Heritage

Ancient Birkrigg

Since 2015, Morecambe Bay Partnership has been leading a programme of conservation work on Birkrigg Common tackling vegetation growth to protect nationally important historic sites.

Humans have been visiting the common for thousands of years. Many archaeological sites here date to the Bronze Age (around 4000 years old) and are protected by Historic England as Scheduled Monuments. This includes Birkrigg Stone Circle a rare example of a double (or concentric) ring of standing stones, burial mounds and settlement sites.

Unique Fishing Heritage

The Bay has been fished by generations – the mudflats and waters are rich in the Bay’s famous shrimps, cockles, mussels and flatfish. 

Unlike other areas of the coast, fishing in Morecambe Bay was done on foot, later using horse and cart to cross the sands (up until the 1960s even), and later still by tractor and in fewer cases, by boat.  

The dramatic tides, mudflats and shallow nature of Morecambe Bay meant fishing practices had to adapt around the Bay itself.