The beck is fed from local streams in Scalby, Newby and Burniston and other watercourses draining off the nearby hills.

The Sea Cut is fed by small streams and becks mainly draining water away from the hills on the western side of Scalby and Newby.

[5] This scheme, along with others in the area (straightening of the Derwent and Hertford rivers and land drainage) was promoted by Sir George Cayley and William Chapman with Robert Wilson employed as engineer for the Sea Cut navigation.

[11] Local businessmen, entrepreneurs and farmers all gathered together to make the scheme viable as it would also provide additional land for agriculture.

[17] Monkey Island was lost to coastal erosion[18] and the remains were finally removed in 1961 after its location became part of what is now the Scarborough Sea Life Centre.

[22] The beck flows on underneath the A171 road at Newby Bridge; hereafter it is more of a meander as this is the natural course of water before the new cut further upstream was added.

[33] Coastal surveys have identified a Smallpox isolation hospital and a rifle range in the lower reaches of the beck.

[35] When the Sea Cut was drained for repairs in 2014, a colony of 100 Crayfish were removed for safety and then returned to the beck when the remediation works had taken place.

[38] Scalby Beck provides the only substantial sea trout and salmon spawning area between the River Esk at Whitby and the Humber Estuary.

[42] The lower reaches of the Cut from the A171 Road to the mouth are steeper and access is controlled by Scalby Beck Angling Club.

The mouth is also adjacent to Scalby Mills and Scarborough Sea Life Centre, so access is easy there too.