Saint Hilda of Whitby

Hilda (614–680) was the grandniece of King Edwin of Northumbria and was baptized with him in 627. At 33 she gave her life to God and, guided by Saint Aidan, became abbess first at Hartlepool and then at Whitby, a large monastery of both men and women. Her wisdom was so respected that kings and ordinary people came to her for advice, and five bishops were trained there. She hosted the Synod of Whitby in 664 and encouraged Caedmon, a humble cowherd, to sing the faith in the English language.

According to a local legend, she turned the snakes of Whitby into stone, which explains the coiled ammonite fossils found on its beaches. The ruins of the later Whitby Abbey still stand on the cliff where her monastery once stood.