Drumburgh

Drumburgh is a village near the south coast of the Solway Firth in the County of Cumbria.
It was the site of a Roman fort called Coggabata, which was part of Hadrian's Wall. The fort controlled a ford known as the Sandy wath, which crossed the Solway Firth at low tide from Drumburgh to Dornock in Scotland.

Medieval Drumburgh Castle now stands nearby, built entirely with re-used stone from the Roman Wall and Fort.

Solway is from the Saxon words ‘Sol’ meaning mud, and ‘Wath’ meaning ford. Solway means muddy ford.
Farmers used the crossings to drive their cattle to markets, as did invading Armies in both directions.
These fords became passable at very low spring tides. The main crossings of the Solway were:
- Bowness wath or Annan wath
  - Bowness-on-Solway to Seafield and Annan in Scotland
- Sandy wath
  - Drumburgh to Dornock in Scotland
- Sul wath
  - Across the mouth of the river Esk
- Peat wath
  - Across the mouth of the river Eden

Interestingly, another area of tidal flats with ancient crossings at low tides exists in the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel in Northern France.

Drumburgh Castle