Bram Stoker memorial seat
This Victorian-style seat was erected in April
1980 to commemorate the link between the author and the town an the
inspiration he derived from it while writing chapters 6-8 of
Dracula.
Bram Stoker memorial seat
Bram Stoker memorial seat
“Right over the town is the ruin of
Whitby Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of ‘Marmion‘, where the girl was built up in the wall. It is a most noble ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and romantic bits.“
(p.53)
Bram Stoker memorial seat
The seats look directly across the harbour to
East Cliff – both cliffs provide settings for
episodes in the story and from it
you can see almost every feature of the
town mentioned in the novel.
Bram Stoker memorial seat
Bram Stoker memorial seat
East Crescent
Originally called “The Crescent“ this building is the Royal Hotel
nowadays.
The Royal Hotel
“This Portrait was presented to the management of the Royal Hotel on the occasion of the Dracula Society’s visit to Whitby on April 29th, 30th & May 1st1977 to walk the ‘sites’ of the ‘Dracula’ Story. As it was in Whitby that the Vampire Count came ashore in the shape of an ‘immense dog’ from the wreck of the ‘Demeter August 8’ Whitby can truly be named Dracula country.”
The Crescent
In one of the nine small
houses in The Crescent Mina and her friend
Lucy are spending their
summer holidays.
At No. 7 lives the lawyer by
Count Dracula to handle the import of his strange cargo from
Transylvania to Whitby.
St. Mary’s Church
“At the edge of the West Cliff above the pier i looked across the harbour to the East cliff, in the hope or fear of seeing Lucy in our favourite seat.“ (p.76)
The Railway Station
On the station Mina arrived at Whitby in Chapter 6 and from here Count Dracula
leaves Whitby for London after a stay of ten days in one of his
fifty coffins by the 9:30 goods train to Kings
Cross.
The Railway Station
Chapter 6 Mina Murray‘s Journal: 24 July. Whitby. – “Lucy met me at the station,
looking sweeter and lovelier than ever, and we drove up to the house at the Crescent, in which they have rooms.“ (p.53)
The Railway Station
“The goods leave by the train at 9:30 tonight, and will be due at King‘s Cross at 4:30 tomorrow
afternoon.“ (p.81)
The Bridge
Referred to “The Drawbridge“ in the book. Mina
has to run across it to the east side of the
harbour in order to reach the churchyard.
The Bridge
Church Street
To reach the churchyard Mina has to run through this street.
Tate Hill Pier
“The only sail
noticeable was a foreign schooner with all sails set, which was seemingly going
westwards.” (p.65)
“...leaping from wave to wave as it rushed at headlong
speed, swept the strange schooner before the blast and gained the
safety of the harbour.“
(p. 66)
Harbour Entrance
“Between the two piers there is a narrow opening into the harbour, which then suddenly
widens.“ (p.54)
Church Stairs
“The steps are a great feature of the place. They lead from the town
up to the church, there are hundreds of them – I do not know how many – and they wind up in a
delicate curve.“ (p.55)
There are 199 of these stone steps, with landings at intervals and in her frantic dash to rescue Lucy, Mina has raced up every one of them.
“I toiled up the endless steps to the Abbey.“ (p.76)
St. Mary’s Church
On the top step of the Church Stairs you can see the south side of the
picturesque and unique parish church of St.
Mary‘s.
St. Mary’s Church
“Between {the abbey] and the town there is another church, the parish one, round which is
a big graveyard, all
full of tombstones.“
(p.53f)
The Graveyard
“‘Sacred to the memory of George
Cannon, who died, in the hope of a
glorious resurrection, on July 29, 1873, falling from the rocks at
Kettleness. This tomb is erected by his sorrowing
mother to her dearly beloved son.‘“ (p.
57)
The Graveyard
“Whatever my expectation was,
it was not disappointed, for there, on our favourite
seat, the silver light of the moon struck al half-reclining figure, snowy white.“ (p.76)
The Crescent
“This is, to my mind, the nicest
spot in Whitby, for it lies right over the town and has a full view of the harbour and all up the bay where the headland called
Kettleness stretches out into the sea.“ (p.54)
End of Trail…
Presentation by
Christina Georg, Nina Keil and Katrin Luckenbach