Silverdale, Lancashire

Government

Silverdale has a parish council, the lowest level of local government. In May 2015 seven parish councillors were elected unopposed.

Silverdale is in the non-metropolitan district of the City of Lancaster. The Silverdale ward stretches east to the Yealands and surrounding areas with a total population of 2,035. On Lancaster City Council it is represented by one Conservative councillor, elected for a four-year term in May 2015.

Silverdale is in the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire. On Lancashire County Council it forms part of Lancaster Rural North electoral division, and is represented by one Conservative councillor elected for a four-year term in May 2013.

Silverdale is in the UK Parliamentary Constituency of Morecambe and Lunesdale, represented since 2010 by David Morris (Conservative), who was re-elected with an increased majority in May 2015. It is in the European Parliamentary Constituency of North West England, represented by three Labour, three UKIP and two Conservative MEPs, elected for a five-year term in May 2014.

Geography

Nearby towns and cities: Lancaster, Carnforth, Kendal, Grange-over-Sands

Nearby villages: Arnside, Warton, Yealand Conyers, Yealand Redmayne, Yealand Storrs

Protected areas

Silverdale is within the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The parish includes several Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), including: Eaves Wood, Gait Barrows, Hawes Water (not to be confused with Haweswater reservoir in Cumbria), Jack Scout, Leighton Moss, Silverdale Golf Course, and Trowbarrow Quarry, and the whole of Morecambe Bay is also an SSSI.

Listed buildings

There are 20 listed buildings in Silverdale. The parish church and Slackwood Farmhouse are grade II* listed, while Lindeth Tower, the Silverdale Hotel, the lime kiln in Bottom's Lane, the chimney or tower at Jenny Brown's Point, twelve houses (four with barns) and two sets of entrance piers are grade II listed.

Culture and community

The Gaskell Memorial Hall in the centre of the village hosts a wide range of activities and events. The Silverdale Village Players perform an annual Pantomime and another production each year, and the Silverdale Handbell Ringers (founded 1906, and formally the Silverdale Church Handbell Ringers) entertain at Christmas. The village has a Women's Institute, affiliated to the "Cumbria-Westmorland" Federation of Women's Institutes although Silverdale was not in Westmorland.

The Silverdale Village Institute is a registered charity and provides a building and playing field for public use. In 2013 its committee rejected a proposal for a skatepark on the field. The well-attended 2014 AGM saw a silent demonstration by the village's children in support of a skate park, and a major change in committee membership.

The annual Silverdale and Arnside Art and Craft Trail, when local and visiting artists display their works in many venues in the two villages, takes place each summer.

In February 2012 The Royal Hotel, a public house in a prominent location in the centre of Silverdale, became the subject of a dispute when its new owner announced his intention to use the pub and its gardens as the basis for a residential development. Local opposition led to the original submission being withdrawn. Revised plans were subsequently approved by Lancaster City Council's planning committee and in April 2016 a refurbished Royal Hotel opened its doors to trade once again.

Education

Silverdale Primary School (full name "Silverdale St John's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School") is housed in a Victorian building with more recent extensions, and has around 80 pupils. It was graded "Good" in its 2006 Ofsted report and an "Interim Assessment Statement" in 2010 stated that "the school's performance has been maintained", but in its 2012 inspection it was graded as "Satisfactory". In 2013 it again achieved a "Good" rating. There is no secondary school in the village.

Bleasdale School, formerly Bleasdale House School, is a day and residential special school for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties, with 20 pupils aged 2–19. It was graded "Outstanding" in its 2012 Ofsted school inspection report and "Good" in its 2013 Ofsted social care inspection report.

The village also had a small part-time branch library, open 10.5 hours/week. Its premises were an outbuilding of Bleasdale School, and were an electrician's shop before becoming a library in the 1960s. The library benefitted from a major refurbishment in December 2011, but was closed on 29 September 2016 despite protests from the village community.

Religious buildings

St John's Church is the anglican parish church and a Grade II* listed building, built in 1885-86. The Methodist church was also built in the 19th century. Silverdale is within the Anglican Diocese of Blackburn, the Catholic Diocese of Lancaster and the North Lancashire Methodist Circuit.

Sport

The village has a bowls club and cricket team. Silverdale golf club, located near the railway station to the east of the village centre, was founded on 10 November 1906 and play started on 6 April 1907. Its original 9 hole course was extended to 12 holes in 1992 and to 18 holes in 2002.

Silverdale Hoard

In September 2011 a metal detectorist unearthed the Silverdale Hoard, an early 10th-century Viking hoard comprising 201 silver coins, jewellery, ingots and hacksilver that had been buried in a lead container in the vicinity of Silverdale. The hoard was bought by Lancashire Museums Service, and was displayed in Lancaster City Museum during 2013 and the Museum of Lancashire, Preston, during 2014.

The Matchless shipwreck

On 3 September 1894 the Morecambe pleasure boat Matchless capsized off Jenny Brown's Point on a trip from Morecambe to Grange-over-Sands. 25 holidaymakers from the industrial towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire drowned, the largest loss of lives in a single incident in Morecambe Bay.

Leeds Children's Charity

The Leeds Children's Charity (LCC) has since 1904 provided holidays for needy children from Leeds at its Silverdale Holiday Centre, which is to the north of the village centre overlooking Morecambe Bay. (The centre is actually across the county boundary so in Far Arnside, Cumbria, though very strongly associated with Silverdale). The charity was previously named the Leeds Children's Holiday Camp Association (LCHCA), and earlier the Leeds Poor Children's Holiday Camp Association. About 275 children each year are brought for a free five-day holiday, sometimes having never left Leeds before and seeing cows in fields for the first time. During their stay they participate in a range of outdoor and indoor activities. The Association is a registered charity, and each year's Lady Mayoress of Leeds serves as its President. Its patrons include Matthew Lewis, the Leeds-born actor best known as Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films. It is supported by donations from individuals and organisations in Leeds and Silverdale and elsewhere.

Frances McNeil has written a history of the Holiday Camp in her 2004 book Now I am a swimmer.

In late 2015 it was announced that 2016 will be the final season of children's holidays at the Silverdale centre. The site is being sold to the owner of the adjacent Holgates caravan site.

Notable residents

The Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865) regularly holidayed in Silverdale and is said to have written some of her works in Lindeth Tower in the village; the Gaskell Memorial Hall in the centre of the village is named after her.

The Yorkshire-born English novelist Willie Riley (1866 - 1961) moved to Silvedale in 1919 and named his house Windyridge, the title of his first novel.

The English poet Gordon Bottomley (1874–1948) lived in Silverdale, and his visitors there included the artist Paul Nash.

Kyril Bonfiglioli (1928-1985), an art dealer, magazine editor and comic novelist (author of the Mortdecai novels) lived in Silverdale in the 1960s and featured his home "Yewbarrow" in his books.

The composer Edward Cowie (born 1943) lived in Silverdale in the 1970s.

Comedian Victoria Wood (1953-2016) was formerly a resident of Silverdale.

The duo Aquilo, who played on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury Festival 2014, live in the village.

Silverdale in popular culture