KIRKBRIDE
Kinjka Bride first appears as a place name on a pipe roll of 1189, but it may be much older than this; Viking raiders passing through Ireland and the Isle of Man kept the faith of Bride, and may have visited the Solway Coast.
The first signs of settlement here are the Roman fort, the first on the Stanegate which was the supply road for Hadrian’s Wall to the North. The Wall runs through Bowness on Solway and Drumburgh, about four miles north of Kirkbride, and remains of a connecting road have been found.
The western Parish boundary is a ditch called ‘the Monk’s Dyke’. Until the twelfth century this area was marshland. It was drained by the monks of Holme Cultram. They moved to this area to be far from centres of civilisation. In the twelfth century people thought that the world was overcrowded!
With the opening of the Carlisle and Silloth Bay railway in 1857 the village began its southward migration. The railway closed in 1964 but the station house, cutting and bridge can be seen.
The Church
The present St Brides’s Church was built by the Normans in 1189. It stands on elevated ground at the North end of the village commanding a view of the Wampool Estuary and marshland. It occupies the site of a Roman fort, and is dedicated to St Bride or Bridget who was Abbess of Kildare in the sixth century. The building is Norman, but was extensively rebuilt in the nineteenth century when it was in ruins. The Chancel arch and blocked North door are typically Norman but some think that the chancel arch could be Saxon, and that the building began before the Norman Conquest. In Tudor times these were debatable lands and raids from Scotland were common.
The lane opposite the Church gate is known locally as the WINE LONNING and it is said to have been used by smugglers to carry contraband to three local inns, the Wheatsheaf, the Bush and the Barleymow. Salt was smuggled from this area into Scotland.
The Airfield
Kirkbride airfield opened in 1939 and was very busy during the Second World War. It closed in 1960. The hangers are now used for storage and light aircraft use the runways at the weekends. The RAF mess is now the White Heather Hotel.
The masts to the west of the Church are on the site of HMS Nuthatch which was a Ryal Navy airfield during the war. The radio station continued to operate during the Cold War and currently broadcasts the 60 kHz time signal.
The Roman Fort
The fort which underlies much of the Church and churchyard, has been dated to AD 80-120. During a partial excavation a coin dating to the reign of the Emperor Trajan (AD 100) was found. It was strategically located at the west end of the Stanegate. Here ships were unloaded and supplies distributed along Hadrian’s Wall. A gravel road runs north east to the fort at Drumburgh and a paved road runs north to south from the present Church, about a metre below ground level.
On the west side at the bottom of the hill traces of the fosse or moat can be seen. St Brides’s well was probably the water supply.
In 1868 an altar to Belatucadrus was found. Belatucadrus was a local Celtic deity adopted by the Romans (they often adopted local deities) and equated with Mars. The 1070 excavation found evidence of timber framed buildings and other finds include cooking pots and a stone ink bottle.
Saint Bride
Bride is a shortened form of Bridget. Bride (‘Mary of the Gael’) was an Irish woman, born near Dundalk in 453. Her mother was sold to a wizard as a slave and Bride was born in his house. Amongst miracles attributed to her are the conversion of the wizard, his household and King Dubthatch (who may possibly have been her father) to Christianity. She founded an Abbey at Kildare, ‘ the Church of the Oak’, and served as Abbess until her death in 523. Her feast day is 1st February, replacing the pagan spring festival Imbolc.