Nineteenth-century Cumbria did not conform to the typical northern English model of Irish migration. This was due to a number of geographic and economic factors which significantly affected the nature of Irish arrival. In terms of the economy, the area had more in common with Scotland and the north east than with the developing regions of south and central Lancashire. During the nineteenth century, iron and coal became the staple industries of west Cumberland while for Furness (around Barrow) the same was true of iron, steel and ships. This economic development resulted in four major types of Irish settling in the area: unskilled labourers; iron ore (though few coal) miners; a variety of workers in metals; and both skilled and unskilled shipbuilders. The majority came from Ulster and included both Catholics and Protestants. Their impact upon the culture of the region, with Orange-Green division and repeated sectarian strife becoming part of the social fabric from the 1870s, also encourages comparison with the Scottish picture.

Irish settlement in Cumbria was also different, chronologically, from that in Lancashire, where the Famine years dominate the historical landscape. Nothing Cumbrians experienced could match the grim and horrible image of Famine-driven Irish migration to Lancashire so graphically portrayed by Lowe and Neal. Settlement in Whitehaven and Carlisle conformed to the classic ‘Condition of England’ image of Irish settlement, but lacked the scale seen elsewhere. In the 1840s, as the Liverpool authorities were bewailing the Irish presence thrust upon them, Barrow was but an inconsequential village, while Cleator Moor, Workington, and the West Cumberland iron-ore mining communities were only just taking off into sustained industrial growth. Within thirty years, each was thriving and Irish settlement in the region had become considerable. These observations on chronology suggest that formative economic developments, urban growth, and the mass arrival of the Irish, took place entirely in the years beyond the Famine. This region is important for reasons not indicated by a historiography which centres upon the 1840s, and associated poverty and disorganisation, as the key to understanding Irish settlement because Cumbria largely stood aside from this kind of ‘flood’ immigration.