Seascale, United Kingdom

Seascale was part of the ancient parish of Gosforth, which was divided into the manors of Gosforth, Boonwood, Bolton High, Bolton Low and Seascale, who jointly elected a churchwarden for Gosforth church.

The community of Seascale continued as a series of farms until the coming of the Furness Railway in 1850. This ran from Whitehaven to Barrow in Furness. Some small development took place in the wake of this, but it was recorded that in 1869 "there was not a shop in the place". Further development had to wait until 1879 when Sir James Ramsden of the Furness Railway promoted an ambitious plan to develop Seascale as a holiday resort. Edward Kemp of Birkenhead produced the designs, which included a large hotel, marine walks and villas, which would have stretched along 1.5 mi (2 km) of the coastline, however only a small number of buildings were constructed. The Scawfell Hotel, dating from that time and adjacent to the railway station, was demolished in 1997. The hotel's Victorian advertising made much of the fine beach and boasted its own bathing machines. Seascale was also promoted as an ideal centre for touring the western valleys of the Lake District.

In 1881 the "Iron Church" of St Cuthbert was built, but was blown down in 1884. Although rebuilt, it was too small for the growing community, and in 1890 a stone church was built to the design of C F Ferguson. In 1886 the Methodist Church, also dedicated to St. Cuthbert, was built nearby.

Little further development occurred until the establishment of the Royal Ordnance Factories at Sellafield and Drigg in 1939, both just a few miles away, when accommodation was built for munitions workers. In 1947 after World War II, the huge nuclear building programme at the former Sellafield ordnance factory commenced and Seascale became a dormitory community for the resultant Windscale and Calder Hall nuclear sites (later combined as Sellafield). As a result, in the 1950s it was known as "the brainiest town in Britain".