The development of Whitehaven owes much to the Lowther family, it was Sir John Lowther, inspired by Christopher Wrens designs for rebuilding London after the Great Fire of 1666, who laid out the original grid system of streets and specified the type of houses to be built.

On 17th June 2005 a sculpture was unveiled near the Beacon, as a memorial to the towns mining history. By Colin Telfer, it is a unique mix of coal, slate and casting resin, and features a pillar of coal with four figures a deputy overman, representing mine management a mines rescue man, representing safety and rescue work, a coal face worker, showing manpower and a screenlass, to illustrate hardship and poverty.

The port development was linked to the exploitation of rich local deposits of coal and iron ore. Some coal mines extended for several miles beneath the sea bed. You can learn more about the history of mining at Whitehaven at the Haig Colliery Mining Museum.

Whitehaven was the last place in Britain to be attacked by American naval forces. On 23rd April 1778 during the American War of Independence, John Paul Jones arrived in Britain with the intention of setting the whole merchant fleet on fire.

The alarm was raised, and he retreated forthwith. Another American link is that Mildred Warner Gale, the grandmother of the American president George Washington, came from Whitehaven.

She was buried in the grounds of St Nicholas Church, on 30th January 1700. Visitors may climb a narrow spiral stair in the Clock Tower, to see the workings of the clock, and to see a small display relating to the Gale family.

Whitehaven has had a large grant for regeneration of the harbour area for the millennium. It is now host to many visits from Tall Ships.
Whitehaven has over 250, mostly Georgian, Listed Buildings, many tastefully restored, including St James Church, once described by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as the finest Georgian church interior in the county.

The tourist information centre, in the Market Place, is itself one of the towns many listed buildings.

Whitehaven is the starting point of the popular 140 mile long C2C Cycle Route. The cycle route travels along the Whitehaven to Ennerdale Cycle path, through the scenic delights of the Lake District and on over the roof of England to the remote North Pennines before reaching the north east coast.