INDUSTRIES 



I 



principal industries of Cum- 

 berland, which may be regarded as 

 characteristic of the county from 

 a remote date, are in a large 

 measure determined by its mari- 

 time position and natural features. The 

 coast line of an inland sea, forming numerous 

 bays and estuaries and extending from north 

 to south throughout its whole length, is so 

 admirably adapted to fish production and speci- 

 ally to the breeding of salmon, that the dis- 

 trict has attained a well-deserved distinction 

 for this industry. Owing to the nature of 

 its geological formation, the upper strata of 

 the greater part of its surface have been stored 

 with rich veins of mineral wealth, such as 

 iron ore, coal, lead, silver, copper, plumbago 

 and other metals, a great laboratory which 

 has contributed to the material prosperity of 

 the county and afforded employment to large 

 numbers of the population. The working of 

 certain of those minerals ranks in point of 

 antiquity, as far as ascertained knowledge is 

 concerned, with the salmon industry. Though 

 the coal measures are now one of the most 

 valuable and important assets in Cumberland 

 industries, the production of coal by means of 

 mining dates back but a very short period. 

 Few of the minor industries are sufficiently 

 characteristic of the county to call for special 

 treatment in this place. 



As salmon is victual, and nothing is more 

 precious than victual, according to the pro- 

 verbial saying of lord Coke, it may be ex- 

 pected that the salmon industry should take 

 precedence in a district so peculiarly adapted 

 by nature to its pursuit. It is not suggested 

 that the fisheries are the most lucrative source 

 of wealth in Cumberland, but there can be 

 no dispute that they constitute an historic 

 industry for which the county has been 

 famous from the earliest period of which there 

 is authentic record. Few counties of the 

 kingdom are so favourably situated for the 

 development of this industry. The coast line 

 is included in the arm of the Irish Sea known 

 as the Solway Firth, and embraces a fishing 

 area shaped in the form of a cone. At its 

 narrow end it is little more than a sandy 



estuary, which at low water dwindles into a 

 contracted channel fordable in some places at 

 low tide. At the base of the cone towards 

 the west the Solway broadens out into a wide 

 expanse of open sea, so that the Scottish shore 

 is only distinctly visible in clear weather. 

 Within this area all the salmon producing 

 rivers of the county are situated. The sea- 

 board starts with a crescent sweep from south 

 to north from the estuary of the Duddon, its 

 natural termination and the natural boundary 

 between Cumberland and the detached portion 

 of Lancashire called Lancashire north of the 

 Sands. During its progress in a north- 

 westerly direction it is pierced at Ravenglass 

 by an estuary formed by the mouth of three 

 rivers, the Esk, Mite and Irt, which take 

 their rise in the mountainous district of that 

 neighbourhood. From this place the coast 

 line bends seaward, forming a bold headland 

 at St. Bees, the most westerly point of the 

 county, and then sweeps north-east to Work- 

 ington, where it is again pierced by the out- 

 let of the Derwent close to that town. To 

 the north of Workington the Ellen forms a 

 small estuary at Maryport, where the coast 

 curves gradually inland to form Allonby Bay, 

 and then proceeds in a northerly direction to 

 Skinburness Point in the upper reaches of the 

 firth. From Skinburness to the Scottish 

 border the coast is irregular and broken by 

 the mouths of several rivers which discharge 

 themselves into the narrow portion of the 

 Solway. The southern shore, indented by a 

 wide basin into which, at its opposite extremi- 

 ties, flow the waters of the Waver and Wam- 

 pool, takes an easterly direction at Bowness 

 Point and sweeps inland to its termination, 

 where it is pierced by the estuary of the 

 Eden, the largest river in the county, and a 

 little further north, beyond Rocliffe Marsh, 

 by the estuaries of the Esk and Sark, both of 

 which are for the greater part Scottish rivers. 1 

 From the natural features of the county, 

 bounded by the Pennine range, which forms 



1 The Spectator (Supplement), 12 March 1870 : 

 Report of the Royal Commiiiioni on the Solway 

 Fisheries, 1881 and 1896. 



331 



