Filey Holiday Camp was a Butlin's

holiday camp A holiday camp is a type of holiday accommodation, primarily in the United Kingdom, that encourages holidaymakers to stay within the site boundary, and provides entertainment and facilities for them throughout the day. Since the 1970s, the term ...

near

Filey Filey () is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is located between Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Scarborough and Bridlington on Filey Bay. Although it was a fishing village, it has a large ...

, North Yorkshire, England, built for

Billy Butlin Sir William Heygate Edmund Colborne Butlin (29 September 189912 June 1980) was an entrepreneur whose name is synonymous with the British holiday camp.''#refRiverside, American Heritage Dictionary 2004'', p. 135.#refScott2001, Scott 2001, p. 5. ...

's holiday organisation. Construction of the camp began in 1939. From 1939 to 1945, the camp was used as a military training base, as

RAF Hunmanby Moor RAF Hunmanby Moor, (also known as RAF Filey), was a Royal Air Force training camp during the Second World War in Hunmanby, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The site was commandeered at the outbreak of war and returned to civilian use as a holi ...

. The camp closed in 1983. The camp was served by its own railway branch and station (

Filey Holiday Camp railway station Filey Holiday Camp railway station was a railway station built by the London and North Eastern Railway to serve Butlin's Filey Holiday Camp just south of Filey, in the then East Riding of Yorkshire, England. (Filey became part of North Yorkshir ...

) from 1947, however the station closed in 1977 due to greater car ownership. The derelict railway station platforms remain in situ today; however they are on private land. Part of the old camp was replaced by

Primrose Valley Primrose Valley is a coastal village south of Filey, North Yorkshire, England. It was historically part of the East Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the Borough of Scarborough, it is now administered by the unit ...

holiday park, and the adjacent "The Bay Filey" holiday resort. The boating lake was filled in and is now a large green area with a central path through it from the holiday park to the beach.

History

Filey Holiday Camp was being built for

in 1939. The outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

led to an arrangement with the

War Ministry In the United Kingdom, war ministry may refer to the following British wartime ministries of the 20th century: * Lloyd George war ministry (1916–1919) * Chamberlain war ministry (1939–1940) * Churchill war ministry The Churchill w ...

whereby the ministry financed the camp's completion and used it as housing for military personnel as

. Butlin reclaimed the base in 1945. A branch off the Hull Scarborough railway line was built in 1945 and formally opened in 1947. The line had its own terminal station

. A gauge

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

was installed at the camp around 1953. The original train, supplied by

Baguley Baguley ( ) is an area and electoral ward of the city of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 14,794. The name ''Baguley'' is derived from the Old English words ''bagga'' (badger, or possibly ref ...

, was sold in 1975, the carriages being reused by the

Meirion Mill Railway The Meirion Mill Railway was a narrow gauge railway that operated at Meirion Mill in Dinas Mawddwy, Wales. It only operated for three years from 1975 to 1977. History Meirion Mill is a tourist attraction that operates in a large slate buildi ...

Dinas Mawddwy Dinas Mawddwy (; ) is a town in the Community (Wales), community of Mawddwy in south-east Gwynedd, north Wales. It lies within the Snowdonia National Park, but just to the east of the main A470 road, A470, and consequently many visitors pass the ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. At its peak, the camp accommodated 11,000 visitors, with 175,000 visitors in total in the 1975 season. The railway branch became less used by visitors from the 1960s due to the rise of car ownership, and closure was proposed in 1972, after which Butlin's funded the cost of the line. The line was closed in 1977. The Butlin's holiday camp was closed in 1983. The site was briefly re-opened as ''Amtree Park'' in 1986. The camp buildings were demolished between 1988 and 2003.

In popular culture

The camp was used as a filming location for the 1947 British comedy drama film ''

Holiday Camp A holiday camp is a type of holiday accommodation, primarily in the United Kingdom, that encourages holidaymakers to stay within the site boundary, and provides entertainment and facilities for them throughout the day. Since the 1970s, the term ...

''. Although Filey camp had its own railway station, the opening shot of a train arriving at the station was filmed at

Sandsend railway station Sandsend railway station was a railway station on the Whitby, Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway. It was opened on 3 December 1883, and served the villages of Sandsend and Lythe. It closed on 5 May 1958. The station building is now a priva ...

, as the view at Sandsend was considered more spectacular.

References

Sources

* *

External links

Holiday camps Tourist attractions in North Yorkshire Tourist attractions in the East Riding of Yorkshire Filey {{UK-struct-stub