Workington


From Encyclopedia Britannica (11th edition, 1910)

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Workington, a municipal borough, seaport and market town in the Cockermouth parliamentary division of Cumberland, England, 34 m. S.W. of Carlisle, served by the Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith, the London & North-Western and the Cleator & Workington Junction railways. Pop. (1901) 26,143. It lies on the S. bank of the river Derwent, at its outflow into the Irish Sea. The harbour is safe, being protected by a stony beach and by a breakwater. The Lonsdale dock is 4z acres in extent. The port was made subordinate to that of Maryport in 1892. There are large collieries in the neighbourhood of the town, the workings in some cases extending beneath the sea, and blastfurnaces, engineering works, cycle and motor works, shipbuilding yards and paper mills. The borough is under a mayor, 7 aldermen and 21 councillors. Area, 2245 acres. Near the town is Workington Hall, a castellated structure retaining some of the ancient rooms, including that in which Mary, queen of Scots, is said to have slept when she escaped to England after the battle of Langside in May 1568.