Visit Yorkshire UK Robin Hood's Bay
Once a Notorious Smuggling Centre - Now a Quiet Seaside Town
Feb 18, 2007
Robin Hood's Bay is a picturesque fishing village in North Yorkshire, between Whitby and Scarborough. The narrow main street descends dizzily down to the sea and the little houses and shops, pierced with narrow alleys and winding stairways, huddle closely together.
Robin Hood's Bay - Yorkshire - Smuggling Days
In the bad old days when smuggling was rife in this part of the world, the closeness of the houses, with their linked attics and cellars, tunnels and secret doors meant that contraband goods could pass the length and breadth of the village without seeing daylight. Robin Hood's Bay became Yorkshire's most notorious smuggling centre It was an ideal location because of the natural isolation of the bay and at Ravenscar, on the southern headland, there is a niche cut into a slab of rock where a lantern, invisible from land, helped to guide the smugglers in.
Robin Hood's Bay - Yorkshire - Things to do and see
Although the quaint houses retain their character, many have been modernised and are available for rent. The bay, with its grand three-mile sweep, has a clean sandy beach with fossils and shells for the collector and at low tide grey seals are often to be seen on or near the shore.
The old Wesleyan Chapel , where John Wesleypreached the opening service, has been restored as an Exhibition Centre where you can find out all you want to know about smuggling in Robin Hood's Bay.
Just a mile south of the village are some bronze age burial grounds, called 'bin Hood's Butts' and a short walk along the cliffs to Ravenscar (where the hotel is built on the site of a lighthouse) brings magnificent views of the bay.
Robin Hood's Bay - The Wake Walk
Ravenscar is the starting point for the Lyke Wake Walk which runs across wild heather moors to Osmotherley. If you want to explore more of the area Whitby is only six miles to the north.
Captain Cook was brought up in Whitby and the house he lived in is now a museum. Bram Stoker set part of his novel 'Dracula' here and you can follow a Dracula Trail or visit the Dracula Experience (if your nerves are up to it!)
Robin Hood's Bay - Robin Hood
Where the connection with the legendary Robin Hood comes from is a mystery. According to the locals the outlaw used to spend his summer holidays here but there is nothing on record to confirm this. One thing is certain, if the benevolent outlaw had spent time here he would have had no trouble covering over his traces in the maze of alleys and lanes that make up Robin Hood's Bay.
And don't leave without trying a crab sandwich - Robin Hood's Bay is one of the best crab grounds on the North Yorkshire coast.
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