Skirting a belt of low drumlins, formed from till deposited along the coastal fringe of glaciation, the Lune winds on to its estuary, where it finally breaks free of the land. Enclosure and drainage during the 19th century have reclaimed some of the low-lying moss (coastal marsh) as farmland, but beyond the flood dikes there remains a vast area of tide-washed mud, sandbanks and grazing salt marsh. The Plover Scar Light marks the obvious end of the river, but its channel is mapped between the sands for a further 4 miles (6.4km) to the Point of Lune, where it finally loses its identity within Morecambe Bay.
History
Man’s impact on the Lune catchment and corridor has been, in many ways, less intrusive than it has on many of Britain’s other rivers. Nevertheless, it remains very much a man-made landscape. Prehistoric climate change and clearance of the upland forests for farming have created the open moorland we value today, and the network of field and pasture along the valleys is the product of generations of agricultural management.
Although meagre, visible evidence of man’s ancient presence can be found upon the landscape. While not rivalling the scale of Stonehenge, there are stone circles on the flank of Orton Fell and above Casterton, and there are several known settlement sites, including an area above Cowan Bridge and, of course, the massive fort on top of Ingleborough.
The Romans used the trough of the Lune as a route north from forts at Lancaster and Ribchester. Their road followed the valley all the way to Tebay before climbing over Crosby Ravensworth Fell, and there were camps beside the River Lune opposite Whittington and at the foot of Borrowdale.
Later, the valley fell under the authority of Tostig, Earl of Northumberland and brother of Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. Tostig’s ambitions for the throne ended with his death at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in September 1066, but Harold’s victory was short-lived, for within the month William, Duke of Normandy landed at Pevensey, and on 14 October defeated Harold at Hastings.
St Mary’s Church in Kirkby Lonsdale is a fine Norman building, although an even older church previously stood on the site (Walk 23)
The Normans quickly established their authority in the southern part of England, but the north was a different matter. The Lune Valley became seen as a strategic frontier passage, and for a time, the Welsh Marches apart, it was one of the most heavily fortified areas in the country, with some ten motte and bailey castles being built in and around the valley between Tebay and Lancaster.
But normality slowly returned, and the Norman age saw the founding of many religious communities up and down the country, with isolated riverside settings often chosen as the site of an abbey. Much of the upper Lune was incorporated within the estates of monasteries as far away as Byland in Yorkshire, yet only three houses were established within the valley itself. The ruins of a small Gilbertine priory can be seen at Ravenstonedale, while St Mary’s at Lancaster is a priory church founded under the Benedictines. The third monastery was on the coast at Cockersand, established by the Premonstratensian order.
The only significant settlement along the river’s course, Lancaster developed as a port and centre of manufacture, but the power of the river and its side-streams was never exploited on an industrial scale in the way of other Lancashire and Yorkshire rivers. As the river was not navigable above Lancaster, the hinterland was left relatively remote from other areas, and any small centres served largely local needs. Thus, when the canal age arrived, there was no industry to justify investment in extending the Lancaster Canal into the Lune Valley. The railway engineers, like the Romans, saw it purely as a convenient route to the north, although Tebay and Barbon saw a brief expansion with the line’s arrival, and the brick industry at Claughton benefited from its passing.
Completed in 1860, the Lune Viaduct carried the railway between Ingleton and Lowgill (Walk 14)
Today’s travellers often pass through the area on the way to the better-known attractions of the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, and earlier travellers were no different. William Gilpin had his sights set upon the lands beyond the ’bay of Cartmel’, and passed through Lancaster on his way to Kendal. The castle failed to impress, ’an indifferent object from any point’, but the Lune he regarded as a ’notable piece of water, [which] when the tide is full, sufficiently adorns the landscape’.
In 1772 Lancaster’s quay was busy with ships, and Gilpin ventured a little way upriver to describe its passage through Lonsdale. His words might very well apply today, ’where quietly, and unobserved, it winds around projecting rocks – forms circling boundaries to meadows, pastured with cattle – and passes through groves and thickets, which in fabulous times, might have been the haunt of wood-gods. In one part, taking a sudden turn, it circles a little, delicious spot, forming into a peninsula called vulgarly, “the wheel of Lune”.’
Three years earlier while on his way to Settle, Thomas Gray had gazed up the valley towards Ingleborough and been moved to pen ’every feature which constitutes a perfect landscape of the extensive sort is here not only boldly marked, but in its best position’. JMW Turner stayed a little longer to capture the scene at the Crook o’Lune and painted a landscape from beside the church at Kirkby Lonsdale. The picture so impressed Ruskin that he took the trouble to go and see for himself and the spot became known as ’Ruskin’s View’ and not Turner’s.
Wildlife
With little habitation and no industry along its course, the River Lune is one of England’s cleanest rivers and consequently rich in wildlife. It is one of the most important salmon rivers in the country, and the fish returning upriver from the Atlantic to breed can sometimes be seen leaping from the water. Sea and river trout are also among the fish frequenting the river. Once abundant, too, were eels that breed in the Sargasso Sea but grow and mature in the estuaries and rivers of western Europe. Rare, but still present, are colonies of white crayfish and pearl mussels, and conservation projects are being undertaken to improve their habitats.
Otters might be spotted, and there are known to be several holts from Halton all the way up to Tebay, although the Crook o’Lune is a good place to watch for them. Badger, roe deer, fox and hare all roam the surrounding countryside as, of course, do rabbit and grey squirrel. Britain’s native red squirrel, however, is now rare, but remains precariously established at the top end of the river around Newbiggin.
A hare in Bretherdale (Walk 8)
Above all, birds can be seen wherever you go, and a field guide is an indispensable companion. Beside the river, heron, oystercatcher, sandmartin, goosandar and ducks are all common, but keep a look out as well for the kingfisher. Wander into the wooded tributary valleys to find warblers, flycatchers and woodpeckers, with dippers and wagtails flitting around the streams. Barn owls, too, roam the area, their main food being small mammals such as voles. The moors are important nesting sites for lapwing, curlew and golden plover, and upon the Bowland hills can be found the merlin, Britain’s smallest falcon, and the hen harrier, which the AONB has adopted for its logo. Many species come to the estuary to feed and, dependent upon the tide, you may well see flocks of waders, geese and swans.
Even at the edge of Lancaster, there is plenty of bird life to be seen by the river (Walk 35)
Grazing and agriculture have