WHITEHAVEN: CUMBRIA RECORD OFFICE & LOCAL STUDIES LIBRARY
Address: Scotch Street, Whitehaven, Cumbria, CA28 7NL
Telephone: 01946 852920
Fax: 01946 852919
Email enquiries: whitehaven.record.office@cumbriacc.gov.uk
Hours of Opening: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9.30-5.00; Wednesday 9.30-7.00, and every other Saturday advised 9.00-1.00. Please note that the office often closes for lunch 12.30-1.30. On Wednesday evenings and Saturdays original documents can only be consulted if requested in advance.
Notice required: No appointments necessary for general research. Records of the Wyndham family, the Earls of Egremont and Cockermouth are kept at Cockermouth Castle and are administered by Cumbria Archive Service. They can only be consulted if selected and requested in advance. Record collection visits are infrequent.
Disabled access: Disabled parking space available by front door; passenger lift access to first floor searchroom; disabled toilet.
Copying facilities: Staff make photocopies subject to condition of the document and copyright restrictions. It may not be possible to complete bulk orders immediately. Reader/printer machines available for self-service printing from microfilm and microfiche.
Cataloguing system/guides to records: There are hard-copy catalogues available for archive collections in the searchroom. Some subject and place indexes are available. See also Catalogues and Guides.
Scope of collection: Original historical documents dating from the 12th century to the present day relating to the area of west Cumbria bounded by the River Derwent in the North and the River Duddon in the South. The areas around Workington, Cockermouth, and Whitehaven are amongst those for which material is available.
The local studies library is the main local studies centre for the Copeland area, stretching from Distington to Millom. The focus is on material in that area, but there are books on other parts of the county.
Books:
The Local Studies Library, that forms part of the office, contains an important collection of books, illustrations, journals, reports and other printed and original materials relating to all aspects of life in Whitehaven and the surrounding area of Copeland up to the present day. The material is for reference only and includes:
Local history - traditions and customs, history of towns and villages, dialect, biographies of local personalities, local artists, local authors, literature and poetry, archaeology, local industries including mining, transport, local government, church history;
Guide books to the Lake District;
Transcripts of parish registers and monumental inscriptions for West Cumbria;
Transcripts of the local 1851 census;
Trade directories;
Reference guides to archives, palaeography, place names, and undertaking local/family history research;
Local studies files on local subjects, places and people containing variety of sources including newspaper cuttings and pamphlets.
Periodicals/Journals include:
Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society (CWAAS);
Northern History 1966 to present;
Cumbria Railways 1996 to present.
Newspapers:
Whitehaven News 1852-present;
Cumberland Pacquet 1774-1915;
Millom Gazette 1892-1933;
Carlisle Patriot 1815-1856, 1857-1869, 1873-1886.
Minor runs (often incomplete):
Whitehaven Advertiser 1891-1921;
Whitehaven Gazette and Cumberland Advertiser 1819-1826;
Whitehaven Gazette 1896-98;
Whitehaven Guardian 1875-77;
Whitehaven Herald and Cumberland Advertiser 1831-1874;
West Cumbrian Gazette 1989-present;
Northern Counties Gazette 1876-1886;
Cumberland Chronicle 1776-1779;
Whitehaven Messenger and General Advertiser 1855-59;
Whitehaven Times and Cockermouth Advertiser 1859-1867;
Workington Borough Advertiser and Seaton Observer 1904;
Workington Mail and West Cumberland Independent 1903-04;
Workington Reporter, Harrington, Seaton, Clifton and Broughton News 1865-67;
Whitehaven Free Press and Farmers Chronicle 1879-1910.
Maps/plans:
Mostly complete collection of 1865 (1st edition), 1899 (2nd edition), and 1925 (3rd edition) 6”/1mile and 25”/1mile Ordnance Survey maps for Cumberland/West Cumberland; large-scale OS maps of Whitehaven 1865;
Varied collection of maps for Cumberland from 1672 to the present including county maps;
Tithe and Enclosure maps for West Cumberland, where contained in solicitors or parish collections (county sequence kept at Carlisle Record Office);
Plans of abandoned non-coal mines in Cumbria 1819-1980;
Plans of former National Coal Board mines, from 1779.
Photographs/audio-visual:
Photographs are often contained within larger archive collections. They have been indexed separately so they can be searched by place or subject.
Many local studies books contain copies of old photographs. Those relating to Whitehaven have been indexed.
Other non-paper based holdings (microfilm/fiche):
General Register Office index to births, marriages and deaths 1837-2003; Overseas Index;
IGI (International Genealogical Index) for Great Britain and Ireland;
Census returns 1841-1891 for Cumberland and 1901 modern county of Cumbria. Also 1881 census transcript and index to Cumberland, Westmorland and the Isle of Man;
Probate records: Deanery of Copeland 1466-1860; Carlisle district 1856-1941;
Rentals of Lowther family properties in West Cumberland 1666-1949;
Electoral registers for Western Division 1834-1875, Western/Egremont Division 1899-1915, Cockermouth Division 1899-1914, Penrith and Cockermouth Division 1918-1948, Whitehaven Division/Constituency 1918-1978, Workington Division/Constituency 1918-1978.
Manuscript/archive collections:
Family and estate archives including Pennington family of Muncaster Castle 1154-1963; Burns Lindow estate 1755-1955; Stanley of Dalegarth, Eskdale 1210-1926; Musgrave of Wasdale Hall, Netherwasdale 1556-1923; Ponsonby family of Haile, 1369-1949; Dalton family of Eaglesfield 1592-1887; Dixon family of Rheda, Frizington 1584-1952; Lamplugh family of Lamplugh Hall 1612-1960; Robertson-Walker family of Gilgarran, Distington 1752-1933; Senhouse family of the Fitz, Cockermouth 1816-1972; Dickinson family of Lamplugh and Ennerdale 1596-1973.
The Curwen family of Workington Hall 1150-1970 is an outstanding collection of material reflecting not only the history of a leading gentry family in the area from the 14th-20th centuries, but also the agricultural and industrial development of West Cumberland in its most important phase during the 18th and 19th centuries which includes letters and documents relating to John Christian Curwen (1756-1828), a reformist MP, whose interests ranged from development of the West Cumberland coalfield to the improvement of agriculture and betterment of the condition of the working classes through schemes of friendly societies and social insurance. Also extensive material relating to coal mining and shipping at Workington and Harrington;
Solicitors’ archives: Brockbank and Helder of Whitehaven, 1571-1965; Brockbank and Tyson of Whitehaven, 1571-1970; Howson and Mason of Workington, 1704-1962; Paisley and Co. of Workington, 1540-1957; Waugh & Musgrave of Cockermouth, 1540-1976; HFT Gough & Co. of Whitehaven, 1600-1969;
Local Authority records: Rural District Councils - Bootle, Ennerdale, Millom Whitehaven; Urban District Councils - Arlecdon and Frizington, Cleator Moor, Cockermouth, Egremont, Harrington, Millom. Whitehaven and Workington Municipal Borough Councils; 31 Parish Councils;
Poor Law Unions: Bootle 1837-1960, Cockermouth 1838-1949, Whitehaven 1839-1962;
School archives for over 70 west Cumbrian primary and secondary schools;
Other statutory/official records including the records of railway companies, National Coal Board, British Steel Company, Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners, Whitehaven Town and Harbour Trustees, Hospitals, Coroners, Petty Sessions. Many of these provide a significant documentary memorial to West Cumberland’s industrial heritage as detailed below;
Shipping registers for the ports of Whitehaven and Workington from 1786;
Crew lists and agreements for nearly 500 Whitehaven and Workington ships from 1863;
National Coal Board records contain a superb collection of West Cumberland mine plans and administrative records documenting the history of several colliery companies, their miners, working conditions and mining disasters;
British Steel Company documents through ledgers, plans and photographs the predecessor iron and steel companies to BSC, and their exploitation of local iron ore and coal resources;
Non-Coal Abandonment plans provide detailed surveys of nearly 250 iron ore and lead mines that operated in Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness between 1819 and 1980. Altogether there are over 1100 plans showing the extent of the mine workings, tramways, depths of the shafts, surface structures and their location etc.;
Church of England parishes: registers of baptism, marriage and burial and other church records of nearly 50 parishes in west Cumbria, dating from 1538. Can contain records of services held; incumbents; churchwardens’ accounts for the fabric, furnishings and maintenance of the church building; minute books of the vestry and the Parochial Church Council, social welfare functions of the overseers of the poor, the apprenticing of pauper children, and local charities;
Nonconformist Church archives including 4 Congregational churches from 1651 (including one of the earliest registers in England); 6 preparative meetings of the Society of Friends (Quakers), from 1675; 2 Methodist circuits and their associated chapels from 1790; 6 Presbyterian Church/United Reformed Church churches from 1695; and 2 Roman Catholic Church from 1853;
Business and Industrial archives from small enterprises to large companies, recording the industrial and commercial history of West Cumbria from the mid 18th century onwards. Collections of particular interest include: Albright and Wilson Ltd.’s Marchon works in Whitehaven 1926-1999; Jennings Brothers, Brewers, of Cockermouth 1848-1989; R H Jefferson, wine and spirits merchants, of Whitehaven 1754-1988; Workington Brewery 1864-1955; W H Moss, printers, of Whitehaven 1915-1970; local branches of the Co-operative Society and a variety of small mining companies;
Societies and voluntary organisations records reflect social pastimes, welfare and political activities, and activities of the social and voluntary sector in West Cumbria. Collections are extremely varied and include: Outward Bound Mountain School, Eskdale 1900-1998; Whitehaven Rambling Club 1910-1996; Cumberland Nature Club 1904-1968; Murray Fund, Whitehaven (poor relief charity) 1886-1976; St Bees Girls Friendly Society Guides 1919-1996; and Workington Rugby Union Football Club Limited 1893-1992.
Descriptions of collections taken from Michael Winstanley and Rob David, A Guide to Cumbrian Historical Resources (Centre for North West Regional Studies, Lancaster University, 2006, out of print) updated for contact details, opening etc.