Western Lake District
The Beacon
The Beacon is the home of Whitehaven's museum. With a superb situation overlooking the harbourside at Whitehaven, and looking a bit like a small lighthouse, the Beacon tells the history of the town through the lives of ordinary people.
In the eighteenth century Whitehaven grew from a humble fishing village to a maritime town trading throughout the world. Using the museum collection, documentary evidence, and video footage visitors can discover how it all happened.
As a Georgian port Whitehaven was home to the sugar, rum, and slave trades as well as the lucrative business of smuggling. The Beacon explains how this affected the lives of those who lived in the town, and the ordinary sailors who just passed through.
Displays show how it felt to work every day down a coalmine, or live in the tiny miners houses, and compare this to the way the wealthy Lowther family lived.
The Beacon has a gift shop, café, and temporary exhibition gallery. But it also operates a complete range of museum services including Outreach talks, guided walks, education loan boxes, photographic reproduction service, and research and archive services. There is a research library available to the public that can be booked by calling the main Beacon number.
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