About

Filey in the N. and E. Ridings of the County of York, the Archdeaconry of the E. Riding, the Deanery of Dickering, and Wapentake of Pickering Lythe, is distant from Scarborough 7 miles, due S., or 25 minutes by Railway.

The original name of Filey was Facelac, at least it is so called in Doomsday Book: and it has undergone many changes, being called by the different appellations of File, Fieling, Fielay, Fyley, Fiveley, Fiviley, Fyveley, Fiveleiam, Finelay, Philaw, and Filo.

The Lordship was held immediately after the Conquest by Gilbert de Gant, whose family came into England with the Conqueror in the person of the said Gilbert, who was youngest son of Baldwin, 6th Earl of Flanders, and nephew of William the Conqueror. From Gilbert de Gant the Lordship descended to Walter, his son and heir, a person of great piety, who gave the Church to the Priory of Bridlington, to which it was appropriated, but no vicarage ordained therein. The Manor descended to Gilbert de Gant, the eldest son of Walter, and after him to Robert de Gant, Gilbert de Gant, styled " Gilbert the Good," and to his son Gilbert, who dying without issue, he constituted King Edward I. his heir to the lands of his Barony. William de Perci, or Percy, appears to have been the Baronial Lord of Filey in the reign of Stephen or Henry. In the 17th century, the family of the Bucks were proprietors of that part of the Filey Lordship which stands in the N. Riding. This mansion stood on the N. side of the Church, the site of which was, if it is not yet, indicated by earth-works. The Lordship came afterwards into the hands of Humphrey Osbaldeston, Esq., of Hunmanby, and and is now held by Admiral Mitford, of the same place.

In 1353, the Chapel of Filey was confirmed in its exemption from archidiaconal visitations, and was proved to have been so from time immemorial, as a dependent of the Church of Whitby.