Longtown, Cumbria

Longtown
Longtown, bridge over the River Esk
Longtown  Longtown shown within Cumbria
Population	3,000
OS grid reference	NY380686
District	City of Carlisle
Shire county	Cumbria
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CARLISLE
Postcode district	CA6
Dialling code	01228
Police	Cumbria
Fire	Cumbria
Ambulance	North West
EU Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Penrith and The Border
List of places: UK • England • Cumbria

Longtown is a small town in northern Cumbria, England, with a population of around 3,000. It is in the parish of Arthuret and on the River Esk, not far from the Anglo-Scottish border. Nearby was the Battle of Arfderydd.

Longtown is the location of the largest sheep market in England, and is close to the site where the Battle of Solway Moss was fought in 1542. Longtown has one primary school with around 190 pupils, most secondary school pupils travel to William Howard School, Brampton. Though up until 2008 Longtown had its own secondary school, Lochinvar School.

The first animal to be found to be infected with foot-and-mouth disease in the 2001 crisis had been purchased at Longtown market. While at the market it spread the infection to other animals. The size of the Longtown sheep market meant that the disease had spread right across the country in a very short time. Longtown became the centre for control of the disease in south western Scotland and north western England.

A little over two miles to the north, on the west bank of the River Esk, Kirkandrews Tower is an isolated and well-preserved 16th century pele tower.

DMC Longtown

During the 1930s, there was a recognition of a need to provide secure storage for munitions across the United Kingdom. The proposal was to create three Central Ammunition Depots (CAD): one in the south (Monkton Farleigh, Wiltshire); one in the Midlands (Nesscliffe, Shropshire); and one in the north.

While the other two sites were sat above easily-hewn lime stone, Longtown is located above granite, which meant that it took longer to create and only came into operations late in World War 2. The site was chosen as it used to be part of HM Factory, Gretna, that stretched to Eastriggs over the border into Scotland, one of the biggest makers of explosives during World War I. The township of Gretna was established to house the workers of this establishment.

Today, DMC Longtown is the only one of the three CADs to remain in operation today, oe of the biggest Defence Munitions Sites in Western Europe. Currently Longtown and Eastriggs are two separate sites jointly managed.