Filey fishermen are mentioned in ancient documents long before any are known at Scarborough. Even today, some old Scarborough fishing families have Filey roots. And yet Filey was as much a farming community as a haven of the sea, with its great common fields stretching west of the hilltop church.
Nobody quite knows why the church is next to the fields, while the village is across a deep ravine, distant from them, and even had its own St Bartholomews Chapel . They called the Saint "Bartilmewe" for short and his saint's day marked the start of the busy fishing season. And that is the way it was for centuries, fishing and farming.
A visitor in 1805 saw signs of change .He described Filey as a neat fishing town, consisting chiefly of one street. The inhabitants were remarkable for their sobriety and industry and for their cordiality as neighbours. Annually they fitted out vessels for the herring season on the Yarmouth coast .
The great brigg projected near a quarter of a mile into the sea but he thought that the sands were the finest on this coast.. Filey was being resorted to in the summer season by numerous parties from Scarborough and Bridlington.
The inviting scenery and the advantages for sea bathing would render it one of the first places of that description in the north of England Suitable buildings were already being erected for the reception of permanent visitors. However, these accomodations were few and he thought them unlikely to be increased. He was wrong.
John Rushton
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