WHITEHAVEN, Cumberland
"The town Whitehaven is a large and important seaport, market town, and
municipal and Parliamentary borough on the Irish sea, about three miles to the north of the lofty
promontory of St. Bees Head. The town is built around a small creek or inlet, which forms the
harbour and is overlooked on the other sides by green hills which rise abruptly from the outskirts
of the town. …
In 1633 Whitehaven was still an obscure village of some nine thatched cottages, whose name was
scarcely known beyond the precincts of the parish. It was about this period the manor became the
property of the Lowthers of Westmorland, and they were not slow to detect the value of the
immense beds of coal in the locality."
[Description from
T. Bulmer & Co's History, Topography and Directory of Cumberland, 1901]
- History, Topography and Directory of East Cumberland,
T.F. Bulmer, T.Bulmer & Co., Manchester, 1884.
- History, Topography and Directory of Cumberland, 1901,
T.F. Bulmer, T.Bulmer & Co., Penrith, 1901.
- The Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society:
- Whitehaven: Its Streets, Its Principal Houses and Their Inhabitants, William Jackson, Vol. iii, O.S., 348-380.
- Christ Church, Vol. xi, O.S.,343.
- Independent New Chapel. Vol: iii, O.S., 373.
- The History of the Churches of the Rural Deanery of Whitehaven,
Caesar Caine, Whitehaven, 1916. [Includes extensive extracts from the Parochial registers].
- A Directory of Whitehaven and Vicinity, 1864, Peile and Nicholson,
Whitehaven. See below, Directories.
- Postal Directory for 1882 of Whitehaven, Workington, Maryport and
Neighbourhood, Frank Porter, 1882, map.
- Whitehaven and District Directory, 1956, Kent Services Ltd.
- Church records are available at the Whitehaven and Carlisle offices of the
Cumbria Archive Service.
There were, and are, many chapels and places of worship
whose records have not been deposited with the Archive Service, have been deposited
elsewhere, or have not survived
Church of England
For Anglican church records, see the parishes listed individually. In addition, Anglican records are
available for:
Christ Church (CRO Reference: PR104)
| Baptisms | Marriages |
| 1845-1959 | 1847-1958 |
Nonconformist / Methodist
| | Baptisms | Marriage | Burial |
| Hogarth Mission (Wes) | 1899-1952 | | |
| Howgill Street (Prim) | | 1901-1940 | |
| Kells (United) | 1904-1934 | 1940-1982 | |
| Kirk Mission (Wes) | 1905-1964 | | |
| Lowther Street (Wes) | 1966-1979 | | |
| Michael Street (Wes) | | | 1804-1816 |
Congregational:
| Baptisms | Marriage | Burial |
| 1851-1968 | 1840-1876 | 1855-1876 |
Presbyterian
| Baptisms | Burials |
| 1750-1893 | 1763-1768 |
Quakers
| Births | Burials |
| 1837-1875 | 1823-1908 |
- Beginning 1 July 1837, births, deaths and marriages, regardless of religious affiliation,
were recorded with Civil Registration Offices in Cumbria,
as in the rest of England. Copies of certificates recording these events may be purchased.
- Whitehaven fell under the authority of the ancient diocese of Chester
and wills prior to 1858 were proved in the consistory court there.
Records are deposited at the Lancashire Record Office.
- The Province of York covered most of northern England, including
Whitehaven, and anyone who died leaving property in more than one
diocese within the province would have their will proved in the
Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of York (PCY) or sometimes
in the Chancery Court of the Archbishop of York. These records
are now deposited with York University,
Borthwick Institute of Historical Research.
- For probate from 1858 on, and general information, see our
England - Probate page.
However please note registered copy probate records for Cumberland are also available
1858-1941 at the Record Office in Carlisle.
[Page originated by Don Noble in 1997 and updated 12 Jun 1999 - Don Noble]
