey
Whitby Abbey
Whitby Abbey is a ruined Benedictine abbey overlooking the North Sea on the East Cliff above Whitby in North Yorkshire, England. It was disestablished during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under the auspices of Henry VIII...
. A new church, also St Stephens, was built in 1870 in the village from the designs of G. E. Street near to the railway station.
Culture
Robin Hood's Bay is the setting for the Bramblewick books by the author Leo WalmsleyLeo Walmsley
Leo Walmsley was an English writer.He was born at 7 Clifton Place, Shipley in the county of West Yorkshire in 1892, and two years later his family moved to Robin Hood's Bay on the coast of present-day North Yorkshire, where he was schooled at the old Wesleyan chapel...
, who was educated in the schoolroom of the old Wesleyan Chapel
The Old Chapel, Robin Hood's Bay
The former Wesleyan Chapel on Chapel Street, Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire, England, was built in 1779. John Wesley is recorded as preaching there on 28 June that same year....
, in the lower village. Robin Hood's Bay is a poem by children's poet Michael Rosen
Michael Rosen
Michael Wayne Rosen is a broadcaster, children's novelist and poet and the author of 140 books. He was appointed as the fifth Children's Laureate in June 2007, succeeding Jacqueline Wilson, and held this honour until 2009....
.
The Bayfair newspaper contains news and local information on the town. Wireless internet access is provided for visitors all around the town by the Bay Broadband Co-operative.
In 1948 Life Magazine
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
ran a story of an unknown Poison Penman
Poison pen letter
A poison pen letter is a letter or note containing unpleasant, abusive or malicious statements or accusations about the recipient or a third party. It is usually sent anonymously. Poison pen letters are usually composed and sent to upset the recipient...
who had been writing spiteful anonymous letters to the inhabitants of Robin Hood Bay since 1928.
External links
- Local information website
- News, pictures and holiday accommodation for Robin Hood's Bay
- Local Robin Hood's Bay Mini Guide
- Lost Brig The brig Elizabeth Jane, launched at Guysborough, Nova ScotiaNova ScotiaNova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, in 1817, was abandoned off Robin Hood's Bay on 8 July 1854. Her crew were picked up by the Samuel of GrimsbyGrimsbyGrimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
and set down at BridlingtonBridlingtonBridlington is a seaside resort, minor sea fishing port and civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It has a static population of over 33,000, which rises considerably during the tourist season...
Quay on the morning of 9 July. The vessel washed ashore at RavenscarRavenscar, North YorkshireRavenscar is a coastal village in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England, approximately north of Scarborough. It is within the civil parish of Staintondale....
and was built into a house at Robin Hood's Bay. Her timbers, including nameboard and port of registration board, were only discovered when a cottage ceiling was removed in 2003.