Crosby Villa

Crosby Villa
Cumberland
Crosby Villa from across the fields
Location
Grid reference:	NY091390
Location:	54°44’16"N, 3°24’40"W
Data
Post town:	Maryport
Postcode:	CA15
Dialling code:	01900
Local Government
Council:	Cumberland
Parliamentary constituency:	Workington

Crosby Villa is a village in the parish of Crosscanonby in the west of Cumberland, on the Solway Plain close to the Irish Sea coast, just a mile or so from the shore of Allonby Bay, an inlet of the Solway Firth.

The village is to be found on the A596 road, roughly four miles north-east of Maryport and a similar distance south-west of Aspatria. The place takes its name from the neighbouring village, village Crosby, which is a mile and a half to the south-west. The hamlet of Oughterside is two-and-a-quarter miles to the north-east. Crosby Villa lies

Historically, the name may have been spelled Crosby Villas.

History

During the Roman period, there was a settlement near to the site of modern Crosby Villa, in a place now known as Garborough.

The modern village was built to provide housing for miners at Rosegill and Bullgill coal mines during the 19th century. In addition to the seventy terraced houses, a chapel, shops, and a post office were provided, along with allotments for gardening. The chapel was built in 1863. There was no school, however, and the miners' children walked to Crosby to attend the school there. Near to Bullgill coal mine was Bullgill railway station, approximately a quarter of a mile from Crosby Villa, on the Maryport and Carlisle Railway (now a part of the coastal railway line). Bullgill pit closed in 1897, and Rosegill a few years later. This began a period of hardship for the village, exacerbated by the General Strike of 1926.

Bullgill railway station closed to passengers in 1960, a few years before the Beeching axe. A road haulage firm called Duncan Hill was established in nearby Dearham in 1951, and later relocated to Crosby Villa, from where it continues to operate.