Ravenscar

The town that never was

In the 1890s the Peak Estate Company bought the headland and set out to build a seaside resort to rival Scarborough. Streets were laid, drains and sewers dug, plots numbered and sold at auction in a blaze of promotional confidence. Then buyers arrived and discovered the problems: the sea was six hundred feet below with no practicable way down, the wind came off the North Sea unbroken, and the railway station was a long haul from the plots.

The company failed in 1913. A handful of houses were built; the rest of the resort exists only as kerbs and street lines vanishing into rough grass, which you can still walk today with the estate plan in mind. It is a genuinely eerie thing to see, and quite unlike anything else on this coast.

The National Trust centre and the alum works

The National Trust runs a small visitor centre at Ravenscar with the story of the headland, the coastal geology and the seals, and it is the starting point for the alum works trail that drops onto the cliff shelf below. Alum, used to fix dye in cloth, was quarried and processed here from the 17th century in one of England's first true chemical industries, using shale, urine shipped in by the barrel and a great deal of hard labour. The quarry faces, tanks and tramway lines are still legible in the hillside.

Opening days and hours vary by season, so check the National Trust listing before making a special trip. The trail itself is open ground and free to walk at any time; it is steep, exposed and unfenced in places.

Seals, and the view

Grey seals haul out on the scars below the cliffs and can usually be picked out from the cliff-top path, take binoculars, and look in autumn and early winter when pups are on the rocks. Stay on the top: scrambling down disturbs the colony and this is not a coast that forgives a slip.

The compensation for the wind is the view. From the headland the whole sweep of Robin Hood's Bay runs north to Ness Point, with Whitby's abbey visible on a clear day, one of the great coastal panoramas in the north of England, and the reason the Cleveland Way comes this way.

Walks from Ravenscar

Robin Hood's Bay circular (about 9 miles). North on the Cleveland Way along the cliffs to Bay Town, returning level along the Cinder Track, the old Scarborough–Whitby railway. The best day walk on this coast, and the one to do if you only do one.

The alum works and geological trail (about 2 miles). Short, steep and full of interest, down onto the cliff shelf and back. Good boots.

Hayburn Wyke (about 6 miles return). South along the Cleveland Way to a wooded cove where a waterfall drops onto the boulder beach, one of the finest small places on the Yorkshire coast. See more in our walks section and waterfalls guide.

Practicalities

Ravenscar is a dead end reached by a signed lane off the A171; parking is limited and informal, with the National Trust centre and the hotel the obvious markers. There is no supermarket, no petrol and patchy mobile signal. Bring what you need, wear a layer more than you think, and treat the cliff edges with respect. They are unfenced and undercut.

Ravenscar FAQs

Why is Ravenscar called the town that never was?

Because a Victorian company bought the headland in the 1890s and laid out a full resort to rival Scarborough, roads, drains, sewers and plots. Then failed to sell them. Buyers took one look at the cliff with no beach access and the exposed clifftop position and stayed away. The empty streets are still there in the grass.

Is there a beach at Ravenscar?

Not in any usable sense. The headland stands roughly 600 feet above the sea with no easy way down; the shore below is boulder and rock scar reached only by a long, rough descent. For sand, go to Robin Hood's Bay, Runswick Bay or Sandsend instead.

Can you see seals at Ravenscar?

Yes, a grey seal colony hauls out on the rocks below the cliffs, and they are often visible from the cliff-top path with binoculars, especially in autumn and winter around pupping time. Watch from above: going down to them disturbs the colony and the descent is dangerous.

What is there to do at Ravenscar?

Walk. The National Trust visitor centre, the alum works trail on the cliffs below, the geological trail, the seal viewpoints and the level Cinder Track to Robin Hood's Bay are all here, along with a hotel, a tea room and enormous views over the whole bay.

How do you get to Ravenscar?

By car, a signed turn off the A171 Whitby-to-Scarborough road, ending in a dead end at the headland. There is no through route. On foot it is on the Cleveland Way and the Cinder Track, roughly five miles from Robin Hood's Bay and eleven from Scarborough.