Lifeboat station and York yacht club
In the 1090’s the port of Bridlington belonged to the Gants who gave it to the Priory as part of the Manor. The maintenance of the harbour was passed to the Lords Feoffees in 1630, after the Dissolution of the monasteries.
Walking along towards South Cliff Road you are approaching the harbour, once used by the Romans. From early times the bay was a centre for shipping and fishing, with Irish gold crossing the Pennines to be shipped to the continent. Herring was an important industry with herring houses here in 1530. Fishing is still important; so watch the unloading early in the morning.
For centuries shipping was also an important part of Bridlington’s livelihood. The Priory exported wool in the 1300’s, and by the 1500’s regular shipments of coal were brought in. In the 1700’s London and the Continent were big markets for the malt, grain and vegetables grown in the area. There was a ship building yard on the seafront and the last locally built ship was launched in 1834.
There were two timber framed piers in 1554 and to help with the maintenance of these a toll was collected on goods shipped or landed. New stone piers were built between 1816 and 1848.
Continuing along South Cliff Road to the left is Pembroke Terrace built in the 1870s, fronted by Pembroke Gardens which had a cannon as a feature in 1910. Below, on the right, at the landward end of the South Pier, rebuilt in 1848, is Gummers Landing [3]. In the 1800s and early 1900s this would have been full of activity when the herring boats came in with their catches to be auctioned. The Lawrence Complex on the harbour side was built in 1993 on the site of the workshops of no. 21 Air Sea Rescue Unit.