Articles:
Porthole in Time: Boxing Day Firemen & Fishermen's football match
The Fishermen vs Firemen’s Football Match, held annually on the South Bay sands raises money for the Fishermen and Firemen’s Charity Fund. The tradition bega...
Porthole in Time: Anne Bronte
Anne Brontë was born in 1820 near Bradford, the youngest of the Brontë sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne – who were well known for their literary talents. While working as a governess for t...
Porthole in Time: Bombardment
Scarborough was bombarded by the German navy in World War I. At about 8 a.m. on the morning of 16th December 1914, two German battlecruisers Von Der Tann and Derfflinger approached Scarborough from the north, thro...
Porthole in Time: Cayley
Sir George Cayley is believed to have been born at Paradise House, near St Mary’s Church, although St Nicholas Street has also been claimed. He had a good scientific education and inherited his family’s est...
Porthole in Time: Civil War
The English Civil Wars were a series of wars in the 17th century between the supporters of Parliament (Parliamentarians or ‘Roundheads’) and supporters of the King (Royalists or ‘Cavaliers&rsq...
Porthole in Time: Cricket
Scarborough Cricket Club was formed in 1849 with the first match being played against Filey on rough ground opposite the Queen Hotel on North Marine Road. As the club developed, it played important matches at Castle H...
Porthole in Time: Dinosaurs
The Yorkshire Coast is known as the ‘Dinosaur Coast’. 170 million years ago the land that is now Scarborough was in a very different location – around where Morocco is today. At the beginning of th...
Porthole in Time: Fair
King Henry III issued a Royal Charter in 1253 granting the borough of Scarborough the right to hold an annual fair for 45 days, from 15th August (the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) until 29th Septemb...
Porthole in Time: First Resort
Scarborough’s beginnings as a spa town date back to the discovery of its apparently medicinal spa waters by one Mrs Thomasin Farrer, who was from a wealthy and influential local background – her fathe...
Porthole in Time: Florence Balgarnie
Florence Balgarnie was born in Scarborough in 1856, the daughter of the popular Reverend Robert Balgarnie. While living in Scarborough, she became the secretary of the town’s University Extension Sche...
Porthole in Time: Football
Scarborough Football Club was originally formed in 1879 by members of the town’s cricket club, initially playing their matches at the North Marine Road cricket ground. Their first two matches were played as exp...
Porthole in Time: GCHQ
According to GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming, Scarborough is home to ‘the oldest, continually operated, signals collection site in the world’. Its history began in 1912 on Sandybed Lane, on the western outskirts...
Porthole in Time: Grand Hotel
Following the development of the York-Scarborough railway in 1845, visitors began to arrive in greatly increased numbers. Looking to profit from this increased tourism, a group of Yorkshire businessmen bought a si...
Porthole in Time: Gristhorpe Man
Around 4,000 years ago, a warrior chieftain today known as ‘Gristhorpe Man’ was buried in a large oak-tree coffin in a burial mound near Scarborough. This kind of burial is rare, particularly in thi...
Porthole in Time: Holbeck Hotel
The Holbeck Hall Hotel began life as a private mansion called Wheatcroft Cliff built for Mr George Alderson-Smith, a local trawler owner. It was converted into a hotel in 1932 by Tom Laughton, brother of Hollywo...
Porthole in Time: Lifeboat
Scarborough’s first lifeboat was launched in 1801, one of the first in the country, just behind Sunderland and Montrose the previous year, and was located near today’s Spa Bridge. Newspapers were soon wri...
Porthole in Time: Marine Drive
Marine Drive was planned as both a tourist attraction, linking both of Scarborough’s bays, and an important coastal defence, protecting the headland from further erosion. The idea appealed to the Council, a...
Porthole in Time: Open Air Theatre
Scarborough’s Open Air Theatre was opened in 1932. It had 7,000 seats, a stage 52m (170 ft) long and cost £11,000 to build. The theatre was part of Borough Engineer Harry Smith’s projec...
Porthole in Time: Oliver's Mount
The Oliver’s Mount motorcycle racing circuit came about because of the enthusiasm of the Scarborough and District Motor Club who, inspired by the classic road races taking place elsewhere, had been se...
Porthole in Time: Public Memories
As part of the NLHF 'Porthole in Time' project we have gathered the public's memories of Scarborough.
Below are a few written examples. Click here for more stories and audio recordings
Sca...
Porthole in Time: Railway
Scarborough Railway Station, a Grade II listed building, was built on what was then the outskirts of the town in 1845 and opened on 7th July that year. It was built for the York and North Midland Railway and designed ...
Porthole in Time: Romans
Britain was a province of the Roman Empire from 43 CE (AD) until the year 410. The Romans moved northwards, reaching modern-day York by 71 CE, where they established a fort following their defeat of the Celtic tribe, t...
Porthole in Time: Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding was for centuries a major industry in Scarborough. The harbour in South Bay had maintained fishing boats since the town’s earliest days, but in the seventeenth century shipbuilding commenced an...
Porthole in Time: Sir Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn is one of Britain’s most successful and prolific playwrights, as well as a world-renowned director of in-the-round staging. He has received more than 35 awards and honours, includin...
Porthole in Time: Skipping
While the first mention of skipping on Shrove Tuesday is from 1903, Scarborough has long treated Shrove Tuesday as a special holiday. In the 19th century, and possibly earlier, shopkeepers closed their businesses at ...
Porthole in Time: Star Carr
The archaeological site at Star Carr near Scarborough has been described as the most important Mesolithic site in Britain. The Mesolithic is the middle Stone Age, from around 10,000 to 4,000 years ago. Britain at th...
Porthole in Time: Titanic
Scarborough has two important connections to the RMS Titanic – James Paul Moody, the only junior officer to die in the sinking of the Titanic, and Sir Edward Harland, founder of the shipyard which built the Tita...
Porthole in Time: Tunny Fishing
For about 20 years, between 1930 and 1950, Scarborough became associated with the sport of ‘tunny’ (tuna) fishing. Local fishermen had earlier spotted large creatures in the water while fishing for h...
Porthole in Time: Vikings
The origin of the name ‘Scarborough’ is uncertain, but there are a few theories relating to Anglo-Saxon or Viking origins. The evidence for a Viking origin of the name Scarborough is found in Icelandic lit...
Porthole in Time: WW2
Scarborough endured more than 20 air raids during the Second World War. Very extensive damage was done when a single enemy ‘parachute mine’ was dropped on the Old Town on 10th October 1940, completely destroyi...
