Harbour workers shelter, Workington

Image: © Graham Robson Taken: 6 Nov 2012

This stone hut, on the south bank of the River Derwent estuary, was built in the early 1800s as a shelter for a harbour worker. A workman watched the tide in the estuary from the shelter and raised and lowered a marker to inform seamen of the water depth. The chimney stack is a recent cosmetic addition. Once, there may have been several of these huts on the shoreline. A hut of a similar design on a small hill inland but close by gained the nickname "Billy Bumbley's House". A potential origin for the name is that a former dockworker named Billy who manned the hut on the hill used to hum while he worked, legend has it that this humming sounded like a buzzing bee, leading to the hut gaining his name. This hut is however no more, possibly lost under a slag heap. Thanks to Tom Jenkins for correcting and adding further information to the description.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0