Barrow-in-Furness

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Barrow-in-Furness
Statistics
Population:	71,980 (of borough)
Ordnance Survey
OS grid reference:	SD198690
Administration
District:	Barrow-in-Furness
Shire county:	Cumbria
Region:	North West England
Constituent country:	England
Sovereign state:	United Kingdom
Other
Ceremonial county:	Cumbria
Historic county:	Lancashire
Services
Police force:	Cumbria Constabulary
Fire and rescue:	{{{Fire}}}
Ambulance:	North West
Post office and telephone
Post town:	BARROW-IN-FURNESS
Postal district:	LA14
Dialling code:	01229
Politics
UK Parliament:	Barrow and Furness
European Parliament:	North West England

Barrow-in-Furness is a town in the county of Cumbria, in North West England. Lying within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire, it is the largest town in the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness^[1] and the largest town in Furness.

Barrow, as it is colloquially known, is a coastal town along Morecambe Bay and is bounded to the west by the Irish sea. Barrow expanded rapidly from a small village in 1840s to become a large town by 1880. The original impetus came with the development of the Furness Railway Company, but by the late 19th century it had also developed the world's largest steel-making facility, besides becoming the major shipbuilding centre that it remains today.^[2]

Contents 1 Geography and administration 2 History 2.1 Etymology 2.2 Early history 2.3 Recent history 3 Industry and commerce 3.1 Iron & Steel 3.2 Ship building 4 Nature 5 Population 5.1 Demographics 5.1.1 Age 5.1.2 Religion 5.2 Wards of Barrow Borough Council 6 Transportation 6.1 By Road 6.2 By Rail 6.3 By Air 6.4 By Sea 7 Sport 7.1 Football 7.2 Rugby 7.3 Cricket 8 Education 8.1 Schools and colleges 8.2 Libraries and museums 9 Significant Employers 10 Retail 11 Public services 12 Tourism 13 Media 13.1 Radio 13.2 TV 13.3 Newspapers 14 Energy - Power 15 Notable residents and births 16 Trivia 17 References and notes 18 External links

[edit] Geography and administration

Barrow-in-Furness is situated at the tip of the Furness peninsula on the north western edge of Morecambe Bay. To its west lies Walney Island, which is connected to the mainland by Jubilee Bridge, a lifting bridge of the Bascule type. Twenty miles to the north east is the English Lake District. Barrow's OS grid reference is SD198690, and the dialing code is 01229. Barrow is at the very south western tip of the Shire County of Cumbria, but originally was part of Lancashire. Furness is often described as the 'largest cul-de-sac in England' and is fairly isolated. The possibility of a bridge link over Morecambe Bay is occaisionally raised, with fesability studies currently underway.

Barrow is surrounded by numerous isles, all of which fall into the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. Other settlements within the borough include Askam and Ireleth, Dalton-in-Furness and Rampside.

[edit] History

[edit] Etymology

The name "Barrow" is possibly a corruption of the Old Norse meaning "Barren Island", which would have originally referred to Barrow Island (now subsumed into the mainland). Another theory says that the name came from Old Norse Barrey = "Barr Island", where barr is theCeltic word meaning "promontory".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Early history

During the Middle Ages the area was dominated by the powerful monks of Furness Abbey, just outside the modern Barrow. By the 15th century the Abbey had become the second richest and most powerful Cistercian abbey in England, after Fountains Abbey. Until 1845, Barrow was one of several small hamlets on the Furness peninsula, within the parish of Dalton-in-Furness, being dependent on agriculture and occasional fishing.

[edit] Recent history

In 1846 the earliest portion of the Furness Railway was constructed and a rail ferry from Roa Island connected it 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. [1]

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 Sir James Ramsden, formerly locomotive superintendent and subsequently secretary and director of the Furness Railway company. Prior to the opening of the gothic style Town Hall in 1887, the Borough Council had met at the railway headquarers: the railway company also operated the local docks and provided many of the local houses.

The Barrow docks, supported by Ramsden, were largely constructed between 1867-1881, using the channel facing across to Barrow Island. They came to be largely used for shipbuilding. The Barrow Iron Shipbuilding Company was founded in 1870 and a first steamship was launched in 1873. In 1897 the shipyard was taken over by the Yorkshire firm of Vickers, soon to become the town's best-known employer. During the two world wars, Barrow yard 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 shipbuilders.

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.

[edit] Industry and commerce

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. Though shipbuilding is now the major industrial employer, a number of other industries have been involved in the area.

[edit] 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 particularly 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.

[edit] 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 and building Abbey House as a guest house and residence for the managing director.

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 and Trafalgar-class submarines, were all built in Barrow. Several of the new Astute Class Attack Submarine have been scheduled to be built in Barrow

[edit] Nature

Walney Island is reached by a bridge from Barrow Docks. It is a 10 mile long island, reputedly the windiest lowland site in Britain, containing two important Nature Reserves. The North Nature Reserve has an area for preserving Britain's rarest amphibian, the Natterjack Toad. Over 130 species of bird have also been recorded there. The South Nature Reserve has the largest nesting ground of Herring Gulls and Lesser Black Backed Gulls in Europe.

[edit] Population

Barrow changed from a small village with a population of a few hundred in 1842, to a peak population of around 100 000 after World War One. Since then the population of the town itself has decreased to around 60,000. The Barrow council district, which includes the surrounding area, had a population 71,980 (2001 census), out of which 35,092 were male, and 36,888 were female. Barrow-in-Furness can be regarded as the largest town in Cumbria, since Carlisle in the north has city status - owing to its cathedral and larger size. So Barrow is the second largest settlement in the county.

[edit] Demographics

P.O.B	Total of Population
UK	70,343
Outside of European Union	1,071
In The EU, including Ireland	566

Around 99% of Barrovians are clasified as white, but this includes White British and White Europeans The largest minority ethnic group in the town are Chinese which make up 0.13% of the population (roughly 100), and there has been an increase in people from the eastern European Union since 2002. There are small but distinct Kosovan and Filipino populations in the town, as well as South Asians and Blacks/ Afro-Caribbean. Over the last 10 years, the ethnic minority population in Barrow has doubled from around 0.5% in 1991. [2]

2001 Census of Ethnicity in Barrow

Ethnic Group	Percentage (%)	Total of population (approx.)
White	99.2	71,400
Of which White Irish	0.5	360
Multiracial/ Mixed	0.3	215
Asian or Asian British	0.2	215
Chinese or other ethnic group	0.2	140
Black or Black British	0.1	140

[edit] Age

Age Range	Total	Males	Females
0 - 4	4,125	2,173	1,952
5 - 9	4,872	2,452	2,420
10 - 14	5,021	2,590	2,431
15 - 19	4,361	2,155	2,206
20 - 24	3,263	1,600	1,663
25 - 29	4,248	2,051	2,197
30 - 34	5,332	2,603	2,729
35 - 39	5,452	2,717	2,735
40 - 44	5,012	2,592	2,420
45 - 49	4,545	2,224	2,321
50 - 54	5,244	2,686	2,558
55 - 59	4,443	2,261	2,182
60 - 64	4,047	2,039	2,008
65 - 69	3,350	1,677	1,673
70 - 74	2,906	1,282	1,624
75 - 79	2,449	984	1,465
80 - 84	1,936	644	1,292
85 - 89	955	273	682
90 and over	419	89	330
Totals	71,980	35,092	36,888

[edit] Religion

Religion	Total Population
Christian	58,322
No Religion	7,769
Religion not stated in survey	5,465
Muslim	182
Other	93
Buddhist	72
Hindu	46
Jewish	25
Sikh	6

[edit] Wards of Barrow Borough Council

Barrow Borough Council and Cumbria County Council are the two local authorities that are responsible for services in the area. Within the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, the town is divided into wards for election purposes. The thirteen wards and their populations are showh below:

Barrow Island Ward 2,606

Central Ward 5,585

Dalton North Ward 6,599

Dalton South Ward 6,200

Hawcoat Ward 5,308

Hindpool Ward 5,515

Newbarns Ward 5,913

Ormsgill Ward 5,961

Parkside Ward 5,742

Risedale Ward 5,663

Roosecote Ward 5,501

Walney North Ward 5,604

Walney South Ward 5,784

[edit] Transportation

[edit] By Road

Barrow's principal road link is the A590, linking it to Ulverston, the Lake District and to the M6 motorway. This road enters Barrow's northern edge and runs south into the town centre and on to Walney Island, its terminus. Just north of Barrow is the southern terminus of the A595, linking the town to Whitehaven, Workington and eventually Carlisle. The other A road in the town is the A5087, which goes south out og Barrow to Rampside and then along the northern coast of Morecambe Bay into Ulverston via Bardsea.

[edit] By Rail

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.

[edit] By Air

Barrow is also home to a regional airfield (Barrow/Walney Island Airfield), owned and operated by BAE Systems(IATA airport code: BWF, ICAO: EGNL). It is one of two airports in the county, the other being Carlisle Airport.

[edit] By Sea

Barrow-in-Furness is one of England's major ports, and after the major shipbuilding industry, and the opening of Vickers (Now BAE Systems Submarines) the town has become even more linked with the sea. Currently there is no ferry sysem between Ireland etc, but in the future there are plans to create a new cruise ship terminal, along with the new Barrow marina village.

[edit] Sport

[edit] Football

Barrow is home to one of the best supported non-league football teams in the UK, Barrow A.F.C. which was founded in the year 1901. The team are known by their fans as "The Bluebirds", owing to their blue and white kit. Attendances vary - the record of 16,874 was set against Swansea City in the FA Cup Third Round in 1954 - but during the 1990s and 2000s the average has remained consistently between 1,000 and 1,100. In 1990 they won their most prestigious competition, the FA Trophy, beating Leek Town 3-0 in the final at Wembley Stadium, London.

• Manager: Phil Wilson
• Chairman: Brian Keen
• Leauge: Conference North
• Barrow AFC Official Website

[edit] Rugby

Barrow is a stronghold of rugby league, its team Barrow Raiders play in National League two.

Until 1995 the team was simply titled Barrow RLFC, but they adopted the nickname Barrow Braves to coincide with rugby league’s switch to a summer season. In 1997 they merged with Cumbrian rivals Carlisle Border Raiders to form Barrow Border Raiders. The new team played all its matches in Barrow; the merger was essentially a financial arrangement only. In 2002 the Border part of the name, which was never that relevant to Barrow, which is in south Cumbria, was dropped.

Under the coaching of Peter Roe, they were National League Two champions in 2004 and promoted to National League One. However, they were relegated back to National League Two at the end of the 2005 season. The financial situation at the club forced a review of the coaching structure and the position of head coach was made part-time and the club parted company with Peter Roe.

In October 2005 local ex-player Paul Crarey was recently appointed as the new head coach. Honours

• Challenge Cup - 1954-55
• Division Two Championship - 1975-76
• Championship - 2003-04
• Lancashire Cup - 1954-55, 1983-83

[edit] Cricket

Barrow Cricket Club plays in the Northern League Division Two (1st XI) and Division B West (2nd XI). Their grounds are on Abbey Road next to Furness General Hospital, and are the towns main cricket team. The President is Dr. Okell Esq. and the chairman is Nick Bell.

[edit] Education

[edit] Schools and colleges

See also: List of Primary Schools in Barrow-in-Furness

The main secondary schools and colleges in Barrow are listed below. These are only the places of further education. In addition to this, some of the University of Cumbria's education will take place in Barrow from 2007, though the university is not to be centered there.

Secondary Schools

• Parkview School (Secondary)
• St. Bernard's Catholic High School (Secondary)
• Thorncliffe School (Secondary)
• Walney School (Secondary)
• Alfred Barrow School (Secondary)

Private Schools

• Chetwynde School (Nursery to Sixth Form)

Colleges of Further Education

• Barrow-in-Furness Sixth Form College
• Furness College

Other Schools in Furness

• Ulverston Ulverston Victoria High School (Secondary & Sixth form)
• Dalton Dowdales School (Secondary)
• Cartmel, Grange-over-Sands Cartmel Priory CE School (Secondary)
• Coniston John Ruskin School (Secondary)

[edit] Libraries and museums

The town's main library is the Central Library in Ramsden Square, situated near the town centre on the Abbey Road-Duke Street intersection. The present building dates from 1922, when it replaced earlier accommodation within the Town Hall. A branch of the county archive service, opened in 1979 and containing many of the town's archives, is located within adjoining premises, whilst until 1991 the library also housed the Furness Museum. Smaller branch libaries are currently provided at Roose, Ormsgill, Barrow Island and on Walney Island. The Dock Museum is now Barrow's leading museum: its displays depict the history of the town, and the surrounding areas, with a particular emphasis on shipbuilding, and on the iron and steel industry. The museum is situated right next to the dock where HMS Invincible (R05) was launched, and the wall of the old graving dock is still visible within the museum.

[edit] Significant Employers

The following corporations employ a significant amount of workers:^{[citation needed]}

• BAE Systems in Furness employs 5,000 staff members, and in that respect is the largest employer in the area.
• The National Health Service has approximately 3,000 staff members.
• The Tesco Extra supermarket employs 500 people.
• 470 employees work at the Kimberly clark paper mill.
• Approximately 400 people are employed by Asda supermarkets.
• Morrisons, another supermarket, has around 380 employees.

[edit] Retail

Barrow is one of the major shopping districts of the North West, and is home to many well known high street names as well as local businesses. The main and original shopping street in Barrow is Dalton Road, home to hundreds of stores, banks etc. Portland Walk Shopping Centre is a more recent addition, leading off from Dalton Road. It is home to a Debenhams Department Store, W H Smith, New Look, JJB and many more large shops. At the bottom end of Dalton Road is one of the area's largest markets. Barrow Indoor Market is home to hundreds of self owned stalls. In addition to the town centre there are 4 main retail parks. "Cornerhouse Retail Park" is home to a large Tesco Extra Store, Homebase, Halfords and more; a new JJB Health club/ Fitness centre and B&Q are soon to be built there too. Just opposite is "Hindpool Retail Park" home to Aldi, Blockbusters, NEXT, Brantano and more. The nearby "Hollywood Retail Park" retail and leisure complex is home to a McDonald's, Pizza Hut, KFC, Super Bowl and six screen Apollo Cinemas. Elsewhere there is a un-named retail park containing an Asda Superstore, and one of the largest furniture stores in the country - (110,000 sq ft.) Stollers. The UK's fourth largest supermarket chain, Morrison's has also opened a branch in Barrow.

[edit] Public services

The area is home to dozens of health centres, but the main hospital which serves the area is now the Furness General Hospital (FGH), which is one five University Hospitals of Morceambe owned by the NHS. There are two fire stations in Barrow, the new principal fire station, opened in 1997, being located on Park Road, at the end closest to the town centre. A smaller fire station is situated on Walney Island. The main police station is situated opposite the Town Hall on Duke Street.

[edit] Tourism

Situated at the tip of the Furness peninsula, and only 20 minutes from the English Lake District, Barrow-in-Furness projects into the Irish Sea with Morecambe Bay to the south and the Duddon Estuary to the north.

Barrow has many well known tourist sites, and is often known as 'the gateway to the lakes' The Lake District is one of the most visited places in England, and referring to Barrow as the gateway - mainly by sea - has certainly helped. The new marina complex will certainly add to this status, and if the cruise ship terminal is constructed, even more so. Possibly the biggest toursit attraction in the area is the South Lakes Wild Animal Park, this zoo is located just off the A590 road, past Barrow and near Dalton. it is one of the best conservation zoo's in the country, and has recently seen new developments, and regeneration of the park. Wildlife and scenery is probarbly the biggest draw to the area, and the Walney Nature reserves contribute to the tourism. There are lots of walks that can be made around the area, along beaches, up mountains etc, and this is another factor that contributes to the tourism.

[edit] Media

[edit] Radio

Barrow is served by two commercial radio stations - The Bay at 96.9FM and Abbey FM. The Bay is available around the Morceambe Bay area, and serves Lancaster, Morecambe, Kendal and Ulverston. Abbey FM is a recently launched station at 107.3 FM. This broadcasts solely around Barrow and Furness. The BBC's local radio service is BBC Radio Cumbria.

[edit] TV

Barrow is in the Granada TV/ North West England region, and the television available in the area is usually transmitted from Manchester and Liverpool.

[edit] Newspapers

As well as national newspapers, the regional newspaper for Furness is called the North West Evening Mail. There is also a free shorter version of it called the Advertiser, which is delivered to most households. This contains mainly advertisements, but is run and owned by the North West Evening Mail.

[edit] Energy - Power

Parts of Barrow (including Walney Island) are some of the windiest places in Britain, and it is because of this that there are vast amounts of windfarms across the region. There are windfarms in the surrounding mountains, and a new 30 unitwindfarm has just been built in the Irish Sea of Walney Island. There have also been talk to build a bridge across Morecambe between Rampside and Heysham, that would produce tidal power. Renewable energy is one of the main priorities energy wise, as currently the main energy source in the area gas from the Irish Sea, and Morecambe bay gas fields. These come onshore at the National Grid Gas Terminal at Rooscote, often called Rampside gas terminal. Barrow is also around 25 miles from Sellafield Nuclear Power Plant, one of the largest Nuclear plants in the country, previously owned by BNFL it is now owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Sellafield houses the Thorp nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, the Magnox nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, the inactive Calder Hall Magnox nuclear power station — the world's first commercial nuclear power station, and other older nuclear facilities.

[edit] Notable residents and births

Births

• Television Newsreader and Journalist Steve Dixon (newsreader)
• 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

[edit] Trivia

• Barrow is home to the largest marine shipbuilding hall in Europe (BAE Devonshire Dock Hall).
• By the 1870s Barrow had the world's largest steel-making industry.
• By the fifteenth century Barrow's Furness Abbey was the second richest, most powerful and grandest Cistercian monastery in the UK.
• Barrow Borough Council became the first public body in the UK to be charged with corporate manslaughter, as a result of the UK's worst Legionnaires' disease outbreak. With 7 deaths (ranking 6th worst outbreak in the world) and 172 cases (ranking 4th worst outbreak in the world).
• Barrow is the busiest shipyard in England.
• Walney Island is reputed to be the windiest lowland site in Britain.
• Walney's South Nature Reserve has the largest nesting ground of Herring Gulls and Lesser Black Backed Gulls in Europe.
• Sir James Ramsden was the first mayor of Barrow, and served five successive terms in the town form 1867 onwards. The British civil engineer, industrialist, and civic leader, played a dominant role in the development of Barrow, including the Furness Railway and many other industrial projects.
• In 1851 around 1,900 vessels entered and cleared the port of Barrow. The first ship to be built in Barrow was the 'Jane Roper' which was launched in 1852.
• Around 160,000 tons of iron ore, copper and slate were handled in one year of the 1850s.
• Barrow was a major British target for the Germans in World War 2. Vickers Ship building yards (now BAE) were the main target, and parts of the town were devastated by the bombs. The small town of Grange-over-Sands which is around 20 miles from the docks, was mistaken for Barrow and was also bombed in WWII.
• A new flagship ITV drama called Housewife, 49 starring Victoria Wood has been filmed in Barrow based on the wartime diary of Nella Last who lived in Barrow.

[edit] References and notes

[edit] External links

• Barrow Borough Council
• NW Evening Mail

Coordinates: 54°07′N 03°14′W