Whitehaven Harbour

Whitehaven Harbour is the the gateway to the lakes. Located on the North West coast of England, the Harbour is a safe haven with 400 marina berths. (Note its only been orange for last 2 years believed to be containated with iron ochre , Various agencies are looking to trace the source and find a way to solve the problem.) Anyway With the first quay being built in 1634, it was originally used for the export of salt and coal. With 80% of all Ireland’s coal being imported from Whitehaven by the 1700s. In 1876 the Queen’s Dock was built. This was a wet dock with one set of dock gates to hold the water in as the tide ebbed. The original wooden gates were replaced with steel gates in 1938 and can still be seen today. Access was greatly improved to the port by the installation of a £8.5 million Sea lock in 1998. One of the Sea lock’s main purpose is to protect the town of Whitehaven from tidal flooding, this having been a common occurrence prior to the installation. Since 1990, £20 million of grant funding has been invested in and around the harbour. This has greatly improved the public access and has also provided new employment opportunities with the construction of a state of the art boat repair shed. In recent years Whitehaven has hosted magnificent maritime festivals, bringing many people to the harbour and town. Orange water first started to enter Whitehaven Harbour in November 2022. The contaminated water is getting into Queens Dock through something called a culvert. A culvert is a tunnel or pipe that allows water to flow under things like roads and railways. In Queens Dock, the culvert is releasing water from Bransty Beck and a drainage system in Bransty railway tunnel. Bransty railway tunnel takes trains underground between Corkickle and Whitehaven. In recent years, this tunnel has started to flood. Tests have shown that the floodwater has iron ochre in it, which makes sense because the tunnel runs through areas where coal is found. As soon as the contaminated water began to arrive in the harbour, we started working with Whitehaven Marina Ltd, the Environment Agency, Network Rail, the then Coal Authority (now renamed the Mining Remediation Authority, as of November 2024), Cumberland Council and our local MP to test the water, find the source and look for a way to stop it.