THE YORKSHIRE end of the coast got a little squeezed out of our Seaside Special, so we shall endeavour to put that right in the weeks ahead, starting today with a quick look at Sandsend on the way into Whitby.

The Northern Echo: Coming down Lythe Bank, over Sandsend Beck, and into Sandsend in October 1966

Coming down Lythe Bank, over Sandsend Beck, and into Sandsend in October 1966

It is actually two settlements – Sandyford, at the foot of Lythe bank, and East Row nearer to Whitby – with a surprisingly industrial past. There had been a cement manufactory near the beach in Roman times; there had been alum mines up on the cliffs since the 1600s. It was cottages built for alum workers that joined the two settlements together.

The Northern Echo: The Hart Inn in East Row, Sandsend, in December 1969. The houses on the seafront date back to the 17th Century and the low one next to the Hart had acquired a thatched roof the last time we passed

The Hart Inn in East Row, Sandsend, in December 1969. The houses on the seafront date back to the 17th Century and the low one next to the Hart had acquired a thatched roof the last time we passed

The Northern Echo: Sandsend railway station in 1962, four years after the railway closed, looking right round the bay to Whitby on the clifftop in the distance

Sandsend railway station in 1962, four years after the railway closed, looking right round the bay to Whitby on the clifftop in the distance

Then came the Whitby, Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway, opened in 1883. It was supposed to run along the cliff edge, but that collapsed during construction and so the approach to Sandsend was moved inland, through a tunnel nearly a mile long which opened into the old alum diggings before reaching the village station.

After the station, it crossed a spectacular-looking viaduct over Sandsend Beck on its way in to Whitby.

The Northern Echo: Antique photographs restored on computer for exhibition - Sandsend Viaduct

The amazing viaduct at Sandsend

With the cement and alum industries dying out, the railway introduced tourism to the seafront, an industry that has continued thanks to the motor car, as the line closed in 1958.

READ MORE: OUR WONDERFUL COAST IN ALL ITS WIDE-EYED GLORY

READ MORE: MEET MISS CRIMDON, THE QUEEN OF THE DURHAM COALFIELD

SEE MORE: AN OLD-FASHIONED TRIP TO THE BEACH AT SALTBURN

If you have anything to add to any of our recent seaside stories, please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk