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Wigton

For centuries, Wigton has been the centre of the business and social life of the Solway coast and plain, its prosperity being based on the weaving of cotton and linen. It has enjoyed the benefits of a Royal Charter since 1262 and the market is still held on Tuesdays. Horse sales are held every April (riding horses and ponies) and October (Clydesdales, heavy horses and ponies). Today, most of the old town is a Conservation Area and, paricularly along Main Street, the upper storeys of the houses have survived in an almost unaltered state. On street corners, metal guards to prevent heavy horse-drawn wagons damaging the walls can still be seen. In the triangular market place is an elaborate 19th century fountain erected in 1872 by a Mr George Moore in memory of his wife. Constructed of Cumbrian granite, it features four fine bronze reliefs of the Acts of Mercy by the Pre-Raphaelite sculptor Thomas Woolner.

Two buildings in the town are particularly striking: the Catholic Church of St Cuthbert in King Street, dating from 1837, which has an impressive frontage; and Highmoor Mansion, which was built in 1885 and has a lofty tower housing a clock and a carillon. It is now divided into private flats.

Wigton was the birthplace in 1939 of the author and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, many of whose books have a strong Cumbrian element. He attended the Nelson Thomlinson School in Wigton.

One mile south of Wigton are the scant remains of the Roman fort of Olenacum; most of its stones were removed to rebuild Wigton in the 18th and 19th centuries.