houses disposed into two clusters in that called the Upper town. In the
area of the new square is the corn-market, and at a short distance are
the assembly rooms and theatre, both of which, though small, are by no
means destitute of taste and elegance. It has a weekly market on
Wednesday for corn, and on Wednesday and Saturday for butchers' meat.
The church of St. Michael, forming a prominent object in the centre of
the Engraving, is a rectory in the patronage of the Curwen family, and
contains a monument of Sir Patrick Curwen, Bart., who died in 1661. The
chief source of industry here, as at Whitehaven and other towns of the
coast, is the coal-mines, which, in the vicinity of Workington, amount
to sixteen or upwards, with a depth of from forty to ninety fathoms. The
coal lies in bands or seams, divided from each other by intermediate
strata. Of these the uppermost is generally three feet thick, the second
four, and the third, or lowest, from ten to twelve feet. The extraneous
matter that separates the former varies considerably; but the covering
of the main coal is of the finest white freestone, about twenty yards
thick. When the "new seam," as it was then called, was first discovered
at Chapel-bank, the event was celebrated by the late proprietor, Mr.
Curwen, by a splendid festival, and a vast concourse of the inhabitants
and neighbours assembled to drink success to the "black diamond."
The quantity of coal shipped from this port, per week, amounted latterly
to two thousand tons or upwards, and the raising of which, with the aid
of several steam-engines, afford employment to between six and seven
hundred workmen. The agricultural society of Workington has contributed
much to the improvement of the county, and owes its origin to the
spirited and indefatigable example of the late proprietor of these
mines. A staith or loading stage for collier vessels is seen on the
right hand of the illustration. It is an object more valuable for its
utility than for any beauty in an artistic point of view; but it is a
distinguishing characteristic of all the ports engaged in the
coal-trade, and, wherever it can be rendered available, reduces the
expenses of the coal-owner, by obviating the necessity for keels or
lighters.
The mansion of the Curwen family--or hall, as it is more generally
designated--was formerly a castle of great strength; and,
notwithstanding the numerous alterations it has undergone since the
feudal epoch, still presents a noble and imposing feature in the
landscape. In this hospitable fortalice Queen Mary was received and
entertained by its generous owner, the ancestor of the present Mr.
Curwen, till the royal pleasure of Elizabeth could be ascertained as to
her future disposal. The chamber in which she slept is still a recording
testimony of the fact, and retains the name of the "Queen's chamber,"
where we may well believe--
"Uneasy lay the head that wore a crown."
The mountains of Cumberland--some of which form the background in the
present view--are exceedingly numerous, lofty, and of striking
conformation. Around the lakes they are often finely grouped, generally
clothed with copse-wood: here pastoral, and dotted with flocks; and
there rugged, precipitous, and hewn into deep ravines by those
thundering torrents which convey their foaming tribute to the lakes.
Every mountain in Cumberland has its name celebrated in poetry--every
lake has been the subject of some inspired lyric; and such was the
favour in which the charming scenery of this county was held by several
of the master-spirits of the age, that the lakes of Cumberland and the
adjoining county were adopted as their residence, and from their banks
the strains of Wordsworth and Southey were welcomed as the genuine
emanations of inspired minds.
[Illustration: WHITEHAVEN,
(with St. Bees-head.)]
WHITEHAVEN,
CUMBERLAND.
"The town beneath, the sea before thee;
Fruitful groves and flow'ry dells;
Rocks and headlands tow'ring o'er thee,
All behind thee--lakes and fells!
"Look around thee, gentle stranger,
On harvest fields and pastures green;--
In lands where thou hast been a ranger,
Fairer hast thou ever seen!"
The town of Whitehaven may be considered as a national monument to the
creative influence of trade. Favoured by the geological character of its
soil, and fostered by native industry, it has risen in the comparatively
brief interval of a hundred and eighty years, to a position of eminence
among the minor ports and harbours of Great Britain. What in the middle
of the seventeenth century consisted, according to written testimony, of
only six fishermen's huts and one small bark, is now a flourishing town,
enlivened by trade and commerce, with a commodious harbour, extensive
shipping, and enterprising merchants.
The bay on which the town of Whitehaven is erected is so deeply seated,
that the adjacent shore, rising like the grades of a magnificent
amphitheatre, appears to enclose it on every side. In approaching it
from the north, the stranger is uniformly struck with its sheltered
position, and from the heights looks down upon it as on a map spread at
his feet. From the south the view is particularly beautiful. The town is
well built, the streets wide and enlivened with well-furnished shops,
and inhabited by a cheerful and thriving population. Like Longtown, on
the Border, Whitehaven is built after a correct plan; the streets cross
each other at right angles, presenting much architectural regularity,
and combining with the air of internal comfort the outward signs of
taste and elegance. The public improvements continue to advance in
proportion to the extent of commercial intercourse, and to this,
apparently, every succeeding year throws open some new channel. The
introduction of steam-navigation between all the adjacent as well as
opposite coasts, has powerfully contributed to stimulate the native
industry of the place, by increasing the demand for coal--its staple
produce--to which we shall more particularly advert in our notice of the
harbour.
The situation of Whitehaven in a narrow valley, extending to the village
of St. Bees--a distance of several miles--unites with the appearance of
seclusion much of that picturesque beauty for which the inland districts
of the county are so justly celebrated. St. Bees'-head is a bold and
striking feature, and contrasts admirably with the softer scenes from
which it projects, as the most imposing landmark on this part of the
Channel.
The population of Whitehaven has greatly increased within the last ten
years. The neighbouring villages, farms, and pastures, all indicate
progressive advancement in the several branches of domestic industry.
The land is highly cultivated, and in many instances fertile and
productive; while the orchards and gardens, by the nature and abundance
of their produce, bear friendly testimony to the mildness of the
climate.
To the Lowther family, who have a handsome castle here, Whitehaven owes
its foundation as a borough, and much of its prosperity as a trading
port. To the munificence of its patrons--and especially to the Earl of
Lonsdale, who has spared neither personal expense nor political
influence to facilitate every object which held out the promise of
permanent advantage to the inhabitants, it is eminently indebted. And in
return, it may be justly observed, that whatever the patron has expended
in improving the town and harbour, the people have repaid by increased
attachment to the interests of their benefactor. The inhabitants of
Whitehaven are noted for their public spirit, honourable conduct in
trade, and for that indefatigable attention to business which has so
happily distinguished them through a long series of years. It has
several schools, two weekly papers, and the study of literature and
science is much cultivated and encouraged by the families of affluence
and respectability who reside in the town and vicinity. Social and
hospitable intercourse, with balls, assemblies, and public fetes, render
the stranger's residence at Whitehaven extremely agreeable. It offers,
in general, all the luxuries of a country town, with few or none of its
disadvantages; and presents at all times the means of prompt intercourse
with the great commercial emporium of Liverpool, the coasts of Scotland,
Ireland, Wales, and the Isle of Man. Independently of its immediate
vicinity to the Lakes, it would be difficult to point out any situation
in the northern counties which enjoys so many attractions in regard to
situation, scenery, and society, as the picturesque and prosperous town
of Whitehaven.
[Illustration: WHITEHAVEN HARBOUR.]
WHITEHAVEN HARBOUR.
In another article we have given some descriptive particulars of the
town of Whitehaven and its vicinity, and have therefore in the present
instance to confine our attention to the harbour, an excellent view of
which forms the subject of our engraving.
We have previously stated that Whitehaven is mainly indebted to the
Lowther family for its rise and progress as a trading port. By Sir John
Lowther, an ancestor of this house, the lands of the dissolved monastery
of St. Bees were purchased for his second son, Sir Christopher, early in
the reign of Charles the First; and, as the use of coals first became
general at this period, the new proprietor determined on improving his
estate by opening a colliery. In this, however, little progress was made
till after the Restoration, when Sir John Lowther, his successor, formed
a plan for working the mines on a very extensive scale, and with this
view obtained considerable grants of unappropriated land in the
district, which was secured to him in 1666. Two years later he obtained
a further accession of property, including a parliamentary gift of the
whole sea-coast for two miles northward, between high and low
water-mark. He next turned his attention to the port, which was neither
large nor convenient, and by his judicious schemes laid the foundation
of the present haven. Since that important epoch it has been greatly and
gradually improved, particularly since an act of parliament was obtained
to finish the original plan, and to keep it in repair, by a moderate
tonnage on shipping. In its present form it is protected and
strengthened by several piers, or moles, of compact stonework, three of
which project in parallel lines from the land; a fourth, bending in the
form of a crescent, has a watchhouse and battery, with a handsome
lighthouse at its extremity. At low water, the port is nearly dry, so
that the shipping within the moles lie as if in dry docks.
Adjoining the harbour, on the west side of the town, is the
coal-_staith_, or magazine, where coal for exportation is deposited to
the amount of several thousand waggon-loads. Eight or ten, and
occasionally twelve, vessels, each carrying a hundred tons and upwards,
are commonly loaded at one tide, at an expense of only ten shillings
each, so great are the facilities contrived for this purpose. The method
is this: the greatest part of the road from the pit runs along an
inclined plain, on which are railways communicating with covered
galleries, which terminate in large flues, or _hurries_, placed sloping
over the quay. When loaded, the waggons run by their own weight from the
pit to the magazine, where, their bottoms being struck out, the coals
are dropped into the _hurries_, and thence with a noise like thunder
descend into the holds of the vessels.
Whitehaven forms one of a chain of ports on the north-western coast of
England, which owe their commercial importance to the demand for coals.
This branch of trade has long been famous as a nursery of hardy and
intelligent seamen, and the naval service of the country has, in times
of war, been chiefly indebted to the numerous body of men who have,
either voluntarily or by compulsion, exchanged their services from the
humble collier to a more distinguished, though less lucrative, position
on the deck of a line-of-battle ship. Years have now passed since there
has been any occasion to disturb the arrangements of our commercial
marine for this purpose; and it is to be fervently hoped that the
advancing civilisation of the age will preclude the re-enactment of such
scenes of misery and crime as must ever accompany the system of
impressment and forced service.
Most of the coal exported from this haven is conveyed to Ireland; and
the annual quantity raised, on an average of twenty years, was formerly
under 100,000 chaldrons; but of late years the export trade in this
department is understood to have greatly increased. In the Whitehaven
coal-mines there have happened from time to time lamentable catastrophes
by the explosion of foul air, attended by great sacrifice of life. It is
painful to reflect, that, with all the means which, in this scientific
and inventive age, have been recommended and adopted, no effectual plan
has hitherto been devised for the prevention of these sad and appalling
accidents.
[Illustration: ST. BEES COLLEGE.]
ST. BEES' COLLEGE.
"C'est-la qu'amante du desert,
La meditation avec plaisir se perd
Sous ces portiques saints."
DELILLE.
The village of St. Bees is a place of great antiquity, and holds a
distinguished place among the theological seminaries of the kingdom,
owing to the high reputation of the late Dr. Ainger, and his able and
distinguished successor, the Rev. W. Buddicom, principal of the college.
The chapel, which is built of freestone, is part of an ancient church
belonging to a monastery, founded here by St. Bega, a holy woman of the
seventh century. The form of the building is that of a cross. The
western portion, or nave, is now fitted up as the parish church, the
great door of which is ornamented with grotesque heads, chevron
mouldings, and other ornamental work in the ancient ecclesiastical
style. It formerly contained a large wooden statue of Anthony, the last
Lord Lucy of Egremont.
The original building having been destroyed by the Danes, William, son
of Ralph de Meschines, Earl of Cumberland, undertook its restoration in
the reign of Henry the First, and made it a cell for the prior and six
Benedictine monks to the Abbey of St. Mary, at York. It was endowed, at
the dissolution of monasteries and religious houses, with a hundred and
fifty pounds, and granted by Edward the Sixth, along with the manor,
rectory, and other estates, to Sir Thomas Challoner; but afterwards
revoked, and given by Queen Mary to the Bishop of Chester and his
successors.
The eastern part of the abbey, built in the thirteenth century, was
fitted up about twenty-four years ago as a college, containing a public
hall and lecture-room for the students, the end of the ancient
cross-aisle being converted into a library, with an excellent collection
of approved works on divinity. This valuable institution was commenced
under the auspices of the late Bishop of Chester, Dr. Law. Its object is
to afford such young men of the northern provinces as have not the
opportunity of prosecuting their studies at Oxford or Cambridge, the
means of fitting themselves for entering into holy orders; and the
success which has already attended this pious and patriotic measure has
been highly gratifying. Previous to admission, it is expected that every
candidate shall furnish evidence of his having received a classical
school-education, with testimonials of moral character; and, after two
years' study, he is entitled to be received on trial for ordination. A
gentleman who lately studied here, and who is now a most efficient and
zealous minister of the Church, speaks in very favourable terms of the
judicious arrangement which has latterly marked the theological course
at St. Bees; and improvements still more decided, it appears, are in
contemplation under its present administration.
Edmund Grindall, Archbishop of Canterbury, was a native of Hensingham,
in this parish; and, in 1583, obtained letters-patent for the foundation
of a free grammar-school at St. Bees, in which gratuitous instruction in
the classics was provided for a hundred boys. This institution is under
the management of a corporation of seven governors, two of whom are the
provost of Queen's College, Oxford, and the rector of Egremont.
It has produced several learned characters, among whom was the pious Dr.
Hall,[16] bishop of Norwich, whose eventful life is familiar to every
reader of ecclesiastical history. Much of the prosperity of the village
of St. Bees depends on the lodgings which it supplies to the students
during term.
The parish of St. Bees is of great extent; and, judging from the ruins
still observable, must have been fortified by the Romans at all the
convenient landing-places along the shore, which here, and particularly
to the northward, presents many vestiges of their military occupation.
The village stands on the margin of the bay formed by the southern
promontory of St. Bees'-head.
[16] Dr. Hall was born in 1574, and, in 1624, refused the see of
Gloucester; but three years afterwards accepted that of Exeter, from
which he was translated, in 1641, to that of Norwich. A few years
subsequent to this event he was sent to the tower, with twelve other
prelates, for protesting against any laws passed in Parliament during
their forced absence from the House. In June of the following year he
obtained his release; but shortly after suffered much persecution from
the Puritans, who plundered his house and despoiled the cathedral. His
private estate was also sequestered; and thus in his old age he was
reduced to poverty, which he bore with great fortitude, and continued to
preach as long as his health permitted. He was author of the well-known
_Meditations_, was a poet of considerable genius, and with great wit and
learning united a spirit of true meekness and piety. His works have
gained for him the appellation of "the Christian Seneca." He died in
1656.
[Illustration: ST. BEES HEAD.]
ST. BEES'-HEAD.
"When tempests rage, and nights are long and dark,
The 'Light of Barath' guides the wilder'd bark."
This lofty headland, anciently known as the "Cliff of Barath," is a
conspicuous object to vessels in the north-east part of the Irish
channel--bold, abrupt, and precipitous towards the sea; but presenting,
as it slopes inland, a fine undulating and pastoral mass of verdure,
through which, at intervals, projecting fragments of rock discover its
geological character. The succession of deeply indented and rugged
precipices which it presents seaward, is singularly wild and
picturesque; and during gales from the southward the scene is one of the
most sublime that can be conceived.
The lighthouse which occupies the summit, was first erected in 1718,
with a fixed light at an elevation of three hundred and thirty-three
feet above high water, which in clear weather is visible at a distance
of twenty miles. But in January, 1823, a new light, consisting of nine
reflectors, was first exhibited, which has doubtless been the means of
rescuing from destruction many lives and much valuable property.
The view from the summit of this cliff is particularly
striking--embracing all the bolder features of the Scottish shore--the
Isle of Man, and an expanse of sea which, however the wind may blow, is
always enlivened with shipping. Besides the exportation of coal, which
is immense, there are several vessels employed in the exportation of
lime, freestone, alabaster, and grain, and in the importation of West
Indian, American, and Baltic produce, flax and linen from Ireland, and
pig-iron from Wales.
The parish of St. Bees, is very extensive, and includes some picturesque
mountain scenery, among which may be enumerated the views from those
peculiarly named hills Hard-knot, Wry-nose, and Scafell. The highest
point of this range, Scafell, is three thousand one hundred and sixty
feet above the level of the sea, at this height very little vegetation
is met with; huge masses of stone piled one upon the other, in
alternations of different strata, give to the whole a ridged or furrowed
appearance of a singular character. The visitors to "the Lakes" may here
gratify their taste for the romantic by visiting the beautiful valley of
Buttermere, situated about midway between St. Bees and Keswick. This
lake or mere, so widely known and so highly praised, is about a mile and
a quarter in length, and nearly half a mile in breadth; it is connected
by a little stream with Crummock lake, which has three or four small
islands, but these are placed too near the shore to add much to its
beauty. The best general views of the lake are from the Hause, a rocky
point on the eastern side, and from the road between Scale-hill and
Lowes-water. Both lakes are well stocked with trout and char. Scale
Force, near Buttermere, has a fall of more than one hundred and fifty
feet, and is very nearly perpendicular, besides uniting its waters with
a small fall below: it is said to be the deepest in the lake district.
The water is precipitated into a tremendous chasm between two mural
rocks of sienite, beautifully overhung with trees, which have their
roots in the crevices, and the sides are clad with a profusion of plants
which glitter in the spray of the fall. At Buttermere is situated the
Sour Milk Gill, a waterfall so termed from the frothy whiteness of its
surface, which has been supposed to resemble butter-milk fresh from the
churn. The temptation to indulge in reminiscences of the innumerable
views of interest with which this vicinity abounds, has led us to ramble
far from the description of the promontory which forms our subject; but
this is less to be regretted as it has afforded us an opportunity of
calling the reader's attention to a country that yields to none in the
United Kingdom in point of natural beauties, and which is every
succeeding year becoming a more fashionable resort.
[Illustration: SCENE AT FLEETWOOD, ON WYRE]
FLEETWOOD-ON-WYRE,
LANCASHIRE.
"The day shall come when FLEETWOOD's port shall be
The favour'd Harbour of the great and free;
Hither, when vex'd with boist'rous wave and wind,
The struggling mast a safe retreat shall find;
Here, from the sunny land of conch and pearl,
The stately bark her weary sail shall furl."
_Fleetwood: A Poem._
The name of Fleetwood is associated, prospectively, with the first
commercial ports of the kingdom. The illustration prefixed sufficiently
indicates the use to which it is applied; but the rapidly increasing
importance of this new maritime station is entitled to a more particular
notice than the detached "scene" would appear to demand. Situated at the
entrance to Morecombe Bay, on the river Wyre, the great natural
advantages which it presents are hardly to be surpassed; and from the
liberal spirit with which the operations are carried on, Fleetwood must
shortly become one of the most frequented sea-ports on the British
coast; combining, at the same time, all the recommendations of a
commercial town, and a delightful watering-place. With Preston, from
which it is distant only eighteen miles, it is connected by means of the
railway through Poulton and Kirkham.
The limits of the Port of Fleetwood, as determined by the Commissioners
from the Court of Exchequer, are to "commence at a run of water called
the Hundred-End, about two miles to the west of Hesketh-Bank, continuing
up to Preston; thence along the coast, on the north side of the river,
to Lytham; round the coast to Blackpool, and on to Fleetwood; thence to
the river Broadfleet, four miles from Sea-Dyke, including both sides of
the Wyre, and the river Broadfleet."