Monday Window – Whitby Windows

We have just spent a couple of days in the wonderful historic sea-side town and fishing port of Whitby, Yorkshire. There will be a post coming very soon on our trip to Whitby, but for now here are some Whitby Windows – my contribution to Ludwig Keck’s weekly photographic challenge Monday Window.

The first picture is an old street in the centre of Whitby. The variety of building types and the fenestration gives the street so much character and interest. As is typical of these older buildings, many of the window frames are far from straight but amazingly quite a few are the original windows.

Old shopping street

The second picture is one of the many shops selling jet (a locally mined black gemstone) and jet jewellery. This is in one of the backstreets and I was drawn to it because of the unusual wonky shop window (and because I’m a Simpson).

Jet Shop

The picture below is an unusual ‘arts and crafts’ period designed house. Its a bit over the top for me but architect has certainly spent some time designing the windows.

Fancy house on a hill

The last one is a more a picture of ‘missing‘ windows. It shows the remains of the 7th Century Christian Monastery which later became a Benedictine Abbey. Most of what you see was built just after the Norman conquest in the 11th Century*. The lack of windows in these beautiful weathered stone arches is as a result of Henry VIIIs dissolution of the monasteries, the bombardment of Whitby by a German battlecruiser at the start of World War One, and the plundering of what was left by locals. (*The original abbey fell as a result of the invasion of the Danish Vikings.)

As many of you will know, the ruins of Whitby Abbey which dominate the landscape, and the eerie setting of the ruins, gave Bram Stoker the inspiration for his book ‘Dracula’.

Whitby Abbey