VISITORS will get a unique view of a historic abbey during a three-day celebration of the Victorians’ fascination with all things gothic.

The Victorian Gothic event will run at Whitby Abbey from today until Saturday.

Period characters including scientists and a Victorian hangman, complete with a set of gallows, will greet visitors.

Also present will be an undertaker, commonly seen as one of the more sinister characters in Victorian society, who would encourage families to spend extravagantly on funerals they could not afford, for fear of being seen as not giving their loved ones a decent send-off.

Visitors will hear actor Simon Kirk retelling classic Victorian stories, including extracts from work by Dickens and Bram Stoker.

Presentations will take place from noon to 3pm each day. The site will close at 4pm each day, then reopen at 6pm, when the abbey ruins will be illuminated, with visitors allowed to wander around the site.

There will also be an evening performance of the poem The Highwayman, complete with actors, horses and rifle firing, each evening at 7pm.

Admission for the daytime events are £6 for adults, £5 for concessions, £4 for children and free for English Heritage members.

Tickets for the evenings are £9 for adults, £8 for concessions and £7 for children, with a £2 discount for early booking.

Book on 01947-603568.