Dorothy C Maguire (nee Coles) recounts the history of Arnside Station Field.

When I sit looking at Arnside Station Field it calls to mind the history that the field has.

Adjacent to the field are two of Arnside’s four Listed Buildings: Saltcotes Farm and the Railway’s signal box.

Saltcotes Farm is dated from 1679. With the coming of the Furness Railway in 1857 the signal box was built in 1897.

Before the railway, plus embankment, were built, the tides could come right up to the farm and settle on the low-lying ground. Salt pits, lined with clay, were built and hence the farm ‘Saltcotes’ was named.

The slopes at the top of the field have horizontal ridges along them. I believe they originated as Celtic farming strips.

Now the Station Field has a fence either side of the footpath.

I remember it as an unfenced path. In snowy winters the field was the best sledging area in the village.

The boys could travel at tremendous speeds from the top gate to the bottom one.

But we girls were content with the bumpy slope of the field. In the last 20 years I haven’t seen anyone sledging in the field.

In my younger days, too, you could see lapwings and overhead swallows. There were many meadow flowers, including orchids and mayflowers. This spring I only noticed the mayflowers.

After the recent heavy rain the field became a lake with gulls swimming on it.

In the future I hope the field is preserved as an essential, historical feature of Arnside and doesn’t become a building estate.