The key characteristics of the Solway Basin are: 

6. Solway Basin

The key characteristics of the Solway Basin are:

• Raised beaches, dunes, pebble beaches, and sandy shores along the Irish Sea coast.

• Estuarine intertidal mudflats and salt marshes, with wintering and migrating waders and wildfowl, on the fringes of the Solway Firth.

• Fragmented areas of relatively intact raised peat bogs, or lowland raised mires, of high nature conservation value.

• Flat to gently undulating lowland plain, intensively managed predominantly for pasture.

• Medium to large fields enclosed by windswept hedgerows and stone-faced hedgebanks.

• Dense network of highly managed rivers, streams and ditches.

• Limited woodland cover.

• Rich historic, cultural and archaeological heritage.

• Victorian coastal resorts, small market towns, and villages. Considerable variety of building styles and materials.

• Primary transport routes radiating from Carlisle and rectilinear pattern of minor roads and lanes.

For further details on this character area and for an introduction to the region, please see the PDF documents in the box at the top right hand side of this page.