Jam, Japanese Cars, and the Iron Kings: Facts About Moor Row

If you were to wander through Moor Row today, you might see a peaceful village serving as a gateway to the Lake District. But don’t let the quiet fool you. This village has lived nine lives, serving as the iron-rich heart of the British Empire with enough drama to rival a Peaky Blinders script.

A Village Built on "Red Gold"

Before the 1800s, Moor Row was just a few scattered homesteads. But underneath those sheep-grazed fields lay a literal fortune: Haematite. This was "Kidney Ore"—the purest, highest-quality iron in the world.

By the 1870s, the village became a "subterranean honeycomb." With six active mine shafts of the Montreal Mines within village boundaries, the dust was red, the mud was red, and the workers coming home looked like they’d stepped out of a Martian landscape.

The Iron Kings: A Corporate Monopoly

Every great industrial story needs a powerful dynasty. Enter the Lindow family. Based at the grand Neo-Classical Ingwell Hall, the Lindows were the "Iron Kings." They created a "closed loop" economy, famously selling ore from their own mines to their own steelworks at massively inflated prices to consolidate family wealth.

From "Jam City" to "Datsun City"

The village’s identity evolved through two unique 20th-century nicknames:

  • Jam City (1950s): Earned after local children became national champions at scavenging jam jars for a post-war recycling drive.
  • Datsun City (1970s): When the UK was skeptical of Japanese imports, Steeles Garage became a national phenomenon for selling reliable Datsuns, putting the village ahead of the automotive curve.

The Deep Dive: Facts & Legacy

Ancient & Cultural Roots

  • Norse Origins: The name Scalegill comes from Old Norse skáli (hut) and gill (valley), marking it as an ancient Viking grazing site.
  • Cornish Influence: Penzance Street is named after Cornish miners who brought "hard rock" expertise to the deep haematite shafts.
  • Wartime Sacrifice: The local school maintains a Roll of Honour for 134 "Old Boys" who served in WWI.

Engineering & Industry

  • The Railway Hub: A 19th-century "spaghetti junction" connecting Workington, Egremont, and Frizington.
  • The "Back Ship": A massive 1878 engineering project that "boxed in" the riverbed to prevent mine flooding.
  • Cankered Water: A reminder of the past, bright orange "cankered" water still occasionally surfaces from the abandoned mine tunnels.

Modern Landmarks

  • The "Hope" Mural: A poignant landmark for suicide awareness created with the charity Every Life Matters.
  • The Transition Point: A key landmark on Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk where the industrial coast meets the Lake District fells.
  • Green Corridor: The 1997 transformation of old railway lines into a lush cycle path for the community.
Moor Row Composite Image Illustration
Composite Image Illustration
Location: Moor Row CA24, UK

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ARCHIVE HIGHLIGHTS

About Moor Row

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Hello, and welcome. This Internet site is about the village of Moor Row in West Cumbria. The history of Moor Row is one intrinsically linked to the industrial boom that transformed West Cumbria. While the area's roots stretch back to before 1762, when the homesteads of Low Moor Row and High Moor Row dotted the landscape between Summerhill Mansion and Woodend with Cleator, the true genesis of the modern village lies in iron ore and the mighty railway.  From Homestead to Hub The early landscape was characterised by family landholdings, such as the estate of the Wildridge family at Low Moor Row, located on what would become Church Street. The marriage of Elizabeth Wildridge to the local gardener, Dalzell, and his subsequent inheritance of the estates, is a pivotal local event. This link is preserved today, not just through family lore but in the village's street names, a testament to the enduring influence of the early landowners. The Railway Catalyst The mid-19th century witnes...
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The 100-Fathom Descent: Dual Extraction at Moor Row’s Premier Pit

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The Montreal Pit No. 10 at Moor Row was a vital component of the Montreal Mine complex, an enterprise so vast it was famously known as the "Great Moor." Owned by the industrialist John Stirling, Pit No. 10 was a feat of Victorian engineering that defied the standard geological rules of the West Cumbrian "Iron Fever" era. It was the deepest of the Moor Row pits.  As the mining operations moved south and east from the original 1840s outcrop, the shafts had to go deeper to follow the dipping ore bodies. ​ Location : The shaft was situated at National Grid Reference NY 006 142, positioned south of the village near what is now the fringe of agricultural land. Depth : While the average depth for the earlier Montreal shafts was approximately 145 metres, Pit No. 10 was significantly deeper, reaching depths between 190 and 210 metres (approx. 620–690 feet). Strata : It primarily worked the Fourth and Fifth Limestones, targeting massive "flats" (horizontal ore...
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The story of Summerhill Mansion in Moor Row begins long before the deafening roar of the Whitehaven Cleator and Egremont Railway and the deep excavations of the iron mines. Archival research confirms the property's existence prior to 1762, placing it firmly in the agrarian era of West Cumberland. ​The Mansion was not merely a large house; it was the original, definitive geographical boundary and an anchor for the earliest settlement, which included the Low Moor Row homestead. It was the ancestral seat of the Wildridge family and represented the fixed, respectable wealth of the rural landscape. It is the story of how a single country estate, located on what became Church Street , became the essential financial and geographical launchpad for the entire industrial expansion of this West Cumbrian village. Once established at Summerhill Mansion, the Dalzell family leveraged their land to become industrial pioneers. As the 19th-century iron ore boom exploded, Moor Row rapidly expan...
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Deep History: 6000 Years Of Moor Row

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For the modern visitor, Moor Row appears as a product of the nineteenth-century industrial revolution - a landscape of red-brick terraces built to house the miners of the West Cumberland iron ore boom. However, to view this village only through the lens of industry is to overlook a human story that stretches back six millennia. Before the first mine shaft was sunk, this was a "row" of dwellings on the edge of the great Egremont Waste, held by families whose roots reached back to the very foundations of England. Searching Historic Records In historical Cumbrian records, the Bailiwick of Egremont refers to the administrative and judicial division of the Barony of Egremont (also known as the Barony of Copeland). ​Before 1600, a "bailiwick" was the area of jurisdiction for a Bailiff - an officer appointed by the Lord of the Manor (the Percys) to manage the land, collect rents, and enforce local laws.   ​1. Administrative Structure ​The Bailiwick was the "middle ma...
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​The Final Departure: Documenting the Demolition of Moor Row Railway

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The industrial landscape of West Cumbria underwent a radical metamorphosis during the nineteenth century, driven primarily by the extraction of high-grade haematite, colloquially known as "Red Gold." At the epicentre of this transformation was the village of Moor Row, which evolved from a collection of scattered eighteenth-century homesteads into one of the most significant railway junctions in Northern England. The development of the Moor Row railway station was not merely a matter of regional transport logistics but was a physical manifestation of the Victorian industrial empire's reach. The station’s buildings, added and modified across different eras, reflected the fluctuating fortunes of the iron ore industry, eventually meeting their demise as the mineral reserves and the accompanying rail traffic vanished in the late twentieth century. The Genesis of the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway The origins of the station at Moor Row are inextricably linked to...
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