Connecting the old town at the bottom to St Mary's Church and Whitby Abbey at the top, the 199 stone steps are the spine of east Whitby. Sailors and parishioners have climbed them for centuries; until the cliff road was opened, this was the only practical way up.
The steps were rebuilt in stone in 1774, replacing a wooden staircase. Resting platforms set at intervals are traditionally said to have been there so that pallbearers could put down the coffin and catch their breath on the way to a churchyard burial. The Caedmon's Trod plaque at the top commemorates the 7th-century Whitby cowherd-turned-poet credited as the first to compose Christian verse in English.