BBC2's Villages by The Sea will feature Staithes on tonight's programme.
Archaeologist Ben Robinson has returned to the English coast for a second series of Villages by the Sea. He reveals how some of our best loved villages played a vital part in significant moments of our nation’s history.
This six-part series sees Ben go beyond the postcard image to discover the often surprising stories of coastal villages and their communities.
Accompanied by local experts, Ben uses clues from buildings, street patterns, artefacts and the landscape to unravel why the village is there, and how its fortunes changed.
In tonight's episode Ben visits the rugged coastline that surrounds Staithes.
He reveals how the village, now a tourist hot spot, was at the forefront of a new chemical industry, which involved collecting wee from as far away as London.
In the early nineteenth century Staithes was one of the largest East Coast fishing ports. Local fisherman John Cole, whose family has been in Staithes since the sixteenth century, shares stories of survival through hard times and explains why there are so many chapels in the village.
Ben visits Staithes local Diana Sharples, owner of a cottage on the seafront that survived a battering from one of the worst winter storms.
With the help of fellow archaeologist Caroline Barrie-Smith and Dr Chris Gaffney's hi-tech surveying technology, Ben finds quarries and tunnels which were once part of an operation vital to the clothing industry.
Villages by the Sea is on BBC2 at 7pm, later in the evening Scarborough's St Cecilia's Care Home will feature in the second episode of 'Inside the Care Crisis with Ed Balls' which is also on BBC 2 at 9pm.
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