Yorkshire Day 4: Bridlington

It was another nice, slow morning today. We had plans, but no time-sensitive appointments so we didn’t have to be anywhere particularly quickly. I had a dark chocolate and raspberry Grenade bar for breakfast. I’ve been working my way through all of the flavours, and this one was really good. In fact, there haven’t been many I don’t like (though I won’t go near peanut flavoured anything, yuck).

Our plan today was to go to Bridlington, a small seaside town about a half hour drive south from Scarborough. The drive went really smoothly as there wasn’t a tonne of traffic around, so we made good time and got to the town by about 10:20. We parked a little way out and walked to the seafront.

As we were walking on a road called Prospect Street, we made a detour into a garden with a cenotaph standing in it. The garden turned out to be a war memorial and had several commemorative stones for Burma and the 50^th anniversary of Dunkirk. There was also a stone donated by the Trinity United football club, and a bench in memory of a Corporal who died in Afghanistan at only 23. The cenotaph itself was originally erected after World War I, but also included names from the wars that have happened since, all the way up to Afghanistan in 2010. It was a really beautiful and sad place, and I’m glad we stopped to read the stones and take a moment.

We walked through town toward the seafront. The sun had come out and it turned out to be a beautiful day. The town is quite nice – like Scarborough, there’s a lot of indie shops and businesses, so it feels very quaint and communal. We took our time strolling towards the sea and clocked a bakery we wanted to revisit later (there were huge, beautiful pork pies in the window).

Because the sun had suddenly made an appearance, we decided to stop at a nearby ice cream shop called Jerome’s. They had a big variety of flavours, but I eventually settled on ‘birthday cake’. There were bits of cake and sprinkles in it, with the ice cream itself tasting like vanilla cake batter. I also got it in a waffle cone, as a treat. The three of us were really impressed with the quality of the ice cream, and there was sudden quiet as we walked along the promenade eating them.

The promenade at Bridlington is really wide and well-kept, so there was plenty of space to walk despite it being fairly busy. There were so many dogs too, so I was pleased. Our walk up along the coast was laid back and leisurely, with the sun shining between patches of cloud. I felt really content and relaxed, it was a lovely atmosphere.

We soon realised that there wasn’t really anything at the other end of the prom and just strolled back towards where we’d started, where the funfair stood on the shore and a pier jutted out after that. We decided to walk on the pier and look into the harbour from there.

Gansey Girl – a statue of a girl knitting a traditional fisherman’s jumper – was put on the pier in 2015 to honour the fishing families of Bridlington.

We sat at the end of the pier to look out at the sea, and were soon met with the sight of a pirate ship floating by. As it began to turn in to the harbour, we could see the people sitting on deck. A tiny child was in there, not sure if they should wave to the people on the pier, so I encouraged them by giving a big, hearty wave. We watched it all the way to where it moored, and spotted a sign saying that you could have a 10-minute ride in the pirate ship for just £2! Obviously we had to.

There was only a small group of us on the boat so it was nice and peaceful. The sea was calm but had enough bumps to make the ride fun. It was nice to see the seafront from out on the water and feel the spray from the sea on our faces. At one point a speedboat went by with everyone on it waving and calling to us, and we all waved back. It was just a really lovely interval in the day, and I’m glad we did it.

The sea air had worked up our appetites, so we went back to the bakery we’d spied earlier. I got a cheese scone and the hugest shortbread cookie I’d ever seen. We went back to the seafront to sit and eat, and my baked goodies were delicious and really homey.

After that, we walked the opposite way up the seafront, through the harbour. I made it to the lifeboat station before I decided to sit down. I was flagging really badly, for no reason, and felt too tired to keep going. Martin went on ahead to see if there was anything else of interest and Mum and I sat on the wall and chilled until he got back.

On the way back toward the main town, we stopped a small out-of-the-way coffee shop to escape the more crowded places. I had a mocha and it was nice to sit and rest with a hot drink. My poor knees were in a right state at this point, and I was thinking wistfully of the painkillers I had back in the car. Once we’d had a decent sit down, we set off again to start heading back.

There was a quaint-looking sweet shop just off the seafront, called Fudgetastic. It sold all of the sweets you’d expect at the seaside like fudge, nougat and rock. It was a really cute little place. After I’d wandered around for a bit, I found the best thing ever – DRACULA ROCK. It’s a stick of rock that’s black on the outside and a pale red on the inside. I had to grab a few of them to gift people (and one for myself obvs).

I did make it back to the car, but my knees were really complaining at this point. I took some paracetamol and lamented that I’d really wanted to walk out to Bridlington Priory. Martin said, as it was on the way back to Scarborough, we could just drive and stop there on the way home.

We had glimpsed the Priory on our drive into town, and I knew it was going to be pretty, but seeing it up close was even better. It’s so dramatic and old, with eerie details like empty plinths where statues of saints used to stand (thanks a lot, Henry VIII).

As we walked further into the graveyard, we noticed a man on a ladder doing some work on the priory wall. He was being watched by an older woman who we assumed was part of the priory in some way. She greeted us warmly and let us know that the priory itself was unfortunately closed today, but that we were very welcome to spend time in the grounds. She asked if we’d been there before (we hadn’t), then proceeded to give us a quick history lesson about the place which was really interesting.

Basically, the Priory building you see today is much smaller than it used to be. There used to be a whole campus there, including dormitories, a tower, cloisters, and everyday things like a bakehouse and treasury. You can see a map of what it would have looked like on the Priory’s website. In 1539, everything except the nave (the part you see today) was destroyed because of – you guessed it – Henry VIII and his crusade. They also burned the original shrine of St John, which is just rude. The Priory remained in disrepair until restoration efforts began in the 19^th century. It’s stood ever since, even escaping World War Two with just one blown-out window. Obviously, I’ve condensed the history a lot here as the site was established in the early 12^th century, but there is plenty more to read on the website if you love a bit of history.

The current churchyard the Priory is a really nice idea. They’ve started a ‘living churchyard’ project, in which they let the local grasses and wildflowers grow all over to encourage local flora and fauna to stay in the habitat. This benefits bats, bees, birds and insects of all kinds, and I really liked the look it gave the graveyard. It’s overgrown but not neglected – the grass is mown only twice a year, otherwise it’s left to do what it wants and the effect is beautiful.

My favourite part of the churchyard was the ‘labyrinth’. It was drawn on the floor in tiny narrow gravel paths. At the beginning was a pot of stones – the idea is that you take a stone, which represents a burden you’re carrying or grief for a dead person, and walk with it to the centre of the labyrinth where a blue pot sits. There are lots of ways to get to the middle, and you have to follow your heart rather than taking any specific route. When you reach the centre, you place your stone into the blue pot as an act of putting down a burden, or leaving your deceased loved one in the hands of God. It was a really lovely idea, and I imagine a lot of people get some spiritual calm from doing it.

The whole place has such a nice aesthetic. You know I love a graveyard anyway, but this one was truly unique, natural and so beautiful. If you’re ever up that way, definitely go and have a look for yourself – I imagine it looks totally different with each season. It’s also incredibly peaceful. The site isn’t really isolated from the town, but the churchyard is so quiet and calm, you can’t help but feel relaxed and reflective.

There is also a new shrine for St John of Bridlington, who died of the plague in the 14^th century. He was the last saint to be canonised before Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. There’s a standing stone with his name on it, as well as a ledger stone made by artist Stephen Carvill, who has the most fitting surname ever. Written on the ledger stone is: O Prior Bridlyngtonie pie, Imitator caste vie, Representa nos messye, which translates to ‘O Holy Prior of Bridlington, follower of a chaste life, pray for us’. We wouldn’t have known about the shrine or where to look for it if it weren’t for our impromptu history lesson earlier, so it was really special.

If you continue walking north from the shrine, you soon come to a large obelisk. The ground around it is free from headstones, as there is a mass grave beneath the monument. It commemorates the victims of the Great Gale of 1871, a huge storm which caused tumultuous seas and claimed 30 ships and at least 50 lives. It was a devastating loss for Bridlington and the towns around it (I spotted ships that came from Scarborough and Whitby, amongst others). 

Every year, the Priory and the Bridlington RNLI hold a remembrance ceremony for those who died and for the heroic rescuers that went to the ships’ aid. We learned from our history lady that the storm was used as evidence by Samuel Plimsoll to demonstrate how overloading ships can make an already dangerous situation into something far more tragic. His campaigning pushed the government into creating regulation for cargo limits using a ‘Plimsoll line’, which is still used on ships to this day.

We spent a long while walking along the lines of gravestones on the northern boundary of the site, reading the epitaphs and admiring the grave decorations and flowers that people had left. I felt peaceful and a little sad there, but I like to pay attention to as many graves as I can out of respect for the dead. I am crashing their resting place, after all.

There is a carved tree at the southwest gate that I loved. The carving is of a ‘lamb of God’, and was created by our pal Stephen Carvill in 2013, to mark the 900-year celebration of the Priory. You can see the Bible quote beneath the lamb in my photo, but you can’t see what’s written above it. It’s that wonderful quote from Saint Augustine of Hippo who said: There is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future.

When we got back, we whipped up a quick Rogan Josh for dinner, and I had a glass of the mead I bought yesterday. It was so delicious, but you have to be sort of careful – it’s a strong drink but it tastes so smooth and sweet from the honey that you could easily drink too much of it. I poured quite a hefty glass before realising the alcohol content, so I’m feeling pleasantly sleepy from it.

I’m having another early night, but it’s not just because I’m tired and in pain. It’s because tomorrow I finally make the Goth pilgrimage to Whitby and I want to be as fresh as possible. I’m so excited!