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Kirkby Slate Quarries

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20-542: Kirkby Slate Quarries , formally known as Burlington Slate Quarries , are located near Kirkby-in-Furness in Cumbria , England . The quarries have produced a characteristic blue-grey slate for over 450 years, with large-scale production starting in the early 19th century, when the Cavendish family organised small-scale quarrying activities by local farmers into a larger group of quarries, which then attracted others into

40-666: A Church of Christ meeting house at Wall End. The village has two pubs , "The Commercial" at Four Lane Ends and "The Ship Inn", which reputedly dates from 1691, near the railway station. The cricket club, football club, bowls club and tennis club are all based at the recreation ground in Beck Side. The Kirkby in Furness Cricket Club play league fixtures on a Saturday in the Cumbria Cricket League Division 1 and also midweek fixtures on

60-781: A Wednesday night in the Furness Cricket League. Kirkby United Football Club play in the Furness Premier League; Kirkby-in-Furness Bowls club play a number of competitive matches throughout the summer months and Kirkby Tennis Club compete in the Duddon Tennis League. Numerous footpaths either originate in, or pass through, the village including the Cumbria Coastal Way from Silverdale in Lancashire to Gretna just over

80-630: A half hours after the inbound service arrives. Kirkby-in-Furness station is on the Cumbrian Coast Line , with the rail service being provided by Northern . There are regular services southbound to Barrow-in-Furness , a few services continuing further along the Furness Line e.g. to Lancaster , while most northbound services go to Carlisle , a few services not continuing the whole way e.g. to Millom . Earl of Northumbria Earl of Northumbria or Ealdorman of Northumbria

100-639: A result, the intake for the local primary school has fallen dramatically in the last few years, and continues to fall. The village has a primary school - Burlington Church of England Primary School - and older children attend Victoria High School at Ulverston or Dowdales School in Dalton-in-Furness with a few attending John Ruskin School in Coniston . There is a community centre in Beck Side - refurbished in 2019/20 - with changing rooms for

120-402: A work force for the slate and agrarian work. The nearby Kirkby Moor rises to 333 metres (1,093 ft) above sea level which features a 12 turbine wind farm. The village has an increasingly aged population due to the rise in house prices and lack of homes suitable for first time buyers. This has led to young families leaving Kirkby, buying cheaper houses in surrounding towns and villages. As

140-598: Is a village that is the major part of the parish of Kirkby Ireleth in the Furness district of Cumbria , England. Historically part of Lancashire , it is close to the Lake District National Park . It is about 3 miles (5 km) south of Broughton in Furness , 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Ulverston and 9 miles (14 km) north of Barrow-in-Furness . It is one of the largest villages on

160-543: The rulers of Bamburgh commanded territory roughly equivalent to the northern kingdom of Bernicia. In 1006 Uhtred the Bold , ruler of Bamburgh, by command of Æthelred the Unready became ealdorman in the south, temporarily re-uniting much of the area of Northumbria into a single jurisdiction. Uhtred was murdered in 1016, and Cnut then appointed Eric of Hlathir ealdorman at York, but Uhtred's dynasty held onto Bamburgh. After

180-485: The adjacent recreation ground which has a cricket pitch , a football pitch , a crown bowling green , two hard tennis courts and a children's playground . There is also the old village hall , the Beck Side Rooms, in the old, converted, school buildings. A small shop with limited opening hours is available at Longlands Holiday Park, a private static caravan park, near Chapels and a post office comes to

200-668: The area to live and work in the quarries from the 1820s onwards. The slates were formed during the Early Devonian when a slaty cleavage was imposed on the Ordovician and Silurian rocks of the area. The best quality slate with the most even and regular cleavage was formed from the lithologically uniform mudstone successions. The quarrying at Burlington can be directly related to the development of Kirkby, which merged from six smaller farming hamlets : Soutergate, Wall End, Beck Side, Sand Side, Marshside and Chapels. The opening of

220-804: The border in Scotland. This path is now part of the England Coast Path . The village has a number of active societies, covering a range of interests. These include the History of Kirkby Group, that has numerous publications to its name, the Kirkby Floral and Horticultural Society and the Kirkby Photographic Club. Kirkby is situated on the A595 giving direct access to Askam , Dalton-in-Furness and Barrow-in-Furness to

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240-546: The community centre every Thursday morning, and there is a service station , centrally located in Kirkby at Four Lane Ends and a cafe that is open three days a week - Sunday to Tuesday only - opposite the railway station . There is also a surgery on the road between Four Lane Ends and the railway station. It has three places of worship: the parish church , St Cuthbert's in Beck Side; a methodist church in Marshside and

260-531: The construction of its Cumbrian Coast Line , and was the name they gave to the station which serves these hamlets. The name Kirkby is much older. The parish of Kirkby Ireleth , a name of Norse origin, is listed in the Domesday Book as one of the townships forming the Manor of Hougun which was held by Tostig Godwinson , Earl of Northumbria . Much of the housing and infrastructure in Kirkby arose due to

280-572: The growth and development of the Burlington Slate Quarries , which are owned by the Cavendish family of Holker Hall and Chatsworth House in Derbyshire . Houses at Marshside and Incline Foot were originally built for quarry workers, and the railway linked up to the quarries via a rope-worked Narrow-gauge railway , known as The Long Incline. Present-day Kirkby-in-Furness is now primarily a commuter village but still provides

300-649: The peninsula's north-western coast, looking out over the Duddon estuary. To its east is the SSSI of Kirkby Moor and to its west is the SSSI of Duddon Estuary . The 2021 census showed Kirkby to have a population of 580. Kirkby is a collection of six different hamlets, namely: Soutergate , Wall End , Beck Side , Sand Side , Marshside and Chapels . The name Kirkby was used by the Furness Railway company during

320-447: The rock being removed via a cutting from a shallower part of the pit. The slate blocks were initially removed from the large open pits by blasting and then reduced to a manageable size using a mell (sledge hammer) and tully (long-handled wedge-shaped hammer) before being transported to the cutting sheds, sawn to size and riven into thin slates. Typical of many Welsh slate quarries, such as Dinorwig, Penrhyn and Rhiw-Bach, Burlington adopted

340-467: The slate quarry helped merge these, the name Kirkby dating from the construction of the Cumbrian Coast railway line to the village. The quarry does not have a galleries system , as many quarries are, but as an enormous pit several hundred feet in depth. The quarry operations have spread throughout and under Kirkby Moor , but now production only takes place at the very bottom of the quarry; with

360-536: The south and villages and towns on the Cumbria Coast to Whitehaven and beyond. There is a limited bus service for Kirkby, the Blueworks X7 service, running on Wednesdays and Fridays only with the morning bus originating at Coniston and the afternoon bus returning to the same location. This allows a brief return journey to Ireleth, Askam and Barrow, the return service leaving Barrow a little over two and

380-586: The use of a long series of inclined trackways and water balance lifts to provide material transport from the quarries. The lowest of the series was the Sandside, which connected Burlington with the port and mainline railway at Sandside on the Duddon Estuary . 54°14′48″N 3°09′14″W  /  54.2467°N 3.1539°W  / 54.2467; -3.1539 Kirkby-in-Furness Kirkby-in-Furness , generally referred to simply as Kirkby locally,

400-709: Was a title in the late Anglo-Saxon , Anglo-Scandinavian and early Anglo-Norman period in England . The ealdordom was a successor of the Norse Kingdom of York . In the seventh century, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira were united in the kingdom of Northumbria , but this was destroyed by the Vikings in 867. Southern Northumbria, the former Deira, then became the Viking kingdom of York , while

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