Yorksview
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Bridlington, or Brid as us Yorkshire folk know it, is a seaside resort on the beautiful Yorkshire coast. It began as a an Anglo-Saxon settlement, with a name that meant Beohrtel's ton - the farm belonging to Beohrtel. It has two stunning beaches of gleaming golden sands, award winning promenades packed with fun, a sparkling sea, a picturesque, bustling harbour and a town full of attractions from fun-fairs to quiet places where you can sit and watch the world go by. |
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This is a coastal market town in the East Riding and its most important historic feature is Bridlington Priory. The priory was founded in 1120 for Augustinian canons by Walter de Gant but of the present remains, nothing dates before the 13th century. Bridlington Priory was largely destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and its last Prior, William Wode was executed at Tyburn for his part in the Pilgrimage of Grace. The church of the priory, dedicated to St Mary remains in full, escaping the destruction that followed the Dissolution of the Monasteries, because it was the Parish church of Bridlington. Some of the stones from the old priory were used in the construction of Bridlington's piers. Next to Beverley Minster, it is considered the finest ecclesiastical building in the east of Yorkshire. Refreshments |
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One of the best known
characters associated with the priory was John of Bridlington, who
was born at Thwing, a few miles to the north west in 1362. He was
famed for working miracles and after his death in 1401 was made a
saint by the Pope. Beach Huts |
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It was only fourteen years later that a Quaker called Robert Fowler set sail from Bridlington to America with eleven Quakers and with absolutely no experience of sailing. Remarkably they landed safely in America only a few miles from their intended destination. In the following century Bridlington was under attack from the Americans, when the Privateer John Paul Jones was engaged in a sea battle in which his ship was sunk just off the Bridlington coast. Jones escaped. John had also launched attacks at Alnmouth, Northumberland and at Skinningrove further up the Yorkshire coast. The Promenade |
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The miles of tide-washed beaches are what first attracted visitors to this part of the rugged East Coast. The cry of the seagulls tells you you've arrived long before you can see the sea. For many folk it's a sound that evokes all the excitement of a bucket and spade holiday. Pub in Old Town |
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The harbour front is a magnet for holidaymakers. People sit on the benches and wall watching the boats come and go. Not far away is the sound of the fun fair and the smells of hot dogs and candy floss. This is traditional English seaside country at its best. Watching the world go by |
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Brid is perhaps a town of two halves. Less than a mile from the hustle and bustle of the seafront is Old Town - a different kettle of fish altogether, you could well be on a street in York. The pretty High Street, with its tea rooms, antique shops and old chemist's shop looks as much as it did in the C18th. Check out the medieval stocks that are still in Market Place, a reminder of earlier times when Bridlington's Priory was one of the wealthiest monasteries in the North. St Mary's Priory Church |
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Bridlington is sited where the delightfully named Gypsey Race running down from the Yorkshire Wolds enters the North Sea and where the soft clay cliffs of Holderness give way to the chalk buff of Flamborough Head. William Kent, the first English architect to design furniture was born here here in 1685. The world's greatest living artist, Yorkshire born David Hockney, lives here in a 1920s house near the seafront. He explains what captured his imagination. ‘Here I have a sense of place, Fifty years ago I actually worked on the land around Bridlington, stooking corn for the harvest on the farms. I cycled round and realised how beautiful it all was. It’s ravishing, and there’s no one in it.’ If it's good enough for him it's good enough for me. Old Town |
