At over 200 square miles, Morecambe Bay in north west England is the largest bay in the country. Low tides that retreat for 7 miles create a unique environment of sand flats making it a haven for nature including being one of the most important places in Europe for bird life.
The seaside resort, Morecambe, sits on the south-east side of the bay and it might be assumed that the bay took its name from the town. However, it was the other way round: Morecambe’s name was only adopted in 1889 when the joining of several coastal villages was recognised as a new urban area.
The bay had already been called Morecambe Bay for some time, so the name chosen for the new town was Morecambe. In fact 'Morecambe Bay' was first mentioned in Thomas West’s Antiquities of Furness in 1774. He picked up the name from antiquarian John Horsley who in 1732 found a reference to Morecambe Bay when translating the works of the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy. He identified a location on Britain’s west coast north of the Ribble and south of the Solway and referred to it as 'Morikambe eischusis' - Morecambe estuary.
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| Hall's map of 1833 shows Morecambe Bay - but, as yet, no town of Morecambe |
So, while Morecambe Bay was created about 11,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, its modern name was adopted exactly 250 years ago - happy birthday!