The Town That Never Was

Ravenscar, actually. This little village on the Yorkshire coast between Scarborough and Whitby is a charming little place. At nearly 200 metres above sea level, it has some of the best views in England (in my humble opinion; the image on the left is Robin Hood's Bay from Ravenscar,) and would have been a trendy holiday resort if the Victorian town planners had got their act together. It was marketed as a sort of early Milton Keynes with terraces, gardens, an Esplanade and shops, all based on a grid layout. It never materialized because the development company went bust in 1913 and much of the site is now in the hands of the National Trust.

Yesterday, Bev., and I decided to explore Ravenscar's other feature, a disused Alum works. Between 1640 and 1862, Alum was mined at Ravenscar and used extensively in the textile and tanning industries for fixing dyes and making leather more supple. The finished product was lowered by winch to ships waiting at a small quay below. The story of Ravenscar has been told in a couple of TV series recently (Landscape Mysteries and Coast) and, I recall, that it's possible to see cart tracks worn out of the rock on the beach. Well, it would be if you could find a way down to the beach. It took us about four hours to find the unmarked public path leading from the Ravenhall Hotel's member-only golf course (image right,) by which time the tide had come in and the weather had turned wet. Call me cynical, but I reckon that the hotel owners deliberately make things difficult in case, God forbid, we spoil some tedious middle-manager's "fun."

I can strongly recommend a visit to Ravenscar because the views are magnificent, its history is interesting and you have an opportunity to piss-off a few golfers. All-in-all, a rather satisfying day out.