Looking back at Staithes from the outer end of the harbour wall. The stream channel that runs through the village, Staithes Beck or more properly Roxby Beck, can be seen with Cowbar Nab, the cliff, on the right.

Staithes was, in the middle of the 15th century, simply a landing place for a settlement a little further inland known as Seaton Garth. From the 16th century it had developed into a shellfishing village and by the early 19th century Staithes was the largest east coast fishing port north of The Wash. The once busy fishing industry has now been reduced to a few small boats.

The main part of the village and the quay (Seaton Garth) is on the left.

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Staithes cobbled High Street runs from the car park at the top of the village down to the quayside at Seaton Garth. A lot of the buildings in Staithes are at least 3 storeys in order to get the most floor space in the smallest footprint. In a place like this flat building land was at a premium.

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The village buildings are packed in apparently higgledy-piggledy fashion on either side of the steep valley running down to the sea between the dramatic cliffs. A very picturesque little village.

Staithes (Roxby) Beck looking upstream from Cowbar. This stream is tidal and there is a lot more water in it when the tide is high.

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This is the view from the outer part of Staithes harbour wall looking south. The waves on this day were pretty big and you can just see some tiny figures on the exposed rock platform beyond to give an idea of scale. Probably better seen in the larger view.

The far headland is Old Nab and the rock platform exposed at low tide is a good place to look for Jurassic fossils but you must watch the tide as, with an incoming tide, it would be too easy to find yourself cut off. The geology of this area is exactly the same as the Jurassic coast in Dorset in the south of England.

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