Staithes on Village by the Sea for BBC Two tells secret story of hidden tunnel

North Yorkshire will feature on BBC Two’s new documentary Village By The Sea as they explore how a tiny village helped kickstart a global chemical industry.

The second episode of the show presented by archaeologist Ben Robinson will air tonight (Monday, November 15) at 7pm on BBC Two and will be focusing on Staithes in North Yorkshire.

Staithes was at the forefront of alum production from the 17th century to the late 19th century, a chemical once used in the textile industry as a fixative for dyes.

In the early nineteenth century Staithes was one of the largest East Coast fishing ports.

During tonight's episode, presenter Ben will be exploring the hidden history of Staithes. He will reveal how the village, which is now a tourist hot spot, was at the forefront of a new chemical industry which involved collecting urine from as far away as London.

Ben also 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 later finds quarries and tunnels which were once part of an operation vital to the clothing industry.

He will also visit 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.

Speaking about tonight's episode Ben said: "Who would have thought that wee would play such a vital part in the story of this coast? But without it, there would have been no alum, and without alum Britain's world-beating cloth trade could not have thrived.

"The scale of the alum industry here is astounding, and involves a long laborious, precarious process and staggering feats of engineering.

“The discovery of the top of a tunnel that led from the alum works all the way to the base of the cliffs, hundreds of feet below, was another highlight for me.

"The clever use of several types of 'geophysical' surveys side by side is what makes for excellent results.

"This early chemical industry here, and the iron industry too, led to the modern chemical and steel industries that have played such a massive role in shaping this region.”

Throughout the series Ben will also be traveling across the country to reveal how some of our best loved villages played a vital part in significant historic moments.

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