Biggar is a village towards the south of

Walney Island Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. It is part of Barrow-in-Furness, separated from the mainland by Walney Channel, which is spanned b ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, England. Along with the village of

North Scale North Scale is a village and one of only four settlements on the Isle of Walney, Cumbria, England. It is the northernmost settlement, lying a mile north of Vickerstown. History North Scale was first identified as an agricultural settlement, ow ...

, it is the oldest settlement on the island. It now forms part of the

Borough of Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a local government district with borough status in Cumbria, England. It is named after its main town, Barrow-in-Furness. Other settlements include Dalton-in-Furness and Askam-in-Furness. It is the smallest district in the ...

Furness Abbey Furness Abbey, or St. Mary of Furness, is a former Catholic monastery located to the north of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The abbey dates back to 1123 and was once the second-wealthiest and most powerful Cistercian monastery in the coun ...

records from 1292 mention a

grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery Geography Australia * Grange, South Austral ...

at Biggar, of around in size. Biggar Dyke was built in the Sixteenth century hen the village was part of Dalton Parishas coastal defence for the village and island. The first mention of the name the 'Queen's Arms' was in 1869 to distinguish it from the recently opened 'New Inn' in the village although it was a beer house as early as 1753. Biggar has remained outside of the main urban limits of Walney and

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...

, and is still a small farming village. It lies on the eastern coast of Walney, to the north of a nature reserve, containing one of England's few

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

farms. Biggar is mentioned alongside

in the folk song '

Wa'ney Island Cockfight "Wa'ney Island Cockfight" or "The Bonny Grey" is an English folk song, Roud 211. Variants of the song exist across northern England from Cumbria to Shropshire. Lyrics As with many folk songs, the lyrics vary depending on the source, with referen ...

' The song has been recorded by

Fiddler's Dram Fiddler's Dram were a British folk band of the late 1970s, most widely known for their 1979 hit single, " Day Trip to Bangor (Didn't We Have a Lovely Time)", which reached no. 3 on the UK Singles Chart. Band members The full-time members of Fi ...

and Martin Wyndham-Reed.

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Walney Island
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page) {{authority control Villages in Cumbria Furness Populated coastal places in Cumbria Protected areas of Cumbria Districts of Barrow-in-Furness