700 - 500BC: Bronze / Iron Age people live on castle headland (Sword found by archaeologists, typical of Lower Rhineland)
367AD: Romans on castle headland.
930: Skardaburg is a Viking name (Iceland/Norway/Scandanavian) On the Dublin-Oslo trade route.
966: Norse Sagas say Kormak and Thorgil brothers came here. (skarthi=hair-lip, scar-face).
1066: Scarborough ‘Holocaust’, Vikings roll burning logs down castle slopes into town.
1155: Castle built, 1163 Henry II founds Royal Borough, Links with ‘Citeaux monastery’ in France.
1212: Scarborough is biggest Castle in Britain, King John.
1225: Scarborough granted 40 oaks and ability to put a toll on ships for harbour repairs.
1252: Lady Isabelle and John de Vesey, governor of castle. King Henry granted timber & stone for Scarborough harbour.
1253: 45-day-long Scarborough Fair started, an international market based on the herring catch in August.
1275: Welsh and Scots prisoners in castle, 2 members of Parliament (1 of 20 cities in UK).
1315: Grey Friars install water pipe from Falsgrave Park to bring clean water to town.
1319: 1st poet laureate, Robert Baston, leading author of the day.
1356: Constitution drawn up, population 2000.
1414: 40 fishing boats, growth of Hull and Seamer.
1483: Richard III gives 300 oaks from Royal Forest to build harbour walls. 1485 makes county with new charter.
1588: Spanish Armada sail past Scarborough persued by Francis Drake.
1602: Scarborough Society of ship owners & master mariners formed.
1600: QE1 gives £2000for new pier, also coal tax on boats going from Newcastle to London.
1620: Castle derelict, spa water discovered.
1626: Spaw water found and promoted, 6-8 pints of mineral water every day ‘purges’ the body!
1645: Plague. Castle destroyed in civil war.
1651: 60 brewers, 30 ale houses. George Fox (Founder of Quakerism) in prison at castle.
1649-60: Cromwell’s Republic in Britain, Scarboro is Royalist, then changes. 5 month siege of town, 3 days of cannonball fire at the castle keep by ‘big bertha’ Britain’s largest canon.
1665: Scarborough's Admiral Sir John Lawson dies - see our webpage about this extremly important man.
1667: Dr Wittie writes report saying sea bathing is good for gout and a laxative.
1686: 74 beds available.
1691: Ranked 7th Ship building port in the country, 100 registered.
1699: Dicky Dickenson runs Spaw & sells spa mineral water.
1732: Harbour Act to enlarge it.
1733: 1st resort in UK with the most bathing machines & cheap brandy, smuggled in.
1737: Landslide onto spa, town is popular for gambling.
1770-1890: 300 ships built, new outer harbour wall built, first lighthouse and lifeboat.
1775: Scarborough Shipwright's Society founded.
1787: 1500 seamen registered in Scarborough.
1779: Bon Homme Richard captained by John Paul Jones under the American flag attacks English ships off Flamborough Head.
1802: Population 6000, 2000 visitors, 1000 poor, 120 lodging houses.
1816: Unemployed & poor made to excavate sand from harbour.
1822: West Pier extended and joined to Island Pier.
1827: Cliff Bridge and Rotunda opened.
1832: Trinity House rebuilt on St Sepulchre Street.
1845: York railway arrives and water pumping station. Thomas Whittaker is mayor.
1852: First paddle steamer 'Transit' arrives in Scarborough.
1861: Population 17,000, no naked bathing allowed, 17,000 visitors. Scarboro Newspaper starts.
1871: First telegraphic message reaches Scarborough.
1880: Huge storms wreck many ships along the coast.
1881: Population 30,000. Ramsdale (Valley) bridge opens.Grand Hotel has 6 million bricks, largest in Europe, 11 miles of carpet!
1891: Ramsdale Bridge opened, ex fallen into river in York. Grand hotel is largest in Europe with 6 million bricks, 12 floors, 52 chimneys, 365 rooms, 4 domes, 11 miles carpet, hot & cold & fresh & salt water in rooms.
1897: North Bay pier built and washed away in 1905.
1907: Scarborough is the 5th largest hering port in the country.
1908: Marine drive opens. Population 37,000.
1914: 770 German shells hit the town from two battle cruisers, 16th December. 18 die.
1915: Trams and lido opened.
1917: U-boat sinks 13 fishing boats.
1925: 6000 gallons of ice cream made in the season.
1939: Evacuees housed from Hull and Leeds.
1940: Scarborough's Coronia, under another name, helps evacuate troops from Dunkirk.
1941: Bombed in WW2.
1965: 1 in 50 people are over age 65.
1973: Plaxton’s coach works make ‘green goddess’ fire engines. 365 hotels, 1400 self-catering, 4th resort in UK.
1991: Tory government, Labour council.
1993: Holbeck Hotel slips into sea.
2001: Labour government, Tory council. Population 108,000.
2009: Last boatyard closes, Maritime Heritage Centre opens, Scarborough wins most enterprising town in Europe Award.
2015: Futurist closes. Maritime Heritage Centre moves into new premises.