Whitehaven Holy Trinity, Cumberland Genealogy

This is a new page from which the collective pages for Whitehaven in Cumberland will connect including the three Parishes that were created in this town. All other records not related to the three Church of England parishes should be put on this page.

England Cumberland  Cumberland Parishes

Guide to Whitehaven Holy Trinity, Cumberland ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
WHITEHAVEN, a sea-port, market-town, newly enfranchised borough, and the head of a union, in the parish of St. Bees, Allerdale ward above Derwent, W. division of Cumberland, 40 miles (S. W.) from Carlisle. Whitehaven contains four chapels: St. James, St. Nicholas, Holy Trinity and Mount Pleasant. There are places of worship for Presbyterians, Particular Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and Roman Catholics.

The church was located at the junction of Roper Street and Scotch Street but was demolished in 1949.

The church was a plain stone building of an apsidal chancel, nave, aisles and western tower with pinnacles, containing clock and one bell. Picture of front of church in Hay, page 105.

1714-5 – Church erected by subscription, including £100 by Sir James Lowther who was in 1755 buried in the church. The church was consecrated 2 October 1715 by the Bishop of Chester.

1835 – 11 August – Holy Trinity, along with St Nicholas and St James were carved out of the mother parish of St Bees.

1935 – Parish of Holy Trinity united with Christ Church

1949 – Building demolished, on grounds it was unsafe.

1977 – 24 February – Unification of parishes of Holy Trinity with Christ Church, St James and St Nicholas. Rev. Alan J. Postlethwaite installed as first vicar of Whitehaven on 30 June 1977.

Source: Hay, Daniel. Whitehaven: An Illustrated History. Whitehaven, Cumbria: Michael Moon. Revised and enlarged edition 1979 p. 105

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. Two popular sites are:


 * 1) FreeBMD.
 * 2) Cumberland BMD

Online Records
Some online transcriptions exist for this chapelry at the following website[s] and ranges of years:

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. Two popular sites are:


 * 1) FreeBMD.
 * 2) Cumberland BMD

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Cumberland Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851 *Vision of Britain

Harbour Map - Whitehaven is one of the best examples in England of a port that develops by adding quays, which were constructed from the late 17th century to the addition of lock gates in 2002. A map showing the construction dates of the breakwater and quays is found on page 45 in The Industrial Archaelogy of Docks &amp; Harbours. By Michael Stammers. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus. 2007. (192 pp)