M-Sport, Cockermouth

Dovenby Hall Estate, Dovenby, Cockermouth, CA13 0PN.
Tel +44 (0)1900 828888, Fax +44 (0)1900 823823
e-mail: info@m-sport.co.uk

M-Sport - Dovenby, Cockermouth

M-sport is the organization chosen by the Ford Motor Company to mastermind the assault on Ford's major Global Motorsport activity, the World Rally Championship. Here we take you behind the scenes of M-Sport and the Ford World Rally Team.

West Cumbria is the home of this magnificent multi-million pound development on behalf of the Ford World Rally Team. The �10 million facility is owned by M-Sport, founded by the former world class rally driver (and Cumbrian), Malcolm Wilson. In 2015 permission was given for a possible race testing circuit as part of the MSport site.

M-Sport currently employs 116 people from design, engineering and technical backgrounds as well as administration staff - almost all recruited from the local area.

M-sport is the organization chosen by the Ford Motor Company to mastermind the assault on Ford's major Global Motorsport activity, the World Rally Championship.

[more to come]

M-Sport - Dovenby, Cockermouth
Dovenby village is upper left.

The original Dovenby Hall, with its pele tower, is the white building near the centre of the photo.

Dovenby Hall was the principal residence in Dovenby village. It lies 2.5 miles north-west of Cockermouth surrounded by parks and woodland and is 115 acres in extent. The Hall was built in three stages: pele tower, front and arch, then the back.

The Tower was built in the 12th Century from stones taken from the Roman road which ran through the village from Maryport to Papcastle. The pele tower is the oldest part of the building, being early Norman. When there was an attack on the tower, the animals would be driven into the bottom of the tower, and the men would man the arrow slits at the top of the tower. There is only one arrow slit left and that is inside the main hall, which was built around the tower.

Aerial photos by Simon Ledingham.