Photographs of Great Urswick and Bardsea with neighbouring Birkrigg Common in South Cumbria.
Bardsea Pier, Bardsea, Cumbria.
Bardsea existed as small fishing community until the mid nineteenth century when iron ore mining led to the industrialisation of Furness. Bardsea then became an important little port with vessels calling to unload coal and collect iron ore and corn. According to Mannex's Directory of 1882, a steam packet sailed from Bardsea to Fleetwood five times a week, and to Liverpool weekly. Wadhead Scar would have prevented ships coming too close to shore so the two stone piers probably provided anchorage via wooden jetties, the remains of which can be seen at low tide. Ships could then be anchored in the channel and goods and passengers ferried ashore in rowing boats. The commemorative stone on the pier bears the inscription ‘TRGB 1833’. The letters are the initials of Colonel Braddyll, a local landowner who traded in coal and iron ore. This limestone block was re-seated into this position by a local mining history society.
Bardsea Pier, Bardsea, Cumbria.
Bardsea existed as small fishing community until the mid nineteenth century when iron ore mining led to the industrialisation of Furness. Bardsea then became an important little port with vessels calling to unload coal and collect iron ore and corn. According to Mannex's Directory of 1882, a steam packet sailed from Bardsea to Fleetwood five times a week, and to Liverpool weekly. Wadhead Scar would have prevented ships coming too close to shore so the two stone piers probably provided anchorage via wooden jetties, the remains of which can be seen at low tide. Ships could then be anchored in the channel and goods and passengers ferried ashore in rowing boats. The commemorative stone on the pier bears the inscription ‘TRGB 1833’. The letters are the initials of Colonel Braddyll, a local landowner who traded in coal and iron ore. This limestone block was re-seated into this position by a local mining history society.
Groynes along the coast at Bardsea, Cumbria.
Wooden groynes reaching out into Morecambe Bay to help prevent coastal erosion.
Reedbeds along the Morecambe Bay coastline of Bardsea Country Park, Bardsea, Cumbria.
Bardsea Country Park includes a pleasant stretch of Morecambe Bay coastline from Wadhead Hill to the ancient woodland of Sea Wood.
The edge of Sea Wood, Bardsea Country Park on the edge of Morecambe Bay, Cumbria.
Sea Wood is an ancient woodland owned by Lady Jane Grey in the 1500s and now by the Woodland Trust.
It is a rare example of woodland on boulder clay overlying limestone and has been designated as a SSSI (Special Site of Scientific Interest). The wood is home to 28 different types of lichen and many sessile oaks. Sited as it is next to the sea, large oak timbers were floated on a high tide to the Ulverston shipyards. There are even tales that ’timber pirates’ used to intercept and steal the logs.
An oak tree in Sea Wood, Bardsea Country Park, Cumbria.
Sea Wood is an ancient woodland owned by Lady Jane Grey in the 1500s and claimed by the state following her execution.
A view of Ulverston and the John Barrow Monument from a patch of limestone pavement on Birkrigg Common, Bardsea in South Cumbria.
Limestone pavement detail, Birkrigg Common, Bardsea, Cumbria.
Over 300 million years ago this area lay under a warm shallow sea and the limestone formed from the bones of dead sea creatures that became compacted on the sea bed. During the last Ice Age glaciers scraped soil off the limestone and then acid rain etched gaps in the soft rock giving us clints (upright blocks) and grykes (gaps between the blocks). Woodland plants often thrive in the micro-climate of a gryke.
Erratic boulder on Birkrigg Common, Bardsea in Low Furness, Cumbria.
The Hoad Monument at Ulverston can be seen in the distance.
Holy Trinity Church, Bardsea, Cumbria.
Colonel Braddyll donated the land and his son laid the foundation stone for the church in 1843, but it fell into the hands of Braddyll’s creditors when he met financial ruin due to bad mining investments. A priest, Thomas Petty bought the site, the church was completed (to a design by George Webster of Kendal) and Petty himself became the first curate. The church has a striking 20th century East window by Wilhelmina Geddes.
The Ship Inn, Bardsea, Cumbria.
Built as a farm in 1750, but later became an inn to provide accommodation and refreshment for travellers. Before the road and rail network was in place, this area was only accessed either by sea or crossing the treacherous sands of Morecambe Bay.
Barsea Monument in the grounds of Ulverston Golf Club in Cumbria.
This triangular monument was erected in the grounds of Bardsea Hall, now Ulverston Golf Course in 1792 by local landowner William Braddyll.
Photo taken from White Gill Lane.
Sunbrick Stone Circle, Birkrigg Common, Bardsea, Cumbria..
Also known as Birkrigg Stone Circle and the Druid’s Temple, this is a lovely little Bronze Age circle sitting on Birkrigg Common, close to the village of Sunbrick. This is the only concentric circle (two rings of stones) in Cumbria. The inner ring of 10 stones has a diameter of 9m and the outer ring (now not so noticeable) had 15 stones and a diameter of 26m. Excavations of the inner ring in 1921 revealed a paved area and the remains of five cremations, one in an inverted collared urn (now in Tullie House Museum, Carlisle). It is thought that one of the stones may have been carved to resemble the head of a sperm whale.
Bardsea village from Sunbrick Stone Circle on Birkrigg Common, Cumbria.
Also known as Birkrigg Stone Circle and the Druid’s Temple, this is a lovely little Bronze Age circle sitting on Birkrigg Common, close to the village of Sunbrick. This is the only concentric circle (two rings of stones) in Cumbria. The inner ring of 10 stones has a diameter of 9m and the outer ring (now not so noticeable) had 15 stones and a diameter of 26m. Excavations of the inner ring in 1921 revealed a paved area and the remains of five cremations, one in an inverted collared urn (now in Tullie House Museum, Carlisle). It is thought that one of the stones may have been carved to resemble the head of a sperm whale.
Urswick Tarn, a rare marl tarn at Great Urswick in South Cumbria.
A marl tarn or lake was created by glacial activity carving out a hollow in the limestone bedrock. A normal lake has a mud floor, whereas a marl lake is surrounded by limestone which gives the water a high calcium carbonate content and often a turquoise tint. Thanks to a band of impermeable shale in the limestone at the base of Great Urswick Tarn, the water has been retained.
Church of St Mary and St Michael, Great Urswick, Cumbria.
Thiis lovely old church dates from the 13th century and occupies a site that has been used for worship for 1000 years. Inside the church are a 13th century coffin lid, Saxon cross fragments and a Viking cross with runic inscriptions.
Urswick and Stainton War Memorial at Great Urswick in South Cumbria.
Stone Walls Romano-British settlement, Little Urswick, Cumbria..
An earthwork consisting of an irregularly shaped enclosure containing six hut circles and internal sub-divisions, possibly for stock.
The Priapus Stone in a wall opposite the primary school at Great Urswick in South Cumbria.
This ancient stone once stood upright in the adjacent field as a fertility symbol, but was placed horizontally in the wall in the 1920s. The stone was decorated each Midsummer Day in the hope of promoting fertlity. Legend says that the five small holes to the left of the stone as it lays flat are called the Finger Holes and are were where women placed their fingers in the hope of becoming pregnant.