Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council Barrow Record Office and Local Studies Library. The original archives are available until 5.00pm every weekday and every third Saturday. The Local Studies Library and a wide range of secondary material is available during all opening hours.
The Ashburner shipyard built the first ships in Barrow. There's an article about the yard in the eighteenth issue of the North West Labour History Journal. The
"William Ashburner", a three-masted schooner, was the largest wooden sailing vessel built at Barrow-in-Furness. She was the only schooner built by the Ashburner shipyard that traded across the Atlantic or south of the Equator
"Esperance" is the oldest boat on Lloyd's Yacht Register and thought to be the first twin screw steam yacht was built in 1869 by T. B. Sheath & Co, Rutherglen for the Furness industrialist H.W. Schneider.
The Furness Family History Society, a Federation of Family History Societies member, was founded in 1993
James Ramsden, the Railway railway superintendent, devised a plan for
Barrow-in-Furness. He was the first Mayor of Barrow and also conceived the idea of the Barrow Shipbuilding Company, which became Vickers in 1897.
James Fisher & Sons, PLC was founded by James Fisher in 1847 in Barrow-in-Furness. A full history of the company
“Round The Coast And Across the Sea” by Nigel Watson was commissioned in 2000 to celebrate
the millennium and the 150th anniversary of the company and is available from St Matthews Press.
The Furness Railway Company was an independent railway operating between 1846 and 1923. Originally conceived as a mineral railway, it later played a major role in the development of the town of Barrow in Furness, and in the development of the Lake District Tourist industry.
The website of the
Submarine Heritage Centre has a section about
Barrow Shipyard and Submarines. The Barrow Ship Building Company (BSBC) was bought by the Vickers family steel business of Sheffield for just £425,000 in 1897. There's a Wikipedia article about
Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd. Not only did the Vickers family purchase BSBC ... they also bought the subsidiary business ... the Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company and renamed the company Vickers, Sons and Maxim, Limited.
The shipyard at Barrow became the Naval Construction Yard. In 1911 the company was renamed Vickers ltd and became Vickers Armstrongs ltd in 1927 after a merger with Armstrong Whitworth Lindal and Marton are located in an area that was once known as "Dalton and Plain Furness." The Community website for these two villages contains several useful links including the Origins of Lindal and Marton, Iron Ore Mining and Mining Companies, Barrow and Ulverston Iron Industries, Furness Railway and Pit Tramways, the Decline of the Furness Iron and Steel Industry and Churches, Farms and Village Life.
The Dock Museum. "Shipbuilders to the World" is the largest permanent exhibition at the Dock Museum. It aims to represent the history of Barrow Shipyard (once owned by Vickers) from the launch of its first iron steamship in 1873 to the present day.
The Irish Community in Barrow. "Culture, Conflict and Migration: Irish in Victoria Cumbria" by Donald M. MacRaild mentions the four categories of Irish workers who settled in the area ... labourers, metal workers, miners and skilled and unskilled men for the shipbuilding business.
The Jewish Community Vickerstown was developed in the late 1890s and early 1900s as there was a shortage of housing available for the workers at Barrow Docks which was owned at the time by Vickers. Some of the workers were forced to live on board the Atlantic liner
"Alsaka" which was moored in the docks. Plans for its development were begun in 1898 and Vickers bought out the Isle of Walney Estates Company to handle the construction.
