Morecambe

Coordinates: 54°03′50″N 2°52′43″W / 54.0640°N 2.8786°W / 54.0640; -2.8786

Morecambe /ˈmɔːkəm/ or /ˈmɔːrkəm/ is a town on Morecambe Bay in Lancashire, England.

In 2001, it had a population of 38,917, decreasing to 34,768 at the 2011 Census.

Name of Morecambe

The first use of the name Morecambe in modern times was by Whitaker in his History of Manchester (1771), when he refers to the æstury of Moricambe. It next appears 4 years later in 'Antiquities of Furness' where the bay is described as 'the Bay of Morecambe'.

That name is derived from the Roman name shown on maps prepared for them by Claudius Ptolemœus (Ptolemy) from his original Greek maps. At this distance in time it is impossible to say if the name was originally derived from an earlier language (e.g. Celtic language) or from Greek. The Latin version describes the fourth inlet north from Wales on the west coast of England as Moriancabris Æsturis. Translated this gives a more accurate description than the present name of Morecambe Bay as the Latin refers to multiple estuaries on a curved sea, not a bay, as then the word sinus or gulf would have been used.

Morecambe RFC

Morecambe was a semi-professional rugby league club. The club was based in Morecambe, a resort town now within the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England.

The club played semi-professional rugby league for a total of 8 seasons in all. They first became members of the Northern Rugby Football Union (now Rugby Football League) for three continuous seasons from 1896–97 to 1898–99.

They left the league and returned two seasons later, playing another four seasons from 1901–02 to 1905–06. At the end of season 1905–06 the club left the league, at which point Jack Bartholomew (the uncle of the comedian Eric Morecambe) left the club and joined Huddersfield, he would later play for Great Britain, and Bradford Northern.

History

Early Days

Morecambe FC was formed as a rugby football club in 1876. They joined the ranks of the semi-professionals when they became members of the Northern Union in its second season 1896–97 and played for three season in the Lancashire Senior Competition. In each of these three seasons, the club managed only to finish with the wooden spoon, at the bottom of the league, 14th out of 14 clubs.

Morecambe (play)

Morecambe celebrates the life of Eric Morecambe and is based on his life in the entertainment industry. The play premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the summer of 2009 and transferred to the Duchess Theatre in London's West End for a limited Christmas season running from 9 December 2009 until 17 January 2010. It starred Bob Golding as Eric Morecambe and was directed by Guy Masterson. The play was shown at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley, South London in October 2010.

References