- Whitby is a coastal town in North Yorkshire which is divided by the River Esk.
- It was famed as a source of Jet in the Ancient World and was the location of a Church Council in 664 CE to decide the dating of Easter and the wearing of the Tonsure.
History
- Jet
- Jet itself is a fossilised wood, which comes from the same family as the Monkey Puzzle Tree.
- Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) described Jet as having magical properties and a being used by magicians.
- It was found on the beaches of Whitby in Yorkshire, and under the Romans, it was worked into Jewellery at York.
- Jet was then exported from York throughout the Roman Empire.
- Synod of Whitby (664 CE)
- The Synod of Whitby, was a Church Council summoned in 664 CE by King Oswiu of Northumbria.
- It was held to oppose the Dating of Easter and the wearing of the Tonsure, as practiced by the Monks of Iona, and instead to align these with the way they were practiced at Rome. It resulted in Northumbria quitting the See of Lindisfarne and being brought under the See of York.
Museums
- Whitby Museum
- Located at the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society, Pannett Park, Whitby.
- The museum holds a history of Whitby Jet.
Whitby