This blog is intended to provide comments on topical events and updates about matters relating to the Solway Firth, including its people, and the politics of ‘managing’ the coast and sea …
I’ve lived within sight of the Firth for nearly twenty years and I’ve grown to love it in all its moods. Having grown up with the cliffs and coves of Cornwall, when I first visited the apparently flat, apparently ’empty’ Solway shore at low tide I was disappointed. But time and frequent walks, guddling in the pools, checking out the tide-lines, meeting people who know about the coast and sea, has changed all that.
As a writer, I’ve written about the Solway or the shore, in articles and in two of my novels, and as a former university lecturer and research scientist who occasionally ‘helped’ out with marine field courses, I’ve always enjoyed looking, exploring, and finding out more. There’s certainly plenty to discover!
Ann Lingard
My book about the Solway, The Fresh and the Salt: the Story of the Solway (Birlinn Books, Sept.2020) is now available from all booksellers. Please use your local independent bookshop where possible and/or order online via Bookshop UK. Many thanks, on behalf of authors and booksellers in this difficult time.
“Catching the poetic in the scientific, and steeped in environmental histories of the area, Ann addresses saltmarsh and mudflat, song and painting, mudshrimp and stonemason with the same curiosity. .. a kaleidoscopic portrait of the borders of the land.” Cumbria Life Magazine
“…a natural history in the richest sense of the term. …[Her lexicon] … forces you to blink and refocus.…” Isaac Land
“… riveting prose. This is deep and beautiful natural history writing rather than nature writing.” BBC Countryfile Magazine
More information, reviews, and images relevant to the book on the related website.
Solway Shore-walker 
Thank you for your excellent and informative section of the site about energy generation. I saw your letter in Times & Star and read all your page and the links to the various sources. I note that if the nuclear power station is built that they require a cable under Morecambe Bay and an island on route so that the heat generated in the tunnel containing the cable can be vented. The heat is because the cable is DC and a huge converter station is required to convert from AC to DC. Perhaps a barrage would combine a pylon route carrying normal AC and also allow tidal turbines and pedestrian access. I note that the underground repository will be the size of Carlisle with huge spoil of rock so maybe the cost and political and environmental considerations can be combined for mutual benefit.
Many thanks for sharing your interests and knowledge with the world. I have visited SOLWAY SHORE WALKER several times, and always enjoy a good read. My interests are in your regional History and Archaeology, but your stories on its natural beauty are also charming. (I must make a visit.) I thank you in particular for the story on ship-breaking at Allonby. It lead me to the Maryport Maritime Museum, which has photos of the condemned hulk of the PRINCE VICTOR, broken at Allenby in 1888. The images added a great deal to my three-part series on the PRINCE VICTOR, and Canadian readers owe this boost to your eye for a good story. Cheers!
I really do enjoy your work and find it very informative,thank you.
Malcolm – thank you, that’s very kind of you. And I enjoy following new ideas and ‘leads’and writing about them … Best wishes, Ann
John Rider Bisby writes:
It was a very interesting read about the peat gatherers of old, well done.
I am researching items for a short biography of a Mr.James Battersby- 1881 to 1961 from Preston in Lancashire, who I believe was a Company Director of the Cumberland Moss Litter Company in Wigton, Cumbria. The company has now gone. If you have any information on this man I would be very pleased to receive it. Thank you. Phone: 01772 729591 or email: johnrbisby@gmail.com
Enjoyed your Solway Viaduct piece, really informative thanks. Visited Bowness on Solway a couple of times and always been intrigued by the remains of the old viaduct
Hi Ann,
Thankyou for your writings about the fossils in Parton. I have been trying to find out where to go for the amazing plant fossils, but I can’t work it out. I would so very much appreciate it if you could detail how to get there. Perhaps pinpoint on a map for me. I’ve left my email in the box below.
Thankyou so much. Katerina xx
Great book. I can leave it around for any (post-covid) visitors interested in littoral biology, geology, topography, tidal movements, fisheries, archaeology and the heavy industries of W cumbria. Very informative, and driven by a restless curiosity . The Solway is indeed fascinating and quite unique. This is the best account I have read so far.
Thank you, Steve, that’s very kind – and (I’m embarrassed to ask this, but if you put reviews on Amazon or Godoreads, could you put this there too?). Did you also look at the related website http://www.thefreshandthesalt.co.uk? Best wishes, Ann
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Ann I’ve lost your original message about walks on the seashore, I had booked with you for the 19th April but can’t now attend. I do hope you get this so that someone else can get the chance to partake. Thank you and regrets Denzil Bell
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