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Ravenscar Golf Club and Course, Yorkshire. (1898 – 2000s)
Nine-hole course attached to the Raven Hall Hotel that first appeared in 1898.
The Raven Hall course goes into abeyance in the 1900s due to a proposed housing, road and leisure development.
In 1905 Ravenscar Golf Club appears on a course on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors, and within a mile of the sea. This short lived course disappeared prior to WW1.
Adverts for golf at the Raven Hall Hotel re-appear in the 1920s.
From the Leeds Mercury Thursday 25 August 1898; “RAVENSCAR GOLF LINKS – The recently formed golf links at Ravenscar, the newly developing watering-place mid-way between Scarborough and Whiby, were successfully opened yesterday by the Earl of Cranbrook.”
From the Glasgow Herald Monday 15 May 1899 – “The Golfer’s Magazine opens with an illustrated account of the Professional Golf Tounament at Cruden Bay. This is followed by a description of Ravenscar Golf Links, on the Yorkshire Coast, near Scarborough.” This would be great to get hold of, anyone have a copy?
The Golfer’s Guide 1899. Image courtesy of Michael Morrison.
In the late 1890s there were plans to make Ravenscar comparable with Whiby and Scarborough as a holiday destination. This would have meant the Raven Hall Golf Course being developed with housing and roads.
Picture of the proposed development courtesy of Mike Hollinghurst.
The proposed development can also be seen on the Pre-WW1 Map below. The plans never came to fruition.
O.S. Map Revised 1910; © Crown Copyright {year of publication 1914}.
From the Sheffield Weekly Telegraph Saturday 13 August 1904 – “Ravenscar; 9-hole course, close to station (Ravenscar Golf Club.)”
Whitby Gazette Friday 26 May 1905. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
From the Nisbet’s 1905 Golf Yearbook; Ravenscar Golf Club; Station, Ravenscar (N.E.R.) One mile; Hon. secretary – P T Pyne, Moorfield House, Ravenscar, R.S.O., Yorkshire; Terms for visitors, 1s a day, 2s/6d a week, 5s a month, £1/1s per annum; The course lies on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors, and within a mile of the sea; Hotels – “Ravens Hall” and “Ravenscar House.”
Match played on the Ravenscar course in September 1905.
Huddersfield Examiner Thursday 7 September 1905. Image © Reach plc. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
Moorfield Farm can be seen on the Pre-WW1 Ordnance Survey Map below.
O.S. Map Revised 1910; © Crown Copyright {year of publication 1914}.
Golf re-appears as an attraction at Raven Hall for the first time in twenty years. The course was free to guests. It appears there was no organised Golf Club at the hotel.
The intriguing report below is from December 1921. Dr Alister MacKenzie was visiting Weston-super-Mare to carry out changes to their course. In the article it mentions that Dr MacKenzie "had done great things at Robin Hood Bay." Searching for more information on this visit and its conclusions.
Weston-super-Mare Gazette Saturday 31 December 1921. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
Hull Daily Mail Saturday 14 February 1920. Image © Reach plc. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
The course appears at the hotel in adverts throughout the 1920/30s. A couple more examples below.
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer Wednesday 4 June 1930. Image © National World Publishing Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer Monday 6 May 1940. Image © National World Publishing Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
Mult-View postcard showing the Golf Course.
There is no mention of the Hotel during WW2.
Raven Hall Hotel re-opens on Whit Sunday 1945.
Ordnance Survey Map from the 1950s showing the Raven Hall Golf Course.
O.S. Map Revised 1950; © Crown Copyright {year of publication 1952}.
A rare mention of organised golf being played on the Raven Hall course in December 1991.
Scarborough Evening News Thrsday 5 December 1991. Image © National World Publishing Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
The Raven Hall course nowadays is mostly overgrown but some features of the golf course can still be made out.
We would like to thank Mark Hollinghurst for bringing the course to our attention and for providing information on the history of Raven Hall and the golf course. Thanks also to Michael Morrison for providing information on the history of both courses.
Mark Hollinghurst visited the site of the Raven Hall course in 2024 and provided the following information – "Ravenscar used to be on the Scarborough to Whitby line which sadly, like so many, was swept away in the mid 60s. It would be a massively popular line these days.
Behind all this lies a fascinating ‘town that never was’. In the late 1800s there were plans to turn Ravenscar (renamed from Peak) into a town and resort to rival Scarborough and Whitby. Sewers and streets were laid out but only a few plots were sold, and the whole project went bankrupt. Ravenscar these days is small and quiet, attracting walkers and cyclists along the the Cinder Way which was the railway. One of the station platforms is still there.
Raven Hall Hotel itself has a history back to the 1700s as a stately home. It has the most astonishing views of the coast and sea, and hundreds of seals live on the rocks beneath and can be heard calling. We also saw dolphins a little further up the coast.
The building was sold to the company who was trying to develop the town, to be a resort jewel. After the demise of the company, the hotel remained.
Connected to the hotel is a 9-hole course, laid out on land below the hotel, plunging down to the sea. It has no clubhouse, no scorecard, no layout map. It is brilliant fun. It is hard to actually work out how the holes run (we played the 3rd backwards down the 8th in error!). The greens are small, often elevated or in natural bowls. The greens are the length of semi rough. Some of the tee boxes have been swallowed wholly or partly by the rough near the last green and it’s best just to play from the nearest level patch of grass. There are no bunkers.”
Pictures of the overgrown course in 2024.
Above images courtesy of Mark Hollinghurst.