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Holy Island Waggonway
Ehemalige Waggonway-Brücke Ehemalige Waggonway-Brücke
Spurweite:	610 mm (2-Fuß-Spur)
Snipe Point Steinbruch Nessend Steinbruch St Cuthbert Kalksteinwerke Kennedy Kalksteinwerke Chare Ends The Basin 1840er Jetty Kloster Lindisfarne Lindisfarne Castle Oben: Beladung Castle Point Brennöfen Unten: Entladung 1860er Jettys

Der Holy Island Waggonway bestand aus drei miteinander verbundenen Schmalspurbahnen auf der Insel Lindisfarne in Northumberland, England, die von 1846 bis 1883 in Betrieb waren.

Einführung

Trasse des Waggonways und Kalkstein-Brennöfen

Die ersten beiden Strecken verbanden die Kalksteinbrüche am Nordende der Insel mit den nahegelegenen Brennöfen und dann entlang der Westküste der Insel zu dem durch die Gezeiten beeinflussten Gewässer das The Basin genannt wird und bei Tripping Chare, nördlich des Klosters Lindisfarne liegt. Die dritte Bahnstrecke ersetzte die ersten beiden und verband die Steinbrüche mit neuen Brennöfen und zwei neuen Jettys bei Lindisfarne Castle. Diese Strecke verlief an der Ostküste der Insel. Alle Strecken wurden Mitte der 1880er Jahre stillgelegt.

Frühzeit

Die Kalköfen auf Lindisfarne wurden erstmals 1344 urkundlich erwähnt, obwohl das Verfahren sicher schon seit Tausenden von Jahren dort eingesetzt wurde. Vor der Industrialisierung aber nur im kleinen Maßstab für den lokalen Bedarf.Vorlage:Sfn Es gibt auch auf dem benachbarten Festland Kalksteinvorkommen, so dass es auf der Insel keinen wesentlichen Standortvorteil beim Kalkabbau gab. Die Inselbevölkerung galt im 18. Jahrhunder als verarmt, auswanderungswillig und gesetzlos. Ihre Anzahl nahm immer weiter ab.}}

Industrialisierung

Während der Zeit des Enclosure Movement auf Lindisfarne in den 1790er Jahren wurde das landwirtschaftliche Potential der Insel vergrößert und dessen Wert hat sich verachtfacht. Das führte im Zeitalter der Industrialisierung zusammen mit den Bodenschätzen Kohle und Kalk zu einem radikalen gesellschaftlichen Fortschritt.

Es gibt auf der Insel dünne, wenig ergiebige Kohlen-Flöze, die schon seit langem abgebaut wurden. In den frühen 1800er Jahren wurde versucht, die Kohle in größerem Maßstab abzubauen, aber die geringen Vorkommen und die schlechte Qualität der Kohle verursachte hohe Kosten bei niedrigem Ertrag, weil leichter zugängliche und bessere Kohle andernorts kostengünstiger verfügbar war. Kohle wurde daher im 19 Jahrhundert per Schiff von Schottland und voralle aus Süd-Northumberland importiert.

In den frühen 1800er Jahren, noch vor dem Bau der Schmalspurbahnen, wurde sogar Eisenerz auf der Insel abgebaut. Wie bei der Kohle, gab es aber andernorts ergiebigere und kostengünstiger abzubauende Vorkommen.

St. Cuthbert's Limeworks Waggonway

Der Lord of the Manor, John Selby, schrieb am 21. Dezember 1839 an die königlichen Kommissionäre ein Gesuch, in dem er sie beim Einrichten eines von Dampfmaschinen angetriebenen Steinbruchs, beim Bau von modernen Kalköfen, einer Schiffsanlegestelle und einer Eisenbahn die diese miteinander verband, mit der Intention der lokalen Vermarktung und Verschiffung um Unterstützung bat. Der Schriftverkehr, die Gutachten und Berichte gingen bis 31. Mai 1842 hin und her, bis die Kommissionäre dem königlichen Schatzamt empfahlen, die Kosten für die hölzerne Pier zu übernehmen, wenn Selby den Rest finanziere. Ein enthusiastischer Bericht in der Zeitung von Berwick & Kelso Warder am 25. Juli 1846 verkündete, dass die Bauarbeiten 1845 begonnen hatten und die Produktion in den "St. Cuthbert's Lime Works" im gleichen Jahr aufgenommen wurde. earlier in the year, with several shiploads of lime already sent to Dundee and other Scottish destinations. The report also states that island coal was used. The scale of the operation was, however, modest, as the 1851 Census shows just eight men clearly involved in lime works.Vorlage:Sfn

St Cuthbert's Limeworks are shown, but not named as such, on Map 1, the OS map surveyed in 1860. These works are collectively labelled "Lime Works" and are individually labelled as "Well", "Smithy", "Limekiln" and "Limekilns". The standard work on the waggonways argues that the zigzag structure labelled "Limekilns" were not kilns at all, but storage bays for finished and semi-finished product where lime could be slaked.Vorlage:Sfn The building labelled "Old Walls" was not part of the works. The active kilns consisted of the two "pots" labelled "Limekiln".

Map 1: Earlier St Cuthbert's Limeworks waggonway on the west coast of the island

The building labelled "Limekiln" was not part of the St Cuthbert Limeworks, but was the later, short-lived Lower Kennedy works described below. The waggonway passing northeasterly was also a later addition connected with the Lower Kennedy scheme.

Map 1 shows that by 1860, if not initially, the waggonway to St Cuthbert's works included a long approach ramp from the quarries to the north joined by an approach ramp from the jetty to the south which curved through 180 degrees to meet the former at the top of the kilns, enabling them to be gravity fed with limestone and coal. This implies that, by then if not earlier, locally won coal was insufficient for the task. Tracks heading south from the kilns show no embanking, implying that the product was emptied at ground level and taken away to the stores mentioned above or to the jetty.

Continuing south along the waggonway, it made a level crossing with the road from the village at Chare Ends, immediately east of where it crossed the High Water Mark and became the traditional causeway to the mainland at Beal. That traditional causeway is nowadays commonly referred to as the "Pilgrim's Path". In 1954 a second, much shorter metalled causeway was opened between Beal and the Snook. This, in turn, was joined to Chare Ends by a metalled road in 1966.Vorlage:Sfn By 2015 the waggonway trackbed northwards from the site of the level crossing was a public footpath.

Continuing south, the waggonway hugs the western coast until it reaches a jetty just north of Tripping Chare, in an area known to seafarers as The Basin. The jetty was wooden and had a crane. It can be seen to fork to two tracks at its seaward end. Ships would only be able to berth or sail at high tide.

Map 2: North end of earlier St Cuthbert's Limeworks waggonway

Two of the first waggonway's northern extremities can be seen on Map 2, the next sheet northwards. The more westerly (which is the middle of the three shown on the southerly map) approaches "Seal Gut"; it and its western neighbour were known collectively as "Acre Quarries", though this name is not shown on the map. The right hand line continues beyond the Mean High Water mark at Snipe Point onto rocks which are submerged at some times, some even daily. This posed operational challenges and limited productivity. The workings here were known as Coves Quarry,Vorlage:Sfn though this name is not shown on the map. Confusingly, at least one official document later in the century refers to workings at Nessend Quarry as "Coves Head Quarry".Vorlage:Sfn

Clear dates when St Cuthbert's Limeworks, the quarries to its north and the joining waggonways closed have not been unearthed, but all limewinning at Coves and Acre quarries had passed to Nessend Quarry by 1861.Vorlage:Sfn Limeburning was, by inference, taking place at Lower Kennedy by 1860, but that does not preclude the possibiity of work continuing at St Cuthbert's with lime brought from Nessend to Lower Kennedy then reversing. The closure period on evidence published thus far is therefore between 1859-61.

Nessend Quarry to Lower Kennedy waggonway

Lime stone layer at Nessend

The scale of operations and infrastructure associated with St Cuthbert's Limeworks represented a step change on centuries of practice; Nessend Quarry and Lower Kennedy represented a further leap, but also a business error.

Nessend Quarry was safe from the sea and more economical to work than Coves and Acre Quarries.Vorlage:Sfn A waggonway connecting it to the tramway to the 1846 jetty a short distance south of St Cuthbert's Limeworks were first shown on an Admiralty chart dated "c1855".Vorlage:Sfn

In 1856 John Selby applied to renew his Lordship of the Manor, which was due to expire in 1858. When this succeeded he agreed to lease land and permission to a lime merchant named John Nicholl, of Dundee. This lease was to last for 21 years from Michaelmas 1858. For this Nicholl was to pay an annual rent of £250 plus 2 pence per ton of lime "made and burnt" in excess of 5000 tons per year.Vorlage:Sfn The term "made and burnt" is unclear, but making one ton of quicklime usually requires two tons of limestone.Vorlage:Sfn

Map 3: Old and proposed new lime works on John Higgins’ map of 1860

Nicholl "would appear to have entered into his Holy Island enterprise with some alacrity but perhaps insufficient caution"Vorlage:Sfn as he was reported in March 1860 to have received permission from the Admiralty to build kilns near Castle Point in the south east of the island. This was an ambitious move to a good site, but he had already built a substantial three-pot kiln at Lower Kennedy at the cost of several hundred pounds. As with the St Cuthbert's operation, clear opening and closing dates may never be unearthed, but Map 3 dated 8 March 1860 shows the later Castle Point kilns as "proposed" and the Lower Kennedy kilns as "present." The Berwick Advertiser started to publish Holy Island sailings, starting with the 302 ton Brigantine "Isabella" which left with a cargo of lime for Dundee on 14 April 1860, returning nine days later laden with coal for the kilns. This report does not indicate whether the ship used the older jetty near Tripping Chare or the new pair near the castle.Vorlage:Sfn

Allowing for the Lower Kennedy kilns and associated top feed waggonway embankment to be built after Michaelmas 1858 and for the Castlepoint kilns, the new jetties and the joining tramway to be built after March 1860 the period over which the Lower Kennedy waggonway was worked was likely to have been 1855-61 as a through route and 1858-61 to serve the Lower Kennedy kilns. No photographs of operations at Lower Kennedy have been found, but an artist's impression has been drawn by Peter Westley.Vorlage:Sfn

The literature is unclear why Nicholl left the Lower Kennedy site so quickly. Two reasons are alluded to, firstly, that he acted hastily, and would have done better if he had done more research then gone for the superior Castle Point site straight away; or, secondly, that he built the Lower Kennedy kilns on land where had no right to be.Vorlage:Sfn

Whatever the timing and sequence of events, only the censuses conducted in 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1881 show anyone clearly working in the lime trade on the island. The Spring 1861 census shows more than double the number of men of any other year.Vorlage:Sfn Looking at recorded occupations such as "Labourer - Limeworks" probably under-represents the numbers in the industry as, for example, there appears to be an unusually high number of carters for a small community. Dominant occupations in 1861 concerned the sea, with fishermen, pilots and herring workers to the fore. In 1861 a number of men, together with two families lived at "The Limeworks". It is unclear from maps or the census exactly where this accommodation was, but the sequence of enumeration visits suggests it was near the Castle Point works.Vorlage:Sfn

Nessend Quarry to Castle Point tramway

Map 4: Route of the eastern tramway

Castle Point lime kilns

This third and final tramway was the longest lasting and left the clearest remains into the 21st Century.

Nicholl's ambitions led him to build Lower Kennedy Limeworks and abandon the early quarries and St Cuthbert's Limeworks about 1858. After a brief, expensive period working Lower Kennedy he obtained Admiralty permission to build new kilns and two parallel jetties near the castle and to connect them to Nessend Quarry by a wholly new tramway down the east of the island, abandoning Lower Kennedy, the 1846 jetty and all trackwork, though he may have recycled some materials.Vorlage:Sfn This took place around 1861. Map 3 gives hints of his evolving aspirations at the time.

Standard Ordnance Survey (OS) maps were surveyed in 1860 then in 1898. 1860 maps predate the eastern tramway and the later maps were produced fifteen years after the line was closed and lifted. The OS County Series, Northumberland 1898 1:2,500 map gives a good idea of the layout around the kilns and castle, but does not clearly convey the "grade separated" nature of the tramways designed to feed coal and limestone to the top of the kilns and take end product away at ground level; this unclarity comes about because the tracks had long been lifted and the rock outcrop on which the castle stands confuses natural and man made slopes. The standard work includes a series of photographsVorlage:Sfn and reproduces two maps, both devised for other purposes, which give the overall idea, but the maps either lack detail or make small errors.Vorlage:Sfn

Castle Point Limekilns had six pots, double those at Lower Kennedy. No contemporary photographs of any lime trade activities on the island are known to exist, but two paintings by Ralph Hedley survive, one is clearly of operations at the later jetties near the castle, the other, made from a different angle, appears to be of the same location.Vorlage:Sfn One photo of a ship at the later jetties (sometimes referred to as "Lime Jetties" or "Lime Jetty") appears in the standard work, but it gives no hint of cargo, working methods or staff.Vorlage:Sfn

The enterprise was uneconomic and suffered a steady decline. Reports to the Crown Commissioners in 1870 and 1874 repeated the opinion that Nicholl had not been successful and the business was unprofitable. An 1874 report concerning land transfer noted that even with the low rate of consumption, the quarry would be exhausted before long. Straightforward enterprise woes were compounded when the Lordship of the Manor was transferred to a Colonel Crossman in 1874; Crossman and Nicholl didn't get on.Vorlage:Sfn

The 1871 Census shows only half the number employed compared with 1861, by 1881 this had halved again. Six of Nicholl's ships sailed regularly between Holy Island and Dundee in the 1860s: Agnes, Belford, Isabella, Lancaster, Margaret Reid and Maria. They did not hold a monopoly, other vessels involved in the lime trade included Curlew, Mersey, Robert Hood and Superior. Curlew and Mersey both separately suffered an occupational hazard of carrying quicklime at sea - water came into contact with the cargo. The resulting reaction generated enough heat to set the vessels on fire.Vorlage:Sfn In the 1870s the number of ships plying the route declined and the work became seasonal. Agnes became the last recorded vessel carrying lime when she sailed for Dundee on 17 September 1883. Nicholl's vessels called in the following years, but none carried lime or coal.Vorlage:Sfn

Tramway, waggonway and quarrying operations

Lindisfarne from the West, showing how lime was tipped into a ship moored between the jetties, Ralph Hedley, 1883

‘Unloading coal at a wood jetty – Holy Island’ by Ralph Hedley, 1883

Little hard evidence survives of quarrying and waggonway methods or equipment. The 1861 census lists an "Engine smith" and two blacksmiths. The only mechanical plant recorded at any site is the crane on the Tripping Chare jetty. Hedley's paintings show that ships were moored between the later jetties, which were dissimilar in height. Coal was craned off ships at the lower jetty using ropes attached to ships' mastwork. Lime was tipped into the hold of the ships from the higher jetty. A powder magazine survived until the 1950s, showing that blasting was used as the stone was not to be used for building,Vorlage:Sfn but no record of mechanical quarrying equipment has been found.

Hedley's paintings corroborate measurements taken from traces of sleepers that the tracks were approximately Vorlage:Convert gauge. The paintings both show horses being used to haul waggons, corroborating a general assumption. There is evidence that a steam engine was tried, but was found wanting as it left the tracks all too readily.Vorlage:Sfn

No wagon has survived, once again Hedley gives a good idea that they looked not dissimilar to many unsprung four-wheeled tippler trucks on Victorian industrial lines.

Afterlife

The first two waggonways were lifted and abandoned by about 1861. The only residual use for the infrastructure is the footpath north from Chare Ends.

Nessend Quarry is labelled as such and is readily recognisable by sliding the blue circle leftwards. From Sandham southwards the third tramway was on an embankment all the way to the castle, clearly visible on satellite view, map view, on photographsVorlage:Sfn and on the ground. In 2014 it formed the foundation of a well maintained public footpath. The lime kilns at the castle have been preserved and are maintained by the National Trust. The grade-separated trackbeds for bringing coal from the 1861-83 jetties and limestone from Nessend and taking finished product to the jetties can be inferred from the software and from images in the line's standard work,Vorlage:Sfn as well as on the ground.

Literatur

• Roger C. Jermy: Lindisfarne's Limestone Past: Quarries, Tramways and Kilns. Northumberland County Library, Morpeth 1992, ISBN 1 874020 04 3(?!). 
• Magnusson, M.: Lindisfarne: The Cradle Island. Oriel Press, Stocksfield, Northumberland 1992, ISBN 0-85362-223-X. 
• Notes and News: Iron Rails in Lindisfarne. In: The Railway Magazine. 90. Jahrgang, Nr. 549. Tothill Press Limited, London Januar 1944. 

Weblinks

• 1860er 6 Zoll Ordnance-Survey-Karte, die die frühere Schmalspurbahn entlang der Südwestküste der Insel zu einer Jetty zeigt. On-line-Ausgabe der National Library of Scotland.
• 1860er 6 Zoll Ordnance-Survey-Karte, die die frühere Schmalspurbahn nach Snipe Point an der Nordküste der Insel zeigt. On-line-Ausgabe der National Library of Scotland.
• Ordnance-Survey-Karte aus der Zeit Eduards VII., die die dritte Schmalspurbahn entlang der Ostküste und die späteren Jettys zeigt. On-line-Ausgabe der National Library of Scotland.
• Narrow Gauge News. Seite 12
• Discover: The Castle Point lime kilns auf der Website des National Trust
• Kennedy Limeworks and Tripping Chare Jetty auf der Website Keys to the Past

Einzelnachweise

55.68154-1.78393