Heysham Nature Reserve and Harbour - Walks with Stories
Heysham Power Station Nature Reserve and HarbourWalk reproduced by kind permission of Lancaster City Museum. Discover more inspiring 'Walks with Stories' on their Facebook page.
Distance: 2.5hr hour walk
Accessibility: On good footpaths, relatively flat walk.
*At this time, please only do these walks if National Restrictions allow and they are your local area too*
1. Head down Moneyclose Lane towards Ocean Edge Caravan Park
a few hundred yards on your right is the entrance to the car park, from here if you head back toward the entrance, on your left is a stile which leads you into the reserve. (Note: on his part of the walk dogs are not allowed) This is a circular walk around the original reserve. On this part of the walk you will see a pond and a larger reed bed with wooden walkways and bird hide.
2. Head back out and cross the car park towards the entrance
On your right is a track which we call ‘the yellow brick road’ due to the colour of the surface (although today it just looked brown with the mud). Dogs are allowed from here. Take this path passing another pond, leading to a gravel area which then leads into another green space with a further pond. (My son contributed to a time capsule which was buried here when he was at primary school to mark the opening of this part of the site in 1996. It was ‘designed and landscaped’ by children from St Peter’s, St Patrick’s, Trumacar and St Helen’s (Overton). The time capsule was due to be opened last year but I don’t know what happened to it).
3. Another narrow path leads alongside the Power Station and comes out on the seafront bedside Ocean Edge Caravan Park
Follow the wide promenade (I would advise keeping hold of young children’s hands and dogs on leads here due to the sheer drop and deep water) between the Power Station and the sea and you come to the lighthouse on the south entrance to Heysham Harbour. I love this building and the old exposed stonework here, where it is not covered by concrete.
4. Heysham Harbour was opened in 1904 by the Midland Railway Company.
As deep water access was more reliable than Morecambe’s harbour (Stone Jetty) which was not ideal as a practical port due to its dependency on the tides. The site was proposed in 1865 and construction began in 1867 by contractors, Price & Wills (harbour) and Godfrey & Liddelow (railway). By 1898, there were about 200 men employed and this figure soon reached approximately 2,000. Workers (navvies, short for ‘navigators’) were housed in two wooden 'villages' known as Klondyke and Dawson City, being named after a river and a town in the area of the North American gold rush which had started in 1896. There was also a navvy village on the site of Trumacar School. From Heysham Port you can still sail on the Isle of Man Steam Packet ferry to the Isle of Man (not currently though due to lockdown) and there used to be a boat train to Belfast.
5. Carry on around the corner onto the quayside and walk towards what looks like a fenced off area.
This part reminds me of the film Labyrinth when Sarah expresses frustration that she is trapped in an endless passage in the Labyrinth and the worm tells her are many openings if you look hard enough. If you walk towards this fence you will see there is in fact an opening and you can walk around through a narrow path surrounded by railings and get as far as the old LMS (London, Midland, Scottish
Railways) Harbourmaster’s office building (now disused) on the North side of the Harbour. Now a locked gate now prevents you from going further and you have to return the way you came.
