Silverdale, Lancashire

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Silverdale
Lancashire

Chimney near Jenny Brown's Point
Location
Grid reference: SD460749
Location: 54°10’1"N, 2°49’37"W
Data
Population: 1,519  (2011)
Post town: Carnforth
Postcode: LA5
Dialling code: 01524
Local Government
Council: Lancaster
Parliamentary
constituency: 		Morecambe and Lunesdale

Silverdale is a village in northern Lancashire, on the shore of Morecambe Bay, near the border with Westmorland, the body of Lancashire south of the sands, but looking out at Lancashire North of the Sands. It is four and a half miles north-west of Carnforth and eight and a half miles north of Lancaster. The parish had a population of 1,519 recorded in the 2011 census.

Silverdale is within the 'Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty'. The RSPB's Leighton Moss nature reserve is close to the village.[1]

The National Trust owns several pieces of land in the area.[2]

The former Tarmac-owned Trowbarrow quarry is now a declared 'site of special scientific interest' and a popular climbing location.[3] The Lancashire Coastal Way footpath goes from Silverdale to Freckleton here.

The village is served by nearby Silverdale railway station on the line from Lancaster to Barrow in Furness.

Churches

St John's Church

The parish church is the Church of St John, and is Grade II* listed.[4] The church was built in 1885-86.[4]

There is also a Methodist church, also built in the 19th century.[5]

Protected areas around the village

Silverdale is within the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest within the parish include Eaves Wood[6]; Gait Barrows[7]; Hawes Water[8]; Jack Scout[9]; Leighton Moss[10]; Silverdale Golf Course[11]; and Trowbarrow Quarry.[12]

The whole of Morecambe Bay is also a Sites of Special Scientific Interest.[13]

The Silverdale Hoard

Items from the Silverdale Hoard

In September 2011 a metal detectorist unearthed the Silverdale Hoard, an early 10th-century Viking hoard comprising 201 silver coins, jewellery, ingots and hacksilver that had been buried in a lead container in the vicinity of Silverdale.[14] The hoard was bought by Lancashire Museums Service, and was displayed in Lancaster City Museum during 2013 and the Museum of Lancashire in Preston during 2014.[15]

The Matchless shipwreck

On 3 September 1894 the Morecambe pleasure boat Matchless capsized off Jenny Brown's Point on a trip from Morecambe to Grange-over-Sands. 25 holidaymakers from the industrial towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire drowned, the largest loss of lives in a single incident in Morecambe Bay.[16]

Culture and community

The Gaskell Memorial Hall in the centre of the village hosts a wide range of activities and events. The Silverdale Village Players[17] perform an annual Pantomime and another production each year, and the Silverdale Handbell Ringers (founded 1906, and formally the Silverdale Church Handbell Ringers) entertain at Christmas.

The village has a Women's Institute.[18]

The Silverdale Village Institute is a registered charity and provides a building and playing field for public use. In 2013 its committee rejected a proposal for a skatepark on the field.[19] The 2014 AGM though saw a silent demonstration by the village's children in support of a skate park, and a major change in committee membership.[20]

The annual Silverdale and Arnside Art and Craft Trail, when local and visiting artists display their works in many venues in the two villages, takes place each summer.[21]

Sport

The village has a bowls club and cricket team. Silverdale golf club, located near the railway station to the east of the village centre, was founded on 10 November 1906 and play started on 6 April 1907. Its original 9 hole course was extended to 12 holes in 1992 and to 18 holes in 2002.[22]

Leeds Children's Charity

The Leeds Children's Charity has since 1904 provided holidays for needy children from Leeds at its Silverdale Holiday Centre, which is to the north of the village centre overlooking Morecambe Bay.[23] (The centre is actually across the county border in Far Arnside, Westmorland, though very strongly associated with Silverdale.) The charity has had various names, starting out as the Leeds Poor Children's Holiday Camp Association. About 275 children each year are brought for a free five-day holiday, sometimes having never left Leeds before nor seen cattle grazing in fields, to participate in a range of outdoor and indoor activities.

The Association is a registered charity, and each year's Lady Mayoress of Leeds serves as its President. It is supported by donations from individuals and organisations in Leeds and Silverdale and elsewhere.

Frances McNeil has written a history of the Holiday Camp in her 2004 book Now I am a swimmer.[24]

In late 2015 it was announced that 2016 will be the final season of children's holidays at the Silverdale centre. The site is being sold to the owner of the adjacent Holgates caravan site.[25]

Silverdale in popular culture

  • McNeil, Frances (2006). Sixpence in her shoe. London: Orion. ISBN 0-7528-6852-7.  (This novel is set partly in Silverdale in the 1920s, with particular reference to the Leeds Children's Holiday Camp.)
  • In October 2013, the BBC Two television natural history series Autumnwatch was broadcast over four nights from Leighton Moss RSPB reserve at Silverdale.[26]

Outside links

 ("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Silverdale, Lancashire)

References

  1. ↑ "Leighton Moss". RSPB. http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/l/leightonmoss/index.aspx. Retrieved 13 June 2010. 
  2. ↑ Arnside and Silverdale - National Trust
  3. ↑ Trowbarrow: the history, geology, wild life and rock climbs of Trowbarrow - Arnside and Silverdale AONB Countryside Management Service] page 22
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 National Heritage List 1362446: Church of St John, Silverdale
  5. ↑ North Lancashire Methodist Circuit: Silverdale
  6. ↑ SSSI listing and designation for Eaves Wood
  7. ↑ SSSI listing and designation for Gait Burrows
  8. ↑ SSSI listing and designation for Hawes Water
  9. ↑ SSSI listing and designation for Jack Scout
  10. ↑ SSSI listing and designation for Leighton Moss
  11. ↑ SSSI listing and designation for Silverdale Golf Course
  12. ↑ SSSI listing and designation for Trowbarrow Quarry
  13. ↑ SSSI listing and designation for Morecambe Bay
  14. ↑ 'Silverdale Viking hoard examined by British Museum' – BBC News, 14 December 2011
  15. ↑ "The Silverdale Viking Silver Hoard". Lancashire Museums. http://collections.lancsmuseums.gov.uk/narratives/narrative.php?irn=591. Retrieved 23 June 2014. 
  16. ↑ Williams, Simon (2013). The Matchless tragedy: the Morecambe boating disaser of 1894. Mourholme Local History Society. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-9534298-5-1. 
  17. ↑ "Silverdale Village Players". Silverdale Village Players website. http://www.silverdalevillageplayers.org.uk/. Retrieved 21 December 2010. 
  18. ↑ Silverdale WI
  19. ↑ 'Skatepark plan runs into village opposition': Lancaster Guardian 27 April 2013
  20. ↑ 'Silent protest over skatepark at Silverdale' Tom Murphy in The Westmorland Gazette 23 April 2014
  21. ↑ Silverdale and Arnside Art and Craft Trail
  22. ↑ "The Club: History". Silverdale Golf Club. http://www.silverdalegolfclub.co.uk/the-club-15-c.asp. Retrieved 20 November 2014. 
  23. ↑ Leeds Children's Charity: History
  24. ↑ McNeil, Frances (2004). Now I am a swimmer: Silverdale Holiday Camp, the first 100 years. Pavan Press. ISBN 0-9525547-2-0. 
  25. ↑ "Leeds Children's Charity to run one last season at its centre near Silverdale". Leeds Children's Charity. http://www.leedschildrenscharity.org.uk/last-season.html. Retrieved 3 May 2016. 
  26. ↑ "Episode guide 2013". BBC Two. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0079t1p/episodes/guide#b03gkvk8. Retrieved 23 June 2014. 
  • Booth, Paul H. W. (2004). Warton in the Middle Ages. Mourholme Local History Society. ISBN 978-0-9534298-1-3.  (Silverdale was in Warton parish)
  • Ireland, Rod J. (2016). Old Silverdale: the loveliest spot on Morecambe Bay. Lancaster: Palatine Books. ISBN 978 1 910837 07 8. 
  • Mourholme Local History Society (1999). How it Was: A North Lancashire Parish in the Seventeenth Century. ISBN 978-0-9534298-0-6. 
  • Mourholme Local History Society (2005). Warton 1800 – 1850: How a North Lancashire Parish Changed. ISBN 978-0-9534298-2-0. 
  • Mourholme Local History Society (2009). Warton Parish 1850 – 1900: Borwick, Carnforth, Priest Hutton, Silverdale, Warton, Yealands. ISBN 978-0-9534298-3-7. 
  • A History of the County of Lancaster - Volume 8 pp 180–182: {{{2}}} (Victoria County History) – [1]
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