Greenodd

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Greenodd is a village in the Furness area of the county of Cumbria. For local government purposes the village is also within the area of South Lakeland District. It is located three miles (five kilometres) north-east of Ulverston at the junction of the A590 trunk road and the A5092 trunk road. The village is just outside the boundary of the Lake District National Park at 54°14′N 3°3′W (OS grid ref. SD 315825). Greenodd is within the Crake Valley area of South Lakeland District. The 2001 UK census gives a population of 1823 for the Crake Valley. Greenodd and adjacent Penny Bridge are the major neighbourhoods in the Crake Valley. The River Crake flows into the estuary of the River Leven at Greenodd.

[edit] History

The name Greenodd is of Scandinavian origin, the odd meaning ness (headland) in this case. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Greenodd was a significant port; a creek-port of Lancaster. Exports included copper ore from Coniston, locally-quarried limestone, and gunpowder from the nearby settlement of Backbarrow. Sugar, raw cotton and coal are listed in historical documents as some of the imports. Greenodd was also a shipbuilding centre with vessels up to 200 tons being constructed. On the darker side it is likely that Greenodd was involved in the North American slave trade. Today there are no signs of the former commercial activities. The Ship Inn, previously a warehouse on the quayside, is one of the few reminders of Greenodd's illustrious past.

[edit] Greenodd today

Until the 1980s Greenodd was on the A590 trunk road from Barrow to Levens Bridge. Traffic volumes were a major problem for the small village. These problems were alleviated by the building of a bypass to take the traffic over a new bridge across the River Crake. The village is now effectively a cul-de-sac. Greenodd was served by the Lakeside branch of the Furness Railway until its closure in 1965. Today there is no trace of the railway, the station having been demolished to make way for a dual-carriageway road. Greenodd is now also on the W2W Cycle Route between Walney and Wearmouth.