Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BRIDLINGTON

BRIDLINGTON -- pronounced Burlington -- two small towns, a township, a parish, a subdistrict, and a district in E. R. Yorkshire. The towns are Bridlington and Bridlington-Quay. Bridlington stands on a gentle declivity, at the Gipsy-Race river, adjacent to the Hull and Scarborough railway, about ¾ of a mile from the sea, 6 miles WSW of Flamborough head, and 30¾ NNE of Hull. A Roman station probably occupied its site; and a Roman road can be traced in a line from it, across the Wolds, toward York. An Augustinian priory was founded at it, in the time of Henry I., by Walter de Ghent; and fortified, in the time of Richard II., to resist invasion by sea. The surrounding manor belonged to it; and, at the dissolution, was purchased by the inhabitants. The town received Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I., with stores brought by her to the neighbouring bay from Holland; and it then was bombarded by the parliamentarian fleet under Admiral Batten. It now consists chiefly of one long narrow street; but possesses interest for the beauty of its environs, and for its priory church, now the parish church. This was originally 360 feet long, with an early English choir of seven bays, an early English transept, a magnificent reredos, and five chapels in one range; but now consists chiefly of the nave, 185 feet long, 68 feet wide, and 89 feet high, in the best geometrical decorated English; contains a hexagonal stone pulpit, and a turbinated madreporite font; and has an east window, constructed in 1861. A gatehouse of the priory is used as the town hall; and some cells have been used as a prison and a school. A market house, with a corn exchange, was built in 1856. There are here or at B. Quay chapels for Independents, Baptists, Wesleyan Methodists, Primitive Methodists, and U. Free Methodists; a grammar school, founded in 16 37; an endowed school for girls; charities, including the two schools, to the amount of £402 a year; a workhouse, two subscription libraries, a small museum, and five chief inns. The town has a post office‡ under Hull, a railway station with telegraph, and two banking offices; and is a seat of county courts, and a polling-place. A weekly market is held on Saturday, a fortnightly cattle-market on Tuesday; and fairs on the Monday before Whitsunday and 21 Oct. Bridlington is the scene of three of Montgomery's sonnets.

Bridlington-Quay stands on the shore, on a fine bay, ½ a mile from Bridlington; is a seaport, a sea-bathing resort, and a coastguard station; and has a post office‡ under Hull. It comprises a spacious principal street, descending to the harbour, and some other streets; and is well built, and lively. The Victoria public rooms are a Tudor edifice, with embattled tower, built at a cost of £8,000; and include promenade, exhibition, billiard, and news rooms. The church is a structure in the early English style, built in 1840. There are hot and cold sea-water baths; and races are run in October. The bathing accommodation on the beach is very good; the sands firm; and the views and walks delightful. A spring within high water-mark gives a copious supply of the purest water; intermittent springs are in the neighbourhood; and a chalybeate spring, of similar quality to the springs of Scarborough, is about ¼ of a mile distant. The harbour has two piers, extending far into the sea, and is defended by a cross battery; and the bay is a commodious anchoring-place, sheltered by Flamborough-Head and the Smithic sand. The port is under Hull, and has a considerable trade in corn, malt, and manures. The seats of Boynton, Thorpe-Hall, Bessingby, Sewerby, and Sledmere Park, and some beautiful villas are in the neighbourhood. An improvement at Bridlington-Quay was projected in 1864, to comprise the erection of a seawall from the North pier to the esplanade, and the making of a promenade, with terraced-walks, and a flight of stone steps to the beach, and estimated to cost £35,000. A seafight between three American vessels under Paul Jones and two British ones took place in the vicinity in 1779.

The township includes the two towns; and comprises 3,060 acres of land and 67 of water. Real property, £21,738. Pop., 5,775. Houses, 1,363. The parish includes also the townships of Buckton, Hilderthorpe-with-Wilsthorpe, Sewerby-with-Marton, Speeton, and Grindall, and the hamlet of Easton. Acres, 13,236. Real property,. £35,656. Pop., 6,833. Houses, 1,551. The property is much subdivided. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of York. Value, £248.* Patrons, Simeon's Trustees. Bridlington Qua, Speeton, and Sewerby-with-Marton and Grindall are separate benefices; the first a vicarage of value £150,* in the patronage of the vicar of Bridlington. William de newburgh, the monkish historian, Thomas Newman, commemorated by a tablet in the churchyard, and Kent, the landscape gardener, were natives; and several men of note were connected with the priory. The subdistrict contains the parishes of Bessingby, Carnaby, Boynton, Flamborough, Bempton, the greater part of Bridlington, and part of Fraisthorpe. Pop., 8,518. Houses, 1,941. The district comprehends also the subdistrict of Skipsea, containing the parishes of Burton-Agnes, Barmston, and parts of Skipsea, Fraisthorpe, and Beeford; and the subdistrict of Hunmanby, containing the parishes of Hunmanby, Argam, Rudston, Thwing, Wold-Newton, Burton-Fleming, Reighton, and part of Bridlington. Acres, 67,984. Poor-rates in 1866, £4,623. Population in 1861, 14,371. Houses, 3,079. Marriages in 1866, 93; births, 456,-of which 45 were illegitimate; deaths, 292,-of which 124 were at ages under 5 years, and 5 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1859-60, 1,053; births, 4,718; deaths, 2,915. The places of worship in 1851 were 24 of the Church of England, with 4,790 sittings; 2 of Independents, with 610 s.; 2 of Baptists, with 360 s.; 26 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 4,472 s.; and 14 of Primitive Methodists, with 1,500 s. The schools were 17 public day schools, with 1,259 scholars; 42 private day schools, with 881 s.; 28 Sunday schools, with 1,702 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 7 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a township, a parish, a subdistrict, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Bridlington AP/CP       Bridlington SubD       Bridlington RegD/PLU       Yorkshire AncC
Place: Bridlington

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