Whitehaven
Encyclopedia
Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria
, England
, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness
, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line
and the A595 road. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Copeland
, and an unparished area
.
Located on the west coast of the county, outside the Lake District
National Park, Whitehaven includes a number of former villages, estates and suburbs, such as Woodhouse, Kells, Mirehouse and Hensingham.
The major industry is the nearby Sellafield
nuclear complex, with which a large proportion of the population has links.
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 tenth century. The area name of Copeland
, which includes Whitehaven, indicates that the land was purchased from the Kingdom of Strathclyde
, possibly with loot from Ireland.
The Priory of St Bees owned the village of Whitehaven until Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1539. Before 1715 the parish of St. Bees included Whitehaven. The town was largely the creation of the Lowther family
in the 17th century. In 1630 Sir Christopher Lowther purchased the estate and used Whitehaven as a port for exporting coal from the Cumberland Coalfield
, particularly to Ireland. In 1634 he built a stone pier where ships could load and unload cargoes.
Whitehaven grew into a major coal mining town during the 18th and 19th centuries and also became a substantial commercial port on the back of this trade. Daniel Defoe visited Whitehaven in the 1720s and wrote:
John Paul Jones
led a naval raid upon the town in 1778 during the American War of Independence; it was the last invasion of England by some definitions.
The town has links to many notable people: Jonathan Swift
, who claimed that an over-fond nurse kidnapped him and brought him to Whitehaven for three years in his infancy; Mildred Gale
, grandmother of George Washington
; and William Wordsworth
, who often came into town to visit his family.
Whitehaven is the most complete example of planned Georgian architecture
in Europe and recently has been pursuing growth through tourism. Due to Whitehaven's planned layout with streets in a right-angled grid, many historians believe that Whitehaven was the blueprint for the New York City
street grid system. James Robinson is officially credited as the original architect but some (most notably Alex James) contest the claim.
Whitehaven Castle was built in 1769, replacing an earlier building destroyed by fire. In 1924, the Earl of Lonsdale sold Whitehaven Castle to Mr H. Walker, who then donated the building to the people of Cumbria, along with monies to convert it into a hospital to replace the Victorian Whitehaven Hospital. With the opening of the new West Cumberland Hospital
in 1964, the Castle became a geriatric unit until forced to close in 1986, owing to fire regulations. It has now been converted to private housing.
The town's fortunes as a port 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 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. As with most mining communities the inter-war depression was severe; this was exacerbated for West Cumbria by Irish independence
which suddenly placed tariff barriers on the principal export market.
The Harbour lost its last commercial cargo handling operation in 1992 when Marchon ceased their phosphate rock import operations. A new masterplan for the harbour was prepared by Drivers Jonas
and marine consulting engineers Beckett Rankine with the objective of refocussing the town on a renovated harbour. The key to the masterplan was the impounding of the inner basins to create a large leisure and fishing harbour.
The harbour has seen much other renovation due to millennium
developments; 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.
The Harbour rejuvenation has cost an estimated £11.3 million and has enabled 100 more moorings within the marina. Further investment of an additional £5.5 million has seen the development of a 40m high crows nest and a wave light feature that changes colour dependant upon the tide, together with the Rum Story on Lowther Street, voted Cumbria Tourism's small visitor attraction of the year 2007.
In June 2008, the Queen visited Whitehaven as part of the 300th Anniversary Celebrations. The Queen and Prince Philip then officially opened the refurbished Beacon, a museum set on the harbour. 10,000 people attended the event.
, and still has two railway stations, Whitehaven (Bransty)
and Corkickle
, both on the Cumbrian Coast Line
, which runs from Carlisle
to Barrow-in-Furness
.
The harbour was once riddled with railway lines, when steam engines would shunt trucks full of coal, iron, gypsum
and many other cargoes onto the quays for ships to take elsewhere in the world.
The railway reached Whitehaven in 1847 - steam powered engines finally reached the town following an agreement between the Earl of Lonsdale
and George Stephenson
. Stephenson was the engineer placed in charge of the construction of the new railway line. The railway became known as the Whitehaven Junction Railway. Even before this line was built, the nearby Lowca engineering works
began to produce locomotives. Over the life of the works, some 260 were produced - mainly for industrial lines.
The earliest reference to coal mining in the Whitehaven area is in the time of Prior Langton (1256–82) 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. In 1560 Sir Thomas Chaloner granted bases of land for digging coal, and in 1586 he granted St Bees School liberty "to take 40 loads of coal at his coal pits in the parish of St Bees for the use of the School". In 1670, the manor of St. Bees was bought by Sir John Lowther - he then began to develop the coal trade due to the ever increasing demand from Ireland
. Lowther invested in the best available technology to help monopolise the coal trade. By the 1730s Whitehaven had the deepest mines due to the necessity to drive ever deeper shafts to reach new seams of coal
.
An example of the Lowthers' interest in technology could be seen at Stone Pitt when one of the world's earliest steam engine
s, Engine No. 5 built by Thomas Newcomen
and John Calley
in 1715 was installed, to help in drainage and haulage. William Brownrigg
, Whitehaven's most eminent scientist, was the first to investigate the explosive mine gas
fire damp.
The Lowthers' technological advances continued when their chief steward, Carlisle Spedding sunk Saltom Pit in 1729. Saltom Pit was the first pit to be sunk beneath the sea. At Saltom pit, Carlisle Spedding pioneered the use of explosives in sinking shafts. He also invented the first form of 'Safety Lamp', it was called the Spedding Wheel or Steel Mill. On occasions the Spedding Wheel caused explosions or fires but it was a major improvement over the naked flame.
Saltom Pit was constructed around 6m above sea level, on land below the cliffs near to Haig Colliery. The pit workings went down to a depth of 456 ft (138m). Saltom Pit ceased working coal in 1848, but today it is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (SM 27801) and is the best known surviving example of an eighteenth century colliery layout. Evidence of the shaft, horse gin, stable, winding engine
house, boiler house and chimney, cottages, cartroads and retaining walls, all survives in situ.
Coal excavated from Saltom Pit was raised by horse gin to surface, then transported by tram
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.
During 2007, Copeland Council declared that it could no longer afford to maintain the remaining Saltom Pit buildings, and decided to allow the pit to fall to the mercy of the Irish Sea
. Following an online campaign by myWhitehaven.net, Copeland Council had a change of heart and decided to reverse this decision. They teamed up with the National Trust
in an endeavour to save Saltom Pit, and obtained the necessary funding from various sources, including 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 repaired and are now part of the 'Whitehaven Coast' project - a scheme to regenerate the coastal area of Whitehaven.
In three hundred years over seventy pits were sunk in the Whitehaven and district area. During this period some five hundred or more people were killed in pit disaster
s and mining accident
s. The largest local disaster was in 1910 at Wellington pit where 136 miners lost their lives. In 1947 at William pit there was another disaster of similar proportions when 104 men were killed. Four separate explosions over the period 1922–1931 at Haig Pit together killed 83. Haig was to become the last pit to operate in Whitehaven.
In 1983, a major fault was encountered at Haig - with this, the future of the pit was in doubt. This, combined with the political situation, and the miners' strike in 1984–1985
, 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.
s in the world. The new detergents were a big success as soap
was in short supply due to the war. The company continued producing their own detergents as well as bulk detergent ingredients for other companies after the war. It was taken over by Albright and Wilson
, often referred to as 'all bright and shiny', in 1955. The Marchon works became the town's largest employer when the mines closed down. However, it too was closed in 2005.
stronghold, its team Whitehaven RLFC
play in National League one
. Their mascot is a lion called "Pride". There are also several Whitehaven-based teams playing in the amateur Cumberland League
.
Whitehaven's female amateur R.L.F.C is named the "Wildcats".
West Brom and England goalkeeper Scott Carson
was also born in Whitehaven. He played for Cleator Moor Celtic.
Aston Villa and England footballer Jackie Sewell
was born in Kells, Whitehaven on 24 January 1927.
Whitehaven has also played host to a Maritime Festival, which started in 1999 and was held every two years; the last, in 2007, attracting an estimated 350,000 people to the small town.
Attractions included tall ships, air displays which include the Red Arrows
and various modern and old planes, street entertainment, and firework displays. At the 2003, 2005 and 2007 Festivals the local Sea Cadets were very much in evidence, conducting the traditional Evening Colours ceremony each evening aboard one of the visiting tall ships, and also taking part in the Festival's official closing ceremony during the late Sunday afternoon each year.
The 2005 festival also marked the 60th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War
in which Whitehaven had been designated Cumbria's Official commemoration celebration. Up to 1,000 veterans and ex-service personnel took part in the parade from the towns Castle Park to the harbour side, led by members of three military bands. Services were held on the harbour side and aircraft from the Royal Airforce provided a tribute display above the harbour.
The Maritime Festivals were organised by the Whitehaven Festival Company, made up a of board of volunteers, who have since launched new events in the town. They organised the Queen's visit to Whitehaven in June 2008, followed by the Status Quo gig in August of that year. The company staged two events in August 2009. The first was the redesigned Festival (known for this year as the Whitehaven Food Festival, although it did still feature tall ships) which offered the usual wide variety of attractions, both around the southern half of the harbour and at St. Nicholas' Church, on 8–9 August. The second event, the following week, was the Here and Now Gig (a music concert with 80s pop icons). For the June 2010 festival, which was similar in format to 2009, the music performances (Status Quo, N-Dubz
and Katherine Jenkins
) were moved to the harbour area.
The 2011 Festival (featuring Razorlight
plus several 1980s acts including Madness
) continued the successful culinary theme, with the return of Jean-Christophe Novelli
and other favourites.
, following the killings of people in the west of the county
.
Taxi driver Derrick Bird travelled from his home in Rowrah
, killing and maiming people on his journey to Whitehaven. Once in Whitehaven, Bird continued his attacks by shooting fellow taxi drivers, along with other members of the public. From there, Bird used his knowledge of county roads to continue his attacks. In total, there were 30 crime scenes investigated as a result of the shootings by Bird. 12 people were killed and 11 people were injured during his three hours of terror, before he finally turned one of his two guns onto himself in the village of Boot, thus ending one of the worst mass killings in British history.
A list of locations where shots were fired and where people were believed to have been killed:
and Industry Minister Margaret Hodge
announced that Whitehaven would be the pilot site
for the switchover
to digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom
. The selection of a pilot site followed on from trial switchovers held in Ferryside and Bolton
.
The switchover began when BBC Two
was switched off at 0200 on 17 October 2007. This was followed by the remaining analogue channels at 0200, on 14 November 2007. As a result of the switchover, all televisions in the Whitehaven area must have a digital terrestrial receiver (Freeview) or digital satellite alternative (Freesat
, Sky Digital
, etc.) The switchover in the Whitehaven area was not entirely successful: in nearby Eskdale
, poor signal quality left viewers with blank television screens and the digital switchover was supposed to give over 40 channels but certain areas received less than 20.
to the north, Cleator Moor
to the East and Egremont
to the south. Villages close by which are not suburbs include St Bees
and Beckermet
to the south and Distington
to the north.
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...
, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line
Cumbrian Coast Line
The Cumbrian Coast Line is a rail route in North West England, running from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness via Workington and Whitehaven. The line forms part of Network Rail route NW 4033, which continues via Ulverston and Grange-over-Sands to Carnforth, where it connects with the West Coast Main...
and the A595 road. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Copeland
Copeland, Cumbria
Copeland is a local government district and borough in western Cumbria, England. Its council is based in Whitehaven. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Whitehaven, Ennerdale Rural District and Millom Rural District....
, and an unparished area
Unparished area
In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish. Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparished. Many towns and some cities in otherwise rural districts are also unparished areas and therefore no longer have a town council or city...
.
Located on the west coast of the county, outside the Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
National Park, Whitehaven includes a number of former villages, estates and suburbs, such as Woodhouse, Kells, Mirehouse and Hensingham.
The major industry is the nearby Sellafield
Sellafield
Sellafield is a nuclear reprocessing site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station. Sellafield is an off-shoot from the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale which is currently undergoing...
nuclear complex, with which a large proportion of the population has links.
History
Although there was a RomanAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
fort at Parton
Parton, Cumbria
Parton is a village and civil parish on the Cumbrian coast, overlooking the Solway Firth, 2km north of the town of Whitehaven. Formerly a port and a mining centre, it is now purely residential, benefiting from its location between the A595 trunk road and the Cumbrian Coast railway...
, 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 tenth century. The area name of Copeland
Copeland
- Places :Canada* Copeland Islands * Copeland Islands Marine Provincial Park, in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia* Mount Copeland, also Copeland Ridge and Copeland Creek in same vicinity, in the Monashee Mountains of British Columbia...
, which includes Whitehaven, indicates that the land was purchased from the Kingdom of Strathclyde
Kingdom of Strathclyde
Strathclyde , originally Brythonic Ystrad Clud, was one of the early medieval kingdoms of the celtic people called the Britons in the Hen Ogledd, the Brythonic-speaking parts of what is now southern Scotland and northern England. The kingdom developed during the post-Roman period...
, possibly with loot from Ireland.
The Priory of St Bees owned the village of Whitehaven until Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1539. Before 1715 the parish of St. Bees included Whitehaven. The town was largely the creation of the Lowther family
Lowther Baronets
There have been seven Baronetcies created for members of the Lowther family, one in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia, two in the Baronetage of England, two in the Baronetage of Great Britain and two in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom...
in the 17th century. In 1630 Sir Christopher Lowther purchased the estate and used Whitehaven as a port for exporting coal from the Cumberland Coalfield
Cumberland Coalfield
The Cumberland Coalfield is a coalfield in Cumbria, north-west England. It extends from Whitehaven in the south to Maryport and Aspatria in the north.The following coal seams occur within the Coal Measures Group in this coalfield...
, particularly to Ireland. In 1634 he built a stone pier where ships could load and unload cargoes.
Whitehaven grew into a major coal mining town during the 18th and 19th centuries and also became a substantial commercial port on the back of this trade. Daniel Defoe visited Whitehaven in the 1720s and wrote:
- ... 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 NewcastleNewcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
and Sunderland and even beyond 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.
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones was a Scottish sailor and the United States' first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War. Although he made enemies among America's political elites, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to...
led a naval raid upon the town in 1778 during the American War of Independence; it was the last invasion of England by some definitions.
The town has links to many notable people: Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
, who claimed that an over-fond nurse kidnapped him and brought him to Whitehaven for three years in his infancy; Mildred Gale
Mildred Gale
Mildred Gale , born Mildred Warner in the Colony of Virginia, was the paternal grandmother of George Washington, the first president of the United States of America....
, grandmother of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
; and William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
, who often came into town to visit his family.
Whitehaven is the most complete example of planned Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
in Europe and recently has been pursuing growth through tourism. Due to Whitehaven's planned layout with streets in a right-angled grid, many historians believe that Whitehaven was the blueprint for the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
street grid system. James Robinson is officially credited as the original architect but some (most notably Alex James) contest the claim.
Whitehaven Castle was built in 1769, replacing an earlier building destroyed by fire. In 1924, the Earl of Lonsdale sold Whitehaven Castle to Mr H. Walker, who then donated the building to the people of Cumbria, along with monies to convert it into a hospital to replace the Victorian Whitehaven Hospital. With the opening of the new West Cumberland Hospital
West Cumberland Hospital
West Cumberland Hospital is a hospital in Hensingham, a suburb of Whitehaven in Cumbria.Under the management of the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, together with the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, they serve 34,000 residents in north Cumbria....
in 1964, the Castle became a geriatric unit until forced to close in 1986, owing to fire regulations. It has now been converted to private housing.
Harbour
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
and Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, began to take over its main trade. Its peak of prosperity 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
Bessemer process
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. The process is named after its inventor, Henry Bessemer, who took out a patent on the process in 1855. The process was independently discovered in 1851 by William Kelly...
. Improvements to the Bessemer process and the development of the open hearth process
Open hearth furnace
Open hearth furnaces are one of a number of kinds of furnace where excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of the pig iron to produce steel. Since steel is difficult to manufacture due to its high melting point, normal fuels and furnaces were insufficient and the open hearth furnace was...
removed this advantage. As with most mining communities the inter-war depression was severe; this was exacerbated for West Cumbria by Irish independence
History of Ireland
The first known settlement in Ireland began around 8000 BC, when hunter-gatherers arrived from continental Europe, probably via a land bridge. Few archaeological traces remain of this group, but their descendants and later Neolithic arrivals, particularly from the Iberian Peninsula, were...
which suddenly placed tariff barriers on the principal export market.
The Harbour lost its last commercial cargo handling operation in 1992 when Marchon ceased their phosphate rock import operations. A new masterplan for the harbour was prepared by Drivers Jonas
Drivers Jonas
Drivers Jonas was a longstanding private partnership of chartered surveyors in the United Kingdom. It was among the oldest firms of its kind in the world, having been founded in 1725. It was known for its public sector work, with contracts in defence, county councils, government offices and...
and marine consulting engineers Beckett Rankine with the objective of refocussing the town on a renovated harbour. The key to the masterplan was the impounding of the inner basins to create a large leisure and fishing harbour.
The harbour has seen much other renovation due to millennium
3rd millennium
In contemporary history, the third millennium is a period of time that commenced on January 1, 2001, and will end on December 31, 3000, of the Gregorian calendar. This is the third period of one thousand years in the Anno Domini...
developments; 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.
The Harbour rejuvenation has cost an estimated £11.3 million and has enabled 100 more moorings within the marina. Further investment of an additional £5.5 million has seen the development of a 40m high crows nest and a wave light feature that changes colour dependant upon the tide, together with the Rum Story on Lowther Street, voted Cumbria Tourism's small visitor attraction of the year 2007.
In June 2008, the Queen visited Whitehaven as part of the 300th Anniversary Celebrations. The Queen and Prince Philip then officially opened the refurbished Beacon, a museum set on the harbour. 10,000 people attended the event.
Railways
Whitehaven has a rich railway history. It used to be a terminus of the Furness RailwayFurness Railway
The Furness Railway was a railway company operating in the Furness area of Lancashire in North West England.-History:The company was established on May 23, 1844 when the Furness Railway Act was passed by Parliament...
, and still has two railway stations, Whitehaven (Bransty)
Whitehaven railway station
Whitehaven Railway Station serves the town of Whitehaven in Cumbria, England. The railway station is a stop on the scenic Cumbrian Coast Line south west of Carlisle....
and Corkickle
Corkickle railway station
Corkickle Railway Station serves the Whitehaven suburb of Corkickle in Cumbria, England. The railway station is a request stop on the scenic Cumbrian Coast Line south east of Carlisle. The station opened in 1855 and is at the southern end of the tunnel from Whitehaven railway station...
, both on the Cumbrian Coast Line
Cumbrian Coast Line
The Cumbrian Coast Line is a rail route in North West England, running from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness via Workington and Whitehaven. The line forms part of Network Rail route NW 4033, which continues via Ulverston and Grange-over-Sands to Carnforth, where it connects with the West Coast Main...
, which runs from Carlisle
Carlisle railway station
Carlisle railway station, also known as Carlisle Citadel station, is a railway station whichserves the Cumbrian City of Carlisle, England, and is a major station on the West Coast Main Line, lying south of Glasgow Central, and north of London Euston...
to Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...
.
The harbour was once riddled with railway lines, when steam engines would shunt trucks full of coal, iron, gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...
and many other cargoes onto the quays for ships to take elsewhere in the world.
The railway reached Whitehaven in 1847 - steam powered engines finally reached the town following an agreement between the Earl of Lonsdale
Earl of Lonsdale
Earl of Lonsdale is a title that has been created twice in British history, firstly in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1784 , and then in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1807, both times for members of the Lowther family....
and George Stephenson
George Stephenson
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...
. Stephenson was the engineer placed in charge of the construction of the new railway line. The railway became known as the Whitehaven Junction Railway. Even before this line was built, the nearby Lowca engineering works
Tulk and Ley
Tulk and Ley was a 19th century iron mining company in west Cumbria which also ran an engineering works at Lowca near Whitehaven.-Overview:Established on the Lowca site in 1800 as "Heslops, Milward, Johnston & Co."- the engineering and ironfounding expertise coming from the brothers Adam, Thomas &...
began to produce locomotives. Over the life of the works, some 260 were produced - mainly for industrial lines.
Mines and pits
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. Lowther invested in the best available technology to help monopolise the coal trade. By the 1730s Whitehaven had the deepest mines due to the necessity to drive ever deeper shafts to reach new seams of coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
.
An example of the Lowthers' interest in technology could be seen at Stone Pitt when one of the world's earliest steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
s, Engine No. 5 built by Thomas Newcomen
Thomas Newcomen
Thomas Newcomen was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling. He was born in Dartmouth, Devon, England, near a part of the country noted for its tin mines. Flooding was a major problem, limiting the depth at which the mineral could be mined...
and John Calley
John Calley (engineer)
John Calley , a metalworker, plumber and glass-blower, was Thomas Newcomen's partner. He helped develop the Newcomen steam engine, and his name is listed on the patent with Newcomen and Thomas Savery.-References:...
in 1715 was installed, to help in drainage and haulage. William Brownrigg
William Brownrigg
William Brownrigg M.D. F.R.S. was a doctor and scientist, who practised at Whitehaven in Cumberland. While there, William Brownrigg carried out experiments that won him not only a place in The Royal Society but the prized Copley Medal....
, Whitehaven's most eminent scientist, was the first to investigate the explosive mine gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
fire damp.
The Lowthers' technological advances continued when their chief steward, Carlisle Spedding sunk Saltom Pit in 1729. Saltom Pit was the first pit to be sunk beneath the sea. At Saltom pit, Carlisle Spedding pioneered the use of explosives in sinking shafts. He also invented the first form of 'Safety Lamp', it was called the Spedding Wheel or Steel Mill. On occasions the Spedding Wheel caused explosions or fires but it was a major improvement over the naked flame.
Saltom Pit was constructed around 6m above sea level, on land below the cliffs near to Haig Colliery. The pit workings went down to a depth of 456 ft (138m). Saltom Pit ceased working coal in 1848, but today it is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (SM 27801) and is the best known surviving example of an eighteenth century colliery layout. Evidence of the shaft, horse gin, stable, winding engine
Winding engine
A winding engine is a stationary engine used to control a cable, for example to power a mining hoist at a pit head. Electric hoist controllers have replaced proper winding engines in modern mining, but use electric motors that are also traditionally referred to as winding engines.Most proper...
house, boiler house and chimney, cottages, cartroads and retaining walls, all survives in situ.
Coal excavated from Saltom Pit was raised by horse gin to surface, then transported by tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
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.
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
. Following an online campaign by myWhitehaven.net, Copeland Council had a change of heart and decided to reverse this decision. They teamed up with the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
in an endeavour to save Saltom Pit, and obtained the necessary funding from various sources, including a 50% grant from the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. On Monday 8 December 2007, Saltom Pit was reopened as an historic monument. The pit buildings have been repaired and are now part of the 'Whitehaven Coast' project - a scheme to regenerate the coastal area of Whitehaven.
In three hundred years over seventy pits were sunk in the Whitehaven and district area. During this period some five hundred or more people were killed in pit disaster
Disaster
A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment...
s and mining accident
Mining accident
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals.Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially in the processes of coal mining and hard rock mining...
s. The largest local disaster was in 1910 at Wellington pit where 136 miners lost their lives. In 1947 at William pit there was another disaster of similar proportions when 104 men were killed. Four separate explosions over the period 1922–1931 at Haig Pit together killed 83. Haig was to become the last pit to operate in Whitehaven.
In 1983, a major fault was encountered at Haig - with this, the future of the pit was in doubt. This, combined with the political situation, and the miners' strike in 1984–1985
UK miners' strike (1984–1985)
The UK miners' strike was a major industrial action affecting the British coal industry. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, and its defeat significantly weakened the British trades union movement...
, 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.
Marchon
In 1941, Fred Marzillier and Frank Schon moved their Marchon Chemical Company to Whitehaven to avoid German bombing. Marchon started producing some of the first detergentDetergent
A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with "cleaning properties in dilute solutions." In common usage, "detergent" refers to alkylbenzenesulfonates, a family of compounds that are similar to soap but are less affected by hard water...
s in the world. The new detergents were a big success as soap
Soap
In chemistry, soap is a salt of a fatty acid.IUPAC. "" Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. . Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford . XML on-line corrected version: created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN...
was in short supply due to the war. The company continued producing their own detergents as well as bulk detergent ingredients for other companies after the war. It was taken over by Albright and Wilson
Albright and Wilson
Albright and Wilson was founded in 1856 as a United Kingdom manufacturer of potassium chlorate and white phosphorus for the match industry. For much of its first 100 years of existence, phosphorus-derived chemicals formed the majority of its products....
, often referred to as 'all bright and shiny', in 1955. The Marchon works became the town's largest employer when the mines closed down. However, it too was closed in 2005.
Sport
Whitehaven is a rugby leagueRugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
stronghold, its team Whitehaven RLFC
Whitehaven RLFC
Whitehaven RLFC is a rugby league club playing in Whitehaven in West Cumbria. They play in Co-operative Championship. Their stadium is called the Recreation Ground...
play in National League one
Rugby League National Leagues
The Championship, known as Co-operative Championship due to sponsorship by The Co-operative Group, is a professional rugby league competition based in the United Kingdom. It is currently contested by ten teams from England. It acts as Europe's second-tier competition below the Super League, and has...
. Their mascot is a lion called "Pride". There are also several Whitehaven-based teams playing in the amateur Cumberland League
Cumberland League
The Cumberland League is a series of rugby league divisions in the traditional county of Cumberland.The league is run by the British Amateur Rugby League Association . Teams from the Cumberland league can apply for election to the National Conference League if they meet minimum...
.
Whitehaven's female amateur R.L.F.C is named the "Wildcats".
West Brom and England goalkeeper Scott Carson
Scott Carson
Scott Paul Carson is an English footballer who plays for Bursaspor as a goalkeeper.He joined the Leeds United football academy in 2002, making his full first team debut for Leeds against Manchester United in February 2004...
was also born in Whitehaven. He played for Cleator Moor Celtic.
Aston Villa and England footballer Jackie Sewell
Jackie Sewell
John Jackie Sewell John Jackie Sewell John Jackie Sewell (born 24 January 1927, in Kells Village, near Whitehaven, Cumberland is a former England International football player. He played for several teams including Sheffield Wednesday, Notts County and Aston Villa...
was born in Kells, Whitehaven on 24 January 1927.
Maritime festival
Attractions included tall ships, air displays which include the Red Arrows
Red Arrows
The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Scampton, but due to move to RAF Waddington in 2011...
and various modern and old planes, street entertainment, and firework displays. At the 2003, 2005 and 2007 Festivals the local Sea Cadets were very much in evidence, conducting the traditional Evening Colours ceremony each evening aboard one of the visiting tall ships, and also taking part in the Festival's official closing ceremony during the late Sunday afternoon each year.
The 2005 festival also marked the 60th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in which Whitehaven had been designated Cumbria's Official commemoration celebration. Up to 1,000 veterans and ex-service personnel took part in the parade from the towns Castle Park to the harbour side, led by members of three military bands. Services were held on the harbour side and aircraft from the Royal Airforce provided a tribute display above the harbour.
The Maritime Festivals were organised by the Whitehaven Festival Company, made up a of board of volunteers, who have since launched new events in the town. They organised the Queen's visit to Whitehaven in June 2008, followed by the Status Quo gig in August of that year. The company staged two events in August 2009. The first was the redesigned Festival (known for this year as the Whitehaven Food Festival, although it did still feature tall ships) which offered the usual wide variety of attractions, both around the southern half of the harbour and at St. Nicholas' Church, on 8–9 August. The second event, the following week, was the Here and Now Gig (a music concert with 80s pop icons). For the June 2010 festival, which was similar in format to 2009, the music performances (Status Quo, N-Dubz
N-Dubz
N-Dubz are a British hip hop group from Camden Town, London. The group consists of members Dappy, Tulisa Contostavlos and Fazer.N-Dubz were previously signed to Polydor Records before joining All Around the World Records...
and Katherine Jenkins
Katherine Jenkins
Katherine Jenkins is a Welsh mezzo-soprano. She is a classical-popular crossover singer who performs across a spectrum of operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre and hymns.-Early life and education:...
) were moved to the harbour area.
The 2011 Festival (featuring Razorlight
Razorlight
Razorlight are a UK based indie rock band formed in 2002. They are primarily known in the UK, having topped the charts with the 2006 single "America" and its parent self-titled album, their second...
plus several 1980s acts including Madness
Madness (band)
In 1979, the band recorded the Lee Thompson composition "The Prince". The song, like the band's name, paid homage to their idol, Prince Buster. The song was released through 2 Tone Records, the label of The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The song was a surprise hit, peaking in the UK music charts...
) continued the successful culinary theme, with the return of Jean-Christophe Novelli
Jean-Christophe Novelli
-Life:Born in Arras, Northern France, in 1961, in a family with Italian roots, Jean-Christophe Novelli left school at age 14 and worked in a bakery before, at the age of 20, becoming a personal chef to the Rothschild family....
and other favourites.
June 2010 shootings
On 2 June 2010, Whitehaven became a focus for the international media in relation to gun law in the United KingdomGun politics in the United Kingdom
Gun politics in the United Kingdom generally places its main considerations on how best to ensure public safety and how deaths involving firearms can most effectively be prevented. The United Kingdom has one of the lowest rates of gun homicides in the world, and did so even before strict gun...
, following the killings of people in the west of the county
Cumbria shootings
The Cumbria shootings was a killing spree that occurred on 2 June 2010 when a lone gunman, Derrick Bird, killed 12 people and injured 11 others before killing himself in Cumbria, England....
.
Taxi driver Derrick Bird travelled from his home in Rowrah
Rowrah
Rowrah is a village in Cumbria and spans the civil parishes of Arlecdon and Frizington and Lamplugh. The majority of Rowrah is within Arlecdon and Frizington...
, killing and maiming people on his journey to Whitehaven. Once in Whitehaven, Bird continued his attacks by shooting fellow taxi drivers, along with other members of the public. From there, Bird used his knowledge of county roads to continue his attacks. In total, there were 30 crime scenes investigated as a result of the shootings by Bird. 12 people were killed and 11 people were injured during his three hours of terror, before he finally turned one of his two guns onto himself in the village of Boot, thus ending one of the worst mass killings in British history.
A list of locations where shots were fired and where people were believed to have been killed:
- Duke Street, Whitehaven - shots fired and a man killed
- Orgill, Haggard End, EgremontEgremont, CumbriaEgremont is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Copeland in Cumbria, England, south of Whitehaven and on the River Ehen. The town, which lies at the foot of Uldale Valley and Dent Fell, was historically within Cumberland and has a long industrial heritage including dyeing, weaving and...
- shots fired and one person killed; - Town End Farm, Wilton - a man and a woman were killed after shots fired;
- Woodbank, Egremont - shots discharged;
- Bridge End, Egremont - shots fired and one person killed;
- Coach Road, Whitehaven - shots fired;
- Scotch Street, Whitehaven - shots fired;
- Red Admiral, GosforthGosforth, CumbriaGosforth is a village and civil parish in the Lake District, in the Borough of Copeland in Cumbria, England. It is situated on the A595 road between Whitehaven and Barrow-in-Furness. It has a population of 1,230....
- shots fired and one man killed; - SeascaleSeascaleSeascale is a village and civil parish on the Irish Sea coast of Cumbria in north-west England.-History:The place-name indicates that it was inhabited by Norse settlers, probably before 1000 AD. It is derived from skali, meaning in Norse a wooden hut or shelter...
railway station - shots fired; - Yeat House Road, FrizingtonFrizingtonFrizington is a village in Cumbria, England. Historically, it was a collection of farms and houses, but became a unified village as a result of the mining opportunities in the area. The village is known for its church, which was built in 1867-1868...
- shots fired and one person killed; - Shaw Road, DriggDriggDrigg is a village situated in the civil parish of Drigg and Carleton on the West Cumbria coast of the Irish Sea and on the boundary of the Lake District National Park in the county of Cumbria, England....
- shots fired; - Between HaileHaile, CumbriaHaile is a small village and civil parish in the Copeland District, in the county of Cumbria. Haile has a church. Nearby settlements include the town of Egremont and the villages of Thornhill and Beckermet. For transport there is the A595 road nearby....
and Egremont near Carleton Wood - shots fired and one man killed; - Drigg Road, Seascale - shots fired and one man and one woman killed;
- Gosforth Road, Seascale - shots fired and one man killed;
- Unident, Seascale - shots fired;
- High Trees, LamplughLamplughLamplugh is a scattered community and civil parish located in west Cumbria on the edge of the English Lake District. It is the starting point for a number of walks, and is on the Sea to Sea / C2C / Coast to Coast Cycle Route....
- shots fired and one man killed; - Eskdale GreenEskdale, CumbriaEskdale is a glacial valley and civil parish in the western Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It forms part of the Borough of Copeland, and has a population of 264....
- shots fired; - Outside Hollins Cottage campsite - shots fired;
- Wooded area in Boot - Bird found dead.
Digital switchover trial
On 20 July 2006, Broadcasting Minister Shaun WoodwardShaun Woodward
Shaun Anthony Woodward is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for St Helens South since 2001. He served in the Cabinet from 28 June 2007 to 11 May 2010 as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland...
and Industry Minister Margaret Hodge
Margaret Hodge
Margaret Hodge MBE MP, also known as Lady Hodge by virtue of her husband's knighthood, is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Barking since 1994. She was the first Minister for Children in 2003 and was Minister of State for Culture and Tourism at the Department...
announced that Whitehaven would be the pilot site
Pilot (experiment)
A pilot experiment, also called a pilot study, is a small scale preliminary study conducted in order to evaluate feasibility, time, cost, adverse events, and effect size in an attempt to predict an appropriate sample size and improve upon the study design prior to performance of a full-scale...
for the switchover
Digital switchover in the United Kingdom
Digital switchover is the name given to the process by which UK analogue broadcast television in an area is converted to digital television. It is sometimes referred to as "analogue switch off". For full details see UK Digital switchover....
to digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom
Digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom
Digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom encompasses over 100 television, radio and interactive services broadcast via the UK's terrestrial television network and receivable with a standard television aerial...
. The selection of a pilot site followed on from trial switchovers held in Ferryside and Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
.
The switchover began when BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
was switched off at 0200 on 17 October 2007. This was followed by the remaining analogue channels at 0200, on 14 November 2007. As a result of the switchover, all televisions in the Whitehaven area must have a digital terrestrial receiver (Freeview) or digital satellite alternative (Freesat
Freesat
Freesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008...
, Sky Digital
Sky Digital (UK & Ireland)
Sky is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television and radio service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28.2° east and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E. The service was originally launched as Sky Digital, distinguishing it from the original...
, etc.) The switchover in the Whitehaven area was not entirely successful: in nearby Eskdale
Eskdale
-United Kingdom:*Eskdale, Cumbria, England*Eskdale, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland*Eskdale, North Yorkshire, England*Eskdale , Cumberland, England, former constituency-United States:...
, poor signal quality left viewers with blank television screens and the digital switchover was supposed to give over 40 channels but certain areas received less than 20.
Woodhouse
Woodhouse is a housing estate in the suburbs of Whitehaven, between Kells and Greenbank. Police, the local council, and people living in the Woodhouse community have worked very hard to improve the condition of public areas, the reputation, and the crime levels on the estate. Woodhouse was created as a council estate, but some tenants later bought their homes. The estate has a fish and chip shop, general store and pub. There are also two taxi firms and regular buses running to and from the town centre. The estate has three surrounding schools which cater for infants and juniors, St. Mary's, Kells county infants school, and Monkwray Junior school. The estate has local centres and public parks for children of all ages to use. Every summer there is a play-scheme, two days a week, which caters for over one hundred children during the school holiday, featuring trips to farm parks and theme parks. Regular meetings upon the estate are held by the council which allows the members of the public within the community to voice their opinions and concerns.Neighbouring towns
The main towns neighbouring Whitehaven are WorkingtonWorkington
Workington is a town, civil parish and port on the west coast of Cumbria, England, at the mouth of the River Derwent. Lying within the Borough of Allerdale, Workington is southwest of Carlisle, west of Cockermouth, and southwest of Maryport...
to the north, Cleator Moor
Cleator Moor
Cleator Moor is a small town and civil parish in the English county of Cumbria and within the boundaries of the traditional county of Cumberland....
to the East and Egremont
Egremont, Cumbria
Egremont is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Copeland in Cumbria, England, south of Whitehaven and on the River Ehen. The town, which lies at the foot of Uldale Valley and Dent Fell, was historically within Cumberland and has a long industrial heritage including dyeing, weaving and...
to the south. Villages close by which are not suburbs include St Bees
St Bees
St Bees is a village and civil parish in the Copeland district of Cumbria, in the North of England, about five miles west southwest of Whitehaven. The parish had a population of 1,717 according to the 2001 census. Within the parish is St...
and Beckermet
Beckermet
Beckermet is a village, civil parish and post town in the English county of Cumbria, located near the coast between Egremont and Seascale. Historically within Cumberland, it is served by Braystones railway station and is less than a mile west of the A595 road...
to the south and Distington
Distington
Distington is a large village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, south of Workington and north-northeast of Whitehaven.Historically a part of Cumberland, the civil parish includes the nearby settlements of Common End, Gilgarran and Pica...
to the north.
Notable people
- Abraham ActonAbraham ActonAbraham Acton VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
VCVictoria CrossThe Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
, recipient of the Victoria CrossVictoria CrossThe Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
in World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918... - John Benson (clockmaker)John Benson (clockmaker)John Benson was a famous English clock maker who worked and lived in Whitehaven. He became a highly skilled and much respected clockmaker, and his work was mainly in brass dial 8 day clocks with rolling moons for the upper market. Many have centre calendar work and simple rise/fall, ebb/flow, tidal...
- Jackie SewellJackie SewellJohn Jackie Sewell John Jackie Sewell John Jackie Sewell (born 24 January 1927, in Kells Village, near Whitehaven, Cumberland is a former England International football player. He played for several teams including Sheffield Wednesday, Notts County and Aston Villa...
- England footballer - Scott CarsonScott CarsonScott Paul Carson is an English footballer who plays for Bursaspor as a goalkeeper.He joined the Leeds United football academy in 2002, making his full first team debut for Leeds against Manchester United in February 2004...
- Stephen ConroyStephen ConroyStephen Michael Conroy is an Australian politician and the current Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy in the Gillard Ministry...
, Australian politician and government minister - Brian Higgins (producer)Brian Higgins (producer)Brian Thomas Higgins is a British music producer who has written and produced albums and tracks for several highly successful pop music singers and groups, most notably Girls Aloud, through his Xenomania production group...
- Brad KavanaghBrad KavanaghBrad Lewis Kavanagh is an English actor and singer-songwriter, originally from Whitehaven, Cumbria.-Acting career:Kavanagh made his acting debut in the West End in Billy Elliot the Musical as Billy's best friend, Michael, at the age of 11...
- Adam SummerfieldAdam SummerfieldAdam Summerfield is an English professional ice hockey goaltender, playing for the Manchester Phoenix of the EPL...
Professional Ice Hockey Player for Manchester PhoenixManchester PhoenixManchester Phoenix are a professional ice hockey team from Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. The club was formed in 2003 as a result of the efforts of supporters group Friends of Manchester Ice Hockey to bring top-level ice hockey back to Manchester after Manchester Storm folded in... - John Paul JonesJohn Paul JonesJohn Paul Jones was a Scottish sailor and the United States' first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War. Although he made enemies among America's political elites, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to...
American Naval Hero, started career in Whitehaven - George WashingtonGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
first President of the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, grandmother lived and buried in Whitehaven
Further reading
- "Whitehaven an illustrated history", by Daniel Hay. Published by Michael Moon, 1979. ISBN 0-904131-21-1