Gents Mag 1748 p.291

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	introduction
	list, 2nd qtr 18th century
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	Gentleman's Magazine 1748 p.291 DESCRIPTION of the Cumberland Coast; a new Survey, Continued from page 5. FROM Bowness the coast continues high for about a mile westward to How point, when it falls low again, winding by Scargevil-head, till we come to Cardronac bay, which is a very dangerous one, being full of shifting quicksands, by reason of the rivers and land waters; these, after rains, hurry the sand into a loose sludge, which must be wash'd with several tides before it consolidates afresh, so that no traveller, or even the inhabitants, can pass it with certainty at all times.- This bay is by some suppos'd the Mori-cambe of Ptolemy, but I rather think it to be Ken sands. There has been an old castle at the cote of Skinburn-naze, probably to guard the bay; a deep creek flows up to it rendering it navigable, so that brandy sloops drive on a strong trade here, because of the impossibility of an officer getting at them, especially from the Cardronac side. On the south side of the bay lies Holm-abbey, eminent for the residence of the princes of Scotland; it resembles the escurial in Spain, having been both a palace and a monastery; but the description of Virgil's Tenedos may be now applied to it. - Dives opum Priami dum regna manebant. Nunc deserta quidem. AEn. 2. Cardronac is an insignificant village in a wretched country, almost quite invironed with sea and morasses. The Grune is a remarkable head of land, whose position the common maps have widely mistaken. It is now only a rabbet warren, and hardly any vestige left where an ancient chapel stood, called the chapel of the Grune; the whole is a low beachy coast. The Dutch would make a gainful acquisition by diking of this bay, was it in Holland, for the tide recedes so far as one may pass it in any place for several hours together. From hence the coast inclines more southerly, but is so extremely poor, that one could not meet with a single public house, or any refreshment, from Holm-abby, where I lodg'd the fourth night, to Allonby on the coast, where night overtook us again. This whole coast, till you come at a house called Beckfoot, is full of sandy hills, blown and rais'd by the winds, and are very tiresome travelling upon - Allonby is grown from a petty village to have a kind of market, especially in the summer; it stretches along the coast in a straggling manner, but is tolerably well built, and has a considerable concourse for bathing in the sea. Hill-house is a sea-mark, because it stands pretty high, and is made use of in the same manner almost as Dubmill-house, to avoid dangerous sand, which stretches almost from Workington-bar to the Scotch coast. When Howmichael chapel and the saddle on Bees head are in one line, you may avoid the Swap; and when Dubmill-house and mount Skiddow are in a line, you are on the tail of Dubmill swap, and so may turn down the Salway; 'tis about half a mile broad.
	Hence
	next page
	gazetteer links
	-- Allonby
	-- "Cardronac" -- Cardurnock
	-- (coasts, Cumbria)
	-- "Dubmill House" -- Dub Mill
	-- "Swap, The" -- Dubmill Swap
	-- "Grune, The" -- Grune Point
	-- Hill House
	-- "Holm Abbey" -- Holme Coultram Abbey
	-- "Cardronac Bay" -- Moricambe
	-- "Skinburn Naze" -- Skinburness
	-- St Michael's Chapel

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