Sign in with Facebook- Join for free
- Sign In
Sign in with Facebook
Helpfulness
when visiting walney especially for the beach I would recomend service 6/6A running to the West Shore area from Ulverston, Dalton and Barrow Town hall, also picking up from the bridge next to barrow railway station its a good access route.
20 minute service, normally at .00 .20 and .40 or there abouts off barrow town hall and 15 and 45 in the evening, hourly service on sundays.
tom
Written Jan 8, 2008
Helpfulness
As I've said, Walney is at the end of the A590. As if that isn't daunting enough, there is only one access point to Walney, a two laned lifting bridge across Walney channel. This narrow channel seperates Walney from industrial Barrow and can actually look quite picturesque on a good day when the tide's in.
The bridge was built in 1908 after shipyard owners Vickers Armstrong decided a good place to house it's mass of workers would be on Walney island. Thus, rows of terraced houses were built on the part of Walney known as Vickerstown. The bridge was an amazing piece of engineering for it's time, both pieces of road pivoting and lifting simultaneously.
Before this, there was a type of chain ferry for crossing the channel. This obviously became unfeasable as the number of Vickers employees grew and work began on the bridge. A toll was paid to cross it until 1935 when it had paid for itself. The Queen mother was then called upon to waive the toll and name the bridge Jubilee Bridge.
It is still a worrying factor that this bridge is Walney's only escape route, other than navigating the currents in the murky channel. The really frustrating thing is that for most of the bridge's span, the sides are solid, making what can be a lovely view invisible. There must be a reason for this but I'm sure it would be an enormous improvement opening up the channel view.
The bridge still lifts, but the occassions are less frequent nowadays. If you happen to be lucky enough to be kept waiting while the bridge opens, it's quite a sight.
Updated Sep 26, 2006
Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/content/articles/2006/09/01/bridges_jubilee_bridge_feature.shtml
Helpfulness
The wonderful dark blue buses of my childhood, with colour-coded destination blinds, are a distant memory now. Once, at the start and end of each working day, all town bus routes were suspended and everything was dedicated to shifting workers to and from the shipyard. Now the shipyard is all but defunct.
Written Oct 2, 2002
The A590 connects Barrow with the M6 and the Real World. Follow it through the town centre, being careful to follow signs to Walney as it zigzags through the shipyard, until you cross the Walney Bridge.
Updated Oct 2, 2002
Helpfulness
Regular trains arrive at Barrow from Manchester via Bolton, Preston and Lancaster. From the bus stop across Abbey Road from the station, take a North Scale, Biggar Bank or West Shore bus and get off anywhere beyond the Walney Bridge. The bus takes you through Barrow Island and the shipyard area.
Written Oct 2, 2002
OK. then, who's heard of this place? Not many, I guarantee. Walney Island, as us locals know it, not Isle of Walney, is one of Cumbria's off the beaten track places. It's a long, thin, low lying...
An 18km long sand bar of the coast of the Furness peninsula in Lancashire, North West England. Part of the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. . It's where I was born in 1954 :) . It's really rather...
What a stupid name is Earnsie Bay. There is no bay. I was born on Walney in 1935 and still live there. The area was always known as West Shore until someone thought up the name when there is no sign...
Build your own Isle of Walney page
Comments