Vandals and subsidence endanger steps that carried Dracula to safety

The famous 199 steps of Whitby climbed by Dracula on his arrival to Britain in Bram Stoker's gothic novel are threatened with closure.

Thousands of visitors tramp the steps every year from the old fishing port to the hilltop graveyard, but the stone is subsiding after years of neglect.

In the novel, Dracula, as a large black dog, bounded up the steps after his ship bringing him from Transylvania foundered off the coast. In 1885 Bram Stoker was staying in Whitby while researching for the novel. He saw a Russian ship called Dmitry founder, Peter Hughes, of Whitby Museum, says. The episode provided the inspiration for the dramatic arrival of Dracula in England aboard the Russian schooner, Demeter.

But the lower section of the Grade I-listed steps is sinking. Immediate work is needed to keep them open and full renovation work will cost £150,000.

The steps are the only direct route from the town to St Mary's Church and the ruins of the Benedictine abbey on the headland, which were once a pilgrims' route.

Problems increased this year after vandals damaged the handrail protecting the edge of the precipitous climb.

English Heritage has given £11,000 to pay for the emergency repairs and to help archaeological and historical research and structural investigations.

A legal slip-up in the 18th century meant the steps were omitted from a list of the town's roads and tracks taken into public control and remain the responsibility of the Rector of Whitby.

The Rev David Smith, who has launched an appeal to raise the repair money, said yesterday: "The steps are the one thing that people come in to Whitby to see that are as much as an attraction as the Abbey.

"It's the way that people have gone up to the parish church for the last 900 years. We know surprisingly little about the steps' condition so this work is essential. It's very much a first step in drawing up a full conservation plan with costings to ensure their future."

Giles Proctor, English Heritage historic buildings architect for North Yorkshire, said: "The steps are an iconic feature of Whitby, but have inevitably suffered wear and tear over the years.

"This grant will provide an insight into the condition of the whole structure and its problems and allow the most urgent repairs to be done."

The first documentary record of the church steps dates from 1370. But some form of steps, possibly wooden, is likely to have existed from an even earlier date, to link the abbey, which was founded AD657, and the church, which is known to have existed from at least the 12th century, with the town and harbour.

The steps appear to have been extensively rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries and one section of the retaining wall is carved with the date 1895. But earlier fabric possibly survives, particularly in the core of the structure.