Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for WHITEHAVEN

WHITEHAVEN, a town, a township, four chapelries, and a district, in Cumberland. The town stands on the coast, and on a system of coast railways, 12 miles SSW of Maryport; was only a fishing hamlet, with about 10 houses, in 1633; began to acquire importance, under the influence of the Lowther family, and by exporting of coals, in 1666; rose rapidly thence to the bulk and wealth of a considerable seaport town; was attacked menacingly, but not seriously, in 1778, by Paul Jones; became a parliamentary borough, with one representative, in 1832: is a seat of petty-sessions and county courts, a polling place, and a head port; stands upon a rich coalfield, elaborately worked, extending both inland and fully 2 miles outward beneath the sea; commands great mineral traffic by railways coming to it from Cleator and from other parts; suffered a mining subsidence in 1791, injuring 18 houses; adjoins fine white cliffs, called Scilly Bank, 500 feet high; has derived constant benefit from the adjacency on the SE of Whitehaven Castle, a plain but very massive edifice, a seat of the Earl of Lonsdale; presents a neat, well built, modern appearance, with straight and spacious streets intersecting one another at right angles; underwent sewage improvement in 1867; publishes three weekly newspapers: and has a head post-office,‡ a r. station with telegraph, three banking offices, four chief inns, a police station, a county court-house, a town hall, with public offices and assembly-rooms, an old public office now used as reading rooms, a market house of 1813, a custom-house of 1811, barracks, public baths, a theatre of 1769, four churches, nine dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, an ultra-mural cemetery, a mechanics' institute, a subscription library, a race-stand, an endowed school with £90 a year, a refuge school for 100 boys and girls, a ragged school and reading-room, several national schools, a large infirmary, a workhouse, and charities £31.

Markets are held on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays; a fair is held on 12 Aug.; a productive herring fishery, ship-building, sail-making, rope-making, flax-spinning, and the manufacture of coarse linens are carried on; considerable quantities of grain, lime, and lead ore, and vast quantities of coal and iron, are exported; and a large trade with many seaports of Britain, and with America, the West Indies and the Baltic, is carried on. The harbour is artificial, and was formed by Rennie; is entirely tidal, with a depth of from 10 to 8 feet at high water; comprises a north pier running out 1,800 feet, a west pier running out with a bend 1,350 feet, and five other piers in different directions; and has an inner fixed light for showing the fair way, and an outer revolving light visible 11 miles out at sea. A patent slip was constructed at the expense of Lord Lonsdale; a lifeboat has been maintained since 1803; and a battery, with upwards of 100 guns, was on the west pier, but has been allowed to go into decay. The vessels belonging to the port, at the beginning of 1864, were 18 small sailing-vessels, of aggregately 350 tons; 166 large sailing-vessels, of aggregately 26,515 tons; and 3 steam-vessels, of aggregately 535 tons. The vessels which entered in 1863, were 15 British sailing-vessels, of aggregately 3,961 tons, from British colonies; 8 British sailing-vessels, of aggregately 950 tons, from foreign countries; 18 foreign sailing-vessels, of aggregately 2,436 tons, from foreign countries 788 sailing-vessels, of aggregately 32,265 tons, coastwise; and 324 steam-vessels, of aggregately 64,998 tons, coast-wise. The vessels which cleared, in 1863, were 5 British sailing-vessels, of aggregately 1,235 tons, to British colonies; 1 foreign vessel, of 173 tons, to British colonies; 49 British sailing-vessels, of aggregately 4,420 tons, to foreign countries; 7 foreign sailing-vessels, of aggregately 804 tons, to foreign countries; 3,780 sailing-vessels, of aggregately 271,136 tons, coastwise; and 430 steam-vessels, of aggregately 109,646 tons, coastwise. The amount of customs, in 1862, was £61,324. Steamers sail regularly to Liverpool, Ramsey, Douglas, Dublin, Belfast, and Dundrum. The borough includes all W. township, and part of Preston-Quarter. Amount of property and income tax charged in 1863, £6,977. Electors in 1833, 458; in 1863, 638. Pop. in 1851, 18,916: in 1861, 18,842. Pop., 3,751.

The township comprises 117 acres of land, and 150 of water. Real property, £41,234; of which £5,430 are in railways. Pop. in 1851, 14,190; in 1861, 14,064. Houses, 2,798.-The chapelries are St. James, St. Nicholas, Trinity, and Christchurch; and all are in St. Bees parish. The livings are vicarages in the diocese of Carlisle. Value of St. J., £140; of St. N., £188; of T., £250;* of C., £200. Patron of all, the Earl of Lonsdale.—The district contains 13 parishes; and is divided into Whitehaven, St. Bees, Egremont, and Harrington sub-districts. Acres, 92,203. Poor rates in 1863, £10,800. Pop. in 1851, 35,614; in 1861, 39,950. Houses, 7,725. Marriages in 1863, 354; births, 1,668, -of which 151 were illegitimate; deaths, 1,147,- of which 413 were at ages under 5 years, and 23 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 2,897; births, 13,410; deaths, 8,555. The places of worship, in 1851, were 24 of the Church of England, with 11,458 sittings; 1 of English Presbyterians, with 640 s.; 1 of United Presbyterians, with 700 s.; 1 of Independents, with 700 s.; 1 of Baptists, with 300 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 700 s.; 1 of Unitarians, with 28 attendants; 6 of Wesleyans, with 1,890 s.: 4 of Primitive Methodists, with 1,035 s.; 4 of the Wesleyan Association, with 1,038 s; 4 undefined, with 330 s.; 1 of Latter Day Saints, with 200 s.; and 2 of Roman Catholics, with 750. The schools were 33 public day-schools, with 2,928 scholars; 56 private day-schools, with 1,725 s.; and 40 Sunday schools, with 4,610 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, four chapelries, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Whitehaven Ch/CP       Whitehaven RegD/PLU       Cumberland AncC
Place: Whitehaven

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