Abbeytown
| Abbeytown | |
| Cumberland | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Holmcultram Abbey | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NY173507 |
| Location: | 54°50’41"N, 3°17’16"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 819 (2011) |
| Post town: | Wigton |
| Postcode: | CA7 |
| Dialling code: | 016973 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Cumberland |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Workington |
Abbeytown, also known as Holme Abbey, is a village in Cumberland; a modest place with a parish population recorded by the 2011 census at 819. It is in the north-west of the county on the coastal plain, and is to be found five and a half miles south-east of Silloth, and six and a half miles north-west of Wigton. The county town, Carlisle, is eighteen miles to the north-east. Other nearby villages include Highlaws, Kelsick, Mawbray, Pelutho, and Wheyrigg. The B5302 road runs through the village.
Abbeytown was built around the former Cistercian Holmcultram Abbey, the nave of the church of which now serves the parish as St Mary's Church. On 9 June 2006 the church was set alight in an arson attack which devastated its roof parts of which had been in situ since it was erected 900 years ago.[1] The church has since been restored, and fully reopened in September 2015.[2]
About the village
The village is located on the main Wigton to Silloth road and has a small range of local amenities including a pub, a post office and a shop.
Many buildings in the village date from the Middle Ages, especially those associated with the former abbey. Others are Victorian, built when much of the village was concerned with the railway line to Silloth. More recently, a large number of houses were built at "Friars Garth".
The village is located on the edge of the Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Cumbria Coastal Way passes through the village.
In June 2012, it became clear that the Solway Plain between Silloth, Abbeytown and Westnewton has been identified as a potential site for a Geological Disposal Facility for the United Kingdom's high level nuclear waste. Two other sites have also been identified - Eskdale and the Ennerdale - both of these are within the Lake District National Park: while the Solway Plain was not named by the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership, references to 'Low permeability sedimentary rocks associated with the Mercia Mudstone Group' suggest it.[3] No such use has in fact been carried out.
Sport and leisure
The also has a recreational field, which regularly hosts football matches and has a children's play park.
Abbeytown Archers are an archery club based at the recreational field.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Abbeytown) |
References
- ↑ Youth charged after fire destroys medieval abbey': The Guardian 12 June 2006
- ↑ 'Holme Cultram St Mary Abbey open nine years after arson attack': BBC News
- ↑ West Cumbria MRWS - document 285
