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Bigrigg
Bigrigg maps
Historic maps of Bigrigg and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Bigrigg maps
Bigrigg photos
We have no photos of Bigrigg, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Egremont| Egremont| Cleator Moor| St Bees| Thornhill| Whitehaven| Frizington| Beckermet| Calderbridge| Ennerdale| Gosforth
Bigrigg area books
Displaying 1 of 10 books about Bigrigg and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Bigrigg
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Bigrigg.
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Born And Bred in Bigrigg
My twin brother and I were born in 1969 and where brought back to a little terrace house on Springfield road (skid row)just over from Moorhouse building yard, growing up in what was a small village,everyone know everyone else. This was great until we managed to get into trubble. We could not have asked for a better childhood everyone was so friendly and indeed it's still like this today. I remember going to nana and grandad's house in Orepit, they did move to Springfield Road when we were about 7-8 years of age. Grandad used to give us 10p for a 10p mix at the local store owned and run by Bill Williamson (a real gent). As we grew up we would use the garage that was built on the back of their house, to repair cars, I remember going to Bill Jackson boat yard for fibre glass. We also used to run motor bikes on the waste ground at the rar of the terraces, there used to be allotments... Read more
Cumbria memories
Mary Roberts B 1841 Egremont, Cumbria Sails to Panama
In 1864 Mary Roberts b 1841 in Egremont, Cumbria, married William Sanderson b 1835 in Gosforth, Cumbria. Together Mary and William Sanderson sailed for Panama, arriving in Aspinall, Panama after many months, in 1866. They had their first child, Claudine May Sanderson, born 4 May 1866 and died 5 May at sea on the ship "Arizona".
Mary may have been born at The Globe Inn in Egremont. I have yet to find her parents. Mary and William Sanderson went on to San Francisco, settling in Livermore, California in 1867. They had eleven more children, all born in Livermore: Freferick William, Harry Lincoln, Franklin Wastle, Carlisle Roberts (twins), Mark Mervyn, Grace Greenwood, Maud Mary, James Roberts Blair, Alma May, and Olive Marguerite.
Mary Roberts died in 1931 in Ross, Marin County, California, across the bay from San Francisco. She was ninety years old. William Sanderson died in 1894 in Livermore, California. Both William and Mary are buried in The Pioneer Cemetary in... Read more
Slag Heaps
I was born in Birks Road, Cleator Moor in 1954. I was from a large family called Sheldrake. We lived over the railway bridge towards the brewery. The neighbours that I know of are: the Watsons, the Moors, the Wrights, the Richardsons, the Sumptons (I married one), the Rogans, Dempseys and Brocklebanks. Does anybody remember the old gasworks house that the Lister family lived in? Also John Kirby that lived at the brewery. My brothers, sisters and husband re-enacted many a cowboy film that they had seen at the Hip on the slag heaps.
My family moved to Birmingham in 1959. A lot of my relatives still live in the area so I still visit occasionally. My grandparents used to live in Egremont Main Street. Their names were Elizabeth and Philip Andrews. Their house was converted into a hairdresser's shop after their deaths. My mother had a large family and maybe someone can remember some of her siblings if not my mother. Her name was Elvina Andrews. There was also... Read more
"Mainscroft"
My father was headmaster, I think at St Cuthberts or St Patricks secondary school and we lived at" Mainscroft" in Cleator Moor. I remember going to school at St Mary's infants and have memories of fr Clayton and the grotto at the church. I remember the walk to school, the quarry pits and the doctors who lived opposite, one of whom drowned tragically at sea when we lived there. We moved to London in 1952 I think. I still have many memories of the streets, the surrounding mountains and the slate roofs of the houses and the stone steps.
Rock Dub Salmon
I can vaguely remember Les Walker catching a big salmon in Rock Dub although I'm not so sure of the year. Lots of salmon were caught in those days, it was a great river until the water authority ruined it by over extraction at Ennerdale. I myself witnessed a kill of millions of smolts and parr just below the temporary extraction pumps at the lake sometime in the 1960s. But back in the good old days I once caught three salmon in three days when I was eleven from the pool above Rock Dub called Seven Sisters. I was lucky because the late Joe Kitchen took me under his wing and taught me how to fish! The photograph of the Ehen was taken just above the style into Ike Dixon's meadow at Low Mill, another great place to fish. Joe Kitchen's hen house was just beyond the trees in the top right hand of the photo. I've caught many a good sea trout down that stretch. Thanks for the memories Mr... Read more
Fish And Ice Cream!
Hello. I used to live in Thornhill from 1958 to 1968/9 (aged 1 -11) and I always seem to remember it being sunny even though the area is one of the wettest in the UK! Fish and Ice Cream....not together. I remember my mother often bought fish, not from the local shop but from "the Fish Man". This was a man who would come round Thornhill in a Landrover and he would ring a handheld bell shouting "Fish, Fresh Fish". The back of the Landrover had a horizontal door which became the counter and neighbours would buy their fish. I always asked my mum if I could have a packet of "Nibbits". I don't know if that was their actual name but today the equivalent would be a packet of "Quavers". I still eat them. Ice Cream...I remember that the Ice Cream van would come by most nights in summer time. It was Hartley's Ice Cream of Egremont and the van was a cream colour. The driver would sound his horn (no music)... Read more
