Cayton is mentioned in the
Domesday Book as
Caitune. In 2010, Cayton won a
Silver-gilt, at the
Britain in Bloom awards. This was achieved despite earlier
sabotage attacks on a number of flower beds in the village.
Second World War Second World War defences were constructed around Cayton. They included a section post and several
pillboxes. Many of the remaining defences have been subject to
coastal erosion. The village sent 45 men to the First World War, and 60 to the Second. There was not a single fatality amongst the combined 105 men, with only one soldier suffering a serious injury during the First World War, then being subsequently spared by a German Officer. leaving
bungalows on the
Knipe Point estate teetering on the edge of the cliff. The slope movements, caused by water seeping through the clay cliffs, resulted in three properties being demolished and other properties in the Knipe Point Estate and the A165 Filey Road being threatened. A number of the remaining homes are still at risk as the slope and the
National Trust land below it are designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (
SSSI); despite an initial outlay of £90,000 by Scarborough Borough Council and the National Trust an engineered solution could not be found that would satisfy the technical, environmental and cost-effective criteria set by
Natural England, the
Environment Agency and
Defra. ==Governance==