Roa Island - Cumbria Barrow-in-Furness скачать в хорошем качестве

Roa Island - Cumbria Barrow-in-Furness

Roa Island lies 5 miles south of the shipyard town of Barrow-in-Furness, and just over half a mile (1 km) south of the village of Rampside at the southernmost point of the Furness Peninsula in Cumbria. Until 1847 Roa Island was a true island, being accessible only by boat, or on foot across the sands at low tide. John Abel Smith, a London banker, bought Roa in 1840. He built a causeway to the mainland, completed in 1846, and an 810-foot (247 m) deep-water pier known as Piel Pier from where steamers sailed to Fleetwood. The pier connected with the Furness Railway line to Kirkby via Furness Abbey, making use of the causeway. Initially the line was open for goods traffic only, but on 24 August 1846 a passenger service was inaugurated. The railway continued in use until July 1936. Roa Island has a population of about one hundred. Despite its moderate area it boasts a yacht club, and a café and a chip shop, Overlooking the sea with a south-facing aspect is Roa Island House. Originally built for the Furness industrialist H.W. Schneider as a holiday residence, it sports a distinctive observation tower and served as a fisheries investigation laboratory and as army premises during World War II. Roa Island has been home to a RNLI lifeboat station since the first one was established in 1864. The volunteers based at Roa Island are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The current station was opened in 2001 and cost £3million. In 2008 a new Tamar class lifeboat, the Grace Dixon, was placed on service ready to be launched down the 80 metre slipway at a speeds of up to 25mph. In 2010 the station placed on service a new D-Class inshore inflatable, the Vision of Tamworth. The Roa Island Boat Ramp is utilised during the summer months by the Piel Ferry; a small, commercial wooden passenger boat ferrying sightseers to and from Piel Island, home of local landmark Piel Castle. Another interesting building on the island is the Grade II listed Watch Tower, built in 1847 it is a former boathouse, Lifeboat House and a Customs and Excise building. The 30 meter Belgian fishing trawler ‘Vita Nova’, a seemingly abandoned houseboat project now lying derelict and beached on the sands between Roa Island and Rampside, slowly rusting away.