Staithes: A village with a sea view giving artists inspiration (From Gazette & Herald)

Staithes: A village with a sea view giving artists inspiration

4:53pm Thursday 24th July 2008 in Village profiles By Celia Morley

Celia Morley takes a trip to the historic village of Staithes on the North Yorkshire coast Historically the villages along the Yorkshire coast were busy places for smuggling and Staithes was no exception during the 18th and 19th centuries, in truth it played rather a large part.

No one has ever exactly liked paying tax, but especially so when it becomes unfairly high. In 1776 Richard Curtis of Staithes was charged with the murder of a trooper when four apprehended a group of smugglers. Three years later he was brought to trial and acquitted, but still had to serve five years in the Royal Navy.

Like other coastal villages it suffered from the brutalities of the sea and the lifeboat crews were the heroes of the hour. It is ruggedly picturesque once in the older parts, which are hidden from view on the cliff top.

The young James Cook was apprenticed here to a grocer and draper, until his urge to take to the sea became so overwhelming that he deserted his master, possibly taking a shilling from the till to get him to Whitby. The shop was sadly swept away by the waves along with 12 other cottages in 1745.

The area has caught the imagination of artists for a long time and the fishermen and their families made willing models to be captured by paint on canva; the most famous being Dame Laura Knight. She lived in Staithes for 12 years when she was first starting out on her career.

The artists were welcome so long as they adhered to the strict way of life and kept the Sabbath day for resting – if any artist was seen painting on Sunday they would be pelted with rotten fish heads.

The famous Whitby photographer Frank Meadow Sutcliffe caught on camera the item of clothing favoured by the local women of Staithes – the traditional bonnet. The older generation still wear the bonnet on occasion, but possibly for the tourists’ cameras today.

Though many of the cottages along the cobbled streets are holiday homes nowadays, the characteristic lobster pots along the harbour are still genuinely in use. In fact the sale is growing and has established Staithes as a fishing port.

The traditional flat-bottomed, clinker-built fishing boat known as a coble is especially designed to be launched bow first from the beach in raging surf. The fishermen moor them in the sheltered mouth of the beck.

A good, moderately easy three-mile walk begins in the car park above Staithes, which is on the right as you turn north off the A174.

Take a right turn out of the car park, down the hill to the harbour, passing what appears like a jumble of pantiled roofs. Turn uphill along Church Street and follow the coast path sign taking in the church of St Peter the Fisherman.

Continue along the cobbled street until it becomes a footpath leading to the cliff top. As the top approaches follow the signpost stating Cleveland Way through high banks taking in the fine views along the way to a stile near the cliff edge eventually approaching Port Mulgrave. Leave the path and continue along the road.

Turn right at the end of a row of terraced cottages, once the communal home of ironstone miners on to a gravel public footpath. Go through a wooden gate as indicated through fields then head down towards a stile, cross the road and turn right into a layby and left over the stile heading towards a wooded valley.

This should bring you to a steep and densely wooded area on a winding path to a stream at the bottom. Cross the footbridge and follow the path to the right ignoring the yellow arrow being careful in wet weather on this steep path, cross the stile at the woodland edge turning right into a field, rich in meadow flowers including wild orchids.

The path goes downhill to a small caravan site. Cross the stile. Turn right across the footbridge, right again to the caravan site entrance. Take the path immediately to the left of the gate, cross another stile and right into the woods.

At the clearing head uphill between two patches of woodland, continue on leaving a farmhouse to the left. Cross the stile over the farm track cross the fence opposite and go straight towards a stile by the garage, cross the main road, take a left then right down the Staithes road back to the car park. This should take about two hours.