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Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Its attraction as a tourist destination is enhanced by the proximity of the high ground of the North York Moors national park and the heritage coastline and by association with the horror novel Dracula. The abbey ruin at the top of the East Cliff is the town's oldest and most prominent landmark.
View from the Rope Walk across the harbour towards West Cliff. Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta B, Ilford FP4+ developed in Ilfosol 3
Whitby Abbey was founded as a monastery in 657 AD by the Anglo-Saxon era King of Northumbria, Oswy (Oswiu) as Streoneshalh (the older name for Whitby). It later became a Benedictine abbey before its possessions were confiscated by the crown during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. Though the abbey church was stripped and fell into ruin, it remained a prominent landmark for sailors and helped inspire Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula (Dracula came ashore there as a creature resembling a large dog and proceeded to climb the 199 steps which lead up to the ruins). The ruins are now owned and maintained by English Heritage.