Some of the history Of the small
magical place called Allonby
Allonby is a small coastal village between Maryport and Silloth with a mixture of architecture of both Georgian and Victorian styles and still has old cobbled back streets. It has miles of gorgeous beaches that overlook the Solway firth and is set in a five mile crescent that has great views across to the Scottish Highlands. The name possibly came from the family of the Manor of the Earl of Alanby. Which was owned by Alan the second Lord of Allerdale. His family lived here to be close to Holme Cultram Abbey which was one of his charitable interests. The Abbey is located in Abbeytown and was founded by monks in the twelfth century.
Allonby is in an area of outstanding beauty and once was part of a smugglers route, which apparently ran through the village. In the early 1900's it was the place to go, as amongst other things it's sea-water was known to have healing properties! The other big draw was the large Victorian baths, these were innovative in their time having hot and cold vapour areas! The building is still there today in the old market square and is now a grade II listed building used for residential accommodation. There was also a top floor to the baths which in it's day was used as a ballroom.
Most of the working history of Allonby is imbedded in the sea, with some of it being ship breaking. The tugs would bring in the hulks and they would be taken apart in sometimes up to two years, with the best bits of course being distributed among the locals! It was once the home of the Midge fishing fleet and was known for its herring catch. Also nearby there are the salt pans of Cross Canonby where salt was extracted from seawater. After filtering the water into a lagoon it was boiled to extract the salt.
One of its grand buildings is the old reading room, erected in 1862 it was partly funded by local donations and Joseph Pease.
Joseph was a Quaker and was an industrialist from the North East, he incidently became the first Quaker MP and refused to take his hat off in the house of commons! The chap he commissioned to design the reading room was Alfred Waterhouse who also designed Manchester Town Hall and London's Natural History Museum.
Today Allonby has a few thriving businesses including The Ship Inn where the novelists Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins stayed whilst researching a story for one of Dickens's publications.
