Whitby beach was both larger and much nicer than I had expected. In fact I wasn’t really expecting much of a beach, but having great weather and it being a Saturday afternoon there were many people exploring the sands. In the background you can see the Whitby West Pier Lighthouse and the crane refurbishing the east side lighthouse. In the foreground I thought I would include these colourful windsocks, as they break up the large areas of beach and in my opinion add to the photograph.

Being on the North Sea Coast on the eastern side of England, the town of Whitby gets exposed to some strong storms. This is probably why there are two long breakwaters protecting the harbour. Above is Whitby West Breakwater Lighthouse which was build in 1831. Although this photograph was taken over six months ago I have only just seen that someone is standing at the top of this lighthouse. I didn’t get a chance to get to the top, or even a closer look, as I went on to explore other parts of the town.

The Abbey of St Mary in York was once the richest abbey in the north of England, originally founded in 1088 by the Benedictine order. It was disestablished in 1539 and today lies in ruin in what is now the Yorkshire Museum Gardens. I hadn’t intended to see this and to be completely honest didn’t know about it until I stumbled across it. I had just finished capturing York Minster (which is what I had come to the city for) and decided to take the slightly longer route back to the car via the Yorkshire Museum and the Railway Station. I was rewarded with the above photograph.

Whilst walking around York Minster I came around to photograph the eastern side to find it covered in scaffolding. Stood on College Street I looked for other photos and came across the door to St. Williams College. This was what I saw above that door and I decided it was worth recording. This college dates back to the 15th century when King Henry VI first licensed a proposed college in 1457.