A tour of Runswick Bay in historic pictures

Etymologists have decided that it is impossible to explain how Runswick Bay came by its name, and in 2020, when The Times named its bayful of sands as "the beach of the year", Memories concluded that you don’t pronounce it “Runs-wick” but “Runs-ick” – unless you are very familiar with it when you refer to it as “Runnie”.

Three women of Runswick Bay wearing traditional bonnets in September 1955. The bonnet, more usually referred to as a "Staithes bonnet" was a working cotton hat for the fishermen's wives who had to carry boxes, or skeets, of herring crabs and lobsters on their heads. The bonnet might well have had a coil of of material on top of it to give extra support to the box, and the bonnet featured a frill at the back to stop drips running down the neck while the front offered a little protection from either the sun or the sea spray. There were only three colours of bonnets: white, black for mourning and mauve for out of mourning

The greedy sea has regularly threatened Runswick's precarious grasp on its cliff edge. In 1682, every house bar one was destroyed in a landslide.

"One night as some of the inhabitants were what is called 'waking a corpse', the ground on which it stood suddenly gave way," says an 1823 book – waking a corpse was a funeral feast to see the dead person on their way.

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"Providentially perceiving, they alarmed the rest of the inhabitants, so that few, if any, perished by this catastrophe. The houses were soon after buried under masses of earth, and gradually sank down to the sea."

Despite this perpetual threat to life, the sea has provided the livelihood for many in Runswick Bay.

Once a couple of hundred sailing ships would crowd into the bay.

Coal barges used to supply the ironworks that were to the north of the bay in late Victorian times – although the sea has also eaten away at the cliff on which the works stood.

From March 1949: "Runswick Bay, the picturesque North East cast holiday resort and fishing village in the spring sunshine yesterday," said the Echo

Smuggling was rife in the 17th Century in this out-of-the-way location, plus, of course, there was fishing. And danger. In March 1901, a storm surprisingly blew up, catching all the young men at sea in their cobbles.

The women had to launch the lifeboat and go to their rescue.

The lifeboat, which had been stationed at Runswick Bay since in 1868 in the boathouse which dominates the beach, but in 1978, it was moved to Staithes and a volunteer rescue service was created.

The village of Runswick Bay clinging to the cliffs in December 1930 when almost every house was burning a coalfire to keep warm. The boathouse dominates the beach as it does today (as seen on Google StreetView below)

But the sea hasn’t always put lives at risk at Runswick. The action of the waves created Hob-hole, a cave to the south along the sands, where a healing hobgoblin lived.

Mothers would come from miles around to present their sickly children to the hobgoblin, who specialised in curing whooping cough.

They would stand at the cavemouth and shout:

"Hob-hole Hob
Ma bairn's gotten t'kink cough
Tak't off! Tak't off!"

He usually obliged.

This is an amazing view of the east end of Runswick Bay taken in December 1930 with Kettleness up on the clifftops. "Runswick Bay, whose summer beauty is known to many holidaymakers, possesses also its more severe winter charm," said The Northern Echo back then. "In winter, too, when the North East gales rage, the gallant lifeboatmen of the village keep watch for vessels in need of help." The caption doesn't mention the 20-odd timber chalets dotted on the dunes among the boats. How many of them are still there? Have you ever been lucky enough to holiday in them - even in December?

In 1966, Runswick Bay got 14 electric streetlamps from the Scarborough to Whitby railway when the line closed. The North Eastern Electricity Board took the installation opportunity to remove Runswick Bay's overhead wires, the last of which can be seen at the top of the picture

Runswick Bay in June 1968

The Northern Echo first published this picture on March 26, 1968. "Peaceful village scene on the east coast, with boats waiting for the weekend sailors," it said. "If you haven't recognised the scene yet, it is at Runswick Bay"

Runswick Bay seen from the air in April 1977

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