How long has Whitby been around?

Answer 1

Whitby, UK has a very varied and interesting past. Little is known about the town, before the construction of the forerunner of Whitby Abbey, which was a wooden church structure, built on the top of the East Cliff in AD 657, founded by St Hilda.. In the Roman period there was a lighthouse, probably situated at the same site, which gave rise to the Saxon name of Streonshalh (lighhouse bay). There could possibly have been a Roman settlement, but the only indication of such, is a couple of coins found here, and the close proximity of the Roman Roads. After the death of St. Hilda, the wooden monastery was replaced by a 40 cell stone building, later to be destroyed by the Danes circa AD 866. It lay derelict for a further two centuries until the present Whitby Abbey started to be built around 1078, after the land was given to Reinfrid, a Knight. It was around this time that the town obtained its modern name of Whitby (white-town).