Urban growth was one of the most striking features of English social change in the later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Some of the more important ‘new’ towns were those associated with industry and trade: they usually developed a single economic interest, rather than diversifying their activities; they were often found close to a supply of raw materials; they were usually unplanned; and they experienced severe teething troubles in the form of ineffective social control, which in turn reflected the absence of municipal authority. In this latter aspect they provided a striking contrast to the older established towns. West Cumberland hardly had a settlement which could justifiably be termed ‘urban’ in the mid-seventeenth century. Whitehaven had something under 400 inhabitants, and Workington probably few more. Both were little more than villages, even by contemporary standards. They lacked the specialized economic function which is often taken to be the simplest criterion of a town. By 1801, however, they could boast populations of more than 10,000 and 6000 respectively, while Mary-port was a rapidly emerging third town. The other outlets used for exporting coal at different times – Parton, Walton Wood and Flimby – had remained small centres. A comprehensive picture of urban growth in the period can only be drawn for Whitehaven, because of the limitations of the evidence. However, this reveals many of the stresses inherent in town development in what was in many ways one of the more significant new towns of the period.