Arnside

Arnside
Arnside on the River Kent
Arnside  Arnside shown within Cumbria
Population	2,334 (2011)
OS grid reference	SD4578
Civil parish	Arnside
District	South Lakeland
Shire county	Cumbria
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CARNFORTH
Postcode district	LA5
Dialling code	01524
Police	Cumbria
Fire	Cumbria
Ambulance	North West
EU Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Westmorland and Lonsdale
List of places UK England Cumbria

Arnside is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England. It faces the estuary of the River Kent on the north eastern corner of Morecambe Bay, within the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Historically it lay within Westmorland, near the border with Lancashire, and has a population of 2,301, increasing to 2,334 at the 2011 Census.

The village lies on the railway line from Lancaster to West Cumbria, which passes over the River Kent via the Arnside viaduct. Up to the 19th century, the village was a port, but building the viaduct caused the estuary to silt up.

The oldest building in the parish is Arnside Tower, a Peel tower built in the 14th/15th century as a refuge against raids from Scots and the Border Reivers. The town is overlooked by Arnside Knott, a hill that rises out of the estuary.

Arnside Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1906/7. The club disappeared in the 1920s.

Governance

The village is in the electoral ward of Arnside and Beetham. This ward had a total population of 4,118 at the 2011 Census.

Transport

File:Kent Estuary.jpeg

View of the Kent Estuary from Arnside Knott

Arnside railway station, which serves the village, is located on the Furness Line giving connections to Barrow-in-Furness, Ulverston, Grange-over-Sands, Carnforth and Lancaster.

The line was opened in 1857 by the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway, which was taken over by the Furness Railway 26 May 1862. The Furness Railway's Hincaster Branch ran from 26 June 1876, connecting to the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway at Hincaster, which is now part of the West Coast Main Line (WCML). Passenger services ended on the branch on 4 May 1942 and the lines were removed in 1966.

Bus services which run through the village include the 552 and 553.

Arnside viaduct

The railway line is carried over the River Kent on a viaduct 552 yards (505 m) long, with 50 piers. It was built in 1857 and rebuilt in 1915.

Tides

See also: Arnside Bore

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With each high tide Arnside is subjected to a very fast rising tide. Because of the potential danger warning notices are posted at the pier, and an audible warning is sounded before every high tide (in daylight). The sequence of warnings is:-

1. Eight sounds on the siren - around 2.25 h before high tide
2. Eight sounds on the siren - around 1.75 h before high tide
3. Twelve sounds on the siren - around 1.25 h before high tide when the incoming tide is just visible from the Coastguard station (location of the siren )

The cause of this fast tide is a combination of the large area of Morecambe Bay, which narrows rapidly at Arnside, plus the second highest tidal range (at Barrow-in-Furness, which can be as much as 32 feet (9.8 m) on a spring tide nearest the spring and autumn equinox: these typically give rise to a tidal bore, which may be as high as 12 inches (30 cm), and are often used by canoeists.

See also

• St James' Church, Arnside

Image gallery

• 

  Railway viaduct over the Kent estuary near Arnside

External links

• Arnside Gateway - local on-line resources
• Arnside Photos Photos of Arnside
• On an 1862 "6 inch" map. This is from the Ordnance Survey of Westmorland. (The view on the 1848-1850 map of Lancashire and Furness is misleading - it was outside the surveyors' area and they have left it as an outline only.)