In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Morecambe like this:
MORECAMBE BAY, a sea-inlet on the coast of Lancashire and Westmoreland; entering between Rossall Point, 2¼ miles W of Fleetwood, and Haws Point, at the S extremity of Walney Island, belonging to Furness. It measures 10 miles across the entrance; it extends 19 miles north-eastward to the mouth of the river Kent; it expands, in the lower part of the SE side, into Lancaster bay; it connects, at the middle of the NW side, with the estuary of the river Leven; and it has a mean breadth of about 10 miles. ...
It presents a grand appearance when the tide is up; but is nearly all a waste of sands, with shifting pieces of soft and dangerous bottom, during a long period between tide and tide. The sands can be crossed on foot; and they formed, from remote times, the line of communication between central Lancashire and Furness; but they ought never, on any account, to be attempted by a stranger without a guide. The views from them include a great sweep of country, away to the Furness mountains and to the backbone of England; and are very imposing. The southern and central portions are often called Lancaster Sands; and the northwestern portions, toward the mouth of the Leven, are called Leven Sands. The bay is noticed by Ptolemy as Moricambe estuary.
Morecambe through time
Morecambe is now part of Lancaster district. Click here for graphs and data of how Lancaster has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Morecambe itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Morecambe, in Lancaster and Lancashire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/404
Date accessed: 20th April 2024
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