Workington, Harrington & Moss Bay through time - Derek Woodruff

The town of Workington is situated on the west coast of Cumbria, across the Solway Firth from Scotland. For the past few centuries it has derived its living from coal and heavy industries especially those of steel making, transport, textiles and farming. In the sixteenth century Harrington was one of the properties of the Duke of Norfolk who attempted to place his daughter the Lady Jane Grey on the throne in opposition to Mary Tudor. Moss Bay, south of Workington as you approach Harrington, was marshland (as the name implies) on which was sited the steelworks from the 1870s with accompanying houses and traders. The overall picture of this part of the west coast of Cumbria is that of an industrial past together with the much earlier history of the district providing for a very interesting and worthy heritage of many aspects.