St Mary's Church, Whitby arch is a Jacobean pew. There is a monument to Sir Richard Cholmley who died in 1631. Two significant land slips due to broken drainage and torrential rain, the first occurring in November 2012, have placed the churchyard, and properties below the cliff, in significant jeopardy. Whitby town councillor Steve Smith stated the church was in no danger, having been built on solid rock. Human remains have fallen onto the street below, and pathways on the cliff-side of the church have been closed. Bram Stoker used St Mary's Church graveyard as the setting for a scene in his novel, "Dracula":
Folio Society Over the years, The Folio Society has commissioned original introductions to its editions from leading figures in literature, the arts, media, science, philosophy and the academic world. These include the former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams ("Confessions of St Augustine" and Eusebius "The History of the Church"); Ruth Rendell (P. D. James "Cover Her Face"); A. S. Byatt (Andrew Lang "The Pink Fairy Book"); Jenny Uglow (Liza Picard "Restoration London"); Simon Mawer (Leo Marks "Between Silk and Cyanide"); Will Self (Franz Kafka "Metamorphosis and Other Stories"); John Banville (Bram Stoker "Dracula"); Michael Cunningham (Virginia Woolf "Mrs Dalloway"); Damon Galgut