Millom - History

History

Millom is mentioned in the Domesday Book as one of the townships forming the Manor of Hougun held by Earl Tostig.

Millom Castle is now a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument. It is the ruins of a former castle or moated manor house which was given a licence to crenellate in 1335. The great tower dates from the 16th or 17th century and is now a farmhouse. The castle was built by Godard de Boyvill, owner of the Manor of Millum, but it came into the Hudleston family's ownership when de Boyvill's granddaughter married John Hudleston. By 1739 the castle walls were in dilapidated condition.

In 1251 a market charter was granted by King Henry III of England to John de Huddleston, Lord of Millom. A charter for an Easter fair at Holy Trinity Church was also granted at the same time.

Millom is the most southerly town in the historic county of Cumberland.

The Whitehaven & Furness Junction Railway opened a station here in 1850. It was taken over by the Furness Railway in 1866.

A map of 1862 shows that all that existed here was a small hamlet by the name of Holborn Hill on the northwest side of the railway line. It had a railway station, inn and a tile and brick works. By 1899 a small town had grown up here, with terraced streets on either side of the railway, a public library, police station, banks, hotels, school, market square and allotments.

In the intervening years, the Hodbarrow iron mines began extracting haematite from deposits between the town of Millom and the seashore. The first shafts were sunk in the 1850s and the first furnaces were completed in 1866. In 1881 there were seven pits operated by The Hodbarrow Mining Company. The Hodbarrow Outer Barrier (sea wall) was completed in 1905 to protect the mines from the sea. It took five years to construct at a cost of almost £600,000. The ironworks closed in 1968.

In 1877 the expanding town needed more water and Whicham Beck was dammed at Baystone Bank (54.261226,-3.274237) to form Baystone Bank Reservoir. The reservoir remained in use until about 1996. It was drained in 2011, the dam removed and the valley returned to its original form. This work was carried out by water network company United Utilities.

Throughout its history, the town has struggled with socio-economic problems, especially after the Industrial Revolution, thus being infamously called by the Mayor of Copeland, 'a place of despair'. However it was noted that the people who came to work in the mines in the late 1800s endured poor living conditions on the marshes that later became Millom New Town, with great fortitude and good humour. To this day Millomites exhibit the same attributes as their forefathers.