Cleator is a village in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Cleator Moor Cleator Moor is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The parish was historically called Cleator. During the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, the new settlement of Cleator Moor was built on the moo ...

, in the

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

district of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, England. Cleator is located on the edge of the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

, with Dent Fell on the skyline to the south east. It is included in many nature initiatives such as

Alfred Wainwright Alfred Wainwright Order of the British Empire, MBE (17 January 1907 – 20 January 1991), who preferred to be known as A. Wainwright or A.W., was a British fellwalking, fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume ''Pictorial ...

's Coast to Coast Walk. Cleator is near the port town of

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

and lies 1½ miles south of the town of Cleator Moor on the A5086 road. Cleator was the original village, Cleator Moor being the moor above the village. It is the site of the former

Kangol Kangol is a British clothing corporation, company famous for its headwear. The name Kangol reflects the original materials for production, the K coming from the word 'silK' (a recent attribution to 'Knitting' is incorrect), the ANG from 'ANGor ...

hat factory. The factory buildings and shop are now closed. Cleator is located on the River Ehen, which is joined by the

River Keekle The River Keekle is a river running through the England, English Non-metropolitan county, county of Cumbria. The Source (river or stream), source of the Keekle is to be found at Keekle Head Farm on High Park between Gilgarran and Asby. From the ...

at Longlands Lake. On Thursday 19 November 2009, rainfall of over 300 mm was recorded in Cumbria. The surge of water off the fells of the

flowed back to the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

down the rivers of West Cumbria, including the River Derwent which caused flooding and damage at Keswick,

Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. The name refers to the town's position by the confluence of the River Cocker into the River Derwent. At the 2021 census, the built u ...

and

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

. The River Ehen burst its banks at Cleator, near to the Kangol factory, flooding fields and a number of residential properties. Cleator Cricket Club, whose home is the picturesque J.D. Campbell Memorial Ground, field three teams, the 1st XI playing in the North Lancashire League. On 8 September 2013 the club achieved fame by winning the National Village Cup at Lord's Cricket Ground in London. They defeated the Gloucestershire team of Rockhampton by 1 wicket with 8 balls to spare in a tense and closely fought final. Though they had in common a history in mining, Cleator village has no connection with the township of the same name, now reportedly little more than a ghost town, formerly called Turkey Creek, at the base of the Bradshaw Mountains in central

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, in the Southwestern United States. That township was founded in 1864 during a gold rush, and in 1925 it was purchased by the Manx-born James P. Cleator (died 1959), who named it after himself.

Churches

Though it has required construction repairs in later centuries, an ancient church has survived in the village, St Leonard's, whose site may have housed an earlier building even as early as the 5th century. While the current building underwent major interventions in 1841 and in 1900–1903, the chancel dates at least in part to the 12th century. Since the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

(16th century) the present building has been the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish church. The grounds are entered through a

lychgate A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...

and there is a churchyard. The saint to whom the church is dedicated is presumably to be identified with Saint

Leonard of Noblac Leonard of Noblac (also Leonard of Limoges or Leonard of Noblet; also known as Lienard, Linhart, Lenart, Leonhard, Léonard, Leonardo, Annard; died 559) is a Franks, Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de- ...

or of Limoges, a 6th-century monk and hermit whose popularity spread rapidly throughout Europe in the 12th century. Numerous Christian churches with the same dedication currently exists throughout the world. The sizeable

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

St Mary's Church (officially titled Our Lady of the Sacred Heart) was designed by the architect E. W. Pugin (the son of the better-known A.W.N. Pugin, whose works include the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

). The church was constructed in the years 1869–1872 and opened in 1872. Here, too, there is a churchyard and the grounds include a grotto, constructed to give work to the unemployed men of the parish during the depression of 1926. Modelled on that of

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for its Château fort, a ...

, it is the venue for an annual procession. Other churches in the area, located in nearby

, include the Methodist Church, first built in 1862 and rebuilt in 1934 after a fire; also the grade 2 listed Anglican Church of St John Evangelist, designed in an Anglo-Norman style by the Carlisle-born architect Charles John Ferguson (1840–1904) and consecrated in 1872. Other nonconformist chapels, now closed, included the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

church, the Primitive Methodist chapel, a

Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

chapel, and a United Methodist Free church.

Governance

Cleator forms part of the

of Cleator Moor. There are two tiers of local government covering Cleator Moor, at

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

(town) and

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

level: Cleator Moor Town Council and Cumberland Council. The town council is based in the Market Square in Cleator Moor.

Administrative history

Cleator was an

ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the historic county of

. By the mid-19th century, there was acknowledged to be a need for more modern forms of local government to manage the rapid growth of the area, particularly in light of the development of Cleator Moor as effectively a new town on the former moorland to the north of Cleator village. An attempt to establish a

local government district Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

covering the whole parish of Cleator was rejected at a public meeting in May 1864, but later that year a smaller Cleator Moor local government district covering just part of the parish was created. The Cleator Moor local government district was subsequently enlarged to cover the whole parish of Cleator in 1880. Although the district then covered the same area as the parish, the parish kept the name Cleator whereas the district was called Cleator Moor. Such districts were reconstituted as urban districts under the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county leve ...

. Cleator Moor Urban District was abolished in 1934. Instead, the parish of Cleator was renamed Cleator Moor, reclassified as a rural parish and given a parish council, and it was included in the Ennerdale Rural District. Ennerdale Rural District was abolished in 1974, becoming part of the

Borough of Copeland The Borough of Copeland was a local government district with borough status in western Cumbria, England. Its council was based in Whitehaven. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Borough of Whitehaven, Ennerdale Rural Distri ...

in the new county of Cumbria. Copeland was in turn abolished in 2023 when the new Cumberland Council was created, also taking over the functions of the abolished Cumbria County Council in the area.

Industry and population trends

Cleator was the site of a number of textile mills (originally linen), and the

firm established itself there in 1938. Following the development of iron ore mining in nearby areas, Cleator was the site of associated works (hence the street name "Kiln Brow" and the location "The Forge"). Longlands Lake

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

is on the site of the former Longlands iron ore mine, which first produced ore in 1879 from four pits. By 1924 the Cleator mines had been abandoned. In 1939 they started to subside and flood the area, creating Longlands Lake, which was acquired by Cumbria County Council in 1980. The population of the village has varied considerably over the years, reflecting the fortunes of local industrial development. An estimate for 1688 (the year of the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

) put the number at 330, and it had increased but little, to 362, by 1801. It then more than doubled, to 763, by 1841. This was the beginning of an expansion which continued for the greater part of the rest of the century, with the arrival of immigrants from Ireland, and, thanks to mining prospects, even from

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

. Developments included the creation on the former common to the north of what by the 1880s became the town of Cleator Moor. By 1861 the population had reached 3,995, and increased to well over double the figure only twenty years later, in 1881, when it stood at 10,420. That was the peak. Numbers fell to 8,120 by 1901 and a half-century later in 1951 were registering 6,411. Changed conditions once more brought the figure to 7,686 by 1971; and it had reduced again to 6,939 in 2001. Cleator village is now classed as part of the built up area of Cleator Moor by the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; ) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible fo ...

References

External links