![Cedric Robinson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Cedric_Robinson.jpg)
The King's Guide to the Sands, or, during the reign of a female monarch, Queen's Guide to the Sands, is the royally appointed guide to
crossing the sands of
Morecambe Bay
Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second larges ...
, an ancient and potentially dangerous tidal crossing in northwest England. From 1963 until 2019, the Guide was
Cedric Robinson
Cedric James Robinson (November 5, 1940 – June 5, 2016) was an American professor in the Department of Black Studies and the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He headed the Department of Blac ...
MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
, the 25th guide. In April 2019 Michael Wilson, a 46-year-old local fisherman, was appointed his successor.
The guide is paid a nominal salary of only £15 a year but the holder of the post also has the use of the
grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
700-year-old Guide's Cottage at
Kents Bank
Kents Bank is a small village in Cumbria, England, so named for its proximity to the River Kent estuary.
Part of the historic County Palatine of Lancashire, it is located south-west of Grange-over-Sands.
History
Kents Bank takes its name fro ...
, which is owned by the Crown and managed by the
Duchy of Lancaster
The Duchy of Lancaster is the private estate of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British sovereign as Duke of Lancaster. The principal purpose of the estate is to provide a source of independent income to the sovereign. The estate consists of ...
.
Route over the sands
Until the building of the
Furness railway
The Furness Railway (Furness) was a railway company operating in the Furness area of Lancashire in North West England.
History
Formation
In the early 1840s, the owners of iron ore mines in the Furness district of Lancashire became interested i ...
in 1857, the cross sands route had been a major transport route in the area, with Guides appointed royally since the 16th century. Before that, the monks of
Furness
Furness ( ) is a peninsula and region of Cumbria in northwestern England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale, historically an exclave of Lancashire.
The Furness Peninsula, also known as Low Furness, is an area of vill ...
at
Cartmel Priory
Cartmel Priory church serves as the parish church of Cartmel, Cumbria, England (formerly in Lancashire).
Priory
The priory was founded in 1190 by William Marshal, created 1st Earl of Pembroke, intended for a community of the Augustinian Canons ...
had provided guides for crossing the sands.
In modern times a crossing of the sands has become a popular challenge walk for charity fundraisers, with the Guide often leading groups of up to 600 people. These walks are typically once a fortnight (from spring to autumn), usually from
Arnside
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, ...
over to
Kents Bank
Kents Bank is a small village in Cumbria, England, so named for its proximity to the River Kent estuary.
Part of the historic County Palatine of Lancashire, it is located south-west of Grange-over-Sands.
History
Kents Bank takes its name fro ...
, dependent on tide and river levels (the
River Kent
The River Kent is a short river in the county of Cumbria in England. It originates in hills surrounding Kentmere, and flows for around 20 miles (32 km) into the north of Morecambe Bay. The upper reaches and the western bank of the estuary ...
has to be crossed at some point), and are often in support of a charity. The route is marked on some maps as a highway, and Cedric Robinson described it as "the most dangerous highway in Britain".
Appointment
The first official guide was appointed by the Duchy of Lancaster on 29 January 1548, a Thomas Hogeson.
A charity to control the guides was established in 1877, with the power of appointment still held by the Duchy of Lancaster, and by 2012 this had become the Guide Over Sands Trust and was given the power to appoint the Queen's Guide.
It was
Lord Cavendish in his role as chair of the trust who visited the 86-year-old Cedric Robinson and suggested that it was time to retire: "'At the age you've got to, Mr Robinson – Cedric,' he said, 'we'd like to take the responsibility away from you and we would like you to choose a new guide'".
Guides
Michael Wilson, 2019–present
Michael Wilson (born in
Flookburgh
Flookburgh is an ancient village on the Cartmel peninsula in Cumbria, England, until 1974 part of Lancashire. Being close to Morecambe Bay, cockle and shrimp fishing plays a big part in village life.
Flookburgh is sometimes thought to derive ...
) was appointed the 26th guide in May 2019.
He is a fisherman and said: "It helps a lot having been a shrimper because you are working in the channels and that's the most dangerous part of the water".
Cedric Robinson, 1963–2019
Cedric Robinson
MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
(1933
–19 November 2021) was the 25th guide for 56 years from 1963 to 2019.
William Burrow, 1949–1963
Robinson's predecessor William Burrow was a fisherman, and was the Guide to the Kent Sands from 1949 to 1963. In 1951, when there was a royal visit to
Lancaster in celebration of the 600th anniversary of the creation of the
county palatine of Lancaster
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...
, Robinson and Alfred Butler, the guide to the Leven Sands, carried seven quarts of
shrimps
Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the Decapoda, decapod order, although some Shrimp#Non-decapods , crustaceans out ...
over the sands to Lancaster for the royal banquet.
The Guide Over the Sands Trust maintains a complete list of past guides on its website.
References
Further reading
*A useful essay on the Queen's Guide to the Sands and on the Morecambe Bay tidal crossing appeared i
hidden europe magazinein 2005. The full reference is Cawley, David
005
''005'' is a 1981 arcade game by Sega. They advertised it as the first of their RasterScan Convert-a-Game series, designed so that it could be changed into another game in minutes "at a substantial savings". It is one of the first examples of a ...
Time & Tide: Morecambe Bay. I
hidden europe magazine 4 (Sept 2005), pp. 40–44.
*Marsh, Terry ''Sand Pilots'', MA dissertation on the history of the guides to Morecambe Bay Sands, Lancaster University.
*
External links
*
*{{EW charity, num=235216, name=Charity for providing guides over the Kent and Leven Sands
Interview with Cedric RobinsonCedric keeps danger sands at bay BBC article on Cedric Robinson
Transport in the City of Lancaster
Honorary titles of the United Kingdom
Morecambe Bay
Guides
Walking in the United Kingdom