St Mary's Church, Whitby

St Mary's Church, Whitby, North Yorkshire

visited October 2013

On the hill above the town, right outside Whitby Abbey, is St Mary's Church, and the lovely churchyard. Always a few people around as it's at the top of the steps up from the town, the churchyard is packed with gravestones. Most of the stones have been rendered illegible by the weather, as they're mostly soft sandstone. The churchyard is right on the cliff edge, and a couple of recent landslips have left it quite precariously balanced.

The churchyard is, of course, famous for its appearance in Dracula:

"For a moment or two I could see nothing, as the shadow of a cloud obscured St. Mary's Church. Then as the cloud passed I could see the ruins of the Abbey coming into view; and as the edge of a narrow band of light as sharp as a sword-cut moved along, the church and churchyard became gradually visible... It seemed to me as though something dark stood behind the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, whether man or beast, I could not tell."