Port Carlisle

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Port Carlisle
Cumberland
The Hope and Anchor, Port Carlisle - geograph.org.uk - 596551.jpg
The Hope and Anchor, Port Carlisle
Location
Grid reference: NY241622
Location: 54°56’53"N, 3°11’10"W
Data
Post town: Wigton
Postcode: CA7
Dialling code: 016973
Local Government
Council: Cumberland
Parliamentary
constituency:
Workington

Port Carlisle is a fishing village in northern Cumberland, to the west of Carlisle and just a mile from Bowness-on-Solway. In its high days it was a brisk port for the county town from which it takes its name, but those days were brief.

History

The village's original name was Fisher's Cross. A port was built here in 1819 to serve Carlisle and four years later, a canal link was added to take goods to Carlisle Basin. The canal was closed in 1853 and Port Carlisle silted up.

The canal basin at Carlisle and parts of the canal were filled in by the Port Carlisle Railway Company who constructed a railway that started passenger services in 1854, discontinuing them two years later when the railway to Silloth opened. As a cheap alternative, a horse-drawn service was provided in 1856 between Drumburgh and Port Carlisle railway station for a number of years. In 1914 steam power was used, and to try to avoid closure a steam railmotor called 'Flower of Yarrow' was built and this service to Port Carlisle railway station lasted until the branch was closed in 1932.[1]

Outside links

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("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Port Carlisle)

References