Carnforth - a town created by the fall of a glacier
Set in the northern-west coastal tip of Lancashire, Carnforth is close to the borders of Cumbria and Yorkshire. The town earned its name for its original position as a crossing point over the River Keer. The area is noted for its valuable deposits of sand and gravel, caused by the fall of a great glacier during the Ice Age, which chipped and ground up the rocks and stones in its path. Various objects found over the years prove that the town was originally a Danish settlement.
In 1620, the town's oldest building, The Carnforth Inn, was built. A small rural hamlet for many years, Carnforth only consisted of a few farms, cottages and houses with a population of 219 in 1801.
With the emergence of the Industrial Revolution arrived the progress that Carnforth needed. A canal seventeen miles long, running between Carnforth's Tewitfield and Ellel Green took five years to complete. Coal could be transported on the canal by horse-drawn barges.
Resident Marion Russel (nee Wilkinson) noted the timetable at the introduction of packet boats for passengers.
KENDAL - 6am
TEWITFIELD - 9am
LANCASTER - 1pm
GARSTANG - 4pm
PRESTON - 8pm
A journey of fourteen hours that could be done today in less than an hour by car!
The canal made little improvement to Carnforth and its population remained low. In the memorandum of resident James Irvine, the town consisted of:
28 cottages, 17 farms, 2 good houses, 1 school, 1 smithy, 1 methodist chapel, 1 station (a halt) and 3 pubs.
It was not until the opening of the railway junction that the town really took off. A post office, money order office, workingmen's building society, newsroom, library and eight first-class houses were all built.
In the early 1860s, Carnforth became the site for a new iron-works and the workers required moved to the town. Then, with the opening of the station, the Railway Companies needed to build more houses to accommodate the staff and engine drivers. With the increase of workers, the population thus trebled during the next ten years to 1091.
Carnforth and its station have grown up alongside each other. Their importance as a railway centre continued through into the twentieth century. During the Second World War, aside from the arrival of a film crew and cast for the making of Brief Encounter, coal and ash plants were built, reputedly by prisoners of war.
Besides its famous station, Carnforth is also known for its famous bookstore, which houses over 100,000 books.
Of further interest to Brief Encounter fans is the town's war memorial, reputedly which inspired the scene in which Celia Johnson sits by a war memorial on a cold, rainy night after running away from the flat Alec had borrowed for them.
There are numerous cafes, restaurants, hotels and shops, so why not visit us next time you travel up north?
In 2000, Alison Evans, who was then a Post Graduate student at the University of Plymouth, approached the Friends of Carnforth Station to ask if she could produce a website about Carnforth Station , as one her modules towards an MA in Publishing.
This website is the website that she produced.
The original website was created in 2000., and apart from one or two factual corrections (different telephone numbers / contact addreses etc.) The website is as created.
Since then the Station rejuvenation has been completed, and the station is now open as a fully fuctional railway station, and a visitor center. For the latest information about the station, please visit
http://www.carnforth-station.co.uk
