History of Scarborough's Marine Drive to be told in new sea wall trail

The idea for the project came about from the Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre in 2019, and they were awarded £40,000 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund at the start of 2022.

Also involved with the project is the Archaeological and Historical Society and the Scarborough & District Civic Society.

Permission to use the sea wall was given by the Scarborough Borough Council.

Project manager Huw Roberts, a Trustee of the Maritime Heritage Centre, said: “Scarborough possibly has the most colourful and varied history of any British town of comparable size, but its heritage is not widely known, especially by the vast majority of the town’s visitors.

“Whatever was happening in history, ancient or modern, Scarborough has been up there making the news. We wanted to tell that story.”

Huw Roberts, project manager, said: "We just wanted to make sure people understood the story that is Scarborough. It probablt has one of the richest and most colourful history of any town.

“We went online to ask the people of Scarborough to help us to design the project and they responded wonderfully. We also asked local schools to engage with us on the design of the project and the help given by four of these (Gladstone Road and Friarage primary schools, Scalby School and the 6th Form College) will forever be, literally, etched into the end product.”

The unveiling took place near the old Toll House, and special guests included Lady Ayckbourn and Sir Alan Ayckbourn.

The trail can be viewed along Marine Drive. Mr Roberts said: "We had the best blank canvas we could possible get. Hundreds and thousands of people walk alongside this wall every year and they will now be able to understand what Scarborough is all about."

This project was awarded funding by the National Lottery Heritage Fund at the start of 2022. The money has been used to tell the story of Scarborough’s history and heritage using etched granite Storyboards installed on the sea wall along Scarborough’s Marine Drive.

The idea for the project came from the Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre and they are the lead organisation for the project as part of a Partnership with the Archaeological and Historical Society and the Scarborough & District Civic Society. Permission to use the sea wall was given by the Scarborough Borough Council.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s priority objective is to see more people engaging in heritage and, when a dialogue was started with them in 2019 they were interested in a project which would showcase Scarborough’s heritage to hundreds of thousands of people walking the Marine Drive each year.

The project is thought to be unique and it is the Partnership’s hope that it will attract more visitors and help the town’s economy to recover after the pandemic.