Editing Millom (section)

==History==
In January 2023, six [[Bronze Age]] socketed axe heads at a site near Millom.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.whitehavennews.co.uk/news/24841551.bbcs-digging-britain-features-milloms-very-rare-finds/|title=BBC's Digging for Britain features 'very rare' finds in Cumbria|date=9 January 2025|website=Whitehaven News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-64551774|title=Millom metal detectorist's mind blown by axe head finds|date=7 February 2023|via=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> The finds were featured in the BBC's ''[[Digging for Britain]]'' in January 2025.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0026rl5/digging-for-britain-series-12-4-roman-crime-and-ancient-dna|title=Digging for Britain - Series 12: 4. Roman Crime and Ancient DNA|via=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

Millom is mentioned in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 as one of the townships forming the [[Manor of Hougun]] which had been held by [[Tostig Godwinson]], [[Earl of Northumbria]].<ref name="domesday">{{Cite web |title=Millom, Cumberland |url=http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/cumberland1.html |access-date=18 January 2011 |website=The Domesday Book Online |publisher=domesdaybook.co.uk}}</ref>

[[Millom Castle]] is a grade I [[listed building]] and [[scheduled ancient monument]] which by 1739 was in dilapidated condition.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The north-east view of Millum castle, in the county of Cumberland |url=http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/thelakes/html/lgaz/bu0114.htm |access-date=19 January 2011 |website=Print, uncoloured engraving |publisher=Samuel and Nathaniel Buck, 1739, reprinted by Hudson Scott and Sons, Carlisle, Cumberland, 1877.}}</ref>

In 1251 a market charter was granted by King [[Henry III of England]] to John de Huddleston, Lord of Millom.

Millom is the most southerly town in the [[Historic counties of England|historic county]] of [[Cumberland]].<ref>[[:File:Gray1824.cumberland.jpg]]</ref>

The [[Cumbrian Coast line|Whitehaven & Furness Junction Railway]] opened a station in 1850, which was known as 'Holborn Hill Halt' until the new town of Millom was built in 1866. It was taken over by the [[Furness Railway]] in 1866.

A map of 1862 shows that there was a small hamlet by the name of [[Holborn Hill]] on the northwest side of the railway line. It had a railway station, an inn and a tile and brickworks.<ref name="oldmaps1862">{{Cite web |title=1862 Cumberland 1:2,500 |url=http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html?txtXCoord=317377&txtYCoord=480489 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305215022/http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html?txtXCoord=317377&txtYCoord=480489 |archive-date=5 March 2012 |access-date=19 January 2011 |website=old-maps.co.uk |publisher=Landmark Information Group |df=dmy-all}}</ref> By 1899 the small town of Millom had grown up, with terraced streets on either side of the railway, a public library, police station, banks, hotels, school, market square and allotments.<ref name="oldmaps1898">{{Cite web |title=1898–1899 Cumberland 1:2,500 |url=http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html?txtXCoord=317377&txtYCoord=480489 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305215022/http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html?txtXCoord=317377&txtYCoord=480489 |archive-date=5 March 2012 |access-date=19 January 2011 |website=old-maps.co.uk |publisher=Landmark Information Group |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In the intervening years, the [[Hodbarrow]] iron mines began extracting [[haematite]] from deposits between the village of Holborn Hill and the seashore at Hodbarrow. The first shafts were sunk in the 1850s and by 1881 there were seven pits operated by the Hodbarrow Mining Company.<ref name="Meade427">{{Cite book |last=Meade |first=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/coalandironindu00meadgoog |title=The coal and iron industries of the United Kingdom |publisher=C. Lockwood and Company |year=1882 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/coalandironindu00meadgoog/page/n460 427]}}</ref>  Millom & Askam Iron Company built Millom Ironworks and the first furnaces were completed in 1866. The opening of the ironworks led to the building of the new town of Millom .<ref name="C&WA">{{Cite web |title=Furness Railway |url=http://www.cumberlandarchives.co.uk/content/view/239/48/1/5/ |access-date=19 January 2011 |publisher=Cumberland and Westmorland Archives.}}</ref> The Hodbarrow Outer Barrier, the third seawall to be built to protect the mines from the sea, was completed in 1905 . It took five years to construct at a cost of almost £600,000.<ref name="DEbooklet">{{Cite web |title=DuddonEstuary_Booklet |url=http://www.duddon-estuary.org.uk/pdf/DuddonEstuary_Booklet.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208110018/http://www.duddon-estuary.org.uk/pdf/DuddonEstuary_Booklet.pdf |archive-date=8 February 2007 |access-date=23 January 2011 |publisher=Duddon Estuary Partnership |df=dmy-all}}</ref> The Hodbarrow Mines and Millom Ironworks were closed in 1968. The town's population of 10,997 in 1967 fell to 7,101 by the [[1971 United Kingdom census|1971 census]].<ref name="CRA">{{Cite web |title=The Furness Railway |url=http://www.cumbrianrailwaysassociation.org.uk/?The_Railways_of_Cumbria_-_A_History:Furness_Railway |access-date=19 January 2011 |publisher=The Cumbrian Railway Association}}</ref>

In 1877 the expanding town needed more water and Whicham Beck was dammed at Baystone Bank (54.261226,-3.274237) to form Baystone Bank Reservoir. The reservoir remained in use until about 1996. It was drained in 2011, the dam removed and the valley returned to its original form. This work was carried out by water network company [[United Utilities]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 May 2011 |title=Cumbria reservoir is returned to nature |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-13492247 |access-date=9 December 2011 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Back to the future for Cumbria reservoir |url=http://www.unitedutilities.com/7832.aspx |access-date=9 December 2011 |publisher=United Utilities}}</ref>

During the [[World War II|Second World War]] an airfield, [[RAF Millom]], was developed on flat coastal land at Haverigg. This was an advanced flying training station, mainly for Observers and also Air Gunners. Aircraft stationed there were firstly the [[Blackburn Botha]] and [[Fairey Battle]], then the more popular and successful [[Avro Anson]].<ref>Nixon, John ''Oh Mother, it's a lovely place! An illustrated history of RAF Millom and their Mountain Rescue Team'' 2009</ref> Post-war this became the site of [[HM Prison Haverigg]].

Throughout its history the town has struggled with socio-economic problems, once being described by the Mayor of Copeland as 'a place of despair'.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrew Gibson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dziIDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 |title=Modernity and the Political Fix |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-350-09696-7 |page=14}}</ref>
[[File:Millom Market Square.jpg|alt=The town square of Millom, filled with around 200 people. This photo was taken at the peak of Millom's significance, when it was a flourishing mining town.|thumb|Millom Market Square - c.1900]]

Millom & District Local History Society was formed at a public meeting held on 4 February 1972.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.millomhistory.org.uk/|title=Millom and District Local History Society|website=www.millomhistory.org.uk}}</ref>