The hamlet of Raw is believed to have been settled around the year 1000 by Norwegians and Danes. Later, after the Conquest and an uprising, the land is thought to have been laid to waste by William the Conqueror. The hamlet is thought to have housed the first dwellings in the area when the settlers were only part-time fishermen. In 1563, the manor of Fyling Raw, along with Fylingthorpe, was bought by Sir Richard Cholmley, who then owned most of the land in the wapentake of Whitby Strand. An inquiry by Queen Elizabeth I in 1588 about possible warnings of the Spanish Armada, reported that Filingdaill (Fylingdales) had three beacons, one of which is believed to be Beacon Hill ( above Ordnance Datum) next to the hamlet of Raw. By the 19th century, hamlets around Robin Hood's Bay (Thorp, Raw and Normanby) were the agricultural areas to Robin Hood's Bay's maritime industry.
