Industrial History of Cumbria
Welcome to this guide to industrial activity in Cumbria
during the centuries up to the present day.
Many of these industries continue in the 21st Century, but
this guide concentrates on explaining what went before, mostly through the
evidence of remains that exist today.
Each entry in the A-Z list of industries links to
an article on that subject. Each of these articles is followed by suggestions
for site visits, further reading, links to relevant websites and specific
examples of that industry in action.
Much of the content has previously appeared in
print elsewhere, particularly in the publications of the Cumbria Industrial
History Society, the Cumbria Amenity Trust Mining History Society, and the
Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. Follow the
links to find out more about them.
What's new? For the latest updates see:
- Links from Water to information about
the Burnbanks Settlement at Haweswater, from Railways to extra pages on the
Cumbria Railways site, from Shipbuilding to information about Whitehaven,
from Roads to an article about droving, and from Coal and Lead to reports on
Saltom Pit and Greenside Mine (May 2006)
- A guide to the sites of all the town
gasworks in Cumbria (June 2006), with photos (August 2006)
- A list of sites for "minor"
minerals, and an update to the iron-mining list (October 2006)
- Two new links to major websites from the
iron-making section (October 2006)
- An article on Catherine Street flax mill in
Whitehaven (December 2006)
- An article on the early history of gasworks
in Cumbria (January 2007)
- And another one on the later history of gasworks
in Cumbria (April 2007)
- A guide to the Ports and Harbours of
Cumbria (January 2008)
- An updated list of the publications of the Cumbria Industrial History Society,
including our new book - "Master Of Them All - Iron Making in Cumbria"
(February 2008)
- New entries in the Cumbria Industrial History Society's
programme for 2008 (April 2008)
- A guide to the Chemical Industries of
Cumbria (May 2008)
If you have any comments to make on the content
of the guide so far, and contributions or ideas for its development please e-mail mbarb@freenetname.co.uk.
General enquiries about the industrial history of
Cumbria, or specific requests for information, should be directed to lowludderburn@btinternet.com.
