Workington Area
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Workington is a town and port on the west coast of Cumbria, which lies astride the River Derwent. It is bounded to the west by the Solway Firth, part of the Irish Sea, and by the Lake District fells to the east. |  |
Situated within the Borough of Allerdale, with a population of around 26,000. Workington is the seat of Allerdale Borough Council, which is one of three borough councils in Cumbria and Tony Cunningham is the local MP for the constituency.
Historically a part of Cumberland, the area around Workington has long been a producer of coal, steel and high grade iron ore.
The Cumbria iron ore field lies to the south of Workington, and produced extremely high grade phosphorus-free haematite. The area had a long tradition of iron smelting, but this became particularly important with the invention by Sir Henry Bessemer of the Bessemer process, the first process for mass production of steel, which previously had been an expensive specialist product.
North of the Derwent River the districts include Seaton, Barepot, Northside, Port and Oldside. On the south side are the districts of Stainburn, Derwent Howe, Ashfield, Banklands, Frostoms (Annie Pit), Mossbay, Moorclose, Salterbeck, Bridgefoot, Lillyhall, Harrington, High Harrington, Clay Flatts, Kerry Park, Westfield and Great Clifton. The Marsh and Quay, a large working class area of the town around the docks and a major part of the town's history, was demolished in the early 1980s. Much of the former area of the Marsh is now covered by Clay Flatts industrial estate.
Workington has a number of sporting teams, including, Workington Reds, who play at Borough Park. Formally a professional football team it now competes as non-League club, they currently play in the Conference North.
 | Other teams in the town include the local professional rugby league team and former Challenge Cup winners Workington Town and Workington Comets, the town's professional speedway team, which competes in the British Speedway Premier League. |
In 2006, Washington Square, the new £50 million town shopping centre was opened. In 2007, The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors named Washington Square as the 'best commercial project' in the north west of England. Their award acknowledged that "The Washington Square development has radically transformed Workington town centre.
There is also a shopping mall and multiplex cinema located at Dunmail Park, which is named after the last king of Cumberland.
The Kingdom of Cumberland existed until 945. King Dunmail, Cumberland's last king, is a figure of both history and legend. Warriors and supporters would have been recruited from around his lands. In 945, the combined armies of King Edmund I of England and King Malcolm I of Scotland conquered the independent Kingdom of Strathclyde. They then defeated the Cumbrian forces, at Dunmail Raise between Grasmere and Thirlmere, and the Kingdom of Cumberland became part of Scotland or Alba.
Among Workington Town centre there are attractions such as a new Debenhams Department store, Next, River Island, HMV and Costa Coffee.
