A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



levied for the formation and repair of the 

 roads was more than counterbalanced by the 

 advantages of the new means of transit. In 

 addition to these facilities for commerce 

 between neighbouring districts, an artificial 

 canal from Maryport by Carlisle to New- 

 castle-on-Tyne, thus connecting the Solway 

 with the North Sea, was proposed in 1794. 

 Application was made to Parliament in 1797 

 for the necessary powers, but owing to dis- 

 putes in Northumberland, whether the canal 

 should be constructed on the north or south 

 side of the Tyne, the project was abandoned. 

 At a later period a more moderate scheme 

 for connecting the city of Carlisle with its 

 port on the Solway was revived and success- 

 fully carried out. In 1819 a ship canal 

 nearly twelve miles in length with eight 

 locks or sluices was commenced, and in 1823 

 it was opened with great ceremony and amid 

 much rejoicing. It commenced at Port Car- 

 lisle and terminated in Caldewgate, near the 

 Cumberland Infirmary, where a capacious 

 basin and a large warehouse were constructed. 

 Vessels of 100 tons were able to discharge 

 their freights on the outskirts of the city 

 within half a mile of the Market Cross, and 

 communication was facilitated with the ports 

 along the western coast as far as Liverpool. 

 The canal was the means of stimulating the 

 trade of Carlisle and the surrounding district. 

 In a short time after it was opened the price 

 of coal fell from 6rf. to 3^. per Carlisle 

 peck. The canal was abandoned in favour 

 of the railway after having been of immense 

 benefit to the inhabitants of Carlisle for 

 about thirty years. 



The old project of connecting the eastern 

 and western seas by means of a canal, which 

 was dropped in 1797, was revived in another 

 form in 1829, when an Act was obtained to 

 construct a railway from Carlisle to New- 

 castle through the Tyne valley, a distance 

 of about 60 miles. The work was com- 

 menced in 1 830, and the line was opened for 

 traffic throughout its entire length in 1838. 

 One of the engineering features of this line 

 in its passage through Cumberland is the 

 magnificent bridge over the Eden at 

 Wetheral, consisting of five semicircular 

 arches of 80 feet span each, with an 

 elevation of too feet above the water level. 

 With the help of the ship canal from Carlisle 

 to the Solway, the new railway afforded a 

 cheap and expeditious transit to the Liverpool 

 and Irish merchants for the carriage of goods 

 and merchandise to and from Hamburg and 

 Holland. The Newcastle and Carlisle rail- 

 way, amalgamated in 1862 with the North- 

 Eastern, is the oldest railway line in Cum- 



berland, and takes rank with the oldest rail- 

 ways of the kingdom. 



This experiment in railway enterprise was 

 soon followed in other places in Cumberland, 

 and for thirty years the construction of lines 

 in various parts of the county was pursued 

 with vigour. The act of incorporation l for 

 the Maryport and Carlisle Railway Company 

 was obtained in 1837, and sections of the 

 line were opened between Maryport and 

 Arkleby in July 1840, between Arkleby 

 and Aspatria in December 1841, between 

 Carlisle and Wigton in May 1843, and the 

 line was ready for traffic throughout its whole 

 length of twenty-eight miles on 10 February 

 1845. The line was extended through the 

 towns of Workington and Harrington to 

 Whitehaven in 1 847 by the Whitehaven 

 Junction Company (incorporated in 1844), a 

 distance of twelve miles, thus connecting the 

 four important ports on the western coast and 

 providing direct communication between the 

 great industrial centres of that region. The 

 Furness Railway Company, incorporated in 

 1845 by Act of 8 & 9 Victoria, cap. 100, 

 opened their line between Whitehaven and 

 Ravenglass, a distance of nearly 17 miles in 

 1849, and from Ravenglass to Millom, about 

 the same distance, in the following year. 

 Thus a great thoroughfare was laid from the 

 extreme south of the county along the coast 

 to Maryport where the line turned inland to 

 Carlisle. Offshoots were sent out in the 

 course of time to connect country towns and 

 local industries with the main line. The 

 company which laid the line from Cocker- 

 mouth to Workington was incorporated in 

 1845 by Act of 8 & 9 Victoria, cap. I2O, 

 and the line was opened throughout in 1847. 

 The Cleator and Workington Junction rail- 

 way with a distance of about thirty miles, was 

 opened for mineral traffic on I July 1878, 

 and for passengers on 18 October 1879, the 

 general offices being at the central station, 

 Workington. From Ravenglass the Furness 

 Company made a line with a 3-feet gauge 

 through the Eskdale valley as far as Boot, a 

 distance of 7^ miles. This little railway, 

 much utilized during the tourist season, was 

 opened for goods traffic on 24 May 1875, 

 and for passengers on 2O November 1876. 



The portion of the Lancaster and Carlisle 

 railway, which enters Cumberland near Pen- 

 rith, was opened for traffic in 1846, the 

 company having been incorporated in 1844 

 by Act of 7 & 8 Victoria, cap. 37. The 

 line was leased in 1859 for a period of 900 

 to the London and North-Western 



years 



34 6 



1 Act i Vic. cap. 3. 



