'Pier Road, Whitby' Catalogue No.71:
An almost 'stage set' effect is suggested by this sharply evocative photograph by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, which must rank high amongst records from the Victorian period which are at once realistic and yet pictorial. It depicts Pier Road and Coffee House Corner alongside Whitby's lower harbour in the 1890s.

For the technically minded, the photograph was taken on a 6.5in. x 8.5in. glass dry-plate and is a difficult one from which to print, with dense highlights in the sky area and extremely subtle tones running through the rest of the image. Added to this the original negative is a very blemished one requiring hours of hand finishing to obtain a presentable result - but worth it!

Available in small (114 x 152mm) and medium (210 x 276mm).
and LARGE (300 x 400mm; 12" x 16").

'Rigg Mill'; Catalogue No.72:
Approximately three miles north west of Robin Hood's Bay, Rigg Mill can be reached through Larpool Woods by a pathway which is said to be part of an old Monk's Trod. It is thought that a mill has been on this site since before 1316 as an account of a dispute between the Abbot of Whitby, who owned the land and Sir Alexander de Percy, the tenant is described in a book by Charlton. The tenant thought that the half a mark rent demanded by the Abbot was too much.The corn mill was destroyed but after a period of about eight years the Abbot was persuaded by the tenant to have it rebuilt and he agreed to pay the usual rent.

Available in small (114 x 152mm) and medium (210 x 276mm).
and LARGE (300 x 400mm; 12" x 16").

'Rustic Idyll'; Catalogue No.73:
This scene of rural contentment was probably taken at Hart Hall Farm, Glaisdale, a village on the side of the Esk Valley approximately ten miles from Whitby. It depicts two of Sutcliffe's children, Horace and Irene fishing for newts.

Available in small (114 x 152mm) and medium (210 x 276mm).
and LARGE (300 x 400mm; 12" x 16").

'St. Hilda's Terrace, Whitby'; Catalogue No.74:
A winter scene looking down St. Hilda's Terrace towards Flowergate. This view has changed little since Sutcliffe's time. The iron railings on the left were taken as scrap metal during World War II and the boundary wall at the right demolished and re-built to allow some road widening to take place. The Crown Hotel can be seen in the distance on the left side of the photograph. It was advertised in Horne's Guide to Whitby 1905, as a first class hotel with Public Dining and Drawing Rooms, Private Sitting Rooms and a Billiard Smoke Room. A porter would also meet you from the train.

Available in small (114 x 152mm) and LARGE (300 x 400mm; 12" x 16").

Available in small (114 x 152mm) and medium (210 x 276mm).

'St. Ann's Staith, Whitby' Catalogue No.76
A beautifully sharp and interesting print with lots for the eye to explore. The large vessel among the boats moored at the quayside is a timber ship from Quebec. To obtain this high viewpoint Sutcliffe would have been at a first floor window in a building, later to become Boots the Chemist, that was immediately adjacent to the harbour bridge. The whole block was demolished in the 1970s.

Available in small (114 x 152mm)

'Teapot Hill, Sandsend' Catalogue No.77
This photograph depicts a sunlit family group outside a row of cottages in the Teapot Hill area of Sandsend. The first two cottages were together called 'Rockery Cottage'. However, to distinguish them from each other one was called 'big end' and the other 'little end'. They have since been converted into one dwelling. The small images shown here do not do justice to the detail and character of this quaint little village shown on the full sized print.

Available in small (114 x 152mm) and medium (210 x 276mm).

'Runswick Bay' Catalogue No.78
Viewed from the south east looking towards the village. In the mid-distance is the lifeboat shed with its ramp descending to the shoreline. Runswick obtained its first lifeboat,'The Sheffield' in 1866. It was presented to the village by donations from the people of Sheffield and like all lifeboats of that period was a rowing boat. During the 1600s, the entire village was wiped out in a landslip yet nobody was injured.

Available in small (114 x 152mm) and medium (210 x 276mm).

'Winter at Glen Esk' Catalogue No. 79
The road from Ruswarp, a small village just outside Whitby crosses the Esk at Stainsacre Beck by this little humped bridge before winding steeply uphill on Danger Bank. In his book 'Whitby Lore and Legend', published in 1923, Percy Shaw Jeffrey writes: 'Cockmill, in Glen Esk, was a great rendezvous for smugglers who had stow-holes in the surrounding woods. The old ropery and the houses surrounding it, on Spital Bridge, were full of convenient storage places. About 1840 a polar bear used to be kept there and one of the excitements of the young of Church Street was to watch it taking an occasional swim in the harbour.

Available in small (114 x 152mm), medium (210 x 276mm)

'The Haven under the Hill' Catalogue No. 80
Whitby town and harbour photographed from the East Cliff. The rooftops of Henrietta Street can be seen in the foreground. This is one of the most dramatic and atmospheric photographs in the collection of work by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe. It is from an early duplicate negative and the impressionistic effect is almost certainly the result of Sutcliffe having used a bromoil print as an intermediate from which he made the copy negative. It is easy see to why Bram Stoker set a substantial part of his Gothic novel 'Dracula' in the ancient port of Whitby! The title is taken from an early postcard published by Sutcliffe.

Available in small (114 x 152mm) and medium (210 x 276mm).

'Harvest field along Lealholmside' Catalogue No. 81
Although building the stooks caused hands and wrists to become painfully chafed, there is something far more aesthetically pleasing about them than today's mechanically created bales. Also the drying and ripening process was a much more natural one. The man carrying the scythe in this cornfield along Lealholmside has been identified as Cooper Atkinson. The young boy to whom he is talking is Henry Horsley.

Available in small (114 x 152mm)

'Abbey shrouded in mist' Catalogue No. 82
This unusual photograph of St. Hilda's Abbey shows the East Transept and impressive East Window. The sea mist, which shrouds the Abbey and gives this photograph its mysterious, ghostly feel, can cover the town very rapidly and change the landscape dramatically. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Abbey bells, which were very grand, were sold and ordered to be sent to London by ship. This naturally upset the townsfolk. However, although the sea was perfectly calm as the ship sailed out of the harbour it sank in full sight of the town, just off Black Nab. There the bells remain today and on quiet nights it is said you can hear them ringing!

Available in small (114 x 152mm) and medium (210 x 276mm).

'Staithes and Cowbar Beck' Catalogue No. 83
This view of Staithes is taken from the north looking up Cowbar Beck. In the foreground are four cobles, locally known in Staithes as 'ploshers'. Fishing with nets was then called 'ploshing'. Staithes was a prosperous fishing centre in the middle of the 19th century when around four hundred fishermen sailed out of the port in more than one hundred vessels ranging from cobles to yawls. When the railways came, three special trains a week were needed to transport the fish to inland markets.

Available in small (114 x 152mm) and medium (210 x 276mm).