Solway Firth

{{Short description|Firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland}}

{{About|the body of water|the song by Slipknot|Solway Firth (song) }}

{{Infobox body of water

| name = Solway Firth

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| image = Solway Firth, England-Scotland, 24 Sept. 2011 - Flickr - PhillipC.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Aerial view of the firth

| pushpin_map = Scotland

| pushpin_map_alt =

| pushpin_label_position = top

| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Scotland

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| alt_bathymetry =

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| location = Scotland, United Kingdom

| coordinates = {{Coord|54|45|N|3|40|W|region:GB_type:landmark_source:dewiki_scale:1000000|display=inline,title}}

}}

File:Ordnance Survey Quarter-inch Sheet 8 Solway Firth, Published 1966.jpg

File:Sands of the Solway at Sunset - geograph.org.uk - 73954.jpg emptying into the firth]]

The Solway Firth{{efn|{{langx|gd|Tràchd Romhra}}}} is an inlet on the west coast of Great Britain, forming part of the border between England and Scotland.{{Efn|See Anglo-Scottish Border for more information}} The firth (a Scottish term for an inlet of the sea) divides Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) from Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very near to the firth. The firth comprises part of the Irish Sea.

The firth's coastline is characterised by lowland hills and small mountains. It is a mainly rural area, with mostly small villages and settlements (such as Powfoot). Fishing, hill farming, and some arable farming play a large part in the local economy, although tourism is increasing.

The northern part of the English coast of the Solway Firth was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, known as the Solway Coast, in 1964.{{cite web| url=http://solwaycoastaonb.org.uk/aboutus.php| title=Solway Coast AONB| access-date=10 August 2009| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605080641/http://solwaycoastaonb.org.uk/aboutus.php| archive-date=5 June 2009}} Construction of the Robin Rigg Wind Farm in the firth began in 2007.

Within the firth, there are some salt marshes and mud flats that can be dangerous, due to their frequently shifting patches of quicksand.

Wildlife

There are over {{convert|290|km2|sqmi}} of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in the area of the firth (one of which is Salta Moss), as well as national nature reserves — at Caerlaverock and in Cumbria.

[http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/designatedareas/nnr/1006134.aspx "South Solway Mosses NNR"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110111095111/http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/designatedareas/nnr/1006134.aspx |date=11 January 2011 }}, Natural England{{cite web|title=Natural England – Salta Moss SSSI|url=http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1000469.pdf|access-date=14 January 2015|archive-date=28 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028091030/http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1000469.pdf|url-status=dead}} On the Cumbrian side, much of the coastline has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The Solway Coast’s AONB has two separate sections: the first runs westward from just north of Carlisle to Skinburness; the second runs south from the hamlet of Beckfoot, past Mawbray and Allonby, to Crosscanonby.

In 2013, the honeycomb worm and blue mussel were designated as targets of conservation efforts, and Allonby Bay (an inlet of the Solway Firth) was put forward as a candidate for a Marine Conservation Zone.{{cite web|title=Irishsea.org – Allonby Bay rMCZ|url=http://www.irishsea.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/rMCZ-Allonby-Bay.pdf|access-date=14 January 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114213115/http://www.irishsea.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/rMCZ-Allonby-Bay.pdf|archive-date=14 January 2015}}{{cite web|title=The Wildlife Trusts – Allonby Bay|url=http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/sites/default/files/allonby_bay.pdf|access-date=14 January 2015}}

Long-distance walking route

A {{convert|53|mi|adj=on}} long-distance walking route, the Annandale Way,{{cite web|url=https://dgtrails.org/annandale-way/|title=Annandale Way – follow the River Annan to the Solway|website=Dumfries and Galloway Council}} runs through Annandale, from the source of the River Annan, in the Moffat Hills, to the Solway Firth; it was opened in September 2009.{{cite web|url=https://ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?path_name=Annandale+Way|title=Annandale Way – LDWA Long Distance Paths|website=Long Distance Walkers Association}}

Islands in the Solway

Unlike other parts of the west coast of Scotland, the Solway Firth has only a few islands. They are:

Hestan Island
Rough Island
Little Ross
The so-called Isle of Whithorn (which is actually a peninsula)
The Islands of Fleet

Rivers

The Solway Firth is the estuary of the River Eden and the River Esk.

Below are links to lists of the other rivers that flow into the firth:

History

File:Haaf Net Fishermen, Solway Estuary - geograph.org.uk - 612827.jpg in the Solway Firth]]

The name 'Solway' (recorded as Sulewad in 1218) is of Scandinavian origin,{{Cite book |title=A Dictionary of British Place Names |last=Mills |first=A. D. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |location=Oxford |pages=427 }} and was originally the name of a ford across the mud flats at Eskmouth.{{Cite book |title=The Non-Celtic Place-names of the Scottish Border Counties |last=Williamson |first=May G. |publisher=University of Edinburgh (Unpublished PhD Thesis) |year=1942 |pages=124 |url=http://www.spns.org.uk/MayWilliamsonComplete.pdf#page=173 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821224002/http://www.spns.org.uk/MayWilliamsonComplete.pdf#page=173 |archive-date=21 August 2014 }} The first element of the name is probably from the Old Norse word {{lang|non|súl}} 'pillar', referring to the Lochmaben Stane, though it may instead be from {{lang|non|súla}}, meaning 'solan goose'. {{lang|non|Súl}} and {{lang|non|súla}} both have long vowels, but the early spellings of Solway indicate a short vowel in the first element. This may be due to the shortening of an originally long vowel in the Middle English period but may also represent an original short vowel. If this is the case, the first element may be {{lang|non|*sulr}}, an unrecorded word cognate with Old English {{lang|ang|sol}} 'muddy, pool', or a derivative of {{lang|ang|sulla}}, meaning 'to swill'.

The second element of the name is from the Old Norse {{lang|non|vað}}, meaning 'ford' (which is cognate with the modern English word wade).

The area had three fords: the Annan or Bowness Wath, the Dornock Wath (once called the Sandywathe), and the main one —the Solewath (also called the Solewath or the Sulewad).

A wooden lighthouse was built in 1841 at Barnkirk Point ({{gbmapping|NY 1903 6425}}). It was destroyed by fire in 1960.{{Cite rowlett|sctsw}}

On 9 March 1876, a 79-ton French lugger St. Pierre, was stranded - and finally declared lost - on Blackshaw Bank, an ill-defined feature which extends for a considerable distance on both sides of the channel of the River Nith.Whittaker, I. G. (1998) Off Scotland: a comprehensive record of maritime and aviation losses in Scottish waters. Edinburgh. RCAHMS Shelf Number: E.5.14.WHI

Between 1869 and 1921, the estuary was crossed by the Solway Junction Railway on a 1780 m (5850 ft) iron viaduct.Edgar, S. and Sinton, J.M. (1990). The Solway Junction Railway, Locomotion Papers No. 176, The Oakwood Press, {{ISBN|0-85361-395-8}} The line was built to carry iron ore from the Whitehaven area to Lanarkshire and was financed and operated by the Caledonian Railway of Scotland. After the railway, which was not a financial success, ceased operating in 1921, the railway bridge became a popular footpath, enabling residents of Scotland to easily cross into England, where alcoholic drink was legally available seven days a week. (Scotland was dry on Sundays at the time.) The viaduct was demolished between 1931 and 1933.

Margaret Wilson was a Scottish Covenanter who was executed by drowning in the Solway Firth in 1685. She was tied to a stake in the water and left to drown with the incoming tide. Margaret Wilson lived during a time of great turmoil in Scotland, with the Covenanter movement opposing the episcopalian governance of the Church of Scotland. The Covenanters sought to maintain their Presbyterian faith and resist the authority of the monarch.

John Everett Millais created an illustration, a wood engraving, depicting the Scottish martyr Margaret Wilson, tied to a stake in the surf at Solway, because, as a Covenanter, refusing to acknowledge James II as head of the church.{{cite book|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cloudofwitnesses00thom/page/434/mode/2up?view=theater|chapter=Margaret Lauehlane and Margaret Wilson|pages=435–442|title=A cloud of witnesses, for the royal prerogatives of Jesus Christ : being the last speeches and testimonies of those who have suffered for the truth in Scotland, since the year 1680|editor-last=Thomson|editor-first=John Henderson|date=1871|orig-date=1714}} It was engraved by the workshop of Joseph Swain and published in "Once a Week" (magazine) in 1862.{{cite journal|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Once_a_Week_(magazine)/Series_1/Volume_7|journal=Once a Week (Magazine)|volume=7|page=42|number=158|date=July 5, 1862|title=Margaret Wilson}} {{Cite web |date=April 11, 2025 |title=The Knight Errant Sir John Everett Millais, Bt (1829-1896 |url=https://victorianweb.org/painting/millais/paintings/47.html |access-date=April 11, 2025 |website=The Victorian Web}}Of further interest is John Everett Millais' painting, The Knight Errant (1871) original section was later sewn into another canvas and exhibited in 1872 as The Martyr of The Solway (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; plate), which is similar to the woodcut noted here.

File:Margaret_Wilson_-_JE_Millais.png

The Ministry of Defence had by 1999 fired more than 6,350 depleted uranium rounds into the Solway Firth from its testing range at Dundrennan Range.{{cite news| author=Rob Edwards| url=http://www.sundayherald.com/search/display.var.2192940.0.radiation_at_solway_range_hits_new_high.php| title=Radiation at Solway range hits new high| newspaper=Sunday Herald| access-date=10 August 2009}}

In popular culture

The Solway Firth has been used as the location for films. For example, the 1973 film The Wicker Man was filmed around Kirkcudbright and Burrow Head on the Wigtownshire coast.
In July 2019, the American metal band Slipknot released a song called “Solway Firth” that is named after the firth.