The Town That Never Was

The history of the local area goes back to the days of the Romans who built a small fort and signal station as part of their chain of coastal defences. In the 1600s the area became 'industrialised' and played an extremely important part in England's wool and textile industry. Alum was discovered. Alum was used to make coloured dyes 'stick' to wool and cloth and without it the colour would simply wash out. The process of extracting alum liquor from the shale mined from the cliffs and then treating it with seaweed and human urine to obtain the alum crystals for the textile trade was a well guarded secret! By the 1860s the works had all but closed. You can visit the remains of the Peak Alum Works, a fascinating industrial archaeological site, and only a short walk from Ravenscar.

The end of the nineteenth century was the heyday of the Victorian railroad, new lines were being constructed and springing up all over the country. It was the beginnings of the holiday and the seaside town with new resorts such as Saltburn, Hornsea and Withernsea being built on the Yorkshire coast.
Ideas to develop the coast to the north of Scarborough came to the fore and the Peak Estate Company, taking its name from nearby Peak Hall and the adjoining estate was set up. The railway duly arrived in 1884 and by 1897 plans for a 'new town' to include shops, tearooms, guesthouses, hanging gardens and attractions were drawn up. Roads, drains and a mains water supply were laid down and the land was divided into 1500 plots for building and offered for sale. It was decided to rename the town Ravenscar, possibly to avoid confusion with the Peak District in Derbyshire or just simply to sound more attractive. Sadly the dream did not come to fruition, investors did not buy the plots of land and the town was not built. Access by train proved to be difficult with trains often struggling to overcome the steep gradient of the newly built line. With Ravenscar's exposed cliff top location often at the mercy of the wind and rain, a rocky shoreline hundreds of feet below with difficult access and no proper sandy beach this particular Victorian 'new seaside town' failed.

The Victorian dream may have failed but the village of Ravenscar lives on and whether you are visiting the area by car, bicycle or on foot you will have a delightful day out. A scatter of houses line the roads and Station Square. The Raven Hall Hotel standing on the cliffs makes a pleasant stop for a meal and a drink, as too the tearooms in the square. The National Trust visitor centre tells the history of the area and the story of the town that never was with an exhibition and displays and provides information for walks and activities in the local countryside.

There is a popular myth that King George III was brought to Ravenscar and confined at Raven Hall during his bouts of madness.

King George came to the throne in 1760 and reigned until his death in 1820. However, by 1788 he began to show the first signs of 'madness' and was treated by a physician with a reputation for curing mental illness, a Dr Francis Willis. There were further brief relapses into 'insanity' in 1801 and 1804, and for the last ten years of his life King George was regarded as 'insane' whilst his son George, Prince of Wales, later to become King George IV ruled in his stead as Regent.

At about this time the ownership of Raven Hall passed into the hands of the Willis family, to Ann Willis who was married to one of the sons of Francis Willis, Richard Willis, who also attended King George III. However, there is no direct evidence King George was ever brought to Ravenscar and the dates for the King's illness and that of the Willis family ownership of the Raven Hall are a little awry.

For several decades thereafter it was also rumoured that Rev Richard Charles Willis, who inherited the Hall in 1831from his mother Ann, was an illegitimate son of the former monarch!

It all adds to the telling of story of the town that never was, Ravenscar.

Antony was born in Saltburn-by-the-sea in North Yorkshire, later spending his formative years in Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire before returning to his native Yorkshire. For over 35 years he worked for a major UK High Street bank across the north of England before leaving to work for several Government Agencies.

Now living in Yorkshire between the Dales and the Moors Antony has discovered the pleasures of writing using his business experiences to enrich his story telling. Short stories with a deftness of touch, humour and the occasional twist in the tale he also writes articles on a variety of subjects including travel, history, places of interest and with the occasional verse of poetry.

Following the recent publication of his first story in the Dalesman magazine "A Funny Thing Happened" is Antony's first Amazon Kindle book, with more promised soon.

His interests include walking, taking photographs, reading, history and travel.