With a year-round population of roughly 4,000 people, Grange-over-Sands is one of the smallest towns nestled along the Morecambe Bay in North West England.

grange over sandsUntil the Victorian era, this was a small and fairly isolated fishing village. This changed when the railroad reached the region in the 1850s, turning Grange-over-Sands into a popular seaside destination for holidaymakers. In 1894, the village was recognised as a town and created as an urban district by the authorities. Between 1932 and 1993, a lido was located on the seafront of Grange-over-Sands.

In an era before doctors knew how to treat bacterial infections with antibiotics, the crisp air blowing from the Irish Sea into Morecambe Bay was believed to be beneficial for those suffering from advanced lung tuberculosis, and similar beliefs were held regarding the locally available spring water. In the early 1890s, one of the first British sanatoriums were set up roughly 3.5 miles north-east of Grange-over-Sands, in a place called Meathop.

Today, the English sanatoriums are long since closed, but the holiday appeal of Grange-over-Sands remains, and Grange-over-Sands is home to a number of hotels, B&B’s, and rentable holiday properties, serving as a base for vacationers who like to explore the bay area and England’s Lake District.

Short facts

Coordinates 54.190°N 2.915°W
Post town Grange-over-Sands
Postcode district LA11
Dialling code 015395
Civil parish Grange-over-Sands
District South Lakeland
Shire county Cumbria
Region North West England
Emergency services Police: Cumbria Constabulary

Fire service: Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service

Ambulance: North West Ambulance Service

  • The Grange-over-Sands nursery school
  • The Grange-over-Sands Church of England Primary School


After primary school, school-age children attend secondary schools in either Cartmel or Milnthorpe.

Economy Tourism is the most important industry in Grange-over-sands. It has been for a very long time. It was originally founded as a fishing village.

Internet and freelancing have caused more and more of the population in Grange-over-sands to work online. This has also allowed young professionals to move the area.  This includes everything from programmers and graphical designers to day traders trading binary options, CFD:s and FOREX certificates.

Where is it?


Historically, Grange-over-Sands has been a part of Lancashire but is today administered as part of the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, while remaining a part of the County Palatine of Lancashire and Duchy of Lancaster.

Getting there by road

The main road access is the A590, which runs between Barrow-in-Furness and the M6.

From the city, Kendal in the Lake District, take A6 south and then A591 and A590 to B5271. Continue on B5271 to Grange-over-Sands. During normal traffic, driving from Kendal to Grange-over-Sands will take around 20-25 minutes. Taking the bus X6 takes roughly 35 minutes.

Getting there by train

The Grange-over-Sands railways station opened in 1857 and is still in use. It is served by the Furness Line, connecting Grange-over-Sands with places such as Ulverston and Barrow-in-Furness to the west and Lancaster, Preston, Manchester, and Manchester Airport to the east.

Over the sands

Before the railway reached Grange-over-Sands, the main way of getting to the village was by crossing the sandy tidal flats of Morecambe Bay from Hest Bank. Today, crossing the sands in this fashion is a popular holiday pastime, but it should not be attempted without guidance from a local expert due to the risk of quicksand and the rapidly incoming tide.

Tourism in Grange-over-Sands

As mentioned above, Grange-over-Sands is a lovely place to stay when exploring the Morecambe Bay and Lake District, and there is a number of hotels, B&B’s and rentable holiday properties to chose among.

The promenade

Grange-over-Sands has a mile-long promenade free from motorized vehicles.

The River Kent used to flow just past the promenade but has now then migrated farther south, from the village. As the course of the river shifted, certain sandy areas that used to be notorious for their quicksand solidified and are now covered in grass, grazed by a small group of sheep.

Hampsfield Fell

Hampsfield FellThe 222-meter high Hampsfield Fell, also known as Hampsfell, is located above the town. It is an amazing viewpoint from which you can watch the beautiful surroundings.

At the top of the fell is Hampsfell Hospice, a limestone tower that offers shelter for walkers. A large compass pointer is located on its roof, with a list of peaks identifying the landmarks of the panorama.

The summit is surrounded by several flat, incised areas of exposed limestone, a natural phenomenon known as limestone pavement. The most extensive pavement area is found north of the hospice tower.

Higginsons of Grange

This is an Award-Winning Butchers & Pie Maker located on Main Street in Grange-over-Sands. It has an excellent selection of meats and pies, with ingredients sourced from local farms.

St Paul’s Church

St Paul's ChurchSt Paul’s Church in Grange-over-Sands is located on Hampsfell Road in Crown Hill. It’s an active Anglican parish church belonging to the deanery of Windermere.

The church building – which is in gothic revival style; constructed from limestone with sandstone dressings and slate roofs – is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

The church building consists of a nave, north and south aisles, a southern porch, and a chancel with a polygonal apse. A bell turret topped by a stone spirelet is located at the western end of the building. Inside the church, five-bay arcades are carried on marble piers with sandstone capitals. Most of the windows are 20th-century windows designed by either Shringle and Hunt or Abbott and Company.

The original part of the church, built in 1852-1853, was designed by J. Murray. This church only had a nave, a short chancel, a porch, and a baptistry. In the 1860s, a northern aisle and a southern aisle were added. The chancel was lengthened and an organ chamber added in 1875. The organ is dated to 1873; it was built by William Hill and Son. The east window in the south chapel was put there in 1888, designed by S. Evans.

After the end of WWI, the chancel and the south aisle were lengthened, and vestries were added; designed by the architect Henry Paley. Paley also designed the south porch which was built at the same time. Wilkinson and Son restored the two-manual pipe organ in 1933.

Cartmel Racecourse

Cartmel racecourse is a popular place to visit im Grange-over-sands.  The race track has been in use since 1856.   They hold a very popular July 1th race each year.  You can bet money at the track but you usually get better odds if you place your bets using a sportsbook online.  Many sportsbooks offer a bonus the first time you play with the. Find sports bonuses.


Why is it called “over-sands”?

Grange-over-Sands is located on the northern side of Morecambe Bay, across the sand flats from Morecambe. Before the railroad was built in the 19th century, people would walk over the sands to reach the northern part of the bay, since the mountains to the north of Grange made it more difficult to reach the Grange area from the north than crossing the flats. The village Grange was therefore located “over-sands” from Morecambe.

Around the turn of the century 1800/1900, the local vicar in Grange grew tired of his mail ending up in the other Grange, a village situated in Borrowdale, a valley in another part of the English Lake District. To prevent confusion, he added the suffix over-sands to his address. Today, the two Granges are known as Grange-over-Sands and Grange in Borrowdale.

What’s a grange?

The name Grange is a reasonably common one across the English landscape, and to find out why we need to go back to when England was still a predominately Roman Catholic country. In that era, a monastic grange was an outlying landholding owned by a monastery and worked independently of the manorial system. The Cistercian monasteries were the first to hold granges in England, but several other orders also adopted the practice. The name grange is derived from the French word graunge, which ultimately comes from the Latin word granica which means granary.

The granges provided food and income for the monasteries, and existed in five main versions: agrarian (e.g. grains, apples, hops or grapes), fishery, sheep or cattle raising, horse studs, and industrial production. Some granges were worked by lay-brothers of the order, others by paid labourers. Before the Reformation, industrial granges were significant in the development of medieval industries, especially for iron working.

When King Henry VIII cut ties with the Roman Catholic church in the 1530s, he dissolved the monasteries and seized the monastic lands, including the granges which were sold. Still, the name Grange continued to live on and is still in use today, such as in the name Grange-over-Sands.

The Cartmel Priory

The priory that owned the grange that gave the name to Grange-over-Sands was the Cartmel Priory, founded in 1190 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke.

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