We are currently in the midst of War Graves Week. Organised by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) the event is designed to highlight the work of the commission in the United Kingdom. Although perhaps best known for their work in tending the huge cemeteries in the former battlefields of the Great War in France […]

In September a United States Navy warship is scheduled to visit Filey Bay. It is part of the commemorations of the historic Battle of Flamborough Head, which occurred during the American Revolutionary War of 1779. The battle is taught in every US school and John Paul Jones, the Scottish-born captain of the American ship the Bonhomme […]

Although the Duke of Edinburgh never officially visited Filey, he will have undoubtedly been familiar with the town, both personally and professionally as a naval officer. As the nation pays a fond farewell to Her Majesty the Queen’s consort, we investigate his links to Filey, through his mother’s holidays in the town, to the Duke’s […]

We’ve previously pondered who was Filey’s most famous visitor during its heyday as a high-class resort. But, who was the wealthiest visitor? It’s probably an impossible task, especially given that Britain during the nineteenth century was the world’s industrial powerhouse. Additionally, how do you measure wealth? Many of the landed families would have been asset […]

Dramatic depictions of naval battles and coastal scenes have often been used to attract visitors to the British seaside. Therefore, it is no surprise to learn that the Battle of Flamborough Head was used by the London and North Eastern Railway Company (LNER) on one of its travel posters during the 1930s. These posters would […]

It is probably one of the most quoted passages in film history. In Monty Python’s outrageous comedy, Life of Brain, at a meeting of the People’s Front of Judea, John Cleese asks: ‘What have the Roman’s ever done for us’? ‘The aqueduct’ comes the answer. ‘Oh. Yeah, yeah. They did give us that. Uh, that’s […]

Princess Mary was known as ‘Yorkshire’s Princess’ and she was the royal with strong connections to Filey, her children were regular holidaymakers during the 1920s and the Princess considered buying the White Lodge as a seaside home during the 1930s. In the 1950s she returned to open the new promenade, named the Royal Parade in […]

The recent rediscovery of an Elizabethan map depicting the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and the fund-raising effort to save it for the nation, allows us to tell the story of the battle that never was and one that would have put Filey Bay at the epicentre of world history. In 1558 Spain was the […]

In the summer months the wide sandy expanse of Filey Bay is a magnet for holidaymakers. However, the vast majority of those splashing in the water and building sand castles are blissfully unaware that the bay was the location of one of the most famous sea fights in history, the 1779 Battle of Flamborough Head. […]

He was the first English king to die a Christian martyr, a romantic hero, the exiled prince who won and lost his kingdom in battle and proclaimed a saint. His name is hidden in plain sight among the hills and dales of northern England. He was St Oswald, in honour of whom Filey’s twelfth century […]