Silloth

Silloth

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The Ostle Family Pages

Silloth is a new town. The engraving above appeared in George Measom's "Official Illustrated Guide to the Lancaster and Carlisle, Edinburgh & Glasgow and Caledonian Railways" published in 1859. It proves that 'artist's impressions' are not a new invention of the travel trade; it clearly shows Christ Church in the town centre although its foundation stone was not laid until 1869! This must be one of the very earliest images of the town ever published.

The first sod of the railway from Carlisle was cut in August 1855 and the dock opened in 1859. Before this time, as John Ostle records in his journal, "There is now at present four farm houses, that is all there is at Silloth". He described Silloth Bay as "a very wild place. In dry windy weather, the sand blows very little short of the deserts of Arabia."

The town grew quickly under the auspices, first, of the Silloth Bay Company and, later, of the North British Railway who took over the line in 1862. Elegant terraces, landscaped gardens and large hotels were built but the town never became the fashionable spa envisaged by its promoters. It did become a hugely popular destination for day trips from Carlisle and the other towns of north-east Cumberland. Many Glaswegians also enjoyed holidays there attracted by cheap rail fares and boarding houses, later supplemented by holiday camps and numerous caravan sites.

On these pages you can now take a stroll around the town as it was in the early days of the twentieth century. Check your train times below:

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