On Dracula's trail

By BRUCE HOLMES

Looking across the harbour towards East Cliff, you can see the view that inspired the fertile imagination of author Bram Stoker, who stayed in the Royal Hotel on the western side of Whitby while writing his famous novel.

The above extract where the Russian schooner Demeter, with a dead man at the helm, races across the harbour before the blast of a storm and crashes into the pier, begins the Whitby segment of the horror tale. The huge dog that leaped from the boat was one of many forms into which a vampire could transform itself.

So where is Whitby?

This ancient seaport and fishing village on the northeast coast of England has been a haven for holidaymakers since Victorian times, and has played a significant role in English history. Its harbour, once the sixth largest port in Britain, lies where the River Esk reaches the North Sea.

In 1980 the Bram Stoker Memorial Seat was dedicated, carefully positioned to offer the same view that the author would have enjoyed. From here, a tourist trail takes visitors to places mentioned in the novel.

The streets west of the harbour are full of hotels and B&Bs, and in one, East Crescent, Mina and her friend Lucy stayed. In another lived the solicitor engaged by Count Dracula to handle the cargo of the Demeter, 50 cases of soil from Transylvania.

Steps lead down to Pier Rd, past the fishmarket to the bridge across to the eastern side. Mina ran down these steps on that fateful night to save the sleepwalking Lucy.

The bridge was built in 1908, replacing the Drawbridge referred to in the book, which was an iron swing-bridge. From here you can see the fishing vessels. Like everywhere else in town, you can hear the cry of the gulls circling overhead.

Once on the east side you'll reach Grape Lane, with its 17th-century buildings characterised by overhanging upper storeys. In the attic of an old sea captain's house a young James Cook lived as an apprentice, lodging with 17 others. The house is now the Captain Cook Museum, and a statue of Whitby's famous son stands on the western cliff.

Next is Church St, the main thoroughfare of the Old Town, the eastern side of which still retains its irregular medieval layout. Shops here sell the jet jewellery that was popular in Victorian times. Though many of the old public houses have disappeared, the quaint yards and passages haven't changed since Dracula was written.

But back to the story. Looking across from the western side, the heroine, Mina, saw her friend Lucy reclining on their favourite seat in the yard of St Mary's Parish Church, but also glimpsed something frightening behind the seat. Having dashed down the steps and across the bridge, she reached Church St, running its darkened length as fast as her trembling legs would carry her.

At the end of the street are the 199 stone steps to the church and graveyard. Mina tears up them, gasping for breath, and near the top she sees her friend. "There was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the half-reclining white figure. I called in fright, 'Lucy! Lucy!' and something raised a head, and from where I was I could see a white face and red, gleaming eyes."

By the time she reaches her friend the black shape is gone, but Lucy has pinprick marks on her neck and a drop of blood on her nightgown.

St Mary's Church is well worth investigating. It has a three-deck pulpit equipped with ear trumpets behind, dating from 1778, and the closed-in pews are etched with graffiti from the 1600s. Cook worshipped here as an apprentice.

The headstones in the graveyard have collapsed and the weather has erased many of the inscriptions carved into the sandstone.

It's an eerie place at night. Friends couldn't believe I went there to take photographs of the graves after dark for this story. Beyond the church is one of the most spectacular sights: the ruined abbey overlooking the town. Abbess Hilda presided over the Synod of Whitby in 664, which successfully united the Celtic and Roman churches in western Europe and fixed the date for Easter.

The buildings visible today are mostly from the 12th to the 15th century. As in the rest of England, its ruin came about after the monasteries were dissolved by Henry VIII, the abbey being surrendered in 1540.

In the evening, after dinner and my graveyard photo session, I walk back to my accommodation on the western side, pausing for a moment where Mina and Lucy passed a few days after Lucy's apparent rescue (she was not to live much longer). Here, Mina had followed Lucy's eyes as she looked to the east side.

"She appeared to be looking over at our seat, whereon was a dark figure seated alone. I was a little startled myself, for it seemed for an instant as if the stranger had great eyes like burning flames."

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