page_title: Bridlington
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bridlington / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The Bayle Gate, Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
context_page_description: Bridlington, a coastal town and civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea, sometimes dubbed the "Lobster Capital of Europe", belongs to the unitary authority and ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire. It is about 28 miles north of Hull and 34 miles east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Census gave a parish population of 35,369. As a minor sea-fishing port, it is known for shellfish. Alongside small manufacturing, retail and service firms, its main trade is summer tourism. It is twinned with Millau, France, and Bad Salzuflen, Germany. It holds one of the UK's coastal weather stations. The Priory Church of St Mary and associated Bayle Gate are Grade I listed buildings on the site of an Augustinian Priory.
context_section_description: Archaeological evidence shows habitation in the Bronze Age and in Roman Britain. The settlement after the Norman conquest was called Bretlinton, later Berlington, Brellington and Britlington, before gaining its present name in the 19th century. The 1086 Domesday Book has Bretlinton. The several suggested origins all trace the name to the Anglo-Saxon custom of matching a personal name with a settlement type. Here the personal names advanced include Bretel, Bridla and Berhtel, attached to -ingtūn, a Saxon term for a farm.
  The date of earliest habitation at Bridlington is unknown, but the 2.5-mile  (4 km) man-made Danes Dyke at nearby Flamborough Head goes back to the Bronze Age. Some believe Bridlington was the site of a Roman station.
  A Roman road from York, now Woldgate, can be traced across the Yorkshire Wolds into the town. Roman coins have been found: two hoards in the harbour area, along with two Greek coins from the 2nd century BC — suggesting the port was in use long before the Roman conquest of Britain.
  It has been suggested that a Roman maritime station, Gabrantovicorum, stood near the modern town. In the early 2nd-century, Ptolemy described what was probably Bridlington Bay in his Geography as Γαβραντουικων Ευλίμενος κόλπος "Gabrantwikone bay suitable for a harbour". No sheltered ancient harbour has been found, but coastal erosion will have destroyed traces of any Roman installation near the harbour.
  In the 4th century AD, Count Theodosius set up signal stations on the North Yorkshire coast to warn of Saxon raids. Flamborough Head is also believed to have had one – probably on Beacon Hill, now a gravel quarry, from where Filey, Scarborough Castle and the Whitby promontory can be seen. A fort at Bridlington would have made a centre of operations for these. Another suggestion has been a line of signal stations stretching south round Bridlington Bay. This counterpart to the northern chain would have guarded a huge accessible anchorage from barbarian piracy.
  Near Dukes Park are two bowl barrows known as Butt Hills, now designated ancient monuments in the National Heritage List for England of Historic England. Nearby are remains of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery on a farm outside Sewerby.
  In the Second World War, Bridlington suffered several air raids that caused deaths and much bomb damage. The Royal Air Force had training schools in the town collectively known as RAF Bridlington, with one unit, No. 1104 Marine Craft Unit, continuing until 1980.
caption: Bridlington's Bayle Gate
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