PEOPLE in Robin Hood's Bay were living on the edge back in 1970 - as our video from the BBC Yorkshire archive shows.

The historic cliff edge was crumbling into the sea - and homes were under threat.

As our video below shows today, it was a precarious business visiting any of these properties.

The film, titled Crumbling cliffs at Robin Hood’s Bay, was first broadcast on November 12, 1970.

BBC cameras went to look at the picturesque village, parts of which were in peril due to crumbling cliffs. This was part of Look Stranger: The Changing Shape of Britain.

We looked in our own archives to find some more old photos of the Bay.

The oldest one we could find was undated but shows a wagon on the famous slipway.

More recent ones show the village in 2003 and an ice cream van on the beach in 2006.

In the 18th century, Robin Hood's Bay was considered the busiest smuggling community on the Yorkshire coast thanks to its isolated position, protected by marshy moorland on three sides.

But as the commentator in the film notes, while its location at the bottom of a soft cliff was ideal for keeping out the excise men it was not so good for keeping out the sea.

View the video below...