Solway Firth

The Solway Firth reaches inland from the Irish Sea between the coasts of southwestern Scotland and northwestern England. Its broad sands and mudflats are exposed at low tide, while channels shift across the shallow estuary. The rivers flowing into its eastern end mark a frontier long contested by the two kingdoms. In 1542 a Scottish army crossed into England near the head of the firth and was defeated at Solway Moss. The estuary's tides and marshes formed part of the difficult landscape through which border armies moved.