The Carlisle Ship Canal.
When you think of Cumberland, or Cumbria after its metamorphosis in 1975, it is lakes and mountains, Wordsworth and Wainwright, sausages and mint cake that come to mind. Canals would be a long way down any list. However there are/were canals, the Lancaster Canal in the south of the county, Ulverston Canal in Furness, and the only canal wholly in Cumberland, the Carlisle, Cumberland, or Carlisle Ship Canal, as various schemes and reincarnations were called. This canal ran from the centre of Carlisle to Port Carlisle, 11 miles to the west, on the Solway Firth.
The canal was short lived, opening in 1822, and closing in 1853. When the canal closed a railway was laid along its length. This subsequently closed in 1932. Nowadays there is little evidence of either the canal or railway. This series of caches, 11 in total, follows the course of the canal. The caches can be done as stand alone caches, or better, as a meandering day by car or bike. They are set from Carlisle to Port Carlisle,
The caches are
1: The Carlisle Ship Canal. No 1,The Basin.
2: The Carlisle Ship Canal. No2, The Water Leat
3: The Carlisle Ship Canal. No 3, The Pumping Station.
4: The Carlisle Ship Canal. No 4, The Reservoir
5: Carlisle Canal. No 5, SideTracked Kirkandrew’s
6: The Carlisle Ship Canal, No 6, Burgh by Sands
7: The Carlisle Ship Canal, No 7,The Back Drain
8: The Carlisle Ship Canal. No8, The 2nd lock
9: The Carlisle Ship Canal, No 9, Sea lock
10: The Carlisle Ship Canal, No 10, Harbour wall (To be published at a later date due to permission issues.)
11:Carlisle Canal, No 11, SideTracked, Solway Viaduct (To be published at a later date due to permission issues.)
The Back Drain. Park on the roadside close to the coordinates, near a cattle grid. An inspection of the small enclosed area on the embankment will reveal two old looking gates in a stone structure. This is the exit to the back drain. If you go over the embankment, cross the bed of the former canal/railway which is very clear at this point, you will come to the entrance to the drain - two circular tunnels, in another enclosure.
The water level in the canal had to be carefully controlled. All the streams which drained the higher land to the south were diverted to the Back Drain, as they could not be allowed to overflow into the canal. The streams flowed into the drain, which leads down under the bed of the canal, and then back up to the exit. When the water reached a certain level inside the drain, a siphon was created and the water exited through the gates. The gates prevented any excessively high tides flowing in the opposite direction.
The Back Drain is known as Bowness Aqueduct (Bowness Viaduct when used by the railway) The aqueduct is a Grade 2 listed building.
A Carlisle Ship Canal chronology
1820 Carlisle Canal Company created; work begins.
1822 Carlisle to Beaumont section completed and filled with water. Pleasure trips offered.
1823 Canal completed and officially opened.
1826 Carlisle to Liverpool service starts, for goods and passengers, on the steamboat Solway.
1827 New steam packet, the Cumberland.
1833 Village of Fisher’s Cross renamed Port Carlisle.
1834 Iron-clad boat, the Arrow, reduces journey times.
1835 Newcastle to Carlisle railway opens. Port Carlisle becomes the gateway for UK and European migration en route to North America.
1836 Stone outer dock built to provide sheltered berths.
1838 The Arrow begins daily service to Port Carlisle for leisure travellers, increase demand prompts the Arrow’s replacement by the larger Swallow.
1844 Victoria Baths at Port Carlisle completed, offering hot and cold salt water baths.
1847 Proposal to convert canal to railway; plans approved.
1853 Canal closes, work starts to convert to railway.
1854 Railway opens with station, sidings and turntable at Port Carlisle.
1856 Drumburgh to Silloth branch line opens; Silloth replaces Port Carlisle as the city’s Solway Port.
1861 Horse-drawn Dandy replaces much Drumburgh to Port Carlisle rail traffic.
1899 Goods train cease to operate to Port Carlisle.
1914 Steam service re-introduced.
1932 Line officially closed.
1996 Tyne to Solway Canal proposed