2025 sees the launch of a new project, The Rum Story Re-Imagined, at The Rum Story visitor attraction in Whitehaven. Delivered by a partnership between Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners and local charity, Anti Racist Cumbria, the project has secured a grant of £249,431 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund with thanks to National Lottery players.
The Rum Story tells the history of the Jefferson family’s business, which involved rum, shipping and the trading and enslavement of African people. The history of the Jefferson family sits alongside a wider history of Whitehaven as a town with an established shipbuilding past, made possible by wealth generated from local mining being invested into the docks in the 1700s. The town was one of the most important UK ports and this allowed some people in Whitehaven, such as the Jeffersons, to generate wealth through their involvement in the trading of enslaved African people.
The project aims to invest in the attraction and to tell the history of the Jeffersons, enslavement and of Whitehaven in an engaging and complete way so that Whitehaven can be put more firmly on the UK heritage map. With Project Manager Katy Haigh now in place, the project is reaching out to local people to ask them how The Rum Story can support visitors to better engage with this part of Whitehaven’s history.
As the project is funded until the end of 2025, by the end of the year people’s ideas will be used to help shape how The Rum Story should be transformed over the next five years.
There will be opportunities for individuals, businesses, community organisations, schools, universities, artists, historians, curators and more, to feed into the project from Spring.
Katy said: “I am so excited about this project, and I really believe it has the potential to bring communities together and re-engage people with the history of their town. Everyone connected to Whitehaven will have unique perspectives on how the legacies of rum and the trading and trafficking of enslaved African people, shapes them, their town and their community. As we start thinking about how The Rum Story can develop going forward, this is what we are interested in. You might love history or find museums boring, you might even be sceptical about the project, or excited that this is happening in your town. Regardless, we want to hear from you!”
Both delivery partners, Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners and Anti Racist Cumbria highlight that the project is an opportunity to ensure local people have access to a top-class culture and heritage attraction, and to lead the way in telling the history of enslavement in a trauma-informed way.
Deanne Shallcross, CEO of Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners, said: “The Rum Story has been much-loved in the town for 25 years and we want to make sure it remains an asset for the long term. Local people shouldn’t have to travel to big cities to learn about enslavement and how it has shaped our country. We have the history right here and we want to make sure the way it is told is shaped by the community and does not shy away from recounting a fuller picture of history, including enslavement. With National Lottery Heritage funding, we have an opportunity to really shine the spotlight on Whitehaven’s history and offer a tourism boost as well.”
Janett Walker, CEO of Anti Racist Cumbria, said: “For years across the heritage sector, we have seen the role of the trading in the enslavement of African people in shaping England and ports such as Whitehaven glossed over and the long-term intergenerational consequences, including trauma, ignored. This has been done through active avoidance or euphemism. Enslavers have been coded ‘planters’, enslavement is hidden behind phrases such as ‘shipping’ or ‘Virginia trade’. Not only is this an insult to those who were enslaved and their descendants, we are ignoring a key part of our history which gives us a fuller picture of how our country and local areas became the communities and places we are familiar with today.”
To get involved or find out more, email Katy.Haigh@rumstory.co.uk or visit www.rumstory.co.uk/about/rum-story-re-imagined.
