Captain Cook Memorial Museum
About
A seventeenth-century house on Grape Lane on the East Side, and specifically the house where James Cook lodged as an apprentice when he was ashore. That is the point of the place: it is not a general Cook museum somewhere convenient, it is the actual building, with the attic where apprentices slept still there to walk into. The collection covers his Whitby training under the Quaker shipowner John Walker, the voyages, and the ships, which were Whitby-built colliers before they were anything else; the vessel he took to the Pacific was launched here in 1764 as the Earl of Pembroke and renamed Endeavour by the Navy. It closes for the winter, which catches people out.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓The actual house Cook lodged in as an apprentice, not a reconstruction
- ✓The apprentices' attic
- ✓The Whitby shipbuilding story behind Endeavour, launched here in 1764 as the collier Earl of Pembroke
- ✓A changing annual exhibition alongside the permanent collection
Tips
- →Check the season before travelling. The museum's own site gives 10:30 to 15:00 from 7 February to 27 March 2026, 10:00 to 17:00 from 28 March to 1 November, Tuesdays and Thursdays only in November, and a winter closure from December until February half term.
- →It is a historic house with narrow stairs and several levels; access is limited by the building itself.
- →Grape Lane is a two-minute walk from the swing bridge on the East Side, so it pairs naturally with the old town rather than with the abbey.
Best Season
More Attraction Activities
Whitby Abbey
The medieval abbey ruin on the East Cliff, with an English Heritage museum covering Hild, Caedmon and the Dracula connection.
The 199 Steps
The grade I listed Church Stairs from Church Street up to St Mary's, in use since at least 1370, with coffin-rest platforms on the way.
St Mary's Church
The clifftop parish church at the top of the steps, with an extraordinary unrestored interior of white box pews fitted by ships' carpenters.