Yanwath is a village in the

Eden District Eden is a local government district in Cumbria, England, based at Penrith Town Hall in Penrith. It is named after the River Eden, which flows north through the district toward Carlisle. Its population of 49,777 at the 2001 census, increased ...

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, 1 mile south of Penrith. There is a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

at Yanwath, with 192 pupils. Yanwath Gate Inn, in the centre of the village, dates from the 17th century. It is a

Grade II listed building 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 ...

. Half a mile north-west of the village,

Yanwath Hall Yanwath Hall is a 14th-century and later tower house in Yanwath, Cumbria, England. It is a grade I listed building. Early owners included the Salkeld family and Richard Dudley. See also *Listed buildings in Yanwath and Eamont Bridge Yanwath ...

is a fortified

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

. Its oldest parts were built in the late 14th century. It is a

Grade I listed building 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 ...

Railway explosion

The

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

runs near Yanwath. It was on this stretch of railway that a disastrous explosion occurred only 21 years after its opening, in 1867. On the night of 26 February that year a goods train, running late from

Tebay Tebay is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, within the historic borders of Westmorland. It lies in the upper Lune Valley, at the head of the Lune Gorge. The parish had a population of 728 in the 2001 census, increasing to 776 at th ...

, derailed. One of its wagons, carrying two tons of gunpowder, ended up on the opposite track, and moments later, another goods train collided with the gunpowder wagon and caused an explosion. Both the driver and fireman of the latter goods train died. The explosion blew out windows, felled telegraph wires, and caused debris to rain down on Yanwath. Miraculously, there were no further deaths or injuries.

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Yanwath and Eamont Bridge
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page) {{Cumbria Villages in Cumbria Westmorland 1867 disasters in the United Kingdom 1867 in England Explosions in 1867