Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for SILLOTH

SILLOTH, a seaport town and a chapelry in Holme-Cultram parish, Cumberland. The town stands on the Solway frith, at the terminus of the Carlisle and Silloth railway, 22½ miles W by S of Carlisle; was only a small hamlet prior to 1853; rose to importance by the opening of the railway to it in 1856, and by the formation of a dock at it in 1857-9; acquired amenities by tasteful construction of streets, and by levelling of adjacent sand-hills into fine spacious lawns and promenades; enjoys a salubrious climate, remarkable for abundance of ozone; commands a fine view across the frith to Criffel mountain and the estuary of the Nith; came soon into favour as a sea-bathing resort; and has a post-office‡ under Carlisle, a r. station with telegraph, four good hotels, many first-class houses, a large assembly room, a church, an Independent chapel, large parochial schools of 1868, and the convalescent institution for Cumberland and Westmoreland. The dock admits vessels drawing upwards of 20 feet of water. The export of coals was 23,410 tons in 1864, 29,154 tons in 1865, and 35,948 tons in 1866. The imports are chiefly flour, grain, and timber; and amounted, in 1866, to 87,741 tons of grain and flour, and 4,503 loads of timber. The chapelry was constituted in 1865, and is annexed to Low Holme. Pop., 1,521.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a seaport town and a chapelry"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Cumberland AncC
Place: Silloth

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