A History of Ravenscar

The Town That Never Was
The last years of Queen Victoria’s reign were a property
developer’s dream. The railways had transformed Britain into the powerhouse of the world. A mobile burgeoning population wanted houses, lots of them, and places by the sea to visit.
Scarborough, 13 miles south of the cliff top hamlet of aptly named Peak had become the place to go and Saltburn-by-the-Sea to the North had developed with the coming of the railway. So, with £10,000, the Ravenscar Estate Company bought Peak House and its surrounding land, to create a new town. Reckoning that the name ‘Peak’ was not a particularly attractive name on the 18th October 1897 they had its name officially changed to Ravenscar. They sub divided their purchase into 1500 or so plots, built roads and other parts of the infrastructure and waited for the prospective buyers to come. Many did, some bought, but hardly any actually built on their plots. Now, 100 years later,
nature has reclaimed many of its streets.
Today Ravenscar is visited by those who enjoy walking and sweeping sea vistas but its history is much more than the failed dream of a town.
Come with me to discover a world famous creature and see how, before the Industrial Revolution, it was the site of our very first chemical industry.
Norman Scholes.

[@user-fd4ib4yd3t]

Fascinating, thank you.

[@johnwrightson7174]

Great video... my family lived there d From 1860 till 1950 my great Gandfather was a foreman for peak estate building roads and sewers for the town that never was....3 generations lived there I still go and remember all the stories from my dad who was born and brought up there and his 3 brothers and sister ...enjoyable

[@huskyfrank9058]

I really enjoyed that, thank you. I love Ravenscar and go there as often as possible. It’s my special place.

[@johnleggett5054]

You produce wonderful videos - thanks for your sterling work. I wish you many, many more subscribers as you deserve it!

[@user-ox9ec1id9x]

The Roman Tower has to have been where it was visible to the others in the system, both north & south, so has to be on higher ground that in the reconstruction picture in this video. Try further south & higher uphill, until Scarborough Castle, Filey Brig, & Flamborough Head are each in line of sight, but separated from each other, so that indicators on the Ravenscar tower could be made to distinguish each from the others to make signalling between them viable. Also others have to be seen from here to the north, probably one at Whitby, recorded as 'the bay of the lighthouse' by Bede, intermediate stations may be required to complete the system, possibly as far as Teesmouth, or even the Tyne. Even inland towers may have existed, as one seems to have been found at Staxton Wold, inland of, & visible from the Scarborough Station. It is possible that the signal/warning system reached as far as Malton and/or other inland Forts, to bring large scale aid to the coast when there was a raid. The foundations of a Signal Station were not found on the site of the hotel, but some stones, somewhere in the area, including the one bearing the Justinianus inscription. Thus it is not clear where the actual station will have once stood, but it is to be looked for in the best place for suitable sight lines to make the system viable. Without knowing the total number of stations in the system, it is not true to say that Ravenscar was the central one of the coastal group, for surely there had to have been one on Flamborough Head, that could relay messages to the Naval & Army base at Brough, as these stations had as much to do with Roman naval patrols as enemy invasions. It is also not true that the Roman occupation was a period of constant difficulties. In fact after the initial conquest long periods of peace followed, with only rare & occasional difficulties, usually at times of regime change & inter Roman disputes. Barbarian raids did not become a great problem until the fourth century, & again these were periodic, not constant. Security in Britain was maintained pretty well for most of the time, & indeed the fourth century can be shown to have been among the most prosperous eras , with occasional support from some further Roman forces of the mobile field army crossing the Channel to restore order on particular occasions right up until the very end of the century, under Stilicho, who left the Province in peace. It was troubles in mainland Europe that caused the removal of Roman forces from Britain, not things within Britain forcing them out. Even then only the most useful troops will have left, which means the mobile, mostly by this date, mounted Legions, & any noted as Comitenses. The bulk of Roman troops in Britain would have been the Limitani, that is the defensive forces, manning the Auxiliary Forts spread around the country, & the stations on Hadrian's Wall, & probably including those in old Legionary bases such as York. These mostly immobile units would have been of little use for the continental wars, & would in any case have been very difficult to persuade to leave a Province where most had been settled for two or three centuries. Even the upstart Constantine 3rd will have been unable to move such troops abroad in his campaign for Empire. In any case he will have wanted to protect his back & the Province of Britannia, as a place to retreat to if necessary. As it was, after several years of success, he was defeated & killed, & at this time any troops from Britain that were with him will have been prevented from returning to the Province. Then continuing troubles in Europe prevented Rome from sending a replacement administration to Britain, so the Province became detached from the Empire, permanently as it turned out, but by default.

[@sammyanne1985]

This is brilliantly informative. Thanks so much.

[@jaynebennett82]

Very interesting

[@jaynebennett82]

Miss everything