Arnside Tower, Front, Feb 2016

Arnside is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, historically part of Westmorland, near the border with Lancashire, England. The Lake District National Park is located a few miles North. Travelling by road, Arnside is to the south of Kendal, to the east of Ulverston, to the east of Barrow-in-Furness, to the west of Lancaster and to the east of Grange-over-Sands. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 2,301, increasing at the 2011 census to 2,334.

It faces the estuary of the River Kent on the north-eastern corner of Morecambe Bay, within the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is overlooked by Arnside Knott, a hill that rises out of the estuary. Up to the 19th century, the village was a port, but building the viaduct caused the estuary to silt up.
A detailed account of the wildlife of the Arnside and Silverdale AONB is provided by John Wilson and Peter Lennon. Mammals include red squirrel and otter, breeding birds at the time of publication included the bittern which is still found in the area.

Buildings

The oldest building in the parish is Arnside Tower, a Peel tower built in the 14th/15th century as a refuge against raids from Scots and the Border Reivers.

The now defunct Arnside Golf Club was founded in 1906, the club closed around World War II.

Arnside viaduct

The railway line is carried over the River Kent on a viaduct long, it was built in 1857 and rebuilt in 1915.

Governance

Arnside is part of the Westmorland and Lonsdale parliamentary constituency, of which Tim Farron is the current MP representing the Liberal Democrats.

Before Brexit, it was in the North West England European Parliamentary Constituency.

For Local Government purposes, it is in the ''Arnside + Milnthorpe Ward'' of South Lakeland District Council and the ''Kent Estuary Division'' of Cumbria County Council.

The village has its own Parish Council; ''Arnside Parish Council''.

Transport

Arnside has its own railway station; Arnside railway station, which lies on the Furness Line giving connections to , , , , and . The Furness Line passes over the River Kent via the Arnside Viaduct.

The village is connected to Kendal by the 551 and 552 bus services.

Tides

With each high tide, the coast of Arnside is subjected to a very fast rising tide. Because of the potential danger warning notices are posted at the pier, and an audible warning is sounded before every high tide (in daylight). The sequence of warnings is:-
# Eight sounds on the siren - around 2.25 h before high tide
# Eight sounds on the siren - around 1.75 h before high tide
# Twelve sounds on the siren - around 1.25 h before high tide, when the incoming tide is just visible from the Coastguard station (location of the siren )
The cause of this fast tide is a combination of the large area of Morecambe Bay, which narrows rapidly at Arnside, plus the second highest tidal range (at Barrow-in-Furness, which can be as much as on a spring tide nearest the spring and autumn equinox: these typically give rise to a tidal bore, which may be as high as , and are often used by canoeists.

Notable people

* Robert Wilson (1922-1980), first-class cricketer and Royal Air Force officer

See also

*Listed buildings in Arnside
* St James' Church, Arnside

Image gallery

File:Kent viaduct Arnside.jpg, Railway viaduct over the Kent estuary near Arnside

References

External links

Arnside Gateway
- local on-line resources


Photos of Arnside
Cumbria County History Trust: Arnside
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
* . This is from the Ordnance Survey of Westmorland. (The view of Lancashire and Furness is misleading - it was outside the surveyors' area and they have left it as an outline only.)

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Villages in Cumbria
Westmorland
Populated coastal places in Cumbria
Civil parishes in Cumbria
South Lakeland District
Morecambe Bay
Articles containing video clips