Filey: A History of The Town and its People

By W.M.Rhodes

Filey is known as ‘The Unspoilt Hidden Gem of The Yorkshire Coast’ with its glorious wide golden beach, elegant Victorian houses and well-kept gardens, but what were Filey’s origins? Unlike the neighbouring town of Scarborough, Filey was mentioned in the Domesday Book ‘as a very small village occupied by less than fifty p

• Language: English
• Publisher: lah-di-dah-publishing.com
• Release date: Mar 19, 2017
• ISBN: 9780995775213

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Chapter 1 Filey’s Roman Presence

Arguably, one of the most significant events that happened in Britain is the Roman invasion. For over 400 years (and still evident today) the Romans have influenced our language, culture, architecture and geography. Prior to the Roman occupation, Britain had a diminished sense of identity. People tended to be insular and stayed close to their own local tribes. After the Roman invasion people were aware that their national mythology had been defined, and every person in the land was mindful of their ‘Britishness’. In addition, the Welsh were conscious that they were Britain’s natural heirs. Whereas the Scots and the Irish were equally proud that they had not been conquered and occupied by the Romans.

To administer their people, the Romans built towns and connected these towns by building roads. These roads were built on foundations of clay, chalk and gravel, flat stones were then laid on top. The road sloped in the middle to ditches at either side to allow rainwater to drain. Roads were built as straight as possible to enable their soldiers to travel as quickly as they could, and to ensure there were no enemies hiding in any winding unseen areas. The roads were so well built that many of them can still be seen today.

In Yorkshire, the main Roman town was Eboracum (York as we know it today). Malton was a Roman garrison named Derventio, which was a town of great importance and a base for troops who could easily be deployed if required. To protect themselves from land invasion, the Romans built walls around their cities, preventing fierce barbarian attacks from tribes such as The Huns from Mongolia and Germanic Tribes from the Danube River. To protect their towns from an invasion by sea, early warning look-out stations were built along the coast. These stations could signal each other and alert any sign of danger.

For many years, renowned archaeologists have written articles and journals to try to prove that Filey Bay was the Portus Felix or Sinus Salutaris of the Romans and that Flamborough Head the Ocellum Promontorium. However, these are theories that continue to be debated. Further speculation remains that Filey was the territorial home to one of the Celtic Parisi tribes (there were four in the North). The Parisi were a small group of people who farmed the chalk hills of Yorkshire and who also traded by boat, most probably a longboat. As a tribe, the Parisi were not as powerful as their neighbours the Brigantes, but were ahead in culture and taught their unrefined neighbours about style, and culinary matters. The Parisi were known to live in British style houses with ornaments and pottery.

The Parisi were originally from Gaul and shared their name with the people who lived in France around the area we know today as Paris. Despite being responsible for the name of the French capital, it is not clear if they shared any other links with the French. This tribe were distinctive, as unlike many others living in Britain between 300 and100 B.C., the Parisi buried their dead under small barrows that were surrounded by small ditches. Some nobles were buried with their chariots, which is the ‘Arras’ culture and a similar style to that of the French and Germans. Another burial style involved a dead person being placed in a grave and a fine sword placed alongside him, while three spears were then thrust into his chest. These unusual burial rituals ceased around 43-45AD. It appears that the Parisi were an ununiformed tribe, who along with their neighbours the Brigantes did not defend themselves against the arrival of the Romans.

We do know that Filey was occupied by the Romans during their invasion. In October 1857, following weeks of severe rain a landslip occurred on Carr Naze; three hundred yards from ‘The Summer House’ (once an attraction of the ‘Spa Well’ on Carr Naze in the mid-nineteenth century) and close to the second flight of steps beyond Agony Point, a painter named Mr Jeffrey Wilson discovered the remains of a Roman Fort. Here, he uncovered large stones, which were generally in a rough state with tooled surfaces set on a foundation of puddled clay. This walled area was rectangular and about 60 feet long by 25 feet wide, with one door opening to the land.

Within these walls were five shaft base stones, one with a carving of a running deer and on a second a calf who was about to lie down. Also, found, were the remains of burnt wood, a spearhead, with burnt bones, which lay on the floor, together with a piece of shale or shaly slate inscribed, CAESAR SE…and QVAM SPE. Coins were also found, which were brass and had become greatly corroded. It is reported that these coins bore the mark of Constantine and Constans.

The beacons were arranged as the corners of a square measuring about 17 feet with one stone in the centre. It is generally accepted that these stones would have formed the bases for pillars on which rested a superstructure. Most probably, there was a raised platform which supported a lighted beacon. Conceivably, the beacon’s attendant and his family lived nearby to light the beacon when required and keep it bright and strong to carry a signal north and south to warn the ancient mariner of the rocks, and to welcome back the midnight wanderer.

On discovery, it appeared that the structure had been severely damaged, and then set on fire, suggesting that it had been overwhelmed by raiders, presumably from the sea. These five stones are on display in The Crescent Gardens. All clear indications that a Roman township existed in the area. The following year, Rev. Richard Burke, the then owner of Carr Naze, allowed local antiquarian Dr William Smithson Cortis to excavate his land. To the south-eastward of the Spa Well, he unearthed a variety of pottery which was typical of the Roman era, one with a green glaze, and a larger wine-vase formed from red clay ornamented with painted scrolls. One piece of Samian was unearthed, together with buckles, pins, part of a sword, a sharpening stone, beads etc. Unfortunately, what has happened to these artefacts is not known.

In 1893, Mr Robert M Robson writes in the Journal of the Society of Architects, of the discovery of oak posts off Filey Brigg. Messrs R &W Cappleman, who had seen three of the stumps, they showed Mr Robson their location, where they found not three, but nine oak posts. Extensive theodolite readings were recorded, which suggested that the posts were the remains of a landing stage used by the Romans when Filey was one of their landing stations. He also implies that there is other evidence pointing to this such as The Roman Roads, the Spittal Rocks, The Fess Rocks, The Quay Rocks, and the artificially flattened surface of the Binks on the north side of the bay. However, despite these findings, to date, there is no definite confirmation that this did in fact exist.

Roman stones now situated in Crescent Gardens.

Dr Cortis. Sketch of Roman Remains

Artist impression of what the signal station may have looked like. Artist George Briggs 1997.

Domesday and Early Settlement

The earliest documented evidence of Filey comes from The Domesday Book, which was compiled in 1068 CE on the instructions of William the Conqueror primarily for tax purposes. This review was known as the ‘great survey of England’ and determined how much land and livestock each of the counties’ landowners owned, how much it was worth, and how much tax they should pay. These records show that at the end of the Viking period, Filey is recorded for the first time as a very small village occupied by less than fifty people. It states that Filey was worth a reasonable income, with access to good quality timber which was ideal for construction.

The Norman Conquest found Filey belonging to the rebellious Earl Tosti. The Domesday survey describes Filey as forfeited to the King, and was by him given to one of his faithful followers and relatives Walter de Gant, who was born in 1080 in Bridlington.

It is impossible to know just how old Filey is. It may have been founded between 878 and 1080 or possibly earlier. It is known that the Danes settled in the North between 878-1080. Therefore, it could be that Filey was founded by the Danes who originally came to England as Vikings. However, at this time Filey was basically one large farm, and the name Filey itself suggests that it had more of an Anglican influence rather than a Danish one, as generally farms founded by Danes usually ended with the suffix ‘by’ such as Whitby or Selby. So, this could mean that the Danes did not have the influence in Filey as first thought. However, this is not conclusive. Interestingly, we can detect a strong Scandinavian influence in the dialect of many Filey people, for instance, in terms such as ‘garth’ meaning garden, ‘-uh-wand’ as an expression of surprise or ‘where-be-or-zit’ meaning who or where do you come from? It could be that the Danish Vikings figure more in the ancestry of Filey than we first thought. Furthermore, we can certainly see the Norse influence in the fishing cobles used by the Filey fishermen who adopted the Danish skill of boatbuilding by using the boat building skill of the ‘clinker’ method and overlapping planks of wood to construct sea-worthy boats.

It is proposed that during the Middle Ages, and somewhere near the site of today’s church, there stood an original ancient Saxon church dedicated to St Bartholomew. This was most likely in the field behind the present church. However, by the 16th century, this church was in ruins. To date, there is no further physical evidence to suggest anything happening in Filey until the building of St. Oswald’s Church around 1150 CE. So, there is a gap of our knowledge of any recorded activity in Filey for a good five centuries – roughly between 500 and1000 CE.

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North Filey - The Buck and The Beckwith Families.

As previously discussed we have no knowledge of what was happening in Filey between 500 and 1000 CE. However, we do know that St Oswald’s church was built around 1150, but there is only a sparse understanding of the community of Filey around this time. For Filey to be mentioned in the Domesday book, we can assume that there must have been a community there in the time following the Norman Conquest. However, the Domesday book does not mention either a monastery or a church in Filey. Therefore, we can assume that the church was built to serve an existing community. Whereas, nowadays, the church is virtually isolated on the north of Church Ravine dividing it from the rest of the town and the community. It does not seem feasible that a church of this magnitude would have been built on the ‘wrong’ side of the tracks, where no population resided. Afterall, Filey inhabitants would have had to clamber up and down steep cliffs just to go to church, which doesn’t seem feasible.

According to Cole, (1827) there are old