Another Solway spring has emerged from the cold, dark winter months. Now the annual cycle of the farmers year sees lambs and calves in the fields and cattle back out grazing on the Cumbrian salt marshes. The Solway farmers moved their animals inside for the winter months. Crops have been planted, harvested and planted again. Temperatures have grown cold and then ever so slightly warmer. The lunar cycle continues and the moon has waxed and waned resulting in the daily rise and fall of the Solway estuary tides. Immersed in the difficulties of the last year it has sometimes been easy to forget that the natural world and Solway rural life, in spite of the pandemic, have retained their seasonal patterns. Please contact me if you would like to book a guided walk of Silloth on Solway to find out more about the history of this interesting town. The walk way along Silloth sea front still has fine views across the Solway waters to Scotland and for those World War 2 military personnel working in the town would have offered a place for relaxation and possibly even romance.
The strategic importance of the location of Silloth meant that during world war 2 Silloth had an influx of transAtlantic visitors - fighter pilots, trainers, mechanics, air transport delivery auxiliaries (sometimes women pilots).
Nicknamed the 'Cumbrian Riviera' Silloth's early appeal was to rich upper class tourists and then after the wars it became a more popular destination for working families. Most of the township was built as a Victorian spa tourist destination. The deep water harbour was designed to facilitate international trade and coastal connections for the city of Carlisle. It was developed on the arrival of the railway line for a dual purpose. Silloth on Solway is another coastal town on the English Solway coast. The following photographs offer a tiny glimpse of the rich layered Solway coastal history, and fascinating places and stories that visitors to the area can encounter on my Secret Solway tours and my Solwayconnections Scottish coast and waters tour. As a local tour guide part of my role is to interpret the clues hidden in the landscape and explain their significance Each place telling it’s own unique story of the Solway people who have lived here. These less well known localities stand as testament to the people who through the centuries have survived in this beautiful remote area. There are many, often quite forgotten, coastal sites such as the remains of tiny jetties, small quaysides and under-used harbours dotted along both the English and Scottish Solway coastlines.
For centuries the sea and land have given communities life through fishing, or ship building, mining or farming and more. Not surprisingly I frequently find the answers to the questions I ask relate to the Solway location, landscape and waters. I delve into the history and stories of the Solway through my work as a local tour guide, researching how local people lived and the wider processes that shaped their lives. The North American and Canadian transAtlantic connections also created emigration and trade opportunities which shaped the lifestyle and economic activities of the local Solway communities.įor as long as I can remember I have been intrigued by the influences that shape local cultural identities in different parts of the world. right through to World War 2 when people from many different countries arrived on the Solway shores in support of the nation's war effort. As a west coast location distant from the seats of power in Edinburgh and London, but close to Ireland and the Atlantic Ocean, the Solway area has historically experienced waves of migration of different groups of people.
Other important influences on the lives of the coastal communities of Dumfries and Galloway, south west Scotland and Cumbria in north west England have been the accessibility and strategic value of the geographic location of the Solway. The natural resources of the Solway coastal lands, from the stone, iron ore and coal, to the fishing and rich farmland of the Solway coastal plains have over the centuries provided a way of life for the people living in this part of Scotland and England.
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