Whitby Fatties in the Market Place 😀

Just off Church Street is Whitby's attractive Market Place. It is in the very centre of the old town and was originally built in 1640.

The town hall or tollbooth stands in the middle of the square. This building was commissioned by Nathaniel Cholmley in 1788. He chose Jonathan Pickernell, who had recently designed Whitby's twin piers, as the architect. The Cholmley coat of arms features on the front of the tollbooth. There is a space between the pillars on the ground floor that has been used over the years as both a general market and a specialist pig 🐖 market.

An upstairs room, accessed via a spiral staircase, was used as a manor court. Thieves and vagabonds were tried and punished here. Many of them were placed in the stocks that were sited in a recess at the side of the building. There is a written record from March 3rd, 1789, of two young girls who were found guilty of vagrancy, taken downstairs from the courtroom, and publicly whipped!

Today, the building has fallen into disrepair inside, but there are plans to renovate it and open it to the public.

Around Market Place, there are several independent shops and cafés, including 'Sandgate Coffee', the home of 'Whitby Fatties', large scones available in fruit or cheese 🧀 varieties!Read more