Staithes

A picturesque former fishing village on the North Yorkshire coast. I say former because most of the houses now seem to be either second homes or holiday lets. I remember when I first saw the sheltered harbour along Staithes Beck, it was chock a block full of cobles, a type of fishing boat traditional to the North East coast. Today there were but four, although a dozen or so more were moored up in the bay now sheltered by new sea walls.

The village is famous for it’s link with Capt. James Cook. It was where he, aged 16, became apprenticed to William Sanderson, a grocer, and had his first taste of the sea.

In an administrative oddity Staithes Beck forms the boundary between Redcar and Cleveland and Scarborough borough councils. So we have the rubbish of Cowbar, the houses on the left of the beck, being collected by Redcar and Cleveland with Scarborough collecting the rest of the village.