Whitehaven
A Georgian harbour town on the Irish Sea: The Beacon Museum, The Rum Story, a marina and the start of the coast walks to St Bees.
Whitehaven is a planned Georgian town laid out on a grid by the Lowther family in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and in its heyday it was one of the busiest ports in England, trading coal, tobacco and rum. Many of its Georgian streets and houses survive, and the harbour, now a marina, is the heart of the town.
The Beacon Museum on the harbour tells the story of the town, its mines and its maritime trade, with views over the water from the top. The Rum Story, on Lowther Street, is set in the old shop and warehouses of a family of rum merchants. In 1778 the American naval commander John Paul Jones raided the harbour, and the town makes the most of the story.
Whitehaven is the start of the Sea to Sea cycle route across northern England, and walkers can follow the coast path south past the old mine sites to St Bees and its headland. The harbour walls are good for an evening stroll and for watching the sunset over the Irish Sea. Allow half a day for the museums and harbour, and longer if you are walking to St Bees, a few miles south along the cliffs.
Like much of the West Cumbrian coast, Whitehaven has seen economic decline, and some streets are tired. But the harbour, the museums and the Georgian core reward a visit, and it is far less crowded than the Lakes. A market runs on the third Saturday of the month.
