[1] Ireleth has its origins as a mediaeval farming village clustered on the hillside overlooking the flat sands of the Duddon Estuary.

The nearby River Duddon estuary and surrounding countryside have made the area well known for its wildlife,[5] while the villages' exposed position on the eastern bank facing the Irish Sea have encouraged the establishment of wind energy generation, amid local controversy.

Firstly, there was the 'Sands' road, named 'Marsh Lane' in maps of the 1850s, heading down the hill towards the shore, where it met one of the possible routes for crossing the treacherous tidal sands of the Duddon at low tide.

[7] It is thought the village was included in the Domesday Book, compiled soon after the Norman Conquest, but there is debate over which of the entries for the Furness area in William the Conqueror's census actually refers to modern day Ireleth.

[3] Several sources name a settlement called Gerleuuorde, part of the Manor of Hougun, as the correct entry but there is no conclusive evidence to support this, not least because of the discrepancies in spelling.

[8] IRELETH, a chapelry, in the parish of Dalton-In-Furness, union of Ulverston, hundred of Lonsdale north of the Sands, N. division of Lancashire, 3 miles (N.) from Dalton; containing 744 inhabitants.

Ogra-Mill, in this township, has been conjectured to be the Ouregrave of the Domesday survey: Roanhead is the point for crossing Dudden sands by the ancient road into Cumberland.

The chapel was built in 1608, by Giles Brownrigg, and was originally intended for a school.During the Middle Ages, the entire area was controlled by the Cistercian monks of Furness Abbey.

Giles Brownrigg, named variously as a local landowner[9] or a tailor who had left the area to make his fortune in London,[3] gave money to establish a school house and a salary for a schoolmaster.

[14] Some were owned by the Kennedy Brothers Ltd. firm of Ulverston Barrow Haematite Steel Co and the Millom and Askam Iron Company.

[15] The village continued to grow with terraced houses and allotments erected for the flood of immigrant labour needed to work the mines.

[17] Remnants of the steel industry remain in Askam, as evidenced by a pier, consisting of slag from the works, that juts out into the bay toward Millom.

Askam and Ireleth are both part of the Furness peninsula, where the suffix "-in-Furness" is sometimes added to place names, such as Barrow-in-Furness and Dalton-in-Furness.

[10][19] While the strip development has effectively created one larger community in the past fifty years, residents of both villages still retain a strong sense of being either from Askam or Ireleth.

[22] Askam and Ireleth is part of the Barrow and Furness parliamentary constituency, represented by Labour Party MP Michelle Scrogham.

[23][24] The upper slopes of the hill near Ireleth are home to dark blue slate, and it is found on the roofs of several local dwellings.

Haematite, the bright red iron ore, was discovered in an exceptionally large deposit, the second largest in the country, south of the current villages in the 1840s.

[25] Much wildlife is found on the Duddon Estuary, including 20% of the national natterjack toad population, who are attracted to the shallow breeding pools.

[5] The beach is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because of the range of flora and fauna present on the sands.

[26] The Askam and Ireleth Wind Farm can be found 1.25 miles (2 km) east of the village, on the southern slopes of Hare Slack Hill.

Its southern end is 2 miles (3 km) south of Askam at the junction with the A590 Dalton-in-Furness bypass although formerly continued into Dalton.

[28] There are plans to construct a crossing over the Duddon between Askam and Millom to reduce the long journey times between Furness and Copeland, due to the circuitous route of the A595 around the estuary.

To the north the line links to the Sellafield nuclear power plant, a major local employer, and onwards to Carlisle.

[36] Temperance Hall was built by the Quakers in 1872;[3] it was marked as a place of worship on Ordnance Survey maps of the late 19th century, and was used by the Bible Christians, a Methodist denomination.