79-685: Corkickle is a suburb of Whitehaven in Cumbria , England. It is served by Corkickle railway station . This Cumbria location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumberland , Cumbria , England. It lies by road 38 miles (61 km) south-west of Carlisle and 45 miles (72 km) to
158-526: A knight , who died in 1368 in the Teutonic Crusades in Lithuania. Although the body was over six hundred years old, his nails, skin and stomach contents were found to be in near-perfect condition. After his death the vault was enlarged to take the body of his sister, Maud de Lucy, who died in 1398. Effigies of Maud and Anthony can be seen in an extensive history display which includes the shroud in which he
237-592: A 50% grant from the European Union . On Monday 8 December 2007, Saltom Pit was reopened as an historic monument. The pit buildings have been conserved and are now part of the 'Whitehaven Coast' project, a scheme to regenerate the coastal area of Whitehaven. Whitehaven is within the Whitehaven and Workington constituency . As of 2024 , its Member of Parliament (MP) is Josh MacAlister of the Labour Party , who has held
316-651: A day on Sundays. The village is on the B5345 from Whitehaven to Iron Bridge junction near Beckermet . The village has a football team which competes in the Cumbria County league. There are facilities for rugby, football and cricket at the Adams recreation ground adjacent to the Seacote beach. This playing field was created in memory of Baron Adams of Ennerdale . The sports facilities of St Bees School are also available, which include
395-517: A forerunner to the Davy Lamp , known as the Spedding Wheel or Steel Mill. This used the sparks generated by a flint against a rotating steel wheel to provide light, on the basis the sparks were not quite hot enough to ignite the gas. On occasions it caused explosions or fires but it was a major improvement over the naked flame. Lowther also supported experimental work on firedamp by William Brownrigg ,
474-510: A formal apology for Whitehaven's role in the slave trade. Scottish-American naval officer John Paul Jones raided the town in 1778 during the American Revolutionary War , burning some merchant ships in the harbour. During the 19th century the port of Whitehaven was overtaken by Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow, as they had deep-water dock facilities and were closer to large centres of population and industry. The huge development of
553-403: A goods-only station and served as the main goods depot for the town. As in other colliery areas, horse-drawn tramways and then locomotive-powered railways were used extensively to move coal. The first steam locomotive made an early appearance in 1816, to a design similar to the noted Steam Elephant built by William Chapman of Newcastle. However this pioneering engine was not too successful and
632-501: A harbour or landing place at Whitehaven can be traced back to 1517, when quay-dues, otherwise known as wharfage, were recorded. The purchase of the manor of St Bees in 1630 by the Lowther family started the development of Whitehaven harbour primarily to export coal. Sir Christopher Lowther built a stone pier in 1631–1634, and it survives, albeit very modified, as the Old Quay. By the 1660s
711-438: A large marina and fishing harbour, and refocus the town on a renovated harbour. The harbour has seen much other renovation due to millennium developments, and the rejuvenation project cost an estimated £11.3 million. This has provided 100 more moorings within the marina. Another £5.5 million has been spent on developing a 40 m (130 ft) high crow's nest and a wave light feature that changes colour depending on
790-521: A local doctor and scientist, and he presented papers by Brownrigg at the Royal Society . Brownrigg had gas piped from a nearby pit to his workshop, which provided light and heat, and bladders of the gas were taken to London to be demonstrated at the Royal Society. Brownrigg was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) for this work. After Sir James, there was a succession of Lowthers who inherited
869-417: A national railway network had also reduced Whitehaven's 18th century competitive advantage of having coal extracted very close to a harbour for shipment by sea. An 1888 legal case , Bush v Whitehaven Port and Town Trustees , was one of a series of legal cases involved in the development of the doctrine of frustration of contract in English law . Bush, the contractor in this case, had contracted to construct
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#1732852621255948-606: A pit had been sunk in any part of Europe) to a three-yard thick coal seam (the Main Band) in twenty-three months, using thirty barrels of gunpowder, and without any loss of life or limb by the workforce'. Saltom Pit ceased working coal in 1848, and is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument (SM 27801) and is the best known surviving example of an 18th-century colliery layout. Evidence of the shaft, horse gin, stable, winding engine house, boiler house and chimney, cottages, cart roads and retaining walls, all survives. Coal excavated from Saltom Pit
1027-458: A sports hall, squash, tennis and fives courts, and an indoor swimming pool. Coast-based recreational activities at St Bees are: windsurfing, kite-surfing, rock climbing, bouldering, swimming, jet-skiing, water-skiing, canoeing and para-gliding. These are undertaken on St Bees Head and off the large sandy surf beach. The circular walk to St Bees Head and Birkhams quarry featured in the May 2012 booklet of
1106-487: A water-main for a "slump sum" [ sic ]. His tender was submitted in June, and he was "given to understand" that he could begin the work at once, but part of the land was not available until October. This meant the work took place during the winter, when operations are more difficult and more costly. The jury in this case decided that the timing issue substantially affected the contract, and awarded damages to be paid to
1185-459: A whole, particularly after the boom years of both world wars . However, following the Second World War , two major industries were established which have had a profound effect on the community. The former Marchon Chemical Company at Whitehaven , and UKAEA/BNFL at Sellafield both soaked up village labour released by the declining heavy iron and mining industries, and brought a large influx of
1264-782: Is a popular holiday destination due to the coastline and proximity to the Western Lake District . In the village there is St Bees Priory dating from 1120, and St Bees School founded in 1583. The Wainwright Coast to Coast Walk starts from St Bees and the National Trail, the England Coast Path , runs along the coast. It has a railway station served by the Cumbrian Coast Railway . Evidence of Mesolithic and Bronze Age habitation has been found in St Bees, but nothing of
1343-497: Is served by the Cumbrian coast railway line and the A595 road . Although there was a Roman fort at Parton , around 1.2 miles (1.9 km) to the north, there is no evidence of a Roman settlement on the site of the present town of Whitehaven. The area was settled by Irish-Norse Vikings in the 10th century. The area name of Copeland , which includes Whitehaven, indicates that the land
1422-461: The American Colonies , with which there were strong trade links. Although Sir Christopher Lowther initially purchased Whitehaven it was his son, Sir John Lowther, 2nd Baronet, who was responsible for its growth and development. Sir John acquired a market charter in 1660 for the town, but the urban expansion did not start until the 1680s when he laid out a spacious rectangular grid of streets to
1501-589: The Copeland district of Cumbria , England, on the Irish Sea . Within the parish is St Bees Head which is the only Heritage Coast between Wales and Scotland and a Site of Special Scientific Interest . The Headland is also an RSPB bird reserve which is the only cliff-nesting seabird colony in north-west England. St Bees Lighthouse stands on the North Head which is the most westerly point of Northern England . St Bees
1580-711: The Lake District National Park, the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and the North York Moors National Park. Wainwright recommended that walkers dip their booted feet in the Irish Sea at St Bees and, at the end of the walk, in the North Sea at Robin Hood's Bay . At St Bees, the start is marked by the "Wainwright Wall" which explains the walk and its history. A new interpretation board and
1659-538: The archbishops of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I : Edmund Grindal , Archbishop of Canterbury and Edwin Sandys ; Archbishop of York . In about 1519 Edmund Grindal was born in Cross Hill House, St Bees, which still exists, and is marked with a plaque. He was probably educated at the priory across the valley. A devout Protestant , he made his mark in the reign of Edward VI , but had to flee to Strasbourg when
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#17328526212551738-513: The miners' strike in 1984–85 , contributed to problems at the colliery. The workforce attempted to open a new face, but a decision had been taken to close, and after two years of recovery work, Haig finally ceased mining on 31 March 1986. Today there is no mining carried out in Whitehaven though there is a proposal to sink a new mine out under the sea for coking coal. In November 2019 the UK government gave
1817-525: The mother church in St Bees can still be followed in places. The priory was closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries on the orders of Henry VIII in 1539. The nave and transepts of the monastic church have continued in use as the parish church to the present day, but much of the extensive monastic buildings were plundered or fell into decay. Remarkably, the small village of St Bees produced two of
1896-457: The 1860s. At one time the college had 100 students, and over 2,600 clergy were trained before it closed in 1895. St Bees School embarked on an era of rapid expansion starting with the construction of the quadrangle in 1846 using compensation from the rich mine-owning Lowther family. They had illegally obtained the lucrative mineral rights for Whitehaven from the School in 1742 at a derisory sum. This
1975-454: The 1970s, but has since been revived, and there are now two working quarries in the parish. Agriculture was originally the mainstay of the village economy. Gradually, during the 19th century, service employment for the school and lodgings for the college gave additional income, and with the advent of commuters, the village's social mix was becoming more middle class. Tourism and quarries also provided employment, and many village men found work in
2054-467: The Catholic Mary I ascended the throne. On Mary's death the country once again became Protestant, and Grindal became Bishop of London , Archbishop of York and then Archbishop of Canterbury . His undoing was opposing Queen Elizabeth I on liberal religious meetings and he was suspended. He died in 1583 still in disgrace, but, virtually on his death bed, he founded St Bees School . The primary school in
2133-623: The Coast to Coast walk and increasing recognition of the unique landscape of the St Bees Heritage Coast. In 2014, it was rated one of the most attractive postcode areas to live in England. In 1981 an archaeological excavation at the priory revealed a vault with a lead coffin containing an astonishingly well preserved body – now known as the St Bees Man. He has been identified as Anthony de Lucy,
2212-520: The Customs Collector did not mention tobacco in his report on Whitehaven. Whitehaven Town Hall , which started life as a private house built for a merchant, was completed in 1710. Daniel Defoe visited Whitehaven in the 1720s and wrote that the town had grown up from a small place to be very considerable by the coal trade, that it is now the most eminent port in England for shipping off of coals, except Newcastle and Sunderland and even beyond
2291-469: The Lowther holdings in the area, and considerably improved the drainage of his pits; thus allowing mining at greater depths. Sir James Lowther, 4th Baronet FRS (1673–1755) continued the work of his father and reputedly became the richest commoner in England. Between 1709 and 1754, over £46,000 was spent to extend the Lowther holdings of land and coal royalties in West Cumberland. By the 1740s Lowther
2370-544: The Roman occupation, even though St Bees Head would have been a prominent observation point. The name St Bees is a corruption of the Norse name for the village, which is given in the earliest charter of the Priory as "Kyrkeby becok", which can be translated as the "Church town of Bega", relating to the local Saint Bega . She was said to be an Irish princess who fled across the Irish Sea in
2449-417: The area was in 1910 at Wellington Pit, where 136 miners died. In another disaster in 1947 at William Pit, 104 men were killed. Four separate explosions over the period 1922–1931 at Haig Pit together killed 83. Haig was the last pit to operate in Whitehaven. In 1983, a major geological fault was encountered at Haig pit which increased the difficulty of operation. This, combined with the political situation, and
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2528-637: The best coastal walks in UK published by the Daily Telegraph newspaper; it being one of only two walks covered in the north west of England. St Bees is the start of the Wainwright Coast to Coast Walk , which was devised by Alfred Wainwright in 1973. It is an 192-mile (309 km) unofficial and mostly unsignposted long-distance footpath in Northern England . As planned by Alfred Wainwright, it passes through three contrasting National Parks :
2607-566: The building of many of the larger houses and Lonsdale Terrace. The railway brought tourists, and as early as 1851 the Lord Mayor of London stayed at the Seacote Hotel. This long history of attracting tourists for "bucket and spade" holidays has continued to this day. The railway made possible the export of St Bees sandstone . Huge amounts of stone were quarried, much of it for building the boom town of Barrow-in-Furness . This industry died out in
2686-546: The coal interests but did not emulate his close interest. The Lowthers' direct involvement in coal diminished, and in 1888 the mines were leased to the Whitehaven Colliery Company. By 1893 nearly all the coal was being extracted from under the sea, and William pit extended 4 miles out under the Solway. In 1900 the output of the collieries was 536,000 tons. However they became less economic; the company failed in 1933, and
2765-569: The contractor. James Pit is a pit in Whitehaven. The school "St James' Juniors" is on the site of the old pit. The earliest reference to coal mining in the Whitehaven area is in the time of Prior Langton (1256–1282) of St Bees Priory, concerning the coal mines at Arrowthwaite. St Bees Priory was dissolved in 1539, and the lands and mineral rights passed to secular owners. The first of these, Sir Thomas Chaloner , granted leases of land in 1560 for digging coal, and in 1586 he granted St Bees School liberty "to take 40 loads of coal at his coal pits in
2844-474: The earliest customers for the newly invented Newcomen engine . Spedding concluded that such an engine would drain a flooded pit in two-thirds the time that horse gins would take, and would do so at a quarter of the cost. Consequently, a small (17-inch diameter cylinder) Engine No. 5 , built by Thomas Newcomen and John Calley , was erected. It was so successful that in 1727 Lowther bought an additional pumping engine. With this proven method of pumping Lowther
2923-475: The first Crampton locomotives , which became the fastest locomotives of the day; one was reported to have reached 62 mph. Over the life of the works, some 260 locomotives were produced – mainly for industrial lines. The works entered shipbuilding in 1842–3, producing Lowca , the first iron ship launched in Cumberland. St. Bees St Bees is a coastal village, civil parish and electoral ward in
3002-475: The green light for this mine to go ahead. In 2007, Copeland Council declared that it could no longer afford to maintain the remaining Saltom Pit buildings, and preserve them from damage by the sea. But after an online campaign by myWhitehaven.net, the council changed their mind. They teamed up with the National Trust to try to save Saltom Pit, and obtained the necessary funding from various sources, including
3081-483: The historic quality of the town environment. Whitehaven was the site of a major chemical industry after World War II, but both that and the coal industry have disappeared, and today the major industry is the nearby Sellafield nuclear complex, which is the largest local employer of labour and has a significant administrative base in the town. Whitehaven includes a number of former villages, estates and suburbs, such as Mirehouse , Woodhouse, Kells and Hensingham , and
3160-444: The iron ore mines at Cleator . Thus the 19th century saw the change from a rural backwater based on agriculture, to the more diversified role of a dormitory village for professional and industrial worker alike, and its growth into a minor academic centre. The start of the 20th century saw yet another decline in agriculture, and this has continued to today, when there are only a few farms left. Industrial decline also hit West Cumbria as
3239-408: The last. They have of late fallen into some merchandising also, occasioned by the strange great number of their shipping, and there are now some considerable merchants; but the town is yet but young in trade. To replace the tobacco trade, Whitehaven turned to importing sugar from Barbados , cotton from Antigua and coffee and cocoa from St Lucia . Due to the coal trade Whitehaven was, after London,
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3318-483: The manor of St. Bees was inherited by Sir John Lowther, 2nd Baronet, of Whitehaven (1642–1706), who developed the town of Whitehaven, its coal industry and the trade with Ireland. He oversaw the rise of Whitehaven from a small fishing village (at his birth consisting of some fifty houses and a population of about 250) to a planned town three times the size of Carlisle. At his death the 'port of Whitehaven' had 77 registered vessels, totalling about four thousand tons, and
3397-420: The ninth century to St Bees to avoid an enforced marriage. Carved stones at the priory show that Irish-Norse Vikings settled here in the tenth century. The Normans did not reach Cumberland until 1092, and when they took over the local lordships, William Meschin , Lord of Egremont, used the existing religious site to found a Benedictine priory for a prior and six monks sometime between 1120 and 1135. The priory
3476-421: The north east of the existing tiny hamlet. Sir John specified that the houses were "to be three storeys high, not less than 28 feet from the street level to the square of the side walls, the windows of the first and second storeys to be transomed and the same, together with the doors to be of hewn stone." Ample provision was made for gardens. One block was left vacant for a new church and in 1694 another site
3555-463: The north of Barrow-in-Furness . It was the administrative seat of the former Borough of Copeland , and has a town council for the parish of Whitehaven. The population of the town was 23,986 at the 2011 census . The town's growth was largely due to the exploitation of the extensive coal measures by the Lowther family , driving a growing export of coal through the harbour from the 17th century onwards. It
3634-421: The parish of St Bees for the use of the school". Such workings were small-scale and near the surface, using adits and bell pits . But the Lowther family later developed and dominated the coal industry in Whitehaven from the mid 17th century to the early 20th century. Sir John Lowther, 2nd Baronet (1642–1706) significantly developed the coal industry and the trade with Ireland. He spent over £11,000 in expanding
3713-409: The pier was suffering from storm damage and by the 1670s it was considered too small for the growing number of vessels wanting to use it. In 1677 a description refers to "a little pier, in shallow water, built with some wooden piles and stones". The prospect of a rival pier being built at Parton to the north of Whitehaven galvanised Sir John Lowther into developing the harbour, and by 1679 further work
3792-638: The pits were sold to Priestman collieries. They in turn failed in 1935, and the pits were closed for 18 months. Work resumed with help from a Nuffield foundation, and the Cumberland Coal Company was formed, re-opening the pits in 1937. In 1947 the pits came under the nationalised body, the National Coal Board . In 300 years over seventy pits were sunk in the Whitehaven area. During this period some five hundred or more people were killed in pit disasters and mining accidents . The largest disaster in
3871-500: The present Main Street was based on a string of farms and farmworkers' dwellings. The 19th century saw the start of great changes. In 1816 St Bees Theological College was founded, and proved popular as it was first for the training of Church of England clergy outside Oxford and Cambridge . To house the college, the monastic chancel of the Priory was re-roofed and served as the main lecture room, and additional lecture rooms were built in
3950-435: The priory in 1539, ownership of this estate passed through a number of secular landlords until it passed into the hands of the Lowther family in the 17th century. Whitehaven was a township within the "Preston Quarter" of the parish of St Bees , and the town's churches were chapels-of-ease of St Bees until 1835 when three ecclesiastical districts were created in Whitehaven. The modern growth of Whitehaven started with
4029-468: The purchase by Sir Christopher Lowther of the Whitehaven estate in 1630 and the subsequent development of the port and the mines. In 1634 he built a stone pier providing shelter and access for shipping, enabling the export of coal from the Cumberland Coalfield , particularly to Ireland. This was a key event in the rapid growth of the town from a small fishing village to an industrial port. In 1642
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#17328526212554108-458: The refurbished Beacon museum at the harbour; 10,000 people attended the event. Whitehaven was, with Falmouth , the first post-medieval new planned town in England. It is the most complete example of planned Georgian architecture in Europe and there are over 170 listed buildings . Whitehaven's planned layout was with streets in a right-angled grid which it is thought was imitated by the new towns of
4187-457: The school made many teachers and members of the community to leave the village, such as Reverend Clifford Swartz, the former Vicar of the local Protestant church and chaplain of St Bees School. Perhaps some of the greatest changes were after 1849 when the Furness Railway reached the village. St Bees attracted the professional classes which commuted to Whitehaven or Workington . This led to
4266-662: The seat since the 2024 United Kingdom general election . Before Brexit , it was in the North West England European Parliamentary Constituency. Prior to the introduction of Cumberland (district) , for Local Government purposes it had the following wards in the Borough of Copeland : The following divisions were included in Cumbria County Council : Whitehaven has its own Parish Council , Whitehaven Town Council . The existence of
4345-513: The second port of England in terms of tonnage of shipping from 1750 to 1772. In 1835 Whitehaven was still the fifth placed port, with 443 ships registered, but by the end of the 19th century only 68 vessels were registered. Whitehaven was involved with the transatlantic slave trade , and records show slave ships leaving Whitehaven for voyages to Africa between 1711 and 1767. In 2006, the Copeland Council (Whitehaven's local authority) issued
4424-678: The south of the town the Corkickle incline, known locally as "The Brake", was built in 1881 from the Furness Railway main line to Croft Pit. This closed in 1931 but was reopened in May 1955 to serve Marchon Products' chemical factory. The Brake closed for good on 31 October 1986, when it was the last commercial roped incline in Britain. It was 525 yards (480 m) in length with gradients of between 1 in 5.2 and 1 in 6.6. The nearby Lowca engineering works began to produce locomotives in 1843, including
4503-548: The southern side of the town, the first section of the Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway (W&FJR) opened on 1 June 1849 from a terminus at Whitehaven (Preston Street) to Ravenglass , and thereafter gradually in stages until Barrow in Furness and ultimately Carnforth were reached. This gave access to the south onto the main West Coast line, and later became the main line of the Furness Railway . The two lines were separated by
4582-479: The technical and scientific university-educated middle class into the village; rather like the first arrival of the professional classes a century earlier. There is now an extensive science park – Westlakes, on the northern fringe of the parish, at which the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has its national headquarters. The last two decades have seen a significant revival in tourism, boosted by
4661-484: The tide, together with The Rum Story on Lowther Street, voted Cumbria Tourism's small visitor attraction of the year 2007. A picture of the harbour was used on the front page of the Tate Modern 's promotional material for an exhibition of Millennium Projects in 2003. In June 2008, Queen Elizabeth II visited Whitehaven as part of the 300th Anniversary Celebrations. The Queen and Prince Philip then officially re-opened
4740-514: The town centre, and a tramway was constructed through the market place allowing goods wagons to be horse-drawn from Preston Street to the harbour, but there was still no through route for passenger trains. In 1852, a tunnel 1,333 yards (1,219 m) long was built under the town, and in 1854 the W&;FJR passenger trains ran through to the Bransty station from a new station at Corkickle. Preston Street became
4819-416: The village was established in the 1870s. The site of the priory is an area of firm ground higher than the peat beds that fill the valley, and due to the absence of level ground it is logical that the original settlement would grow up there. However the area was constricted, and as the village expanded it grew up on the opposite side of the valley. The oldest existing house dates from the early 16th century and
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#17328526212554898-493: Was able to exploit the coal measures under the sea by sinking a pit at Saltom on land below the cliffs south of the harbour, to a depth of 456 ft (138m). Work began early in 1730, and the pit was officially opened in May 1732 with great celebration. Carlisle Spedding had charge of the design and construction, and successfully sank only the second sub-sea pit in Britain. It was reported that "A shaft twelve foot by ten had been sunk seventy-seven fathoms" (141 metres) "(the deepest
4977-499: Was also a major port for trading with the American colonies , and was, after London, the second busiest port of England by tonnage from 1750 to 1772. This prosperity led to the creation of a Georgian planned town in the 18th century which has left an architectural legacy of over 170 listed buildings . Whitehaven has been designated a "gem town" by the Council for British Archaeology due to
5056-471: Was built in 1769 for Sir John Lowther as his private residence at the end of Lowther Street, replacing an earlier building destroyed by fire. In 1924, the Earl of Lonsdale sold Whitehaven Castle to Herbert Wilson Walker, a local industrialist. Walker donated the building to the people of West Cumberland , along with £20,000 to convert it into a hospital to replace the old Whitehaven Infirmary at Howgill Street, which
5135-411: Was converted to a pumping and winding engine. Nonetheless, the harbour and collieries eventually developed an extensive network of industrial railways within the constraints of the steep valley sides and the coast. The system had two roped inclines . The Howgill incline connected Ladysmith pit on the steep north-western side of the valley to Wellington pit at the harbour, and operated to the 1970s, and on
5214-642: Was established in 1830. Whitehaven is on the Cumbrian Coast Line which runs from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness . The town has two railway stations: Whitehaven (Bransty) and Corkickle , joined by a tunnel underneath the town. The first railway to reach Whitehaven was the Whitehaven Junction Railway (WJR) in 1847 from Maryport , which terminated at the Bransty Row station and allowed rail access to Carlisle and Newcastle upon Tyne . On
5293-553: Was eventually quashed in 1827, with compensation of over £13,000 paid to the school. Sir John, and after him Sir James, had concerns that there were few reserves of economically retrievable coal under dry land. They felt that exploration under the sea was necessary, but this carried the risk of flooding. However, Sir James had two very able managers, the brothers Carlisle and John Spedding, who were willing to explore new technology and techniques. In 1712 John Spedding urged Lowther to consider pumping by steam, and in 1715 he became one of
5372-548: Was exporting more than 35,000 tons of coal a year. Whitehaven's growing prosperity was also based on tobacco. By 1685 there were ships regularly bringing tobacco from the British colonies of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania in America, and by the early 18th century about 10% of England's tobacco imports passed through Whitehaven. By the middle of the 18th century it was the second or third port in England for tobacco imports. The tobacco
5451-401: Was given for a Presbyterian chapel. Most of the streets were relatively narrow, about ten yards, but the principal thoroughfare, Lowther Street, which ran through the town centre from the Lowther family residence to the waterfront, was 16 yards wide. The old St Nicholas chapel was demolished in 1693 to make way for Lowther Street, and its materials used to build a new school. Whitehaven Castle
5530-449: Was in the 19th century when West Cumberland experienced a brief boom because haematite found locally was one of the few iron ores that could be used to produce steel by the original Bessemer process . Improvements to the Bessemer process and the development of the open hearth process removed this advantage. In the 20th century, as in most mining communities, the inter-war Great Depression
5609-575: Was purchased from the Kingdom of Strathclyde , possibly with loot from Ireland. Following the arrival of the Normans , in about 1120 St Bees Priory was founded by William de Meschin, which was granted a large tract of land from the coast at Whitehaven to the river Keekle, and then south down the River Ehen to the sea. This included the small fishing village of Whitehaven. Following Henry VIII 's dissolution of
5688-405: Was raised by horse gin to the surface, then transported by tramway through a tunnel to Ravenhill Pit for lifting to the cliff top. Saltom Pit was used as a central pumping station, draining many of the other local mines via a drift driven in the 1790s, and continued in use long after it had ceased to work coal. To counter the considerable danger of methane gas explosion, Carlisle Spedding invented
5767-420: Was severe; this was exacerbated for West Cumbria by Irish independence which suddenly placed tariff barriers on its principal export market. The harbour lost its last commercial cargo handling operation in 1992 when Marchon ceased their phosphate rock import operations. Drivers Jonas and marine consulting engineers Beckett Rankine drew up a new master plan to impound the inner basins of the harbour to create
5846-458: Was subordinate to the great Benedictine monastery of St Mary at York . The magnificent Norman doorway of the priory dates from just after this time; probably about 1150. The priory had a great influence on the area. The monks worked the land, fished, and extended the priory buildings. The ecclesiastical parish of St Bees was large and stretched to Ennerdale , Loweswater , Wasdale and Eskdale . The coffin routes from these outlying areas to
5925-541: Was the dominant exporter at every harbour in the Cumberland coalfield and from the late 17th to the mid-19th centuries this coal represented 6%-7% of all English exports to Ireland; most of the coal burnt in Dublin came from here. However, Lowther was noted for his unscrupulous business practices, and a lease of the coal royalties owned by St Bees School was obtained in 1742 on manifestly unfair terms: an annual rent of £3.50, with no payment per ton raised, for 867 years. The lease
6004-456: Was the first step in St. Bees School's rise from a local institution to becoming one of the new "public schools" on the fashionable model of Dr Arnold 's Rugby School . By 1916 numbers had reached 350, many new buildings had been erected, and the school had become known nationally. The school was forced to close in 2015 because of financial struggles but re-opened a couple of years later. The closure of
6083-563: Was then sold on the domestic market or re-exported, e.g. to Ireland, France and the Netherlands. However, after the Acts of Union 1707 united England with Scotland, thereby abolishing excise duties between them, the port of Glasgow began to take over Whitehaven's tobacco trade, leading to the later creation of Glasgow's Tobacco Lords . By the second half of the 18th century there was a marked decline in shipping of tobacco via Whitehaven, and by 1820
6162-584: Was under way. In the late 17th and 18th century the harbour was extended by ballast walls, moles and piers to become one of the most complex pier harbours in Britain. April 1778 saw the harbour as the first site of an American attack on the British Isles during the American War of Independence . The port's trade waned rapidly when ports with much larger shipping capacity, such as Bristol and Liverpool , began to take over its main trade. Its peak of prosperity
6241-588: Was wrapped. St Bees is within the Copeland UK Parliamentary constituency . Trudy Harrison is the Member of parliament . Before Brexit , it was in the North West England European Parliamentary Constituency. The village is served by St Bees railway station on the Cumbrian Coast Line , with trains from Barrow-in-Furness , Lancaster , Preston and Carlisle . As from May 20, 2018, there are 30 stopping passenger trains Monday to Saturday, and 16 trains
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