Whitehaven's Undersea Mines – The Real History Behind The Mine
The King Pit is a capped-off mine shaft on the coast just outside Whitehaven in west Cumbria, and its tunnels once ran out under the Irish Sea. Cumbria's mining history is the backdrop to The Mine, book 2 in the Cumbria Crime series I write with Joel Hames. Here's what we found when we went looking for it.
Cumbria's mining history is fascinating.
I have to admit, until Joel and I started researching locations and themes for The Mine, I didn't even know there was a history of mining in the county. I'd grown up knowing all about the mines in South Wales, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, about Arthur Scargill and the miners' strike and the UDM in Nottinghamshire rebelling against the NUM and flying pickets and...
You get the picture. I was a child of the 1980s. My knowledge of mining, I have to admit, is based on watching news stories during the infamous strike.
Was there mining in Cumbria?
Yes, and plenty of it. Cumbria didn't get a lot of attention back then, so I didn't know about the history of local miners. But when you visit the west of the county, the villages are eerily reminiscent of old mining villages in Yorkshire and South Wales. Villages that seem to be stretched out along the one road that runs through them, and often have a quiet air of desolation. (Apologies if you live in one of those villages and know from experience that it isn't at all desolate. I'm only reporting a feeling that comes over me when I drive through them.)
Our research for The Mine revealed a rich history of mining in Cumbria, along with a geology that, to my mind, makes these mines particularly interesting.
Where is the King Pit?
When Joel and I visited Whitehaven in early 2023, we discovered a number of locations where old mine shafts had been capped off.
One of them is the King Pit, right on the coast just outside Whitehaven. It's close to the Haig Colliery Mining Museum, which had sadly closed down by the time we got there, so we weren't able to visit.
But we discovered that the vertical shaft it capped off led down to a horizontal shaft that extended out towards the coast itself... and under the sea.
What was it like to mine under the sea?
I'd never really considered that mining had taken place under the sea. How would that have felt? Instead of having metres and metres of solid rock above your head, you'd have a few metres of rock, and then the cold waters of the Irish Sea above.
Would that feel more scary, or less? Would water come dripping through the roof of the shaft? Would there be a risk of flooding?
It doesn't bear thinking about. But luckily, Joel and I didn't have to actually go into one of those mines, because we could read about it, and imagine it.
How mining shaped The Mine
The whole book revolves around what we learned about Cumbrian mining. Not just the impact it had on the landscape, but the impact it had on communities, and the potential that gives for simmering feuds and rivalries. Fictitious ones, at least.
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New to the series? Start with The Harbour, or get the prequel novella The Castle free.
