THE MANY NAMES OF BRIDLINGTON
Bridlington is a seaside resort on the beautiful Yorkshire coast of England.

To thousands of visitors each year it is a town boasting wonderful sandy beaches and a fascinating harbour.
But there is a lot more to the area ...

Many of Bridlington’s older residents still often refer to their town as Burlington or Bolli’ton. Why? There is no single definitive answer and there is much debate as to the origins of the name Bridlington itself.
The Norman Domesday Book scribes used the name Bretlinton in their accounts of the town in 1086.

And it also occurs in ancient documents as Brilinton in 1135, Brillintona in 1138, Berlington, Breddelinton in 1203, Brellington and, in a patent granted in 1315, Bolington. It was referred to as Burling in 1651.

The three Bs of the town’s Coat of Arms are thought to be the repitition of the initial B of Bridlington. Its threefold nature is a sign of the doctrine of the Trinity.
Bolington became the more modern Burlington, which is what Bridlington is still often called by older locals.

A suggested connection between the two names Burlington and Bridlington is that in many old Saxon words the letter “r” and its accompanying vowels were often transposed, so Bridlington would assume the form of Birdlington or Burdlington – and this by the ommission of the “d” became Burlington.

In the opinion of eminent Saxon scholar Thomas Wright the name, like many others where “ing” signifies children or descendants, is a relic of Saxon clanship.
The Bridlings would be the sons of or decsendants of Bridla, which according to Wright’s argument was probably the name of the Saxon chieftan who established a settlement here.
Another theory is that the name is derived from the Nose word “berlingr” – meaning smooth water.

That would be applicable to the bay which affords better shelter and achorage for vessels than any other part of the coast.
And yet another theory is that it was named after the home of an Angle chieftan called Bretel.

When Angle warriors ran their boats ashore and scrambled up the low-lying cliffs of the east coast, they forced their way inland, slaying the native Brigantes and claiming the area for themselves.

One of the invaders was so charmed with the view of the bay he decided to go no further. His name was Bretel.

A short distance from the cliffs a clearing was made and round it the rough branches of trees were driven into the ground to make a tun, or enclosure.
It was “Bretel’s tun” – the beginning of Bridlington ...

THE ORIGINS OF BRIDLINGTON
Archaeological evidence proves people have been living in the area for more than 3,000 years. Flint arrowheads have been excavated and the skeleton of a woman, bearing the traces of a bronze armlet dating from 2,000 years ago, were found in the town centre. From earliest times the area was an important focus.

Chariot burials, tumuli and entrenchments on the nearby Yorkshire Wolds indicate important prehistoric occupation.
A Roman urn has been found and traces of Roman roads have also been uncovered in the town.

In 1933 a farmer’s plough turned up a number of Roman tiles near Rudston, a few miles from Bridlington.

They were from three mosaic pavements, the largest of which, at 20ft by 16ft, features a figure of Venus leaving her bath and holding an apple won from her admirer Paris. In the water is a merman holding a back-scratcher. There are also figures of a leopard, wounded lion, stag and bull and the surrounds consist of huntsmen - one with a spear, another holding a net and another is the image of Mercury with his winged staff.

When the Romans left the area the native Brigantes were attacked by Picts and Scots. They sought the aid of the Saxons but before long the friends became foes.

A drawing by Henry Gastineau of St Mary’s Church in 1829

Many Angles then settled in the area.
At the village of Sewerby an important Anglian cemetery marks the landing of King Ida in 557AD
After the Angles came the seafaring Vikings and the evidence of place-names shows the significance of their influence.
Some settled at Flamborough, a few miles along the coast from Bridlington, where many of the present residents are direct descendants of the Vikings.

So strong was the Viking influence that Flamborough was often known as Little Denmark.
On the eve of the Norman invasion in 1066 Domesday Book records show the land at Bridlington was held by three Anglo-Scandinavians – Morcar, Torchil and Carle.
The most powerful, Morcar, Earl of Northumberland, rebelled against King William in 1068 but was unsuccessful and his lands were forfeited, including the manor of Bridlington.

William’s harrying of the North a year later no doubt ravaged the area but in later centuries it was to develop as an agricultural and marketing community.
About 1113 the Norman baron Walter de Gant, who by then held the manor of Bridlington, established the first Augustinian priory in the North of England.
The parish church of St Mary, now known as Bridlington Priory, is all that remains of what was, in the late Middle Ages, the largest and richest Augustinian monastery in the North of England.

When the monastery was dissolved and destroyed in 1537 by order of Henry VIII, its nave, always used as a parish church, was allowed to stand.
The development of the two settlements of Bridlington – the Old Town and Quay – was remarkable and significant; the former growing around the Priory and High Street, the latter focussed on the harbour.

The two towns remained largely separated until the 19th Century when the railway and its station came in between them and began to pull them together.
St John of Bridlington (1320-79) was one of the last English saints to be canonised, in 1401. After his death many came to worship, including Henry IV and Henry V.

At the Priory a window commemorates some of these important visitors.
For years the Quay remained a small place. In 1672 it had only 120 houses while the Old Town had 232 houses.
As the Quay developed as a resort, with the town’s two beaches and harbour, it grew in importance and size.
The Old Town is still surrounded in history.

Market Place has cobbled paving and stocks outside one of the public houses.
The Crown leased the manor of Bridlington to local townspeople in 1566. By 1630, it was decided to sell it. In 1636 the Great Town Deed was drawn up between 13 feoffees (purchasers), and 187 tenants of the manor.

Many premises in the town are still owned by the Lords Feoffees, as they became known, and the body invests proceeds in town causes.
The current Bayle Museum, the former gatehouse to Bridlington Priory, is owned by the Lords Feoffees, which has been a charitable trust for more than 300 years.

Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, famously took refuge in Bridlington during the Civil War the king was fighting against the Parliamentarians.

On a voyage back from Holland to obtain supplies, she landed in Burlington Bay in February 1642. Two days later five ships of war commanded by Parliamentarian Admiral Batten entered the bay at night and opened fire with their cannons.

In a letter to the king, the Queen wrote: “One of their ships did me the favour of flanking on the house where I slept and before I was out of bed the balls whished so loud about me that my company pressed me earnestly to go out of the house.

“So, clothed as well as in haste I could be, I went on foot to some little distance from the town of Burlington and got in the shelter of a ditch, whither before I could get, the cannon balls fell thick about us, and a servant was killed within seventy paces of me.

“One dangerous ball grazed the edge of the ditch and covered us with earth and stones.”
Queen Henrietta, apparently a lady of undaunted courage, can be seen in the thick snow of the ditch holding a King Charles spaniel in her lap.
The houses of Burlington can be seen on the left of the picture.