Most of the man-made scars on the cliff-face in the coastline north and south of Ravenscar are not the result of the planned gardens of a new resort (s.p.b.s) but a result of the alum open-cast mining along and above the cliffs. Certainly in the 18th and early 19th centuries alum quarrying was a major industry and employed many people in the production and transport of the element. The photo above, photographed from my 35mm slide, shows the remnant of such quarrying, Whitby just visible in the distance and remnants of some of the associated buildings far right.
Certain strata of shale rock revealed in the rock-face were extracted and then piled into mounds which slowly smouldered for a number of months. The process that followed to produce pure alum involved large quantities of human urine and of kelp seaweed which in turn added the vital elements, the final powder being barrelled, lowered down the cliff-face and then sent by coastal ship to particular markets, often in London. The function of the alum was to act as a mordant, that is a product that had the effect of ‘fixing’ the natural dyes then used to add colour to cloth so that the dyes didn’t wash-out in the first wash. The alum industry rapidly declined with the discovery and manufacture of artificial dyes in the 19th century and man-made materials in the 20th century. So the scares along the coast of the North Yorkshire Moors are all that remains of this once vital industry. Guided tours of the alum works at Ravenscar itself can be arranged. Plans to establish a resort here (s.p.b.s) weren’t introduced here until the alum industry locally was in rapid decline as smoke from the smouldering mounds gave-off a toxic aroma.
It has been stated that one of the main places providing urine was Hull, with male urinals built especially as collecting points.