Broughton Moor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Broughton Moor is a village and civil parish in the Allerdale district of Cumbria, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 726. The village is about 2½ miles south of Maryport. The village has a small Primary School with approximately 50 children on roll and a Preschool (Cuddly Koalas) with approximately 24 children on roll. There is a Church (St. Columba's, C of E) and a Methodist Chapel. The village also has a Public House (The Miners Arms) and a village shop. They also have an excellent Fish and Chip shop.

As well as the village of Broughton Moor itself, the parish also includes Sunny Slack (or Harker Marsh).

Location of Broughton Moor

[edit] History

Broughton Moor is a village, situated on an extensive moor about 2 miles north from Broughton and 5 north-west of Cockermouth. Broughton Moor was formed into a civil parish on October 1^st, 1898, by Local Government Board Order 38,315, from Great and Little Broughton townships, and is in the Workington division of the county, ward of Allerdale-below-Derwent, Derwent petty sessional division, Cockermouth union, county court district of Cockermouth and Workington, rural deanery of Maryport and archdeaconry and diocese of Carlisle.

The church of St. Columba, erected in 1904, is a building of stone, with chancel, nave, south porch and a tower containing one bell. The Church was consecrated on 3rd May 1905. It was built by the villagers under the direction of Lloyd Wilson to the designs of the well-known church architect, W. D. Caroe, who gave his services gratuitously. It is said that Mr Caroe had recently returned from a visit to St Columba’s on the Isle of Iona and that he was influenced by the ruined abbey church of Our Lady, hence the feeling of early Celtic influence. Until 1936, St. Columba’s, Broughton Moor, was a chapelry in the Parish of Christ Church, Little Broughton. It is now a listed building. Although only a small church of approximately 100 seats, it has a lovely atmosphere which is often commented on by visitors. In the last 18 months it has undergone extensive restoration and is about to be internally redecorated.there are 234 sittings. The register dates from the year 1905. Here is a Wesleyan chapel, built in 1903, and a Primitive Methodist, built 1864. There are collieries here. The soil is limey; subsoil, stone. The chief crops are oats and turnips, and some land in pasture. The area is 1,736 acres; the population in 1912 was 932.

Between the 1930s and 1992^[1] the area was home to Royal Navy Armaments Depot (RNAD) Broughton Moor^[2]

[edit] Broughton Moor Today

Broughton Moor (grid reference NY055335) is a quiet village situated almost centrally in the triangle formed by Cockermouth, Maryport and Workington. With a current population of around 600 (adults) it was built originally to house the mining community. Only two miles from the coast, Broughton Moor is situated on a ridge overlooking the Solway Firth to the north with superb views and spectacular sunsets over the Galloway hills, while to the south there is the incomparable vista of the Lakeland Fells. There is a mix of privately owned and local authority housing and a blend of social groups. Nowadays the local coal mines have closed, and after extensive opencast mining in recent years the land has reverted to its former agricultural state. The majority of the workforce are employed outside the village in surrounding towns and industries. They have a very good Pub Football team (Miners Arms Broughton Moor FC) they be seen many Sundays playing their home matches on 'The Welfare Field', and also did have a very successful Under 12's team, where they went for over 18 months without being defeated, and won many trophies in the process.

The area surrounding the village offers walks over fields and through woodland (Broughton Moor Wood) and there is a small tarn. There is diverse wildlife such as red squirrels, foxes, badgers, buzzards, sparrowhawks, pheasants, owls etc. as well as those species more frequently seen.

Part of The Tarn has been purchased by Persimmon Homes, and are currently building over 40 new homes on the site.

Recent images of the site have been documented at http://www.photoaddiction.co.uk