Michael Street is between Scotch Street and the park and runs from Duke Street up to Peter Street crossing the end of George Street. Two rows of houses that no-longer exist on the park side of Michael Street were Granby Row and key Place. In the early 19th century on the upper half of Michael Street on the Scotch Street side was a Weslyan Methodist Chapel.
Looking up Michael Street one could be forgiven for thinking the first set of houses are from Whitehaven's heyday in the 1800's - but actually these were built in the 1980's to reflect that earlier style.
Looking down Michael Street, on the left, at the end of George Street we see the modern Elim Pentecostal Church which is on the site of what was before 1800 an ornamental garden for Somerset House. Opposite are even more modern houses from the 1980's that have tastefully reproduced the Whitehaven vernacular style of the Georgian period.
From this angle we can see the disaster of modern government buildings in Whitehaven. The telephone exchange, which on Catherine Street can be argued to be a successful form, generated from function - from this viewpoint is just a featureless huge blot on the landscape obscuring the hill beyond.
Beyond the modern flats on Michael Street amongst the trees in the park we can see the 2nd ventilation shaft for the Whitehaven railway tunnel which runs beneath the town from Bransty to Corkickle.
© WAWL 2010