North Scale is a village and one of only four settlements on the

Isle of Walney 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, England. It is the northernmost settlement, lying a mile north of

Vickerstown Vickerstown is an area of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, covered by the wards of Walney North and Walney South. It is an example of a model village built for workers by a company needing to expand, having been constructed in the early 20 ...

History

North Scale was first identified as an agricultural settlement, owned by

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 cou ...

, in 1247. As a Parliamentarian stronghold in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

it was briefly sieged by Royalists. In 1865, the Crown Inn opened in North Scale. Before the Jubilee Bridge to Walney Island opened in 1908, people crossing on foot at low tide would arrive near North Scale. A causeway was built to make crossing possible for longer periods.

Modern development

The village grew with the development of the Red Ley estate in the 1960s and the Barnes estate in the 1970s. North Scale has a community centre, and is linked by bus services to the rest of Walney Island, and to

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historic counties of 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 B ...

, via the Jubilee Bridge. The village is home to the Lakes Gliding Club.

In popular culture

North Scale is mentioned alongside Biggar 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 ...

' as the origin of one of the groups of

cockfight A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ent ...

ers. The song has been recorded by Fiddler's Dram and Martin Wyndham-Reed.

References

External links

Villages in Cumbria Districts of Barrow-in-Furness {{Cumbria-geo-stub