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This room may well be the first that you enter, and the exhibits show how Filey began as a tiny fishing village, with surrounding farmland, based in Queen Street.  There is evidence to suggest that there has been a settlement here for over 1000 years.  Then, after the railway arrived in the 1850s, New Filey was developed on The Crescent, overlooking the bay, and the town began to establish its reputation as a select holiday resort.

In this room is the best collection of original paintings of local scenes to be found anywhere, together with glassware and pottery with local connections.  There is a 3000 year old local skull, and ships (and other things) in bottles.

Unique to the East Coast is the ubiquitous all-weather fisherman’s jumper – the guernsey (or ganzey as local pronunciation has it), and several of these are on display.  If you ask one of the stewards they will explain how these are knitted without any seams, and the meanings and practical significance of the complicated traditional patterns.

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