THE GERMAN RAID.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 168, 22 December 1914, Page 2

THE GERMAN RAID.

DESCRIPTION OF THE BOMBARD- • ED TOWNS. ! 3 WHITBY ONCE THE HOME OF d CAPTAIN COOK. n !, r j The town of Whitby has a special in ; i terest for New Zealanilers. It was then '■ that Captain Cook served his apprentice. 1 # ship. From Whitby, then a small fish' d |ing village, the great explorer set oul 4 on his voyages in a Whitby-built ship. ! ; A fine statue of Captain Cook looks oul s across the North Sea from the, sums mit of the North Cliff. On tha opposite ■ ( side of the harbor stand the ruins of the - ancient abbey of St. Kilda, founded in t p 500, and rebuilt in the 11th century, 3 which form a prominent land-mark from h j the sea. The old abbey stands high on ' ~the rocky coast, just where the River '> Ssk finds its way to the sea. The Esk t ',cuts the town into two portions. East " , Cliff is on the one side and the West Cliff - in on the other. Close by are the heather 1 ,clad moors. The to,wn was called in • olden times, Streaneshalch. The abbey s and town were destroyed in the yeai 3 870 by the Danes, and the cccleciastical i, buildings were deserted for 200 years. The town was rebuilt, however, and prospered. In situation Whitby is lfiy 'miles north-west of Scarborough. It i Jias ample accommodation for vessels j and slips for shipbuilding. The tidal i harbor is 58 acres in area and the depth 'available at high water, ordinary spring \ .tides, is 15ft, and ordinary neap tides, 112 ft. Owing to the beauty of the town .'and its surroundings, Whitby has bcr |'come, a watering-place of public. The t > industries of Whitby include shipbuildj ing and manufactories of sailcloth and T I cordage. There is a lighthouse on Ling'f ' "■ (Kill, about two miles south-east of the t j I town, with a light 240 ft above higl 3 I water, and visible 22 miles away. r j' Whitby is a sacred spot in Englisl: ? ; history.' Tt was here, as everyone ' knows, where the famous conference was ? Oield in fifit, and the first step taken to- , wards the goal of an united Anglican _ Church. The (Abbey was founded by the Abbess Hilda in or about the year 056, ' Tt was to her the cowherd Caedman, j from whoso lips flowed the first great English song, poured forth his Scriptural ? poems. In 807 the Abbey was destroyed ,bv the foes of the Church, and for many years only the shell remained standing. " it was not rebuilt until late in the lltli ' century. There is considerable doubt ' as to the re-founding of Whitby Abbey, '' and to what extent the existing ruins represent the original building. As far ' as we can see the Saxon, the Norman, : ' and the Early English buildings now re. 1 maining (until the present bombardment!) are connected only by site and '' tradition with Abbess Hilda's building. f These remains shows us that the monks , of Whitby raised a church of great size ■and remarkable beauty, The Abbey represents at- least two periods of Early English and one of Decorated architec- ,' ture. The western portion of the nave is "decorated," and is of a rucb and un- '■ (ommnn type. The very decided bend in this part of the plan suggested the ' theory that the monk-builders signified j thereby the inclination of our Lord upon Cue Cross. From the tower (which fell '? some fifty years ago) it will be remem- ! bered that' tradition says that Robin " Hood and Little John shot for the, amuse--1 ment of the monks, arrows, which flew ' three miles inland. Whitby Abbey ' stands out clearly on the cliffs, with no ; buildings near by, so that the bombard--3 ment must have been deliberate. 1 -r=