The Silloth Line

In the nineteenth century, north-west Cumberland was served by three different railway companies.

The line to Silloth opened in 1855 when the old canal to Port Carlisle was filled in. It followed the line of the canal as far as Drumbrugh and new tracks were laid to what was a completely new town and port.

By 1900, Silloth had a large goods yard and a station with a platform long enough to accommodate the busiest excursion trains.

In the 1920s and 30s, after the line became part of the LNER, cheap Day Trips from Carlisle were very popular. On Bank Holidays the trains were packed and the green crowded with visitors.

The company advertised the resort throughout its network and provided special camping coaches for family holidays.

Some Silloth railwaymen

After World War II, day-trips from Carlisle were still very popular but general traffic on the route was much reduced and very little freight was carried.

In 1954, the steam engines were replaced by new diesel units.

The goods yard was used to store redundant trucks and emergency supplies of coal.

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The End of the Line

In 1963, Dr Beeching's plan for 'The Reshaping of British Railways' was published and the Silloth line was one of those scheduled for closure.

Cartoon from the 'Carlisle Journal'. Willie Whitelaw was the local MP.

After the formal procedures were completed, it was announced the line would close on September 7^th, 1964.

The excursion train at Silloth signal box. (Photo: Gordon Akitt)

Just a few weeks before this, a special steam excursion was organised by a group of railway enthusiasts.

On the last day of operations, Jimmy Piercy, the British Transport Police officer was in charge at Silloth.

The diesel train was replaced by a steam locomotive. Jimmy Lister (left) from Carlisle was the driver, Archie Brand (right) was the guard and Mike Bulman the fireman.

The platform at Silloth was crowded with people waiting to say 'good-bye'.

The train had to halt outside the station as the line was blocked by a group of protesters organised by Kate Roberts, the prospective Labour candidate for the constituency.

Finally, the police cleared the line and the train pulled in.

Dusk was falling as the train left for Carlisle arriving there at 9.30pm.

Next day, the station was emptied of its furniture and work began on lifting the tracks.

Pictures of the last train courtesy of Judith Warmsley. 

Click on any picture for a larger version.

The Reservists

Some years before the outbreak of war, a branch of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve was established at Carr’s Flour Mill in Silloth. In the late summer of 1914, the whole group were called up and posed for this picture. Theodore Carr is in the centre; the lad, third from the left in the back row is Duncan Chisholm. The names of five of the others are now inscribed on the town’s war memorial in the grounds of Christ Church.

Salt water ran in Duncan Chisholm’s veins; his father was captain of the Silloth steam tug ‘Petrel’. Like the other lads, he probably joined the reserves out of a sense of adventure and the promise of a free week’s holiday on a training ship each year. He could never have expected that, within a few months, he would be dressed in khaki and fighting in a bloody battle over a thousand miles from home.

The Silloth men were not the only ones to be called up. All over the country, reservists reported to naval dockyards and bases. There were far more of them than the navy needed and it had nowhere to accommodate them. At this point, Winston Churchill came up with one of his very worst ideas; he decided to place these surplus sailors under army command. They were to be known as the Royal Naval Division.

Eight battalions were formed, all named after famous naval commanders. Most of the Silloth reservists were assigned to the Collingwood battalion. Training took place in the south of England and was slow; the men were issued with old rifles from navy stockpiles.

Turkey was then part of the Ottoman Empire which had joined the war on the Germans’ side. When the fighting in France and Flanders reached a stalemate, the allies decided to open a new front with the idea of gaining control of the Turkish shipping lanes. In February 1915, the Navy started an attack in the Dardanelles. Landings by British, Australian and New Zealand forces took place in April on the Gallipoli peninsular.

The allied troops dug in but came under heavy attack from the Turkish artillery; very little territory was secured. Reinforcements were required and the men of the Royal Naval Division were to form part of these. The men were shipped out to Egypt to prepare for landings in early June, 1915.

Before he embarked for the Mediterranean, Duncan Chisholm must have been granted a few days leave. He came home to Silloth and his family insisted that he posed for a portrait in his new khaki uniform. 

The far-away look in his eyes has been captured perfectly by the photographer – Annie Gibb. Annie was quite remarkable. At this time, it was very unusual for a woman to be involved in photography and it was virtually unknown for one to set up in business on their own account as she had.

The Collingwood battalion of the RND came ashore at Sulva Bay on June 4^th and advanced slowly under heavy fire. Duncan was among them together with three of the other Silloth lads – Edgar Sisson Swan, Sam Borthwick and Joe Johnston.

Two were members of the Silloth Rugby team; Borthwick played at half-back and Johnston was a three-quarter. Swan had been a golfer. By the end of the day, Borthwick had been wounded and Duncan and Joe were posted as ‘Missing’. Duncan must have turned-up later but the other three all died from their injuries.

The war memorial bears the name of two other RND men: Gordon Brown and Petty Officer John Jefferson Underwood who both died later in what became known as the third battle of Krihia. The allies never gained control of the Gallipoli peninsular and all their troops had been withdrawn by Christmas.

Duncan survived to fight another day. In 1918, he was in action on the front line in France where he was gassed in a German attack. He was brought back to England and spent some time in hospital near Wigan. While he was there, his father died suddenly, working on his allotment, but Duncan was too ill to attend the funeral.

Another of the Silloth reservists who survived the Gallipoli landings was Thomas Stanwix, a farmer’s son from Blitterlees, just outside the town. Years later, his family turned their farm into a holiday camp.

He made it through the early stages of the Gallipoli landings but, in August 1915, suffered “severe, multiple shell wounds in the forearm, nose and thigh”. He was taken to hospital in Malta and, eventually, back to the Royal Naval Hospital in Portland.

After recovering from his wounds, he saw action on the western front and was again wounded in May 1918. He was then promoted and became involved in the logistics of supplying the front-line troops.

He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal but never talked much about his experiences. He used to say that, when he returned home, he had to undress and bath in the byre to get rid of the lice and mud before he went into the house.

After the war, Thomas Stanwix joined the police and moved to the North-East. Duncan Chisholm became second engineer on the S.S. ‘Asseroe’, which sailed regularly between Silloth and Dublin. When this service was suspended, in 1940, he went to work at Carr’s Mill.

They were lucky. Over 34,000 British troops died during the ten months of the Gallipoli campaign; 78,500 were wounded. The Australian and New Zealand forces lost around 11,500 men with a further 24,000 badly injured. Total casualties for the Turkish forces have been estimated at 175,000. The song ‘and the band played Waltzing Matilda’ calls them the forgotten heroes of a forgotten war. They won’t be forgotten in Silloth.

Holm Cultram Abbey

In 1150 Holm Cultram Abbey was founded by Prince Henry of Scotland who gave the land to monks from Melrose Abbey to settle.

These Cistercian monks organized the clearing of forests and draining of large tracts of the Solway marshes, making the land of the Holm district habitable and profitable. By 1200 the Abbey was well under construction. When finished the Abbey and associated buildings covered ten acres of land.

Throughout the thirteenth century benefactors on both sides of the Solway lavished gifts on the Abbey, the main motivation being a hope that they could buy their way into heaven.

This plan shows the outline of the original abbey church with the present building indicated by the thick black lines. It is claimed that the original church was larger than Carlisle cathedral.


The monks were very successful sheep farmers and became the largest supplies of wool in the Northwest of England with an estimated flock of over 6,000 sheep. The Abbey became immensely wealthy and was raided and plundered by the Scots on many occasions. Robert the Bruce caused the worst devastation in 1319, despite the fact that his father was buried there.

These photographs of the abbey church date from around 1900. Note the plaster ceiling on the interior view.

In 1538 the Act dissolving the Greater Monasteries was passed. Holm Cultram Abbey along with 1,600 acres of land and all its possessions was surrendered to Henry VIII.

The Abbey Church was not destroyed, as many were, because it served as a parish church and as a refuge against the Scots. Over time the Abbey church fell into disrepair due to lack of local authority and money.

In 1703, when Bishop Nicholson visited Holm Cultram he was shocked at the state the Abbey was in. He appointed Trustees to organise its restoration. The nave was reduced in size and the side aisles were removed. Between 1833 and 1973 further remodelling has taken place.

Over eight hundred years, the Abbey had a troubled existence but survived all attempts to destroy it. It became a parish church somewhat reduced in size and circumstances but still a place of great beauty, peace and serenity.

All this changed on Friday, June 9, 2006, a very hot day, when the abbey church was badly damaged by fire. Crews from Maryport, Silloth, Wigton and Aspatria were called to the scene.

They entered the church wearing breathing apparatus but were unable to prevent the fire spreading to the roof which collapsed completely around 7pm. Although the damage to the interior was extensive, all but one of the stained glass windows were saved.

Following the fire, six teenagers were arrested, five were released but one, 17-year-old Shane Walker of Solway Street, Silloth, was charged with arson and the theft of £5 from the church. He appeared at Carlisle Crown Court on November 7 and was sentenced to four years detention. Judge John Phillips told him “Not only have you destroyed a national treasure – you have also severely damaged an entire community.”

Restoration work on the church began in 2007 and was completed in 2014 at a cost of several million pounds.

Allonby and its buildings

For such a tiny village, Allonby contains a remarkable number of interesting and historic buildings. In this postcard view, from around 1900, the group of buildings on the left were originally the Fish Yards, operated by the Beeby family. Here herring were gutted, salted and packed into barrels which were made at a cooperage there. In the centre of the picture is the Reading Room and, on the right, with the balcony, are Allonby Baths.

A busy day at the fish yards

In the fish yard, herring were gutted, salted and packed into barrels which were made at a cooperage there.

Some of the herring were turned into kippers. The Costin family ran this operation in their smokehouse, seen above. A wood-burning open hearth was located on the first floor. The herring could be hung in this room or, on the floor above in the roof space.

The chimney passed through both floors and flagstones could be removed from it to allow the smoke to belch out into either of the rooms as required. When the kippers were ready, the louvre shutters on the front of the building, bearing the family's name, were opened, allowing the smoke to escape.

The outline of the old smokehouse can still be
seen; it is now a cottage.

The Baths opened in July 1836. They have a fine, portico which faces into 'The Square' away from the sea.

There was a basement floor with warm, cold, sulphur and vapour baths and, above this, an assemby room 50 feet long and 25 feet wide. The baths were fitted out in marble and were supplied with water drawn from the sea in pipes by a small steam engine. The engine’s furnace also heated the water for the hot baths.

The Meeting House (Sketch by David Butler)

The Quakers formed a large and influential section of the local community. Their Meeting House stood at the north end of the village. It was originally converted from a cottage in 1703, extended in 1732 and continued in use until 1991. It is now a private dwelling.

A little further along the coast road stands North Lodge, seen below in its original state, around 1907.

North Lodge was built in the 1830s by Thomas Richardson who had married an Allonby girl, Martha Beeby, in 1799. The central pavilion was to provide a holiday home for the Richardsons. At either side of this, were six cottages for local widows and spinsters who were to live there rent free and receive £5 per year from an endowment fund which Thomas provided. The building is still in use as low-cost housing and is operated by the Allonby Alms House trust.

Thomas Richardson, the builder of North Lodge was a Quaker banker and held shares in both the Stockton & Darlington Railway and Stephenson’s Locomotive Works. 

He was one of the original proprietors of Middlesbrough Docks and founded the nearby Ayton Friends’ School.


At the back of North Lodge, there was a stone-faced, six-sided privy. Each resident of the cottages had their own door which admitted them to their individual earth closet.

Allonby Reading Rooms opened in 1862. The construction was largely financed by Joseph Pease, M.P., a wealthy Quaker industrialist from County Durham who was a cousin and business associate of Thomas Richardson.

Pease commissioned a 32-year old Quaker architect from Manchester, Alfred Waterhouse to design the building.

Waterhouse went on to become one of the Victorian era's most celebrated architects. He designed the Natural History Museum in London, Strangeways Prison and Manchester Town Hall.

The Reading Rooms closed in the 1970s and fell into serious disrepair. They have recently been converted into a private house.

Allonby Church dates from 1845 and replaced an earlier building on the same site. The adjoining Sunday School was originally used as the village school. This rather plain, undistinguished building fits particularly well with its landscape.

In this postcard view of Allonby Square in the 1920s, the pediment of the Baths is just visible on the right. The old cobbled street was the original main road through the village.

Another postcard view, from the late 1800s, shows the Ship Inn, Allonby's main hostelry, on the right over the old cast-iron bridge which was destroyed when a traction engine ran into the brook in 1907. 

Allonby Charcters - 1

JJ Heskett

Joseph J. Heskett was Allonby's village shoemaker in the early 1900s. He was also a prize-winning bass vocalist, a reciter and writer in Cumberland dialect as well as a poet and a photographer.

A photograph by JJ. The subject is thought
to be his father.

He was born in Allonby in 1865. His father was also a shoemaker, his mother was Francis Costin. In 1891, he married Eleanor Litt at the Wesleyan Chapel in Cockermouth and, around 1903, emigrated to Vancouver with his family. After settling in Canada, he continued to write poems about Allonby in the 'West Cumberland Times' for many years.

His masterpiece is 'Allonby - Sixty Years Ago' which he first recited at a Widow's Benefit Concert in 1901. This epic, of some thirty-nine verses mentions many Allonby families and names the boats they owned:-

"You've heard of the 'Favourite Sally',
"And Dan Saul's 'Good Intent',
"Of Beeby's 'Black Duck' and Boustead's 'Aid',
"That to sea for herrings went."

"And also of Lowse's 'Dinah',
"Edgar's 'Mary' and Costin's 'Delight',
"Musgraves 'Laal Ann' and 'Friendship',
"Which sailed from our shores each night"

CLICK ON THE PAGES TO READ THE POEM IN FULL

After settling in Vancouver, JJ Heskett continued his trades as both a shoemaker and a poet. He traded as 'The Shoe Doctor' and is seen above, outside the shop, with his son Thomas William.

He used his poetic talents to advertise the business and published a calendar each year. The 1926 edition can be seen below.

Amos Hayton Bookless

Amos was born in 1877. His mother was Mary Hayton, a farmer's daughter from Edderside but his father seems to have been an
'off-comer'.

He lost both parents when he was three-years-old and was raised by relatives in Allonby.

Amos and other members of the Allonby Golf Club outside
the 'Club House'

He was the leading light in the village's social set and a keen sportsman. He was a member of Allonby's tennis club, played cricket, and was captain of the Golf Club. He also liked fishing and followed the hunt.

He took part in musical concerts in the village hall, often singing humorous songs. His many friends organised a dinner in his honour at the Ship Hotel before he left to serve in France during the First World War.

The 1901 Census records Amos's occupation as a draper but he also chauffeured part-time for Squire Richmond from Clifton Hall, who spent the summer months at Belmont, Bankmill.

He certainly wasn't camera-shy. He seems to pop-up in many of the Allonby photographs, often wearing a striped blazer, straw hat and (slightly short) white trousers.