A PLEASANTER MOUNT.
Mount Pleasant, like many other parts of our town, has it's own story to tell. The latter has not always made tasteful reading but no other area of Whitehaven can lay claim to have had a "King" , three schools, a mission ,two pits , a factory , a cafe and a Lowther mansion within a short distance of each other. Howard's map of 1812 clearly shows how the area got it's title for there is plenty evidence of what must have been gardens and orchards . Why else would our first resident Lowther, Sir Christopher, choose such a location when he took residence there , in the 1630's at which time it must have been even more attractive and certainly less populated.
CHRISTOPHER AND HIS YOUNG WIFE FRANCES, RAISED A FAMILY OF TWO SONS AND ONE DAUGHTER IN THIS HARBOURSIDE HOME THE RATHER MORE FAMOUS OF THESE BEING SIR JOHN LOWTHER. FROM HERE HE TRAVELLED TO IRELAND ON BUSINESS , BECAME SHERIFF OF CUMBERLAND AND LATER A BARONET AND WHEN THE CIVIL WAR BROKE OUT HE SERVED AS A COLONEL IN THE ROYALIST ARMY AND PERSONALLY FOOTED THE COST OF THE TOWN'S DEFENCES BY INSTALLING CANNON IN ADDITION HE BECAME GOVERNOR OF COCKERMOUTH CASTLE AND WHITEHAVEN THOUGH HE SAW LITTLE ACTION. IT WAS HERE THAT HE DIED IN 1644 BEING BURIED AT ST BEES.
I REMAIN CONVINCED THAT THE LOWTHER MANSION IS VISIBLE IN THE CENTRE OF THIS IMAGE. THE DETAIL IS TAKEN FROM PARR'S COPY OF THE MORE FAMOUS READ PAINTING OF THE EARLY 18TH CENTURY BY WHICH TIME THE LOWTHERS HAD PURCHASED THE CASTLE AS THEIR WHITEHAVEN RESIDENCE . THE ORIGINAL HOUSE MUST HAVE PASSED THROUGH DIFFERENT HANDS BUT , ACCORDING TO WILLIAM JACKSON WRITING IN 1877,. IT HAD BEEN OCCUPIED BY ONE HENRY ADDISON UP UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1689. THEREAFTER IT WAS OCCUPIED BY HIS WIDOW FOR 47 YEARS AND THE AUTHOR WRITES ...
" DURING THE WHOLE OF WHICH PERIOD SHE CONTINUED TO RESIDE AT THIS MANSION ,WHOSE GROUNDS , STRETCHING UP TO THE HILL ON THE WEST, WERE SO BEAUTIFUL THAT IT BECAME KNOWN AS MOUNT PLEASANT."
AFTER THE WIDOW' S DEATH THE MANSION PASSED THROUGH THE HANDS OF SEVERAL DIFFERENT OWNERS UNTIL BY 1781 IT WAS THE HOME OF ONE JAMES HOGARTH AND THIS TIME THE AUTHOR JACKSON TELLS A DIFFERENT STORY MARKING PERHAPS, THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF MOUNT PLEASANT FOR HE INFORMS US THAT.."
THE BEAUTIFUL GARDENS WERE COVERED WITH BUILDINGS OCCUPIED BY THE POOREST AND MOST WRETCHED CLASSES; SO THAT THE NAME WHICH FORMERLY CORRECTLY DESCRIBED THE SITE SEEMS NOW ONLY TO BE APPLIED IN MOCKERY AND DERISION."
TODAY , THE SITE OF THE MANSION IS OCCUPIED BY A RECENTLY REFURBISHED BUILDING HOUSING THE WATER TREATMENT PLANT.
wwWHILST MR JACKSON MIGHT HAVE BEEN RATHER DEROGATORY ABOUT THE HOUSES BUILT ON THE MOUNT I FEEL CERTAIN THAT THE NEW RESIDENTS APPRECIATED THEM A LOT MORE. BY THE LATE 18TH CENTURY MANY HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE HAD DESCENDED ON WHITEHAVEN IN SEARCH OF WORK AND FINDING ACCOMMODATION WAS A PROBLEM . MR HOGARTH , ALREADY LOOKED UPON AS A PHILANTHOPIST FOR HIS GIFT OF THE DISPENSARY SITUATED IN MID QUEEN STREET MADE ANOTHER GRAND GESTURE WHICH MUST HAVE HELPED ALLEVIATE THE HOUSING PROBLEM.
SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS THE " KING OF THE MOUNT " HE WAS A LINEN MANUFACTURER WHO LIVED ON THE MOUNT CLOSE TO HIS FACTORY AND IT WAS HE WHO NOT ONLY COVERED THE AREA WITH ABOUT 100 HOUSES FOR HIS WORKERS BUT ALSO PROVIDED THEM WITH WORK , A SCHOOL FOR THEIR CHILDREN AND A CHURCH IN WHICH HE EXPECTED THEM TO WORSHIP.
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SSSADLY, THE CHURCH WAS NEVER CONSECRATED PERHAPS A VISIBLE EXAMPLE OF THE AUTHORITY OF THE LOWTHERS AND HOGARTH HIMSELF MUST HAVE BEEN VERY DISAPPOINTED FOR HE WAS A CHURCH MAN HIMSELF AS A SURVIVING BROADSHEET OUTLINING HIS RULES AND PHILOSOPHY CLEARLY INDICATES.
THE WORKERS HOUSES THE WORKERS HOUSES RANGED ALONG AND DOWN THE SIDE OF THE MOUNT AND HAVING BEEN BUILT AT A TIME WHEN BUILDING REGULATIONS WERE FAR FROM THOSE OF TODAY , THE LACK OF BASIC FACILITIES SUCH AS A GOOD WATER SUPPLY , PROPER REFUSE COLLECTION AND SANITARY ARRANGEMENTS EVENTUALLY CAUSED PROBLEMS MADE EVEN WORSE BY TERRIBLE OVERCROWDING AS THESE TW IMAGES OF THE MOUNT SEEM TO CONVEY.
OUTBREAKS OF FEVER IN TOWN FINALLY BROUGHT GOVERNMENT INSPECTORS AND IN 1849 ONE SUCH INSPECNY OF THE TENEMENTS CANNOT BE CALLED ROOMS , THEY ARAE SO SMALLTOR,SIR ROBERT RAWLINSON CONDUCTED A THOROUGH INSPECTION OF THE BOROUGH. IT TURNED OUT TO BE AN UTTER CONDEMNATION OF THE LIVING CONDITIONS FOR MANY OF WHITEHAVEN INHABITATS. OF THE MOUNT IT WAS SAID....
"A CONGREGATION OF MOST WRETCHED DWELLINGS,SITUATED ON THE SIDE OF A HILL, AND THEY ARE PRINCIPALLY APPROACHED BY STEPS WELL WORN, BROKEN AND IN A RUINOUS CONDITION. MANY OF THE TENEMENTS CANNOT BE CALLED ROOMS , THEY ARE SO SMALL, BLACK AND LOATHSOME; SOME OF THEM WERE FORMERLY USED AS NAIL MAKERS SHOPS AND WITHOUT ANY ALTERATIONS OR CLEANSING FROM THAT TIME.. THERE ARE ABOUT 1825 IN HABITANTS IN MOUNT PLEASANT WITHOUT ANY FORM OF PRIVY ACCOMMODATION OR ANY REGULAR SUPPLY OF WATER. THERE ARE NO PUBLIC OR PRIVATE LAMPS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR."
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DDESPITE THE APPOINTMENT OF MEDICAL OFFICERS NOTHING CHANGED AND THESE HOMES ON THE MOUNT WERE REPEATEDLY CONDEMNED AS UNFIT FOR HABITATION BUT REMAINED ON SITE UNTIL THE THIRTIES. UNTIL QUITE RECENTLY WHEN THE DRAMATIC CHANGES TOOK PLACE ON THE HARBOUR , REMNANTS OF THE HOMES WERE VISIBLE IN THE FORM OF WINDOWS AND DOORS BLOCKED UP.
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WHEN MR HOGARTH DIED HE WAS BURIED INSIDE THE BUILDING, WHICH LATER SERVED OTHER PURPOSES BUT EVENTUALLY FELL INTO DISREPAIR. THEN IN 1899 IT WAS RESTORED AND BECAME THE NEW WEST STRAND MISSION.
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ETHE OTHER TWO SCHOOLS WERE CROSTHWAITE AND THE TOWN MISSION WHICH STILL STAND AT THE TOP OF ROSEMARY LANE..
THE TWO PITS WERE OF COURSE DUKE AND WELLINGTON AND REMNANTS OF BOTH ARE STILL VISIBLE IN THE SAME AREA,.
EENOUGH OF THE BACKGROUND.... THE PRESENT WILL COME SHORTLY!!!!!
ENOUGH OF
TO BE CONTINUED.