Drigg

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Drigg
Drigg Station and the Victoria Inn - geograph.org.uk - 47568.jpg
Drigg railway station and the Victoria Inn
Cumbria UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Drigg
Location within Cumbria
Population449 (2011)
OS grid reference SD064990
Civil parish
  • Drigg and Carleton
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town HOLMROOK
Postcode district CA19
Dialling code 019467
Police Cumbria
Fire Cumbria
Ambulance North West
UK Parliament
Website drigg.org.uk
List of places
UK
England
Cumbria
54°22′41″N3°26′24″W / 54.378°N 3.440°W / 54.378; -3.440

Drigg is a village on the coast of the Irish Sea in the Cumberland district of the county of Cumbria, England. It borders the Lake District National Park. Next to the village is the site of the UK's low-level radioactive waste storage facility.

Contents

Geography

Drigg sits to the north of the River Irt, with Carleton to the south of the river. The river runs from Wastwater lake and joins the River Mite just before it enters the Irish Sea. There are three bridges over the Irt within the parish; the A595 road bridge at Holmrook, the Cumbrian Coast Line railway bridge at the head of the tidal estuary near Ravenglass, and a footpath via an old packhorse bridge at Drigg Holme. [1]

Sand dunes soil is by the coast, and a freely draining loamy soil dominates the rest of the parish. [2]

Beach and sand dunes

Since 1996, 1,396 hectares (3,450 acres) of the Drigg coast has been a designated Special Area of Conservation. The fixed sand dunes are categorised as a "priority feature". [3] The small bar-built estuary is described as "one of the most natural and least developed in the UK, with little industry and few artificial coastal defence structures". [4]

A 2007 survey found Drigg beach to be stoney at high tide from Carl Crag to Kokoarrah Scar and backed by sand dunes. The beach exposed at low tide was sand; with mud and sand at the lower foreshore. This area was frequented by both locals and holidaymakers. Barn Scar was found to be popular for collecting molluscs, whereas Kokoarrah Scar was normally inaccessible on foot as it was surrounded by seawater. From Kokoarrah Scar to Drigg Point the beach was sandy with patches of stones, and less used. Drigg Point marks the River Esk estuary. [5] Since 2013 the coastline at Drigg has been designated a Marine Conservation Zone, as part of the Cumbria Coast. [6] Kokoarrah rocky scar inter-tidal zone supports a variety of marine organisms. [7] In 2018 following a shift in the level of sand a shipwreck was discovered on Kokoarrah beach. Floor plank timber from the wreck was British oak. Tree-ring dating showed the trees were felled after 1777 and the vessel was late 18th century or early 19th century. [8] [9]

The area of sand dunes at Drigg are annotated on early Ordnance Survey maps as Drigg Common, with a rabbit warren noted on the seaward edge. [10]

Inland

Hallsenna Moor is a National Nature Reserve of lowland heath and peatland. [11]

Drigg Holme Packhorse Bridge Drigg Holme Packhorse Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 3070747.jpg
Drigg Holme Packhorse Bridge
Dunes and beach near Drigg Dunes and beach near Drigg - geograph.org.uk - 4661883.jpg
Dunes and beach near Drigg


History

ROF Drigg

A Royal Ordnance Factory was established at Drigg in 1941. The site was chosen because the area was sparsely populated and to minimise the risk of German bombing. It was engaged in the production of Trinitrotoluene (TNT), reaching a weekly output of 400 tons. [12] The factory was closed in 1945 following Victory over Japan day. [13]

Drigg and Carleton civil parish

The civil parish of Drigg and Carleton comprises the areas and settlements of Drigg, Stubble Green, Low Moor, Carleton, Saltcoats, Maudsyke, Wray Head, Hallsenna and Holmrook. Prior to the Local Government Act 1894 Carleton was a constablewick in the ancient parish of Drigg. [14]

The civil parish population at the 2011 census was 449. [15]

The parish council meets monthly in the village hall. [16] Cumberland Council provides most local services. Drigg and Carleton is within the Cumberland unitary authority ward of Millom Without. [17]

From the 2024 general election the parish is within the Whitehaven and Workington UK parliamentary constituency. [18] It was previously within Copeland constituency.

Neighbouring parishes are Gosforth, Bootle, Seascale, Muncaster and Irton with Santon. [19]

Drigg railway station is on the Cumbrian Coast Line. Southbound trains run to Barrow-in-Furness and northbound to Whitehaven, Workington and Carlisle. The Victoria Hotel stands in close proximity to the railway station; it was built soon after the railway arrived in 1849. [20]

As of 2023, the only bus service in the parish is a dial and ride service to local villages and Whitehaven; there are no fixed bus schedules. [21]

The village of Drigg is on the B5344 road between Holmrook and Seascale, it links to the A595.

Church

The parish church is dedicated to St Peter and was rebuilt in 1850. [22]

Low Level Waste Repository

The site of the Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF Drigg) between the railway line and the sea is now the site of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority low-level radioactive waste repository. This was opened in 1959 by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, [23] covers about 270 acres (110 ha), and holds about one million cubic metres of radioactive waste, although historic disposal records are incomplete. Much of the waste came from the nearby Sellafield nuclear complex. [24] [25]

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ Historic England. "Drigg Holme packhorse bridge (1007107)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  2. ↑ "LandIS - Land Information System - Soilscapes soil types viewer". www.landis.org.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  3. ↑ "Drigg Coast - Special Areas of Conservation". Joint Nature Conservation Committee . Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  4. ↑ "Drigg Coast SAC" (PDF). publishing.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  5. ↑ Clyne, Fiona; Gough, Chris; Edgar, Anna; Smedley, Carol (2008). "Radiological Habits Survey: Sellafield Beach Occupancy, 2007" (PDF). CEFAS. Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science. pp. 24–26. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 January 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  6. ↑ "Cumbria Coast Marine Conservation Zone" (PDF). elibrary.cumbria.gov.uk. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. November 2013. ISBN   978-1-78354-061-7 . Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  7. ↑ "Cumbria Coast | Living Seas North West". www.livingseasnw.org.uk. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  8. ↑ "Historic England Research Records - Kokoarrah beach wreck". www.heritagegateway.org.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  9. ↑ Bale, Roderick; Howard, Robert; Nayling, Nigel; Tyers, Cathy (21 June 2022). "Drigg Wrecks, Drigg Foreshore, Cumbria - Tree-ring Analysis of Oak Timbers". Historic England. ISSN   2059-4453 . Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  10. ↑ "Sheet XClX NE Ravenglass". Maps National Library of Scotland. 1860. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  11. ↑ "Corporate report - Cumbria's National Nature Reserves". gov.uk. Natural England. 22 May 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  12. ↑ Kinlen, L. "Childhood leukaemia and ordnance factories in west Cumbria during the Second World War". British Journal of Cancer . 2006 (95 (1)): 102–6. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6603199 – via National Library of Medicine.
  13. ↑ "Historic England Research Records - Royal Ordnance Factory Drigg". www.heritagegateway.org.uk. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  14. ↑ Whellan, William (1860). The History and Topography of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland: With Furness and Cartmel, in Lancashire. W. Whellan and Company. p. 378.
  15. ↑ "Civil parish population 2011" . Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  16. ↑ "General Information – Drigg & Carleton Parish Council". drigg.org.uk. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  17. ↑ "Millom Without - MapIt". mapit.mysociety.org. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  18. ↑ "Election Maps". www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  19. ↑ "Areas touching Drigg and Carleton - MapIt". mapit.mysociety.org. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  20. ↑ "Victoria Hotel at Drigg". www.thevicatdrigg.co.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  21. ↑ "Map of Cumbria bus routes" (PDF). cumbria.gov.uk. Cumbria County Council. 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  22. ↑ "St Peter's, Drigg Parish Church – Drigg & Carleton Community". drigg.org.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  23. ↑ "Low Level Waste Repository". NDA. Archived from the original on 21 April 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  24. ↑ Terry Macalister (14 February 2009). "Can anyone recall what we put in our nuclear dump?". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  25. ↑ Rob Edwards (20 April 2014). "Cumbrian nuclear dump 'virtually certain' to be eroded by rising sea levels". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
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