THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

A scene more impressive could scarcely be imagined: the tall rocks shrouded with luminous mists; the pale glimmering radiance of the murmuring billows; the white rustling sails gleaming in the distance; the cottages of the weary fishermen bathed in the lovely light of the moon! Early in the morning we again strolled forth on the rocky beach.  The breezes with gentle murmur sounded melodiously as an Aeolian harp; the lovely sea-birds hovered high in the air, or dropped, with all their snowy plumage, amidst the envious foam; whilst the sea, calm and placid almost as a sleeping child, rustled dreamily against the huge barriers of cliffs, as if lamenting the fury and desolation of the past. 

Ord/Cleveland

In this deep gully, hidden from land and sea, one seems to be worlds away from ordinary English life.  Even the people are picturesque; the women and little girls in pink or lilac sunbonnets and gay aprons, and the men and boys in dark blue knitted jerseys.  Every group of children, every ancient mariner, every pretty girl in a doorway, is as decorative as a peasant in the chorus of an operetta.

Stawell/Motor, 1900

It is, according to some who have known Staithes for a long while, less than fifty years ago that the fisher-folk were hostile to a stranger on very small provocation, and only the entirely inoffensive could expect to sojourn in the village without being a target for stones. 

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