Robin Hood's Bay

‹›

About Robin Hood's Bay

Robin Hood's Bay is a steep, maze-like fishing village on the North Yorkshire coast, its red-roofed cottages tumbling down a ravine to a broad sweep of beach. Once a notorious smuggling village, it is now a popular stop on the Cleveland Way with rock pools and fossils at low tide.

The story of Robin Hood's Bay

Robin Hood's Bay was one of the busiest smuggling villages on the Yorkshire coast in the 18th century, with contraband brandy, tea and silk carried up from the beach through a network of passages and cellars that linked the cottages; locals were said to be able to move a keg from the beach to the top of the village without being seen. The village was also a major fishing port for cod and herring, with a fleet of cobles and larger keels working from the slipway, before the fishing declined in the late 19th century. The lifeboat station, established in 1802, took part in many dramatic rescues, including the saving of the crew of the Visitor in 1881 in a storm so fierce that the lifeboat was carried overland six miles from Whitby. Fossils from the Jurassic cliffs around the bay are displayed in the Old Coastguard Station, run by the National Trust and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

Visiting with care

Park at the top car park and walk the steep main street down to the beach; the descent and the climb back up are part of the experience. Explore the rock pools at low tide, walk the Cleveland Way to Boggle Hole, and visit the Old Coastguard Station at the foot of the village.

Interesting facts

• Robin Hood's Bay was a notorious 18th-century smuggling village with cellars linking the cottages.
• The lifeboat station, opened in 1802, was involved in the rescue of the Visitor in 1881.
• The Jurassic cliffs around the bay are rich in fossils, shown in the Old Coastguard Station.
• The village sits on the Cleveland Way National Trail between Whitby and Scarborough.