Stories from Flamborough Head and Filey
Some extracts from the Yorkshire Annals linked to Filey and Flamborough
1861:- July 19th. The town of Scarborough was thrown into a state of gloom and sorrow, in consequence of the upsetting of,
a boat returning from Flambro', whereby the lives of ten gentlemen, all visitors, were lost.
1867 July 24th - The Grand Hotel, Scarbro', was opened. The building is from the designs of Mr. Cuthbert Brodrick, and the site is most commanding. The hotel is one of the largest, if not the largest building of the description in England. It was first started by a company with 12,000 £10 shares, but the contractor failing to complete his contract it was subsequently sold to a new company for £43,600, Slaving then cost, with the site, upwards of £90,000. It was estimated by Mr. Brodrick that about £60,000 additional would be required to finish and furnish the hotel. The building is in the Italian style, constructed of coloured and ornamental bricks, with terra cotta and stone facings. It is somewhat in the form of the V, with the apex looking towards the south cliff, and commanding a most magnificent view of the Spa Gardens, the south sands, the long line of beautiful coast that stretches as far as Filey, and an uninterrupted prospect of the broad ocean. The height of the building on the sea side is 160 feet, whilst that on the cliff, or town side, is 112 feet high. This inequality of the height is caused by its being erected on an incline of the cliff, which falls rapidly towards the sands. The building covers 3996 square yards of ground; the total area of the several floors is 17,500 square yards. About 6,000,000 bricks were used, and 50,000 cubic feet of stone, exclusive of that used in the staircases and stone floors.
1867 August 24th - A distressing boat accident occurred at Filey. Five young men (all residents of Leeds), who were visiting Scarbro', went out, along with a boatman, for a sail. The sea was rather rough, and as the boatman was altering the position of the sail the boat capsized, and the whole of them were thrown into the sea. Two of the passengers were brothers, sons of Mr. J. D. Wilkinson, of Holbeck, one of whom was employed as a clerk at the office of the Leeds Mercury. Four out of the six were drowned, the boatman and a youth named Birdsall, also of Holbeck, being rescued by a passing steamer.
1867 May 14th - This day, Mr. Richard Lorriman, of Filey, was walking along the sands towards "Filey Brigg," when he saw a large bird approaching him. He at once crept into a crevice of the cliff, and having his gun with him waited until it came within shot, when he fired and brought it down. The bird proved to be a splendid specimen of the Osprey, or Fish Eagle, which from tip to tip of wing measured 5ft. 6in., and from beak to tail 2ft. 2in.
1868 April 29th - A singular fossil was found by Mr. Jeffry Wilson, of Filey. Having wandered on the sands in search of pebbles, as far as Speeton Cliffs, his attention was arrested by something of a remarkable shape, in what by geologists is called "Speeton clay," a seam which has for many years been exceedingly rich in fossils of various kinds. On going up to it he found it to be a perfectly-formed petrified hare, sitting in a crouching position, and from one of the ears being laid flat on the head it is presumed that in ages gone by a quantity o£ earth had fallen upon her, and thus poor "pussy" had become embedded. This distinctly developed specimen measured about 16 inches in length, and weighed nearly 14 lbs.
1869 January 16th - About five o'clock this morning, a terrific crash, the noise resembling the rumbling of an earthquake or a short peal of distant thunder, was caused by an immense mass of overhanging rock, nearly 300 ft. in length and 50 ft. in height, falling upon the rocks below at Filey Brigg. The landslip occurred in the White Nab bay, just north of the headland. The weight of the whole that had fallen was estimated at thousands of tons.
1871 January 16th - The dangerous reef of rocks, known as Filey Brigg, this morning witnessed a most melancholy disaster. An Italian barque, named Unico, voyaging from Newcastle to Constantinople, riding in the bay for shelter, dragged her anchor and struck upon Filey Brigg. She was shattered to pieces, and twelve of the crew were drowned. One man was washed on the rocks alive and rescued, but was in a very exhausted state. The barque was the third vessel that had struck on Filey Brigg during a fortnight, and the second that had been wrecked.
Above a million American oysters were dropped on the Cleethorpes oyster beds at the mouth of the Humber, These oysters filled 850 barrels, which were brought over by steamer to Liverpool and forwarded by railway to Grimsby, making 22 truck loads. On arriving the barrels were opened and discharged into three lighters and taken out to the beds.
OTHER ARTICLES
• Filey and the gales of 1860,1867,1869 AND 1880
• Charles Dickens account of Filey and Scarborough graveyards
• Sea shanties and the filey Fishermen's choir
• A great storm off Filey Bridge and a famous rescue in 1799
• Dennis Allen - stories from the sea
• Thomas Crimlisk - First of the Crimlisks
• The early years of the Scarborough Lifeboat
• The Smuggling of contraband and the coastguard in Flamborough
• The Yorkshire smuggler - the smuggling of contraband
• Filey fishermen in 1862 - yawls and cobles
• Losses amongst Filey fishing cobles
• The loss of the Scarborough trawler Heritage in 1993
• aThe coble boats of Filey Flamborough and Runswicks Bay
• Stories from Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby
• Tommy Rowley - stories about loss of life at sea
• An early history of Filey and its fishing community
• The 200 year history of scarboroughs RNLI
• Flamborough Head - ancient fishing village
• The Womens work in the Filey fishing industry
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