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Barrow-in-Furness is a town in Cumbria, England, (historically part of the 'traditional county' of Lancashire). It is the main town in the borough of Barrow-in-Furness, which has an overall population of 71,980 (2001 census *). It is considered the "capital" of Furness, though this remains a cultural/geographical district, with no administrative whole.
Barrow is a coastal town, and one of the major engineering centres in the United Kingdom *. It grew quickly from a small village in 1850 to a large town by 1870, on the back of steelworks and later shipbuilding.
History
The name "Barrow" is supposedly a corruption of the Old Norse meaning "Barren Island", which would have originally referred to Barrow Island, now part of the town's dock system. Another theory says that its name came from Old Norse Barrey = "Barr Island", where barr is its previous Celtic name meaning "promontory".
During the Middle Ages, the area was dominated by the powerful monks of Furness Abbey, just outside the modern Barrow. Until 1845, Barrow was still one of several small villages on the Furness peninsula, relying on agriculture and fishing. Access was difficult, as the peninsula is surrounded on three sides by the treacherous sands of Morecambe Bay and the Duddon Estuary, and on the other side by the mountains of the Lake District.
This changed in 1846 when the Furness Railway was constructed and a rail ferry connected this to the national network at Fleetwood. Rapid expansion occurred thanks to iron ore mining, and resultantly the iron and steel works were the largest in the world and from being a sleepy hamlet, Barrow's population grew to 47,000 by 1881, just forty years after the railway was built.
The town became a municipal borough in 1867, and a county borough in 1889. *
Barrow remains one of the few planned towns in the United Kingdom, and is certainly one of the oldest. Its town centre contains a grid of well-built terraced houses, with long tree-lined roads leading away from central squares. The planning was largely devised by James Ramsden of the Furness Railway company. At the time, the railway owned the gothic style Town Hall, areas of the newly developed shipyard and many of the local houses.
The docks were built, overseen by Ramsden, on Barrow Island, with the first steamship produced in 1870. During the two world wars, Barrow shipyard continued to grow, with the town's population peaking at 74,000 in 1931. Following World War II, the town's fortunes remained linked to those of the shipyard.
Gas found in Morecambe Bay and the Irish Sea has been piped to Barrow since 1985, entering the National Transmission System in the Roosecote area of Barrow. Wind turbines currently being built in the Irish Sea off the coast of Walney Island will send their electricity to Heysham, rather than Barrow, due to a lack of capacity at the Barrow terminus.
The end of the Cold War marked a reduction in the demand for military submarines and ships, and the town entered a period of decline. Emplyoment figures for the shipyard fell from over 20,000 at the start of the 1980s to just 3,000 in 2000.
In 2002 Barrow suffered the UK's worst outbreak of legionnaires' disease. Six women and one man died as a result of the illness, another 172 people also contracted the disease. The cause was found to be faulty air conditioning at the town's Forum 28 arts centre.
Though Barrow remains a poor town - it has some of the lowest house prices in England - some regeneration is about to occur on the old dock land, with developments for a marina and dockside housing and entertainment complexes shortly to enter the construction phase.
Industry
The industrialisation of Barrow began in 1846 when the Furness Railway was constructed and a rail ferry connected this to the national network at Fleetwood.
Iron & Steel
Iron ore, mined in Roose, Dalton-in-Furness and Lindal-in-Furness, was brought to Barrow to be transported by sea. Steelworks soon followed, making use of coal from the Cumberland mines. The iron and steel works were the largest in the world and from being a sleepy hamlet, Barrow's population grew to 47,000 by 1881, just forty years after the railway was built. The steel works grew on the back of the ship building industry, but post World War II and partciularly the end of the Cold War, the iron and steelworks, suffering from overseas competition and dwindling resources, continued to decline. The ironworks closed in 1963, three years after the last Furness mine shut. The then small steelworks followed suit in 1984.Ship Building
The docks were built, overseen by Ramsden on Barrow Island, to export Iron Ore.The first steamship was produced in 1870. Ramsden also founded the Barrow Shipbuilding Company, which became Vickers in 1897. The shipyard took over from the railway and steelworks as the largest employer and land owner in Barrow, constructing Vickerstown on the adjacent Walney Island in the early twentieth century.
During the two world wars, Barrow shipyard continued to grow, with the town's population peaking at 74,000 in 1931. Following World War II, the town's fortunes remained linked to those of the shipyard. Famous ships built in Barrow include the Mikasa, Japanese flagship during the Russo-Japanese War and the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible, though the yard gradually specialised in submarines. The Royal Navy's first submarine, Holland 1, was built in Barrow in 1901, and newer ones such as HMS Resolution were developed from the 1960s. The Vanguard class submarines, were all built in Barrow.
Geography
Barrow-in-Furness is located at *. The town is situated on Morecambe Bay facing Walney Island, a part of which is connected with the borough via Jubilee Bridge, a lifting bridge of the Bascule type. Half an hour away is the English Lake District. The town is geographically and historically part of Lancashire, but has been part of the administrative county of Cumbria since 1974.
Barrow-in-Furness railway station provides connections to Whitehaven, Workington and Carlisle to the north, via the Cumbrian Coast Line, and to Ulverston, Grange-over-Sands and Lancaster to the east, via the Furness Line. Barrow has a second railway station, called Roose railway station, which serves the suburb of Roose.
Barrow's principal road link is the A590 road, linking it to Ulverston, the Lake District and to the M6 motorway. Just north of Barrow is the southern terminus of the A595 road, linking the town to Whitehaven, Workington and eventually Carlisle.
Sport
Barrow is a stronghold of rugby league, its team Barrow Raiders play in National League two. Barrow is also home to one of the best supported non-league football teams, Barrow A.F.C..
Famous Residents and Births
Births
- Great Britain stand-off and Barrow RLFC rugby football captain Willie Horne
- England defender and Liverpool F.C. football captain Emlyn Hughes
- England and everton football club defender Gary Stevens
- Actor and scriptwriter Nigel Kneale
- Scientist and radio pioneer William Eccles
Residents
- Barrister and judge at the Nuremberg Trials William Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett
- Author and florist Constance Spry
- Swedish inventor and industrialist Thorsten Nordenfelt
- Actor and television presesnter Peter Purves lived and worked in Barrow when he began his acting career *
External links
"Barrow-in-Furness"