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SituationFiley with a population of approaching 7000 is situated on the east coast of England between Scarborough, about 8 miles to the north, and Bridlington, about 12 miles to the south. (Ordnance Survey, Grid Reference TA 115807) The greater part of the town stands high above the sea on a cliff with a superb outlook over an expansive and magnificent bay with a 5 mile stretch of clean hard tide-washed sand. The bay has an almost semi-circular sweep that runs from Filey Brigg in the north to the 400 feet high chalk cliffs of Speeton and Bempton in the south, extending to the headland at Flamborough. The town itself has two natural boundaries, Church Ravine to the north and Martins Ravine to the south. It is still rail connected with a station showing a fine example of early Victorian railway architecture, and is on the Hull to Scarborough line. click here to see photos of Filey Bay Click here to see a Street Map of Filey Early Days It is believed that there has been a community here for over 1200 years and that for a thousand years it was a remote small fishing and farming village. That community was in and around the area of what is today called Queen Street. Before 1850 the present Queen Street was the only major street in Filey with a fishing village extending on a series of terraces down the side of the ravine to the seashore. The fishing village dates from the 9th or 10th century. The NW end of Queen Street and the area around the site of the present museum appears to have developed away from the sea with an agricultural village dating from around the 12th century. In 1835 a "New Plan for New Filey" was created, which led to Filey changing from a fishing and farming village into a town. The railways reached Filey in 1846/1847. The Seamer to Filey line opened in 1846, with the first train running on 5th October 1846. The Filey to Bridlington line opened in 1847, making a through route to Hull, and the first trains ran on 20th October 1847. The ¾ mile spur off the Scarborough to Hull line to the Butlins Holiday Camp opened on 10th May 1947 and closed on 17th September 1977. Much rapid development in the early and mid 19th century took place to the south with the creation of what became known as New Filey, with the building of The Crescent, the growth of a residential area with the subsequent opening of many shops. 
There were two separate communities of Old and New Filey served with its own series of shops.
Although today the community is one with the two areas being joined by the aptly named Union Street, signs of the past can clearly be seen, especially the old fishermen's cottages on Church Hill.
Holiday ResortFiley has enjoyed a reputation of being a seaside resort since Victorian days.It set about being a holiday resort in the 1850s, the railways had arrived in 1846. By the 1890s it had a fashionable reputation and gaining in popularity during the Edwardian period up to the Second World War. After the war it continued its popularity and prospered with visitors from the nearby Butlins holiday camp. It suffered to some extent with the closure of the camp in 1983 and to the general decline in the UK holiday market from the early 1980s. Today it still has a fine reputation as a holiday resort and to its credit has remained unscarred by any tacky commercialism on its foreshore. Population In 1672 there were 77 households.The 2001 census revealed a resident population of 6468 with 2993 households. click here to see details of the 2001 Census. The first of the 10 yearly census was in 1801 and the following table shows the growth of the population:-
 Local Government Since the 1974 Local Government Reorganisation there are three levels of local government authority a Town Council, a Borough Council and a County Council. Filey Town Council is composed of 13 councillors with a Town Mayor as its leader. Filey is one of 39 Parish councils in the Borough of Scarborough and has 3 of the 49 councillors that make up the Scarborough Borough Council. The North Yorkshire County Council is the higher authority and has seven districts of which Scarborough (which includes Filey) is one. Filey itself has one representative on the County Council, which consists of 74 councillors. Although it is associated with Scarborough in local government it is not so when it comes to national government when it is included in the sprawling constituency of Ryedale. click here to see Local Election Results. click here to see Council Tax History at Filey. Filey Brigg Is a finger of gritstone protruding out to sea for nearly a mile forming a natural pier and breakwater. The Brigg is at the mid-point of the Yorkshire coast. It is accessible for several hours on each side of low water and can be reached by a short walk along the sands from the town. A buoy for the safety of fishing marks the dangerous reefs of the Brigg. The Brigg has been the cause of a number of shipwrecks in the past click here to see photos of Filey Brigg 
Filey's Edwardian Festival The festival first started in 1980 runs from the last Saturday in June for nine days and celebrates the period when Filey really developed as a seaside resort. There are plenty of activities and entertainment for visitors and residents alike, and many visitors make it an annual event. The Festival Parade through the town on the first Sunday has always attracted large crowds. I say "has attracted" because the parade will be no more. Owing to the latest health and safety legislation, which has placed on the organiser a series of requirements for insurance purposes, and requirements for the roadworthiness of the floats, the organiser, Filey Lions Club, had been left with no alternative but to end the parade for 2006 and for the following years. 
The Filey MuseumThe museum, situated in Queen Street, is based in the oldest surviving building in the town, it was built in 1696, and is a Grade 11 listed building. There are seven rooms of extensive exhibits and a fine collection of old photographs. There is a display of farming and fishing items from the old Filey community in the garden at the rear. The garden also displays the "Paget Stone" that was originally sited on Filey Brigg as a warning of the dangers of standing too near the aggressive waves and as a memorial to Charles Paget J.P., M.P., and his wife Ellen from Ruddington, Notingham. Both were swept off the northern side rocks in October 1873. The stone was subsequently dislodged during a landslip and lost for a number of years. It surfaced again near its original site in April 1993 and was removed and renovated for display at the museum. click here to see museum photos including the "Paget Stone". The museum attracts over 3000 visitors every year. It opens at Easter time and closes towards the end of October. Butlins Holiday Camp The Filey camp was the third to be built after Skegness and Clacton. Building work started to the south of the town in 1939 but was only half completed when the Second World War broke out. The site was taken over by the War Department and became known, with Primrose Valley, as R.A.F. Hunmanby Moor. It was partly re-opened in 1945 when half of the camp was released by the War Department and by 1946 it was completely re-opened. In 1947 it had its own rail service (Saturdays only), which was withdrawn in 1977. The remains of the two spur trackbed off the Hull to Scarborough line can still be seen today. The camp reached its peak in 1969 when it had accommodation for over 10,000 campers. It suffered with the general decline in the UK holiday market and closed in 1983. It had around 100,000 visitors each season bringing much trade and employment to the local people. In 1986 the site re-opened as Amtree Park but after a few months the developer went into liquidation and the site closed. Since then there have been several abortive proposals to develop the site and for 12 years or so it was a eyesore and a blot on the landscape. Late in 1999 saw the latest proposals to develop the site - again looking too ambitious - but at least this time it led to a cleaning up of the site. There have since been several planning applications for the development of the site but none has not yet met the approval of the Scarborough Borough Council. In September 2003 the developers, Richmond Properties, sold 50 acres of the site to their next-door neighbours, Bourne Leisure, who plan to include the land in a revamp of their existing Primrose Valley Holiday site. This was followed by the developers submitting a fresh planning application for their reduced site, 45 acres, which again was turned down by the borough council. The developers finally got their application pased and work started on the site in 2007. The passed planning application has since been trimmed somewhat, with certain projects being shelved, such as the hotel, the garden centre, the petrol station, and the fast-food restaurant. This led the developers to submit three further planning applications for additional 27, 25 and 41 homes, which would increase the number of homes to 719, 30 more than originally agreed. The first two applications have been approved but the one for 41 units has been refused. The site is now known as the "The Bay Holiday Village". By creating a "roadway" down and on to the beach the developers came into conflict with the borough council and the outcome, as far as it is known, is still to be resolved.
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