This may assist a little for the original enquiry.
Attached are a couple of modern-day photographs of what I seem to remember some people referred to as Bardy Steps. Would these be the ones also referred to at times as the 'Quay Steps' Geoff-E mentions?
The top of these steps is just below the Whitehaven Town Mission. They lead down to Bardy Lane at the bottom (which now seems to have been officially re-named as Bardywell Lane as it was many years ago).
These photographs were taken in January 2012. The steps can still be distinctly made out, as can some of the "slums". Unlike the 'Mount Steps', photographs of which can be seen earlier, at present it would be unsafe to walk up and down the 'Bardy Steps'.
I had relatives living on Bardy Lane (No 9) until they were re-housed to council housing at Woodhouse in 1934. Apparently,Gt Grandmother Sarah Jane Savage (nee Kinsella) used to have a pet cockatoo in a cage while at Bardy Lane, and it moved to the new house with the family. It is believed this had originally been brought in by one of the boats coming in to Whitehaven harbour. The family also had cats which presumably would have been useful in the harbourside area where there would have been mice and rats to contend with!