CLEATOR, Cumberland - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"CLEATOR, a parish and post town in the ward of Allerdale-above-Derwent, in the county of Cumberland, 4 miles S.E. of Whitehaven, and 2 from Egremont. Cleator Moor is a station on the Whitehaven, Cleator, and Egremont Junction of the North-Western railway. The village is large, and contains some good houses. It is situated on the river Ehen. The value of property is much enhanced, owing to the rapid rise of the population from 300 to 3,995. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Carlisle, value £79, in the patronage of the Earl of Lonsdale. The church, dedicated to St. Leonard, is a modern structure. The Wesleyans, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics have chapels, and there are National, Unitarian, and Roman Catholic schools. Within the parish are mines of coal, limestone, and iron ore. There is an extensive flax-mill for the manufacture of yarns and thread; also a forge for the founding of locomotive shafts, spades, and edge-tools. Flesh is a handsome modern Gothic edifice, the residence of Thomas Ainsworth, Esq. At Cleator Moor are the works of the Whitehaven Hematite Iron Ore Company, which since its establishment (about 20 years ago) has raised a little village for the accommodation of their workpeople. The Cleator Valley produces the Lapis hæmatites, or kidney iron ore. There was formerly a Roman causeway passing through this parish from Egremont to Papcastle, but only a few traces now remain. Ehen Hall is the residence of John Lindow, Esq., J.P. The manor of Cleator has been enfranchised; but Lord Leconfield is lord of the manor of Cleator Common, which has been lately enclosed."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]