Scarborough’s Origins and History

 

Scarborough was supposedly founded around 966 AD as Skarðaborg by Thorgils Skarthi, a Viking raider, though there is no archaeological evidence to support this. The origin of this belief is a fragment of an Icelandic Saga. In the 4th century there had briefly been a Roman signal station on Scarborough headland and there is evidence of earlier Stone Age and Bronze Age settlements.
New settlements were burned to the ground by a rival band of Vikings under Tostig Godwinson and Harald III of Norway. The destruction and massacre meant that little remained to be recorded in the Domesday survey of 1085.
The town became known as probably the world’s first seaside resort back in the 1600s, when the health-giving properties of the Spa waters were discovered. Scarborough was the venue for two of the world’s first purpose-built hotels, The Grand and The Crown.
The South Cliff Lift in Scarborough was the first to be opened in the UK. It began operating in 1875, and is still in use today. The original cost was £8000.


In the 1600s Scarborough was officially known as SPA town and Britain’s first seaside, the town is overlooked by a hilltop medieval castle dated from the 1150’s. During the 1800’s it was home to the author Anne Bronte and saw the construction of The Crown and the Grand Hotel.
One of the first seaside resorts in the UK. This historic seaside town still oozes with culture with the 2,500 year old Scarborough castle being one of the top Northern tourist spots. With the building of the railway station in the mid-1800s Scarborough was soon on the rise and now is constantly innovating.



By Djamel Benrejdal, Scarborough, North Yorkshire