Whitby Abbey

The abbey ruins on Whitby's East Cliff are one of the great sights of the Yorkshire coast. A monastery was founded here in 657 by St Hild, and in 664 it hosted the Synod of Whitby, which set the date of Easter for the English church. The poet Caedmon, the first named English poet, was a lay brother here.

The present ruins are of the 13th-century Benedictine abbey church, its soaring arches open to the sky since the Dissolution. Bram Stoker, staying in Whitby in 1890, used the abbey, the churchyard of St Mary's and the 199 steps as the setting for Dracula's arrival in England.

The visitor centre in the adjacent Cholmley House tells the story; the churchyard next door is free to wander and has the best view of the town and harbour.