IN this edition of nostalgia, we are looking back at our harbours, ports and marinas across Cumbria throughout the years.

Whitehaven Harbour is rich with history, with the first quay being built in 1634, it was originally used for the export of salt and coal. With 80 per cent of all Ireland’s coal being imported from Whitehaven by the 1700s.

By the beginning of the 18th century, Whitehaven was also importing large quantities of tobacco from Virginia and Maryland in exchange for manufactured goods. Other imports at this time from the West Indies included sugar, spirits and very occasionally slaves; A dark history that can be explored in The Rum Story on Lowther Street.

As trading boomed a second quay was built, The Bulwark Quay.  The West Pier Lighthouse, West Pier and North Pier surrounding the outer harbour started to be built in 1832 with the West Pier Lighthouse costing up to £150,000, a fraction of the cost today. 

By 1860 over 400 wagons per day were using the Sugar Tongue to load and off load produce.

In 1876 the Queen’s Dock was built.  Access was greatly improved to the port by the installation of a £8.5 million Sea lock in 1998. Since 1990, £20 million of grant funding has been invested in and around the harbour. 

In Maryport, a local landowner Humphrey Senhouse began developing the town as a port and in 1749 an Act of Parliament was passed allowing the creation of the town. It was Humphrey Senhouse that gave the town the name Maryport, naming it after his wife Mary.

By 1838 Maryport was recognized as a port in its own right having a Customs House and Harbor Office built in Strand Street. 

Under the guiding influence of the Curwens, Workington quickly expanded into a major port and town. The first dock operated in the 1760s, exporting coal to Ireland.