St. Nicholas Gardens

The church of St. Nicholas was built at the centre of Whitehaven's grid pattern of streets in 1883 but was destroyed by a terrible fire in 1971 which has left only the tower intact. Strangely, in some ways this has benefited the town. The congregations of the town's Anglican churches are now unified in worship at St. James on high street.  The gardens have become a wonderful centrepiece to the town helping to achieve many Cumbria in Bloom awards. The tower which can still be ascended by visitors also hosts a coffee shop which enables many charities to raise funds for good causes. Finally, open space left behind the tower is also used for open air performances and firework displays.

Unfortunately, fine wood carvings, a renaissance Venetian altar and a painting by Matthias Read of the Last Supper were lost in the fire. A church had been on the site throughout most of Whitehaven's history - the current one replacing an earlier church completed in 1693 and that had replaced a chapel that had existed since before 1642.

The gardens also contain the grave of Mildred Gale grandmother to the first U.S. President, George Washington. She died here in 1700 after being remarried to a Whitehaven merchant George Gale, who traded with Virginia and Maryland. Also buried here were her baby daughter and her servant. Sadly, since the remodelling of the gardens her grave is no longer marked.

On the floor of what used to be the church is a pebble mosaic dedicated to the miners that were lost in the local pits. Near the Duke St. gate is also a memorial, in the form of a sundial, to the hundreds of children that died in the coal mines.