Biggar is a village towards the south of

Walney Island 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. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is part of Barrow-in-Furness, sepa ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, England. Along with the village of

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, ...

, it is the oldest settlement on the island. It now forms part of the

Westmorland and Furness Westmorland and Furness is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Cumbria, England. The economy is mainly focused on tourism around both the Lake District and Cumbria Coast, shipbuilding and the Royal Port of Barrow, Royal ...

Furness Abbey Furness Abbey, or St. Mary of Furness, is a former 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 country, behi ...

records from 1292 mention a

grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * The Grange (Toronto), Toronto, Ontario, built in 1817 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to ...

at Biggar, of around in size. Biggar Dyke was built in the Sixteenth century hen the village was part of Dalton Parishas coastal defence for the village and island. The first mention of the name the 'Queen's Arms' was in 1869 to distinguish it from the recently opened 'New Inn' in the village although it was a beer house as early as 1753. Biggar has remained outside of the main urban limits of Walney and

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

, and is still a small farming village. It lies on the eastern coast of Walney, to the north of a nature reserve, containing one of England's few

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

farms. Biggar is mentioned alongside

in the folk song ' Wa'ney Island Cockfight' The song has been recorded by

Fiddler's Dram Fiddler's Dram were a British folk band of the late 1970s, most widely known for their 1979 hit single, " Day Trip to Bangor (Didn't We Have a Lovely Time)", which reached no. 3 on the UK Singles Chart. Band members The full-time members of Fi ...

and Martin Wyndham-Reed.

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Walney Island
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page) {{authority control Villages in Cumbria Furness Populated coastal places in Cumbria Protected areas of Cumbria Districts of Barrow-in-Furness