St Mary's Church, Whitby

Reached by climbing 199 steps and overlooking the harbour and town of Whitby, North Yorkshire, the Church of St Mary is a Grade I listed Anglican Parish Church. Founded on it's current site in 1110 in the shadow of Whitby Abbey, the current oldest parts of the church which include the tower and transepts date from the 12th and 13th centuries. There have been many additions and changes to the church and the interior dates mainly from the 18th Century.

The church forms part of the setting in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, he had visited Whitby in 1890 and was partly inspired by the town and graveyard at St Mary's, and whilst on a visit to the public library he came across the story of Vlad Tepes, the real life Dracula. In 1897 Stoker published his novel Dracula and the rest is history. People used to regularly search the graveyard for what they called Dracula's grave, in reality the novel is a work of fiction so no grave exists. Some graves used to have a skull and cross bones sculptured, which was thought to indicate it was the grave of a pirate although more likely a mason, 1 of these was the grave people searched for.  A former rector fed up at being asked the whereabouts of the grave at St Mary's used to direct people searching to a cracked tomb in the grounds its inscriptions weathered away long ago.

The pictures were taken in the grounds of St Mary's using a Nikon d3300 SLR on August 25 2018. There are 9 which can be seen here or on Clickasnap where they are full size, resolution and un-watermarked. Copies can also be downloaded from there.

The church stands besides the former Abbey overlooking the town.

Taken across the harbour from West Cliff.

Looking up from the harbour.

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All the pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green.

St Marys Church, Kirkby Lonsdale

The Parish Church of Kirkby Lonsdale, or by it's official name St Mary the Virgin is a Grade I listed Anglican place of worship overlooking the River Lune in the town of Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria.

Standing on it's current site since the 12th Century, with some of the architecture being of Norman build the church has many influences in it's build due to various rebuilds during it's history. In the 14th century the church was extended by rebuilding the north and south walls further out. further developments in the early 16th century included the addition of a new clerestory, pinnacles and battlements, these were removed during further refurbishments in 1807 as a new roof was added. Again the church was remodelled in 1866 by E.G Paley who once raised the roof, re-floored the chancel, added a south porch amongst many other developments.

In the grounds are a number of Grade II listed monuments and a 2 storey octagonal stone gazebo thought to date from the late 18th century. It was moved to it's current location to the north of St Mary's from the garden of the vicarage.

The pictures below were taken on the 4th April 2015 with a Polaroid is2132 camera. They can also be seen on Clickasnap un-watermarked and higher resolution. Click any image for a link to the Clickasnap version to open in another window.

Clicking any image should open a link in another window to the un-watermarked, higher resolution version on Clickasnap.

Thanks for looking, please take a moment to share and follow me on social media.

All the pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green.