is a town in , though this remains a cultural/geographical district, with no administrative whole.
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 .
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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
1980 s 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.
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 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 .
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'' ,
Japan ese flagship during the
Russo-Japanese War and the aircraft carrier
HMS ''Invincible'' , though the yard gradually specialised in
Submarine s. The
Royal Navy 's first submarine, ''
Holland 1 '', was built in Barrow in
1901 , and nuclear submarines such as
HMS ''Resolution'' were developed from the
1960 s.
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 is a stronghold of
Rugby League , its team
Barrow Raiders play in National League one. Barrow is also home to one of the best supported
Non-league Football teams,
Barrow A.F.C. .
