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 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 largest ...

in the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the C ...

. It is part of

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 t ...

, separated from the mainland by Walney Channel, which is spanned by the Jubilee Bridge. Walney is the largest island of the

Furness Islands The Islands of Furness are situated to the south-west and east of the Furness Peninsula. Within England, they are the third biggest collection of islands. They are generally quite small, though at 12.99 km2 Walney Island is the eighth ...

group, both in population and size, as well as the largest English island in the

. Its population at the

2011 UK Census A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...

was 10,651, distributed evenly across the island's two Wards of Walney North and Walney South. Walney Island formed during the last

glacial period A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...

, when the

River Duddon The Duddon is a river of north-west England. It rises at a point above sea level near the Three Shire Stone at the highest point of Wrynose Pass (). The river descends to the sea over a course of about before entering the Irish Sea at the Du ...

was a large

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10, ...

, depositing

till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

at its mouth, which became Walney. Some evidence of

neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

inhabitants has been found in the island's

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

s, though its name is likely of Norse origin.Walney Island History
Walney Island.com 29-08-11 The island remained rural until the growth of Barrow-in-Furness' industries in the nineteenth century. In particular, the development between 1867 and 1881 of docks at

Barrow Island Barrow Island may refer to: * Barrow Island (Western Australia), Australia * Barrow Island (Queensland), Australia * Barrow Island, Barrow-in-Furness Barrow Island is an area and electoral ward of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. Origina ...

, in Walney Channel opposite Walney, encouraged the growth of Walney as a settlement. The planned worker town 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 ...

was built on the island in 1898, resulting in a large population increase, and the construction of Jubilee Bridge connecting Walney to the mainland in 1908. Walney's contemporary population now forms about a fifth of the overall population of

. The island contains two nature reserves, at either end, and its sandy beaches make it a popular leisure site.

Etymology

The name Walney is thought to come from

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

. Whilst the suffix "-ey" is a common feature of island names, the source of "waln" is less clear. The island is listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as Hougenai. The manor of "Hougun" – possibly modern day

Millom Millom is a town and civil parish on the north shore of the estuary of the River Duddon in southwest Cumbria, historically part of Cumberland, England. It is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, about north of Barrow-in-Fur ...

– is listed in the book as owning the settlements of the whole 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 ...

, so that 'Hougenai' appears to mean "island of Hougun". The Old Norse word ''haugr'' means mound or hill. However, other Norse etymologies have also been suggested for the source of the island's name.

History

Excavations of sand dunes on Walney have revealed evidence of Late Neolithic/

early Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

settlements on the island, including a small amount of pottery.

Low 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 ...

was most extensively inhabited by Norse settlers, probably travelling from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

or the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = " O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europ ...

, which is reflected in many local place names, including Walney. Through the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, Walney and Furness were dominated by the monks of Furness Abbey, who constructed Biggar Dyke as flood defences on the east coast of Walney. During this time, Walney was largely

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depict ...

, and remained so into the early

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

: in his 1810-book ''

Guide to the Lakes ''Guide to the Lakes'', more fully ''A Guide through the District of the Lakes'', William Wordsworth's travellers' guidebook to England's Lake District, has been studied by scholars both for its relationship to his Romantic poetry and as an ea ...

'',

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

describes seeing "Walney's early fields of corn" from the summit of

Black Combe Black Combe is a fell in the south-west corner of the Lake District National Park, England, just from the Irish Sea. It lies near the west coast of Cumbria in the borough of Copeland and more specifically, in the ancient district of Millom. ...

.Guide to the Lakes. William Wordsworth However, Walney was soon caught up in the rapid expansion of industry at

. Barrow docks were built on

, in Walney Channel. The island acted as a natural shelter, which allowed the development of Barrow's large

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to bef ...

yards. In the 1870s, Biggar Bank became a popular seaside recreation site on Walney, and this was reinforced when a regular ferry, operated by 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 ...

Company, was launched. In 1897, in response to the high levels of immigration to Barrow from across the UK,

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public i ...

proposed to build a new

planned town A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

on Walney Island. At the same time, other developers imagined developing Biggar into a larger seaside resort.The Evolution of a Naval Shipbuilding Firm in a Small Economy: Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness. Kieth Grime. 1987. in The Geography of Defence. Michael Bateman and Raymond Charles Riley (eds). Routledge. 0709939337 The first tenants moved into Vickerstown in 1900, and this saw the beginning of the integration of Walney as part of the town of Barrow.

Walney Bridge Walney Bridge, officially Jubilee Bridge, is a bascule bridge in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. Completed in 1908, it spans Walney Channel, linking Barrow Island to Walney Island. The bridge carries the A590 trunk road, which has its west ...

, a

Bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- o ...

was built in this decade, opening in 1908 and connecting the island to the mainland. Vickers operated facilities constructing submarines and other shipping in Barrow in the early parts of World War I, and these or nearby installations may have been the targets of the German submarine U-21, which approached Walney Island in shallow water in the early afternoon of Friday 29 January 1915. The artillery battery at Fort Walney, manned by 7 Company, Lancashire and Cheshire Royal Garrison Artillery, opened fire on the submarine at a range of around after the submarine fired its

deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose ...

at the

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

station on the island. After a few minutes' exchange of fire, with no hits on either side, the submarine withdrew. Walney continued to grow through the twentieth century, with a number of suburban housing developments on the island. The majority of growth occurred between the building of the 'Links' estate in 1936, and the completion of suburban housing at North Scale in 1976. The recreational facilities at Biggar Bank were scaled back, but the island's beaches remain locally popular. Walney's population in the 2001 census was 11,388, representing 15% of the overall population 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 ...

and around 19% of the population of the town of

Geography

Location and transport

Walney lies off the southwest coast 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. ...

in the Irish Sea. It is long from north to south, but never more than wide from east to west, with spits at either end. The channel separating it from the

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

mainland is also narrow, and named Walney Channel. The northern portion of the channel opens into the

Duddon Estuary The Duddon Estuary is the sandy, gritty estuary of the River Duddon that lies between Morecambe Bay and the North Lonsdale coast. The River Duddon and its estuary form part of the boundary of the historic county of Lancashire. It opens into the ...

and is both narrower and shallower; at low tide, it is passable on foot, with stepping stones known locally as 'Widow's Crossing' assisting pedestrians. The southern half of the channel is wider and is regularly dredged to allow shipping to access the

Port of Barrow The Port of Barrow refers to the enclosed dock system within the town of Barrow-in-Furness, England. Morecambe Bay is to the east of the port and the Irish Sea surrounds it to the south and west. The port is currently owned and operated by ...

. This half opens into

and includes a number of small islands, of which

, Roa and Piel are inhabited. North of Earnsie Point are secluded beaches, backed by dunes, which tend to be used by naturists. Jubilee Bridge, a

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- o ...

, has connected Walney to the mainland since 1908. The bridge forms part of the

A590 The A590 is a trunk road in southern Cumbria, in the north-west of England. It runs north-east to south-west from M6 junction 36, through the towns of Ulverston and Barrow-in-Furness to terminate at Biggar Bank on Walney Island.

, which runs between Walney's western coast and the

M6 Motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at ...

. A second bridge over Walney Channel is sometimes mooted, in order to improve access and relieve traffic, though there has never been any significant attempt to provide one. The nearest railway station to Walney is

. No long distance bus services are provided, and all services from the island are provided by

Stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dra ...

and terminate in Barrow. Walney Island has a small airport (

Barrow/Walney Island Airport Barrow/Walney Island Airport (formerly RAF Walney Island) is located on Walney Island, northwest of the centre of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The airport is owned by BAE Systems, who operate private communication flights to location ...

), privately owned by

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenue ...

. It opened in 1935 and was initially used for military purposes during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, before Barrow council purchased the airfield. It was purchased by

in 1968 and has remained with the company's successors ever since. A few attempts at scheduled passenger services have occurred -

Air Ecosse Air Ecosse was a Scottish commuter airline based in Aberdeen operating in the late 1970s to mid-1980s. They flew between Aberdeen and cities in northern England, such as Liverpool and Carlisle as well as to Edinburgh and Glasgow. They also c ...

, Air Furness and Telair have all operated flights from the island - but none has lasted longer than two years.

Settlements

The main settlement on Walney,

, is effectively a continuation of Barrow-in-Furness, lying on the Barrow-facing east coast at the island's centre, clustered around the Jubilee Bridge. The first parts of Vickerstown were constructed in the 1890s as a workers' community for Vickers Shipyard, but this area has since been expanded by suburban development. The only residential areas on the west coast are at Earnse Bay and Biggar Bank, both of which are extensions to the central Vickerstown settlement. Beyond Vickerstown, the island retains two older villages.

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, o ...

, lies near to and to the north of Vickerstown on Walney's east coast, and consists mainly of suburban homes. Biggar is the more isolated of the two villages, located around to the south of Vickerstown. Biggar is situated on the east coast of the island and is a more agricultural community, with farms extending south of the village as far as the South Walney Nature Reserve. It is possibly the oldest settlement on Walney, with Furness Abbey records from 1292 mentioning 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 Austr ...

at Biggar, and today is still a farming village.

Environment

Walney is low-lying, narrow and windswept - it is said by the '' North-West Evening Mail'' to be the windiest lowland site in England. The island's northern and southern ends,

South Walney South Walney is one of two nature reserves on Walney Island, England. The nature reserve has an area of 130 ha leased from Holker estates. It has been managed by the Cumbria Wildlife Trust since 1963. The reserve is notable for: * Gulls. There ...

and

North Walney North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

, are both nature reserves, consisting of

salt-marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominate ...

, shingle,

s and

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estua ...

ponds. South Walney is home to a wide number of birds, many of which use the island as a stop whilst migrating. South Walney is also the home of the Walney Bird Observatory. North Walney provides a habitat for natterjack toads, as well as '' Geranium sanguineum var. striatum'' the Walney

geranium ''Geranium'' is a genus of 422 species of annual, biennial, and perennial plants that are commonly known as geraniums or cranesbills. They are found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, but mostly i ...

, found only on the island. The island's west coast is characterised by wide sandy beaches, whilst its east coast is more built up, facing the narrow and muddy Walney Channel. Barrow Offshore wind turbines NR

Since 2005, the coast off Walney has become a centre for the construction of offshore

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...

s. Four wind farms have been built and a fifth is planned.

Government, economy and education

Walney has two tiers of local government. At the most local level, the island is governed as part of the

, being divided between two

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

s, Walney North and Walney South. Barrow-in-Furness also forms part of the larger

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

, for which Walney is again divided into two wards. In the May 2013 Cumbria County Council elections Walney North and Walney South wards both elected Labour Party councillors. At the 2011 elections at the Borough level, six Labour Party councillors were elected from the island, three from each ward. At a national level, Walney forms part of the Barrow and Furness

parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

. The

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

is currently Simon Fell who won the seat at the 2019 General Election. At the

2001 UK census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

, Walney North had an unemployment rate of 7.7%,Ward Labour Market Profile 16UCGB : Walney North
NOMIS. Accessed 04-11-11 whilst it was 6.3% in Walney South Ward Labour Market Profile 16UCGC : Walney South
NOMIS. Accessed 04-11-11 Walney was historically agricultural, and a number of farms remain on the island, particularly on its southern half. Following the construction of

, the defence manufacturer

became the major employer on the island, reflecting wider trends in

. Vickers' successor,

, remains a major employer in Barrow and on Walney today: the island has particularly high levels of workers in skilled trades. Walney has one

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Walney School Walney School is a secondary school on Walney Island in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. As a result of the Education Act 1944, Walney Island needed to have its own secondary school. Today (2020) it is an 11 – 16 Academy with approximately 585 stud ...

. It opened in 1952 and currently teaches 681 pupils. It has several primary schools but, students entering

sixth form college A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate ...

further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...

must go to schools on the mainland in Barrow.

Sport and culture

Football and rugby league are the most popular amateur sports in the Furness area. Walney Central amateur

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

club currently play in the Cumbria Men’s Amateur Rugby League. The club was formed in 1936,1st Team - Homepage
Walney Central ARLFC. Accessed 04-11-11 and have played on the island ever since. They reached the second round of the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involve ...

in 1960, losing to

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, w ...

and they competed in the

National Conference League The National Conference League (known as the Kingstone Press National Conference League for sponsorship reasons) is the top English amateur rugby league competition in the Rugby Football League pyramid, and as such is the leading amateur rugby l ...

between 1991 and 2007. In football, Vickerstown Football Club play in the

West Lancashire Football League The West Lancashire Football League is a football competition based in northern England, consisting of five divisions – three for first teams (Premier, One and Two), and two for reserve teams. The league is currently sponsored by Lancaster- ...

(WFL) Premier Division (level 11 of the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

), while Walney Island Football Club, formed as Nautical FC in 1970, compete in the WFL Division Two. Walney has become an important location for

kitesurfing Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...

and

wind-surfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

. It annually hosts one of the rounds of the British Kitesurfing Championship. In particular the flat, wide beach at Earnse Bay is popular for this sport. Windsurfing takes place around the island, particularly to its west coast and around the mouth of Walney Channel. In literature, Walney most notably appears, or rather disappears, in ''

The Railway Series ''The Railway Series'' is a series of British books about a railway known as the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first published in May 1945 by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry. T ...

'' books by the

Rev. W. Awdry Wilbert Vere Awdry (15 June 1911 – 21 March 1997) was an English Anglican minister, railway enthusiast, and children's author. He was best known for creating Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas and several other characters he created appeared in ...

, which was adapted into the television series '' Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends''. The books and television series are all set on the fictional

Island of Sodor The Island of Sodor is a fictional island featured as the setting for ''The Railway Series'' books by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry (and his son Christopher), begun in 1945, and for the popular '' Thomas & Friends'' television series since 1984, alt ...

, which is located in the position of Walney, though significantly larger. Its east coast resembles that of Walney, and the main town to the east of the island is 'Vicarstown', located at the same place as

. In music, Walney appears in the 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 ...

", which describes a

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 ...

between the lads of

and Biggar on the island. The song has been recorded by Fiddler's Dram and Martin Wyndham-Reed.

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Walney Island
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
Walney Isle in words and picturesThe Walney Island websiteWalney websitesDirectory website
{{Barrow-in-Furness Islands of Furness Furness Barrow-in-Furness Late Neolithic