A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



between these periods haematite mining in 

 the Whitehaven district had received an im- 

 petus, and that the district, as an important 

 mineral field, was being more fully recognized 

 and was attracting greater attention and 

 larger capital to its development. 



Prior to the year 1856 only five blast 

 furnaces had been erected. These were as 

 follows : 



Ironworks at Seaton (Messrs. Smith & Co.) 

 were put in blast in 1857. In 1856,259,167 

 tons of haematite were raised in the White- 

 haven district, of which 152,875 tons were 

 carried by rail, and 39,617 tons were smelted 

 at the local ironworks. The destinations of 

 this ore, as well as that raised in 1857, when 

 the production reached 323,812 tons, were as 

 follows : 



A large proportion of this ore was carted from 

 the mines to Whitehaven harbour, the princi- 

 pal port of Cumberland, and shipped to the 

 various smelting centres in England, Scotland 

 and Wales ; only a small quantity (as will be 

 seen from the above table) was consumed 

 locally. The high railway rates for east 

 coast coke at this time appear to have de- 

 terred capitalists from building local furnaces, 

 as, with the exception of an extension of the 

 Harrington ironworks in 1857, and the erec- 

 tion of the Workington ironworks in 1858, 

 it was not until 1863, when the West 

 Cumberland Iron and Steel Co. began opera- 



tions, that any additions were made to the 

 ironworks already mentioned. 



The following is a list of the ironworks 

 and the year of their erection from 1857 : 



The Whitehaven Haematite Ironworks at 

 Cleator Moor, of which special mention has 

 been made, were erected in the year 1841. 



The important discovery of the Bessemer 

 process about the year 1856 caused an in- 

 creasing demand for Cumberland haematite, 

 and hence the ore was year by year more 

 largely exported into the other iron smelting 

 centres of the kingdom, where, being mixed 

 with the ores of these districts, it greatly im- 

 proved the quality of the manufactured iron 

 and steel. 



A great impetus was given to the develop- 

 ment of haematite mining in the Whitehaven 

 district by the opening of the Whitehaven, 

 Cleator and Egremont railway (now worked 

 by the London and North Western and 

 Furness joint railways) to Egremont and 

 Frizington, in 1857. This railway was 

 opened for passenger traffic on June I of that 

 year, although a portion of the mineral traffic 

 had been conveyed to Whitehaven for a short 

 time prior to that date. It was extended to 

 Rowrah in 1863, and finally to Marron in 

 1865, forming there a junction with the 

 Cockermouth and Penrith railway. A con- 

 nection with the Furness railway was also 

 effected by an extension southwards from 

 Egremont to Sellafield. The phenomenal 

 advance of the district as an important mining 

 centre very soon made this railway one of the 

 best dividend paying concerns in the kingdom. 

 Before the opening of the Whitehaven, 

 Cleator and Egremont railway, all the ore 

 raised in the Whitehaven district, with the 

 exception of that consumed at the local iron- 

 works, was carted to Whitehaven (a distance 

 of from three to five miles), where, in the 



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