SOLWAY’S BUILT HERITAGE Identifying the distinctive character of the north Solway Plain with food, drink, Solway Plain was largely goods and services. defined by the monks of the In post-Roman abbey. times, these early Wool was the valuable settlements expanded commodity of the day. The over the remains of the The Staffordshire Moorlands marshy ‘wastelands’ were forts themselves. Today, Pan bearing the names of Maia drained to create fields for the main road through (Bowness) and Coggabata (Drumburgh) grazing sheep and for growing Bowness follows the line crops. New settlements appeared that of the Via Principalis through the former focused on various monastic activities, fort of Maia. A similar pattern can be such as Salt Coates (salt making), discerned at Burgh-by-Sands. Swinsty (pig husbandry) and Calvo (calf husbandry). Larger settlements clustered around the port at Skinburness, the ‘new’ church at Newton Arlosh and the abbey at Abbeytown. Edward I’s ill-fated Scottish campaigns of the early 14th century unleashed much resentment among the Scots, which resulted in numerous attacks on English property. The poorly-defended abbeys of northern England were Bowness-on-Solway repeatedly targeted – Holme Cultram or centuries, the Solway estuary The Romans were the first to address Abbey being no exception. This led to has been a frontier. In the Roman the challenges presented by the the building of defensive structures F Plan of Bowness-on-Solway with Roman fort outline period, it was a boundary between environment. In AD 122, Hadrian’s – tower houses, bastles (fortified the Roman perception of ‘civilised’ Wall was under construction, taking With the arrival of the Normans in farmhouses) and thick-walled church Britannia and the barbarian north. In the shortest route across northern the late 11th century, baronies were towers that could double-up as places later years, the Solway demarcated the England between Wallsend in the east established as power bases from of refuge. border between England and Scotland and Bowness-on-Solway in the west. which to control the local area and as it still does today. Lastly, the Solway Forts were established along the line population. The Barony of Burgh is at the junction of sea and land – a of the Wall – Maia (Bowness-on- was one of these. The Normans were juxtaposition that has shaped its Solway), Congubata (Drumburgh), masters of stone building and rebuilt history for thousands of years. Aballava (Burgh-by-Sands) many of the simpler Anglo-Saxon and Uxellodonum (Stanwix in churches that existed at the time, often After the last Ice Age, the Carlisle). Over time, each re-using Roman stone from Hadrian’s Solway Plain was half sea, fort attracted an adjacent Wall and its forts. half land – a water-saturated civilian settlement or vicus landscape of salt marshes, In 1150, Holme Cultram Abbey that provided Roman soldiers peat bogs, raised mires and was founded as a daughter house of mud flats interspersed with low, A Roman ceramic head of a female Melrose Abbey. From this time on, the found at Burgh-by-Sands sandy hills. Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery Trust, Carlisle distinctive landscape character of the 2 Holme Cultram Abbey 3 Under more peaceful times in the 17th century, local farmers could reap SOLWAY COAST AONB the profits of their own endeavours. The small fields carved out of the Finding out more ‘waste’ now produced earnings that • Solway Wetlands Centre, Campfield could be ploughed back into farm Marsh RSPB Reserve, Bowness-on- investment. From around 1650, many Solway farms were rebuilt or enlarged, often • Holme Cultram Abbey Visitor proclaiming the new wealth and Silloth Docks in 1904 status of their owners with elaborate Harbours were the gateways to sea Centre, Abbeytown routes that connected the Solway Firth • Solway Coast Discovery Centre, datestones, moulded surrounds, The Solway Coast AONB (Area of to the wider world. Investment in port Silloth classical pediments and other Outstanding National Beauty) was facilities resulted in improved access architectural features. Gradually, the designated in 1964 and covers around routes and the development of planned Websites humbler clay dabbin cottages were 73 square miles (118 km) of the Solway towns to accommodate visitors, such as demolished or abandoned, so that only Plain. It stretches from Rockcliffe • www.solwaycoastaonb.org.uk at Port Carlisle and Silloth. about 300 survive today. in the north-east to Maryport in the • www.solwaywetlands.org.uk Other buildings were erected for History and topography have shaped south-west. The primary purpose of the • www.ctfc.org.uk/explore-churches specific purposes: watermills and this area over millennia and forged AONB is to conserve and enhance the (Churches Trust for Cumbria) windmills, forges, tileworks and distinctive landscape characteristics natural beauty of the area. • www.solwayshorewalker.wordpress. breweries. that are not found elsewhere. This com booklet will introduce you to the built Solway Wetlands Landscape • www.spab.org.uk (Society for the heritage features of the north Solway Partnership Scheme Protection of Ancient Buildings) Plain that have survived the centuries • http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/hstchg Monkhill windmill This book has been produced as of change so that we may appreciate one of many projects undertaken by (Holme St Cuthbert History Group) the invaluable contribution they make the Heritage Lottery-funded Solway to the Solway’s ‘sense of place’ today. COUNTRYSIDE CODE Wetlands Landscape Partnership Respect other people: Scheme. This 5-year scheme brings GETTING AROUND • Consider the local community and together a wide range of partners with other people enjoying the outdoors BY BUS an interest in the distinctive heritage • Leave gates and property as you find Service 93 runs from Carlisle to and ecology of the Solway Wetlands to: Bowness-on-Solway via Burgh-by- them and follow paths unless wider • Improve the condition of wetland Sands. access is available sites Service 71 runs from Carlisle to • Do not go onto private property • Conserve the built and natural Silloth via Anthorn and Kirkbride. without permission heritage of the area For more information, visit the Protect the natural environment: • Improve access for the public Traveline website: www.traveline.info • Leave no trace of your visit and take • Provide opportunities for people your litter home BY RAIL to learn about the distinctive • Keep dogs under effective control The Cumbria Coastal Railway starts character of the area in Carlisle with stations at Dalston, • Provide training in heritage skills Enjoy the outdoors: Wigton, Aspatria and Maryport. and environmental conservation • Plan ahead and be prepared • Provide volunteering opportunities • Follow advice and local signs 4 5 developed Workington Port in the SKINBURNESS 1770s for their coal and iron trade, all After 1150, the monks of Holme PLANNED SETTLEMENTS with planned settlements in their wake. Cultram established a small port at Silloth was no exception. The arrival Skinburness to export their wool, grain, of the railway in 1856 expedited the timber, leather, salt and other goods. By development of a new port along with 1300, Edward I was using the port as a an elegant planned town. naval base for his Scottish campaigns. A year later, Skinburness was granted the right to hold a weekly market and an annual fair. The town was becoming prosperous, but it was not to last. Around 1304, a violent storm breached the sea dyke and devastated the port Aerial view of Anthorn and its town. The surviving inhabitants relocated to Farms, villages and towns on the In the medieval period, concerted a ‘new town’ at Arlosh. Solway Plain all developed in response efforts were made to convert the Silloth Docks, 1920s Skinburness managed to survive, but to local conditions and socio-economic wetlands of the Solway Plain into The growth of Carlisle during the much diminished in size. Its medieval influences. usable land through drainage. Over early 1800s precipitated the need layout can still be discerned to the time, a distinctive settlement pattern Some villages started as ‘vici’ or civilian for improved ways of importing raw north of the village where a line of emerged of farmsteads aligned settlements in the lee of a Roman materials and exporting finished goods. farmsteads overlooks the road and along the main access roads and fort to provide goods and services to An Act of Parliament of 1819 allowed salt marshes beyond, with strip fields overlooking the ‘wastelands’ beyond. the Roman soldiers stationed along the construction of a canal from behind the farms. An ‘occupation road’ behind the farms Hadrian’s Wall. Examples of likely Carlisle to Fisher’s Cross, the nearest provided access to narrow strip fields fort-based villages can be seen at navigable point on the Solway Firth. at the rear. This settlement pattern Silloth Docks in 1904 Burgh-by-Sands and Bowness-on- is clearly seen at Newton Arlosh, Solway. These developed organically Boustead Hill and old Anthorn. over a long period of time rather than in a planned way. Skinburness At Skinburness, a small port was developed by the monks of Holme Cultram. Later landowners sought to expand on trade via the Irish Sea and its connections to main shipping routes further south. To this end, the wealthy Lowther family developed the port at Whitehaven in 1634 and laid out a new town in the 1660s. Other prominent local families followed suit. The Senhouses established docks at Maryport in 1749 and the Curwens 6 7 NEWTON ARLOSH SILLOTH The monks of Holme Cultram had ‘sea Carlisle Library lathes’ (grain barns) along the coast from The disaster that befell Skinburness The creation of Silloth as a seaside which the name ‘Silloth’ is likely to have c. 1304 helped create another village town was promoted by the developers been derived.