Whitby Jet — BEACH SHACK PROJECT

What looks like mudane black stones is actually one of the UK’s few naturally occuring precious stones, Jet, or also commonly referred to as “Whitby Jet” as it is found only in a seven mile stretch of coastline near Whitby in Yorkshire. Its basically a posh version of coal (which I also found whilst beachcombing) the coal crumbles easily in the finger, the jet does not. Jet is actually fossilised monkey puzzle trees. Having its heyday with the Victorians it was often used as mourning jewellery, due to its colour it was very fitting for this, and Queen Victoria favoured it when her husband Albert passed away. Apparently the Victorians mourned often, even the loss of a pet meant a trip to the jewellers, so sales of Jet went up and up.

Interestingly, many pieces of mourning jewellery also included weaving human hair into the designs. Although this may seem like a macabre idea now, it was a popular craft with Victorians. Death used to be dealt with in a more hands on manner before funeral parlours took over. Bodies were kept in the home and wakes held for days for family members to be able to arrive and mourn. It was a typical sight to have a loved one in an open coffin downstairs. Weaving a dead family members hair into a piece of jewellery was a sign o respect whilst also keeping a piece of them close to you. Rather like knitting guides you would buy hair weaving leaflets from local shops and braid the hair into interesting designs. Although I am not weaving with hair I did find it interesting I am weaving with wire, rather like an updated and hardier thread than human hair!

Jet also attracts customers with a strong gothic taste, which links in with Whitbys connotations to Dracula. Count Dracula in the book lands at Whitby bay by boat. .

These days your not allowed to mine for Jet, mainly because the cliffs are loose, dangerous and protected, but you can still find pieces on the shoreline if you look closely. You can find my small collection of Whitby earrings here…

Whitby Jet Earrings by Beach Shack Project

Goodbye, untill next time.