Eden to Kirkbampton
Above: The Coast Line
Five facSix days a week he travels from the Burgh-by-Sands area stopping just shy of the Hadrian's Wall Path route at Port Carlisle. Times may have changed since Roman camps clung to this exposed and sometimes bleak coastline, the most northerly border of the Roman Empire. But like those ancient soldiers Jim also defends today's most important mainstay, village life. The service Jim provides, as well as his friendly smile, is vital to many of the people living in these tiny communities.
'There are people that rely on me coming,' said Jim whose family were market gardeners. 'I've got to know a lot of them and they are my friends. I have seen families grow up, get married and have kids. I've gone through the generations with them. 'It's not just about the fruit and veg. I always help people out with odd jobs. When I first put my van on the road in the sixties there would be lots of vans going around, butchers, bakers and me and we could have a good yarn. There is just the butcher now so what we do is even more important.' The days of working until 9pm may have passed since the herald of the supermarket but Jim, who lives in Moorhouse, still works between 8am and 5pm from Tuesday to Saturday.
It is this willingness to help that pulses through the veins of the people who live here and keep this isolated part of Cumbria ticking over. The larger villages of Burgh-by-Sands, Beaumont, Bowness-on-Solway and Kirkbride serve the smaller hamlets of Kirkandrews-upon-Eden, Monkhill, Drumburgh, Easton, Anthorn, Cardurnock and Kirkbampton, many of which have little more than a few farms and a handful of houses. Kirkandrews-upon-Eden, a small village, still has a working blacksmith and is home to an international camping site for Scouts.
Monkhill, a former crossing for Roman troops, Scottish border raiders and cattle drovers is a little larger with a Methodist church at the centre of the village. Its pub, the Drovers Rest, may currently be closed due to a lack of landlord but Sigrid Little, a Neighbourhood Watch coordinator, said there is still plenty to do. 'There is a lot that goes on in the village,' explained Germany-born Sigrid, who has lived in Monkhill for 30 years.
'There's the Women's Institute, the Solway Flower Club, coffee mornings, craft fairs and birthday parties all held at Beaumont Parish Hall. There are also some beautiful views from the village too. I couldn't imagine ever wanting to leave.' A little further along the way is Burgh-by-Sands, the gateway to the Solway Coast and the former winner of the Village of the Year and the North of England Village of the Year competitions. It is the site of St Michael's, a 12th Century church made from the stone of Hadrian's Wall and was where Edward I, who had come to the Solway to subdue the rising under Robert the Bruce, lay in state after he was killed on the surrounding marshes. Two memorial statues to him can be found in the village.
Burgh-by-Sands is also home to the ancient Norse tradition of Haaf Net fishing, clay dabbin houses and The Greyhound Inn, the village's only remaining open pub where local man Mark Bell has recently taken charge. Angela Posthlethwaite, who runs the post office and shop two days a week, is at the centre of village life. People queue for fresh fruit and veg, supplied by Jim, pick up firewood or maybe a batch of eggs laid by Angela's chickens.
If she is not open they take what they want and put the money through the door, an alien concept to people in more densely populated areas. 'It's not just stamps and parcels,' said Angela, who has lived here since 1971. 'It's about the community. Everyone is very friendly here. That's why I've lived here so long. I love everything about the village. It's been a nice place for my kids to grow up, it's quiet, there's lots of wildlife and there is a lot of history to investigate.' It is hard to imagine what Burgh-by-Sands would have looked like a century ago but Angela, who is also the chair of the local heritage group, is hoping to preserve today's happenings for the villagers of the future with an aural history project.
She said: 'I know 100 years ago I could have looked out of my post office window and seen boats sailing up and down the canal and then it was made into a railway. It's important to record the memories of people living here now before it is too late.'
Pass through Easton and Drumburgh and you reach Glasson, the site of the historic Highland Laddie Inn. Taken over by Karen and Mark Messenger 18 months ago, the quaint, traditional pub is believed to be more than 200-years-old. It is popular with walkers wanting a well earned reprieve from the Hadrian's Wall Path, as well as with locals. 'We moved out here to relax a bit more,' explained Karen, who used to run pubs in Carlisle city centre. 'My dad lived in the village years ago so I know it quite well.
It's got a lovely atmosphere and the locals have told me some stories about what it used to be like. I've been told it's called the Highland Laddie because Bonny Prince Charlie stopped by here on his way back to Scotland and I did hear it used to be a manor house.' As you pass through Port Carlisle, a village with a mobile post office service, a bowling club, a handful of active community groups and the Hope and Anchor pub, you next reach Bowness-on-Solway, the starting point for many walkers navigating the Hadrian's Wall Path.
At the start of this path at The Banks you can learn about the history of the wall or look at a colourful mosaic. In the village, the Old Chapel B and B was once a Wesleyan House Museum Chapel built by local man William Topping in 1892. A private house is also used as the Maia Pool, a service for locals to use where they can swim while looking out towards the Solway Estuary. Bowness-on-Solway also has its own literary festival, Writ on the Wall, which runs from June 17-29, and St Michael's Church and Campfield Nature Reserve are well worth a look.
As you round the peninsula you pass through Cardurnock, a village of no more than a few houses. Then you reach Anthorn, the site of a former thriving naval air base station during the First World War. It is now the site of a transmitter station, easily seen from miles around, which is used to transmit orders to submarines. St Mary's Tower here is said to be the place where Mary Queen of Scots was held prisoner on a journey south to England. Head back inland towards Kirkbride, another busy little village and Kirkbampton, a farming village that was made a designated conservation area because of its several listed buildings.
St Peter's Church here dates to Norman times and has a leper squint, a hatch used by a priest to hand out doles to lepers. Gwen Hopkinson, who works in the village shop at Kirkbride, said she loves living on the Solway Coast because of the people, a sentiment echoed by everyone who lives here. She said: 'I was born and bred in the Solway Coast and the thing I like most it is that you can help people out and they help you too. The people are friendly. You know your neighbours when you live in the country. You may have to go to Carlisle to shop but it's good to know that you're coming back here again. I love coming home.
• The Roman Fort of Maia at Bowness-on-Solway is the most westerly and second largest fort on Hadrian's Wall. Traces of the civilian settlement can be seen in the field opposite Bowness Church.
• A large population of pink-footed geese winter on the Solway. They arrive in late September before returning to the Arctic Circle in early spring
• Bowness was a major haunt for smugglers. In 1755 Thomas Stowell, a Manx man, was smuggling brandy and tobacco when the boat was intercepted by the King's Boats from nearby Skinburness. He was chased, shot and killed and is buried in the churchyard at Bowness where his slate gravestone stands under a yew tree.
• The Solway Firth is the third largest estuary in the UK The coastal here is on the Irish Sea board with views to the Scottish coast with stunning panoramas. A must see is a sunset on the Solway.
Useful information
• Solway Coast Discovery Centre: a one-stop
shop for everything you need to know about the
Solway Coast. Liddell Street, Silloth, CA7 4DD,
016973 31944
• Writ on the Wall: Bowness-on-Solway's first
literary festival will be held in the village this year.
www.writfest.co.uk
• Highland Laddie Inn: one of the areas oldest
pubs. Water Street, Glasson, CA7 5DT,
01697 351839
• The Greyhound Inn, Burgh-by-Sands,
CA5 6AN, 01228 576579
At an old gravel quarry, just inland from the Solway Firth
near Bowness-on-Solway, is a surprising wildlife hideaway.
Walking on to Bowness-on-Solway Nature Reserve when
the weather is warm is like walking into a king's court. All
the most beautiful of wildlife turns out to display its
colours. With 12 different kinds of dragonfly and 19 types
of butterfly to gaze upon, along only half a mile of
footpath, you have to wonder how it all has room live.
The emperor dragonfly, as its name suggests, is the king
of dragonflies. It is the largest dragonfly to be found in
Britain and is an incredibly strong flyer, waging war on any
other dragonflies that enter its territory. Only discovered at
the nature reserve in 2005 it is worth looking out for. The
male can be distinguished by its spotless, vivid turquoiseblue
colouring and the black line across its torso.
Bowness-on-Solway Nature Reserve is open for free all
year round and can be found west of Bowness-on-Solway
village on the main road, grid reference NY 206 617. Park
on the roadside verge near to the entrance.
To join Cumbria Wildlife Trust for just £2.25 per month,
or for more information, call 01539 816300 or download a
membership form at www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk
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