Scenic Place in Hull and East Yorkshire

Flamborough Head is a great chalk promontory projecting into the North Sea from the East Yorkshire coast, its brilliant white cliffs, sea stacks and wave-cut arches formed from the same Cretaceous chalk that underlies the White Cliffs of Dover and visible for miles offshore. The headland is one of the most important geological and wildlife sites on the Yorkshire coast, its combination of chalk cliff habitats, rich offshore fishing grounds and strategic position as a first landfall for migrating birds making it a site of exceptional natural interest across every season. The seabird colonies on the Flamborough cliffs are among the most significant on the east coast of England. Tens of thousands of kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and puffins breed on the ledges and sea cave roofs during the spring and summer season, their noise and movement creating a spectacle of wildlife abundance that is one of the finest available on the Yorkshire coast. The clifftop path north of Flamborough village toward Thornwick and North Landing provides the best access to the cliff-nesting birds, with viewpoints overlooking densely occupied ledges at close range throughout the breeding season. The lighthouse at the tip of the headland has guided vessels clear of the chalk stacks and submerged reefs since 1806, its position marking one of the most hazardous sections of the Yorkshire coast. The Battle of Flamborough Head in September 1779, in which the American naval commander John Paul Jones defeated a British convoy escort in one of the most dramatic single-ship actions of the American Revolutionary War, is commemorated in the area's maritime heritage. The chalk arch at Thornwick Bay and the sea caves accessible on foot at low tide from North and South Landing provide geological features of considerable interest and the connection with Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve a short walk to the north makes this one of the finest short stretches of coastal walking in Yorkshire.

Bridlington Harbour on the East Yorkshire coast is the largest fishing harbour on the Yorkshire coast and one of the most active working fishing ports in northeast England, a double-basin harbour enclosing a substantial fleet of inshore fishing vessels and a thriving commercial fishing industry that provides much of the Yorkshire coast's supply of crab, lobster, cod and other North Sea species. The harbour divides into the Old Town above and the Victorian resort development along the seafront below, and the combination of the working harbour, the fishing vessel activity and the seaside resort character gives Bridlington a dual personality that makes it one of the more interesting coastal towns on the Yorkshire coast. The harbour itself is the most visually engaging part of the town, the stone quays enclosing a basin where fishing vessels land their catches in the mornings and pleasure craft moor through the summer season. Fish can be bought directly from the boats and from the fish stalls along the quayside in the morning, providing some of the freshest and most competitively priced seafood available anywhere in Yorkshire. The combination of the working harbour atmosphere and the opportunity to buy genuinely local fish is one of Bridlington's most distinctive and enjoyable visitor experiences. The Old Town of Bridlington, separated from the harbour and seafront by a distance of nearly a kilometre, contains the priory church of St Mary, one of the finest medieval churches in East Yorkshire, whose gatehouse survives as a particularly impressive example of late medieval monastic gatehouse architecture. The priory was founded in 1114 and its most celebrated prior, St John of Bridlington, was canonised in 1401 and became one of the most venerated saints of medieval northern England. The broad sandy beaches north and south of the harbour are among the most extensive on the Yorkshire coast, and the combination of beach, harbour and the chalk cliffs of Flamborough Head to the north provides excellent coastal walking opportunities.