I am currently reading `Sylvia`s Lovers` and I would like to hear from any Gaskell experts as to why she calls Whitby, (where the novel is set) "Monkshaven", but mentions other towns such as York, Scarborough and Hull by their proper names ? This is all the more odd, as one of the characters, Daniel Robson, actually says that he sailed out of Whitby on a whaler in his younger days..

This is not an academic question, just curiosity. I love visiting Whitby