WHITEHAVEN MARINA
Perched on the edge of the Cumbrian coast where it provides a safe and welcoming refuge from the rigours of the Irish Sea, Whitehaven has a long and fascinating history as a trading port.
The origin of the town’s prosperity is based on the export of local Cumbrian coal from the 1600s, but as the port developed through the 1700s it also profited from trade in tobacco from America, and trade in sugar, wool and cocoa from Barbados, Antigua and St Lucia.Whitehaven was also a key link in the lucrative slave trade, with ships plying routes between Africa and America and greatly adding to the town’s wealth – an historical blot the town council felt obliged to apologise for in 2006.
From the 1800s, Whitehaven’s importance
