A Glimpse into the Past: Cleator Moor, 1500 AD

In the year 1500, Cleator Moor was a place very different from the town we know today. Back then, it was a collection of isolated farms scattered across a rugged landscape, a far cry from the bustling community it would become. 

• I asked AI to imagine a scene of the town, as it was back then.

The untamed moorland stretched out in every direction, a challenging environment where survival was a daily struggle.

Imagine a time when the familiar streets and buildings of Cleator Moor were replaced by fields, forests, and the occasional humble dwelling. The air would have been filled with the sounds of nature - the wind whistling across the moors, the calls of wild birds, and the rustling of animals in the undergrowth. 

Life in 1500 was harsh, particularly in the northern reaches of England. The majority of people lived in small, rural communities, their lives dictated by the changing seasons and the demands of agriculture. Days were long and laborious, spent working the land to provide food for themselves and their families.

The threat of violence was never far away. Outlaws and rustlers roamed the countryside, preying on vulnerable settlements. Despite the severe penalty of hanging, the lure of quick riches often proved too tempting for some. The wild moorland offered the perfect cover for such activities, making it a dangerous place to travel alone.

And then there were the wild animals. The moors were home to creatures that have long since disappeared from the area, including wild boar. These formidable animals were a force to be reckoned with, capable of inflicting serious injury with their sharp tusks.

Cleator Moor in 1500 was a world away from the modern town. It was a place of hardship and danger, where survival depended on resilience and a deep connection to the land. 

Over the centuries, Cleator Moor would transform into the town we know today. But echoes of its past remain, reminders of a time when the moorland was wild and untamed, and the people who lived there faced challenges that are hard for us to imagine. 

A key aspect of Cleator Moor’s growth from a scattered rural settlement into the hive of industry it became was the availability of Irish workers who arrived in the North-West of England following the Great Famine in the 1840s. This ready source of labour, combined with the presence of high-grade raw materials, spurred the creation of the town.

It was during this period that the grain of Cleator Moor began to transform from little scattered clusters to the regimented arrangement of terraced houses, interspersed by larger buildings, recognisable today.

The attractiveness of Cleator Moor iron ore, due to its low phosphor content, made it suitable for the Bessemer process of steel manufacture, the first such inexpensive mass production technique. During the 1860s and 1870s, the expansion of Cleator Moor’s population led to a housing shortage, although levels of prosperity in the town were relatively high due to the demand for steel.

This transformation was accompanied and accomplished by the introduction of a network of railway lines, served by two stations, which connected to the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway and the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway respectively.

However, by the early 20th century other forms of steel manufacture were gaining traction, which left the relatively expensive Cumbrian haematite at a disadvantage. 

Following the First Word War, mining in the area steadily declined.

• Two of the oldest, remaining properties, in Cleator Moor, can be seen at Aldby and Bowthorn farms.