Burgh by Sands () is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

City of Carlisle The City of Carlisle ( , ) is a local government district of Cumbria, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Carlisle, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns ...

district of

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. ...

, England, situated near the

Solway Firth The Solway Firth ( gd, Tràchd Romhra) is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven ...

. The parish includes the village of Burgh by Sands along with Longburgh, Dykesfield, Boustead Hill, Moorhouse and Thurstonfield. It is notable as the site of the first recorded North African (Moorish) military unit in Roman Britain, garrisoning the frontier fort of

Aballava Aballava or Aballaba (with the modern name of Burgh by Sands) was a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall, between Petriana (Stanwix) to the east and Coggabata (Drumburgh) to the west. It is about one and a half miles south of the Solway Firth, and its p ...

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

in the 3rd century AD. It is also where

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a va ...

died in 1307. According to the 2011 census the parish had a population of 1,176. The village is about seven miles (11 km) west of Carlisle city centre. The village has a primary school, a pub and a post office. It also has a statue of Edward I at some distance to the north. Burgh was on the Carlisle Navigation canal from 1823 to 1853, after which it was served by the

Port Carlisle railway There were two interlinked railways on the south shore of the Solway Firth. The Port Carlisle Dock and Railway Company was opened in 1854, following the route of a former canal, intended to connect Port Carlisle, to which sea-going ships could ...

, which was built on the bed of the canal, until its closure in 1932. From 1856 to 1964, railway trains operating on the Carlisle to Silloth line once again stopped at Burgh-by-Sands station.

Etymology

Burgh is named from the 'burh' or fort on Hadrian's Wall, which passed through here and ended at

Bowness-on-Solway Bowness-on-Solway is a village in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. It is situated to the west of Carlisle on the southern side of the Solway Firth estuary separating England and Scotland. The civil parish had a population of 1,126 ...

to the west. ('Burh' is

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

for 'fortified place', 'town' or 'manor house').

History

The line of

runs through the village, and the site once was that of a major Roman fort,

. It is also the death-place of King

. In the 12th century,

Burgh by Sands Castle Burgh by Sands Castle was located near the village of Burgh by Sands Burgh by Sands () is a village and civil parish in the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England, situated near the Solway Firth. The parish includes the village of Burg ...

and lands of Burgh by Sands belonged to members of the

Feudal barony of Burgh by Sands The feudal barony of Burgh by Sands, originally known as Burgh , (also known as the Honour of Burgh by Sands) (pronounced "Bruff") was a feudal barony with its ''caput'' in Burgh by Sands, Cumberland, England. The barony of Burgh was granted by R ...

, among them Ada de Engaine. Her granddaughter's second marriage founded a younger branch of the Moulton family, a branch of which held this castle in the 13th century. In the 14th century the

Dacre family Baron Dacre is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England, every time by writ. History The first creation came in 1321 when Ralph Dacre was summoned to Parliament as Lord Dacre. He married Margaret, 2nd Baroness Multo ...

inherited it by marriage to the heiress. King

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

, while on his way to war against the Scots, died of

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

on the marshes near Burgh, and his corpse lay in state at the village's 12th-century church until its eventual removal to

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

. There is an impressive monument on the marshes erected in 1685 to mark the place where he died. It is 1 miles NNW of the village, is signposted and can be reached on foot.

St Michael's Church

The Church of St Michael, is a

fortified church A fortified church is a church that is built to serve a defensive role in times of war. Such churches were specially designed to incorporate military features, such as thick walls, battlements, and embrasures. Others, such as the Ávila Cathedra ...

built with stone from the Roman wall on the site of a Norman church. It has a broad west tower with a base dating from the mid-14th century (first built in 1360) and apart from the 19th-century north aisle windows, the rest is Early English. The tower, which can only be accessed from within the church, is designed for defence and the ground floor is tunnel-vaulted. The top of the tower is probably 18th century. The internal door to the tower is a

yett A yett (from the Old English and Scots language word for "gate") is a gate or grille of latticed wrought iron bars used for defensive purposes in castles and tower houses. Unlike a portcullis, which is raised and lowered vertically using mech ...

, a fortified iron door to repel invaders. The church is remarkable for having had two defensive towers, one at each end, a measure of the perceived threat from Scottish raiders. The east tower is now used as the

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

, but to this day the church has no east window. More recently the east tower has been lowered to match the roof of the church, so from outside it is not immediately recognisable as a tower.

Governance

The parish falls in the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

of Burgh. This wards stretches beyond the boundaries of Burgh by Sands with a total population taken at the 2011 Census of 2,117.

Transport

Public transport currently consists of a bus service from Carlisle. As of September 2018, it is run four times daily by Stagecoach.September 2018 bus timetable
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References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Burgh-by-Sands
(nb: provisional research only - see Talk page)
Burgh by Sands Parish Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burgh By Sands Villages in Cumbria Civil parishes in Cumbria City of Carlisle