Hincaster

Hincaster
Hincaster
Hincaster  Hincaster shown within Cumbria
Population	209 (2011)[1]
OS grid reference	SD5084
Civil parish	Hincaster
District	South Lakeland
Shire county	Cumbria
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	MILNTHORPE
Postcode district	LA7
Dialling code	01539
Police	Cumbria
Fire	Cumbria
Ambulance	North West
EU Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Westmorland and Lonsdale
List of places UK England Cumbria

Coordinates: 54°15′18″N 2°45′47″W / 54.255°N 2.763°W

Hincaster is a small hamlet and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, located between Kendal and Milnthorpe.^[2][3] It has a population of 195 increasing to 209 at the 2011 Census. Hincaster is most famous for the Hincaster Tunnel which is the longest tunnel on the Lancaster Canal.

Transport

Hincaster Tunnel

The building of Hincaster tunnel removed the major obstacle on the northern section of the canal. Faced with limestone, 378 yards (346 m) long, it is lined with something like four million bricks; these in a district where bricks were generally scarce as building material, were made from clay dug at Mosside Farm, on the canalside about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south south east of Milness, by the present A65. On 4 February 1817, it was reported that 'two million bricks had been made and half the length of the tunnel completed'.

The Mosside brickworks were too efficient, for in 1818, Thomas Fletcher, the canal engineer, put up for sale 10,000 bricks, left over from the tunnel. These clay pits and the brickworks were resuscitated in 1845, employing over 100 men and 30 horses; these bricks were made for the new Lancaster to Carlisle railway.

Navvies, the tough canal 'navigators' who were to dig the Hincaster section, attended the contract meeting in Kendal, afterwards causing a considerable riot in the town'. The Westmorland Advertiser promptly declared 'Sound policy demands that the ruffians should be held as an example to the unruly multitude which the culling of the canal will shortly bring to this populous neighbourhood'.

Hincaster Branch Railway

The Hincaster Branch was a single track railway branch line of the Furness Railway which ran from Arnside on the Furness main line to a junction with the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (later the London and North Western Railway) at Hincaster Junction (Conolly, 1997). Intermediate stations were provided at Sandside and Heversham. The branch was opened in 1867, but passenger services ended on 4 May 1942 and the track between Sandside and Hincaster Junction was lifted in 1966. A short stub from Arnside to Sandside lasted into the 1970s to serve local quarries.

References

1. "Parish population 2011". Retrieved 10 June 2015.
2. Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 97 Kendal & Morecambe (Windermere & Lancaster) (Map). Ordnance Survey. 2014. ISBN 9780319232088.
3. "Ordnance Survey Election Maps". www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 18 February 2016.