Bridlington Harbour
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.