The Percy Kelly Trail (Whitehaven Harbour)

Whitehaven Harbour

Kelly spent much of his time in the 60's painting and sketching in Whitehaven. He was financially supported by a rich textiles businessman called Nicholas Sekers.

Whitehaven's  Georgian architecture and industrial heritage appealed to Kelly.

I started the trail from the train station. 

I could see why Percy Kelly like the  place with it's surrounding hills and big harbour area, lighthouse and old industrial  features.   

The first feature that I got to were the steps leading up to Wheelbarrow Row. It was sad to see that the iron gate and fence were in such a bad state; it was almost like Whitehaven did not care about its heritage.

Wheelbarrow steps today

I walked up past Wheelbarrow Row to the redundant railway line at the top of the town and took some picture of the view that Kelly sketched on several occasions. It was possible to see right across the town and gave a good view of St James church which appears to be the feature of some of Kelly's work.

St James church's Georgian interior

I pushed on from the Church to the harbour area passing the site of St Nicholas's church which burnt down in 1971

Last remaining part of St Nicholas' church.

Site of St Nicholas' church.

On the way to the harbour I stopped to take a picture of the Market Hall which Kelly sketched . The hall was built in 1881 and had a pillory and a jail.















When I got to the harbour I spent a long time reading and studying the history. It was very interesting and I suspect that the history of the area was a reason why Kelly sketched and painted here.

Although today Whitehaven harbour is mainly only used for leisure it's past was a lot different.  In its day it would have been one of the busiest and wealthiest places in the British Isles.  A lot of export from mining and imports such as sugar and rum from the Caribbean would have come through the port.  


During Kelly's time Whitehaven would have still been a busy place. This picture below is of a pier named 'Sugar Tongue'. It was called this as this because it is where the boats carrying sugar ported. You can see in the picture that there three boats there and storage facilities.

Sugar Tongue by Kelly

Interestingly Kelly never seemed to sketch or paint people and I wonder how many people would have actually been in this image when he painted it.

'Sugar tongue' today and the start point for
the C2C bike ride.

A lot of money was invested in changing the harbour to a place for leisure but unfortunately Whitehaven still seems quite run down and I suspect that Kelly would have not liked the changes especially the lack of industry.

The harbour has two harbour walls built at different times. Sir Christopher Lowther commissioned one of them without the kings permission. It would have been heavily guarded in its time and the canon ball factory still exists today. 

The lighthouse on the 'New Old Quay'

Some of the original cannons are
still in place.

This picture below is one of my favourites of Kelly's works. It looks like a charcoal drawing and has a mixture of open space and busyness. Kelly has drawn in his typical bold lines which I feel makes it stand out.  The lack of colour, lack of reflection from the water and no shadows  makes the painting feel dull. I like the panoramic view and the way that the harbour wall comes right up to you making you feel that you are part of the picture. 

Looking back from the harbour wall