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108-534: Furness ( / ˈ f ɜːr n ɪ s , f ɜːr ˈ n ɛ s / FUR -niss, fur- NESS ) is a peninsula and region of Cumbria , England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale , historically an exclave of Lancashire . On 1 April 2023 it became part of the new unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness . The Furness Peninsula , also known as Low Furness, is an area of villages, agricultural land and low-lying moorland , with

216-469: A basin . This may create peninsulas, and occurred for example in the Keweenaw Peninsula . In the case of formation from meltwater, melting glaciers deposit sediment and form moraines , which act as dams for the meltwater. This may create bodies of water that surround the land, forming peninsulas. If deposition formed the peninsula, the peninsula was composed of sedimentary rock , which

324-592: A fairly flat coastal shelf, with hillier ground rising to the east of the town, peaking at 94 metres (310 ft) at Yarlside. Barrow sits on soils deposited during the end of the Ice Age , eroded from the mountains of the Lake District National Park , 10 miles (15 km) to the north-east. Barrow's soils are composed of glacial lake clay and glacial till , while Walney is almost entirely made up of reworked glacial morraine. Beneath these soils

432-507: A guest house and residence for its managing director, Commander Craven. By the 1890s the shipyard was heavily engaged in the construction of warships for the Royal Navy and also for export. The Royal Navy's first submarine, Holland 1 , was built in 1901, and by 1914 the UK had the most advanced submarine fleet in the world, with 94% of it constructed by Vickers. Vickers was also famous for

540-483: A joiners' shop, a boat-building shed and a sailmaking and rigging loft. During these boom years, Ramsden proposed building a planned town to accommodate the large workforce which had arrived. There are few planned towns in the United Kingdom, and Barrow is one of the oldest. Its centre contains a grid of well-built terraced houses, with a tree-lined road leading away from a central square. Ramsden later became

648-681: A major part of the local economy, but today only the Burlington Slate Quarries at Kirkby remain of note. The A590 is the main road into the region from the M6 Motorway . The A595 is the main route up the western coast of Furness, and the A593/A5084 run north-south from Low Furness to High Furness. The Furness Line provides railway connections to the West Coast Mainline through the south of Furness, and

756-477: A meaningless name, and so added an explanatory Old Norse second element. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Barrow was nicknamed "the English Chicago " because of the sudden and rapid growth in its industry, economic stature and overall size. More recently the town has been dubbed the "capital of blue-collar Britain" by The Guardian , reflecting its strong working class identity. Barrow

864-404: A population of 67,407 according to the 2021 census. This is -0.25% less than the 2011 figure and one of only five district which saw a decline in population, although the rate of decline is much lower than the 4% reduction seen between 2001 and 2011. The Office for National Statistics states Barrow's population as being in long term decline with a projected population of around 65,000 by 2037. This

972-484: A population of over 91,000. The remainder of Furness is predominantly rural, with Ulverston the only other settlement with more than 10,000 people. Much of High Furness consists of moorland, mountain or woodland environments. The name, which is first recorded in 1150 as Fuththernessa , is interpreted as "headland by the rump-shaped island," from Old Norse futh (genitive futhar ), meaning rump, and nes , meaning headland. The island in question may be Piel Island , with

1080-641: A rising. After a fight at Hawcoat the resistance was quashed, and the Parliament ships left for Liverpool. After collecting the king's rents, the Royalists left for Cartmel. After the Restoration of the monarchy, one Furness landowner, Colonel Sawry, attempted a rising. Iron had been mined in Furness since prehistory, and by the late 18th century ore was being exported from Barrow. The Furness Railway

1188-461: A second peak in of 77,900 in 1951; however, by this point the long decline of mining and steel-making as a result of overseas competition and dwindling resources had already begun. The Barrow ironworks closed in 1963, three years after the last Furness mine shut. The by then small steelworks followed suit in 1983, leaving Barrow's shipyard as the town's principal industry. From the 1960s onwards it concentrated its efforts in submarine manufacture, and

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1296-542: A short period between April and May 1941. During the war, a local housewife, Nella Last , was selected to write a diary of her experiences on the home front for the Mass-Observation project. Her memoirs were later adapted for television as Housewife, 49 starring Victoria Wood . The difficulty in targeting bombs meant that the shipyards and steelworks were often missed, at the expense of the residential areas. Ultimately, 83 people were killed and 11,000 houses in

1404-470: A significant producer of naval vessels, a shift that was accelerated during World War I and the local yard's specialisation in submarines. The original iron- and steel-making enterprises closed down after World War II , leaving Vickers shipyard as Barrow's main industry and employer. Several Royal Navy flagships , the vast majority of its nuclear submarines as well as numerous other naval vessels, ocean liners and oil tankers have been manufactured at

1512-457: A small village to a large town during the 19th century, is characterized by a grid pattern of streets of terraced houses , surrounded by more contemporary suburbs. Though the Port of Barrow still contains much industry, there has also been significant redevelopment of former dock areas into retail parks, office blocks and spaces of light industry. The other major town in the area is Ulverston , at

1620-463: A total of 162 turbines and have a combined nameplate capacity of 607 MW, providing energy for well over half a million homes. West of Duddon Sands Wind Farm was commissioned in 2014 while Walney was extended in 2018 to again become the world's largest such offshore facility. During the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic , Barrow had the highest rate of infection of any local authority in

1728-591: A vital role in global ship and submarine construction for around 150 years. Ottoman submarine Abdül Hamid was built in the town in 1886 and became the first submarine in the world to fire a live torpedo underwater, while oil tanker British Admiral became the first British vessel to exceed 100,000 tonnes when launched in 1965. The vast majority of all current and former Royal Navy submarines were constructed in Barrow as well as numerous Royal Navy Fleet Flagships . The BAE Systems Maritime – Submarines shipyard at Barrow

1836-502: A wooden tower on nearby Piel Island in 1212 which acted as their main trading point; it was twice invaded by the Scots, in 1316 and 1322. In 1327 King Edward III gave Furness Abbey a licence to crenellate the tower, and a motte-and-bailey castle was built. However Barrow itself was just a hamlet in the parish of Dalton-in-Furness , reliant on the land and sea for survival. Small quantities of iron and ore were exported from jetties on

1944-528: A young speculator and dealer in iron, and he discovered large deposits of haematite in 1850. He and other investors founded the Furness Railway , the first section of which opened in 1846, to transport the ore from the slate quarries at Kirkby-in-Furness and haematite mines at Lindal-in-Furness and Askam and Ireleth to a deep-water harbour near Roa Island . The crucial and difficult link across Morecambe Bay between Ulverston and Carnforth on

2052-494: Is Sandscale Haws . Formal woodland areas within the town include Hawcoat/Ormsgill Quarry, How Tun Woods, Abbotswood , Barrow Steel Works & Slag Bank and Sowerby Wood. The 45-Acre Barrow Park is the largest and most centrally located man-made park in the town with smaller parks including Channelside Haven, Hindpool Urban Park and Vickerstown Park. There are also 25 council-owned playgrounds and 15 allotments. The Barrow council district , which included adjacent urban areas, had

2160-576: Is a sandstone bedrock, from which many of the town's older buildings are constructed. Barrow town centre is located to the north-east of the docks, with suburbs also extending to the north and east, as well as onto Walney. Barrow is the only major urban area in South Cumbria, with the nearest settlements of a similar size being Lancaster and Morecambe . Other towns nearby include Dalton-in-Furness , Askam-in-Furness , Ulverston , Millom , Grange-over-Sands , Kendal and Windermere . Most of

2268-421: Is also often jokingly referred to as being at the end of the longest cul-de-sac in the country because of its isolated location at the tip of the Furness peninsula. Barrow and the surrounding area has been settled non-continuously for several millennia with evidence of Neolithic inhabitants on Walney Island . Despite a rich history of Roman settlement across Cumbria and the discovery of related artefacts in

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2376-609: Is largely a result of negative net migration although is based on historic trends thus does not take account of investment at BAE Systems and associated substantial job creation. The population within the town of Barrow itself was 55,489 as at 2021. The 2021 census states 95.7% of the former Borough of Barrow's population (I.e. Barrow, Dalton and villages) as White British , and ethnic minority populations in Barrow stood at 4.2%. Other ethnic groups in Barrow include Other White 1.4%, Asian 1.4%, Mixed Race 0.8%, Black 0.5%, Arab 0.1% and all other ethnic groups represented 0.2% of

2484-725: Is the highest range, the Coniston Fells, with the Coniston Old Man (803 m) as its highest point (and historically the highest point in Lancashire). A lesser range extends from Torver to just north of Dalton, but south of that the landscape is flat; this area is also called Plain Furness. The low rolling hills of Low Furness are formed of glacial deposits, mainly boulder clay, above Triassic sandstone and Carboniferous limestone. There are large deposits of iron ore here, of very pure quality. The human geography of

2592-763: Is the largest in the UK by workforce ahead of BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships in Govan . It was expanded in 1986 by construction of a new covered assembly facility, the Devonshire Dock Hall (DDH), completed by Alfred McAlpine , on land that was created by infilling part of the Devonshire Dock with 2.4 million tonnes of sand pumped from nearby Roosecote Sands. The main hall has a height of 51 m (167 ft), length of 268 m (879 ft), width of 51 m (167 ft) and an area of 25,000 square metres (270,000 sq ft). An extension to

2700-542: The 1885 United Kingdom general election , with David Duncan of the Liberal Party becoming the first Member of Parliament (MP) for the town. The seat was won by the Conservative Party in 1892 , before being won for the first time by Labour in 1906 . In the subsequent 40 years the seat swung between Conservative and Labour, but since 1945 it has been generally considered a Labour safe seat. In 1983,

2808-759: The 2017 Cumbria County election . Until 2023 the town, along with Walney Island , was unparished and formed the bulk of the wards which made the entire borough's area. The mayor and deputy mayor of Barrow were elected annually, and held the roles of chairman and vice-chairman of Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council. The borough and former county borough of Barrow-in-Furness were served by 107 mayors, beginning with Sir James Ramsden in 1867 and continuing through to incumbent 2022 mayor Helen Wall. Barrow Island | Central | Hawcoat | Hindpool | Newbarns | Ormsgill | Parkside | Risedale | Roosecote | Walney North | Walney South On 1 April 2023, both Barrow Borough Council and Cumbria County Council ceased to exist when

2916-537: The Barrow and Furness parliamentary constituency, while eastern High Furness is in Westmorland and Lonsdale . 54°16′12″N 3°05′19″W  /  54.27004°N 3.08853°W  / 54.27004; -3.08853 Peninsula The word peninsula derives from Latin paeninsula , from paene  'almost' and insula  'island'. The word entered English in

3024-530: The Cumbria Coast Line is a slow rural branch line with services running north to Copeland and Carlisle . The Windermere Ferry in the east of Furness is England's only vehicular lake ferry. Furness seems to have been scantly populated in ancient times. A handful of Brittonic placenames survive around Barrow, suggesting this part was settled earliest. Anglo-Saxons arrived in Low Furness in

3132-532: The Esk , the Duddon, and Morecambe Bay. The higher ground is rocky heathland, with frequent tarns , while the lower ground supports pasture and woodland. In the east there are two main chains of hills: one overlooking Windermere, with Latterbarrow (245 m) as its highest point, and the other, which reaches 300 m, overlooking Coniston Water. Between them is flat country and Esthwaite Water . West of Coniston Water

3240-476: The Furness Fells . The inland boundary of the region is formed by the rivers Leven, Brathay and Duddon, and the lake of Windermere . Off the southern tip of Furness is Walney Island , 11 miles (18 kilometres) long, as well as several smaller islands . The Borough of Barrow-in-Furness , which developed when the Furness iron industry flourished in the 19th century, is the region's largest settlement, with

3348-495: The Furness Railway in 1846 to transport iron ore and slate from local mines to the coast. Further hematite deposits were discovered, of sufficient size to develop factories for smelting and exporting steel. For a period in the late 19th century, the Barrow Hematite Steel Company -owned steelworks was the world's largest. Barrow's location and the availability of steel allowed the town to develop into

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3456-532: The Irish Sea . Walney Island , surrounds the peninsula's Irish Sea coast and is separated from Barrow by the narrow Walney Channel . Both Morecambe Bay and the Duddon Estuary are characterized by large areas of quicksand and fast-moving tidal bores . Areas of sand dunes exist on coasts surrounding Barrow, particularly at Roanhead and North Walney . The town centre and major industrial areas sit on

3564-462: The VSEL management of detailed plans for Barrow's industrial renewal in the mid-to-late 1980s remains controversial. This has led to renewed academic attention in recent years to the possibilities of converting military-industrial production in declining shipbuilding areas to the offshore renewable energy sector. In a 2002 outbreak of legionellosis in the town, 172 people were reported to have caught

3672-659: The historic county of Lancashire, which bordered Cumberland to the northwest and Westmorland to the northeast (the point where the three counties met is marked by the Three Shire Stone at the head of the Duddon). North Lonsdale is also called "Lancashire North of the Sands". In 1974, North Lonsdale – along with Cumberland, Westmorland, and part of the West Riding of Yorkshire (around Sedbergh ) – became part of

3780-572: The 16th century. A peninsula is generally defined as a piece of land surrounded on most sides by water. A peninsula may be bordered by more than one body of water, and the body of water does not have to be an ocean or a sea. A piece of land on a very tight river bend or one between two rivers is sometimes said to form a peninsula, for example in the New Barbadoes Neck in New Jersey , United States. A peninsula may be connected to

3888-518: The 1850s: Population of the Parish of Dalton-in-Furness In 1871 Barrow's population was recorded at 18,584 and in 1881 at 47,259, less than forty years after the railway was built. The majority of migrants originated from elsewhere in Lancashire although significant numbers settled in Barrow from Ireland and Scotland , which represented 11% and 7% of the local population in the 1890s. By

3996-414: The 2021 census, 98.4% of Barrovians spoke English as a main language, with Tagalog , the various Chinese dialects and Polish prevailing as the second, third and fourth most common main languages (0.3%, 0.2% and 0.2% of the population respectively). The Tagalog-speaking population represents the second highest of any district in northern England by percentage of the population. In the 2021 census 53.1% of

4104-497: The 7th century, but do not seem to have spread to High Furness, which remained almost empty until it was populated by incoming Scandinavians in the 10th century. It has been suggested that they had a small mountain kingdom there, centred on Coniston (which means "king's town"). The prevalence of names with the element "thwaite" in High Furness (from Norse thveit , "clearing"), and the absence thereof in Low Furness, suggests that

4212-487: The Barrow Shipbuilding Company was incorporated. Barrow's relative isolation from the United Kingdom's industrial heartlands meant that the newly formed company included several capabilities that would usually be subcontracted to other establishments. In particular, a large engineering works was constructed including a foundry and pattern shop, a forge, and an engine shop. In addition, the shipyard had

4320-538: The Barrow area, no buildings or structures have been found to support the idea of a functioning Roman community on the Furness peninsula. The Furness Hoard discovery of Viking silver coins and other artefacts in 2011 provided significant archaeological evidence of Norse settlement in the early 9th century. Several areas of Barrow including Yarlside and Ormsgill , as well as "Barrow" and "Furness", have names of Old Norse origin. The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded

4428-435: The Barrow to Ulverston Coast Road. Historically Barrow was home to a notable Ashkenazi Jewish community that peaked in size during the 1930s with a synagogue in the town. Nonetheless, it closed in 1974 and less than 20 Jews were recorded by the 2021 census. Historically Barrow's economy was dominated by the manufacturing sector, with the Barrow Hematite Steel Company and Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering being amongst

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4536-462: The Borough of Barrow's population stated themselves as being Christian. People stating no religion or chose not to state totalled 45.5% combined. Other religious groups represented 1.4% of the population, with Islam and Buddhism prevailing as the first and second most common groups. Conishead Priory, the first Kadampa Buddhist centre in the west, is home to around 100 Buddhists and is located off

4644-618: The Japanese flagship during the 1905 Russo-Japanese War , the liner SS  Oriana and the aircraft carriers HMS  Invincible and HMAS  Melbourne . It should also be noted that there was a significant presence of Vickers' armament division in Barrow with the huge Heavy Engineering Workshop on Michaelson Road supplying ammunition for the British Army and Royal Navy throughout both world wars. World War 1 brought significant temporary migration as workers arrived to work in

4752-659: The Royal Navy's first submarines built there. During the wars this allowed Furness to escape many of the economic problems that other areas suffered, due to the constant work provided by the military. After World War II demand for ships and submarines remained high, while the development of the Lake District National Park further fostered tourism. Attractions such as the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway , steamers on Windermere and Coniston Water, and fell walking, caused parts of Furness to become dependent on

4860-592: The UK's first nuclear-powered submarine, HMS  Dreadnought , was constructed in 1960. HMS  Resolution , the Swiftsure , Trafalgar and Vanguard -class submarines all followed. The last of these are armed with Trident II missiles as part of the British government's Trident nuclear programme . The end of the Cold War in 1991 marked a reduction in the demand for military ships and submarines, and

4968-435: The United Kingdom. This was attributed to various socio-economic factors and a high level of testing also seen in the neighbouring authorities of South Lakeland and Lancaster. Rates fluctuated throughout the year and towards the end of 2020 infection rates were amongst the lowest in country. From the mid 2010's to present, significant investment has taken place at BAE Systems' shipyard in Barrow with an expansion to accommodate

5076-609: The abbey's foundation the monks discovered iron ore deposits, later to provide the basis for the Furness economy. These thin strata, close to the surface, were extracted through open cut workings, which were then smelted by the monks. The proceeds from mining, along with agriculture and fisheries, meant that by the 15th century the abbey had become the second richest and most powerful Cistercian abbey in England, after Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. The monks of Furness Abbey constructed

5184-491: The abbots of Furness to defend the market town of Dalton and the port of Barrow respectively. The area had been raided by Scots in 1316 and again in 1322, though in the latter year the abbot paid Robert the Bruce a ransom to stop his men harrying Low Furness. The pretender Lambert Simnel landed with his army at Piel Island in 1487. A few locals joined him, including Sir Thomas Broughton of Broughton Tower, who would be killed at

5292-494: The area is dominated by the town of Barrow-in-Furness . Barrow is located on the tip of the peninsula and Walney Island , and the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness , which includes the small town of Dalton-in-Furness and the town of Millom (the latter of which, although statistically in "Furness" for this purpose, is not actually part of the defined geographic area known as Furness) has a population of 69,100. Barrow, which grew from

5400-495: The area were left damaged. To escape the heaviest bombardments, many people in the central areas left the town to sleep in hedgerows, with some being permanently evacuated. Barrow's industry continued to supply the war effort, with Winston Churchill visiting the town on one occasion to launch the aircraft carrier HMS  Indomitable . Besides the dozens of civilians killed during World War II, some 268 Barrovian men were also killed whilst in combat. Barrow's population reached

5508-451: The border of Low and High Furness, and the population of Ulverston and its surrounding villages is 17,307. The corridor along the main A590 road between Ulverston and Barrow is relatively densely populated and urban. Despite decline, industry remains a bigger employer in this part of Furness than most of the UK, with BAE Systems , Kimberly-Clark (both Barrow) and GlaxoSmithKline (Ulverston)

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5616-499: The case of Florida , continental drift, marine sediment, and marine transgressions were all contributing factors to its shape. In the case of formation from glaciers (e.g., the Antarctic Peninsula or Cape Cod ), peninsulas can be created due to glacial erosion , meltwater or deposition . If erosion formed the peninsula, softer and harder rocks were present, and since the glacier only erodes softer rock, it formed

5724-412: The centre of Barrow to be transported by sea. The investors in the burgeoning mining and railway industries decided that greater profits could be made by smelting the iron ore and converting the resultant pig-iron into steel, and then exporting the finished product. Schneider and James Ramsden , the railway's general manager, erected blast furnaces at Barrow that by 1876 formed the largest steelworks in

5832-465: The channel separating the village from Walney Island. Amongst the oldest buildings in Barrow are several cottages and farmhouses in Newbarns which date back to the early 17th century; as well as Rampside Hall , a Grade I listed building and the best-preserved in the town from the 1600s. Even as late as 1843 there were still only 32 dwellings, including two pubs. In 1839 Henry Schneider arrived as

5940-522: The constituency was expanded to include several commuter towns such as Dalton-in-Furness and Ulverston and was renamed Barrow and Furness . It was subsequently won by the Conservatives, with the victory attributed to Labour's stance against the nuclear-powered submarines that were being constructed in Barrow. Following a change in Labour policy the party won Barrow and Furness in 1992. John Woodcock

6048-524: The construction of airships and airship hangars during the early 20th century. Originally constructed in a large shed at Cavendish Dock, production later relocated to Barrow/Walney Island Airport . HMA No. 1 , nicknamed the Mayfly is the most notable airship to have been built in Barrow. The first of its kind in the UK it came to an untimely end on 24 September 1911 when it was wrecked by wind during trials. Well-known ships built in Barrow include Mikasa ,

6156-419: The council for its health and safety failings. In 2006, council employee Gillian Beckingham and employer Barrow Borough Council were cleared of seven charges of manslaughter . Beckingham, the council senior architect was fined £15,000 and the authority £125,000. Following the trials the contractor responsible for maintaining the plant settled a £1.5 million claim by the council for damages. The borough council

6264-582: The design of a new class of ballistic missile submarines. BAE Systems also has orders for submarine pressure domes for the Spanish Navy . The shipyard has been awarded contracts for the construction of submarines which will carry nuclear missiles in a successor programme to the current Vanguard class containing the Trident system . BAE Systems is investing £300 million in Barrow's shipyard to construct buildings capable of manufacturing and assembling

6372-520: The disastrous Battle of Stoke Field . The abbey was closed in 1536 after the monks lent their support to the Pilgrimage of Grace , and the abbot's lands were seized by the crown, becoming part of the royal duchy of Lancaster . Later they were granted to the dukes of Buccleuch and Devonshire . In May 1643, Furness was occupied and plundered by a large Royalist force commanded by Richard Viscount Molyneux . Later that year they prepared to march to

6480-404: The disease, of whom seven died. This made it the fourth worst outbreak in the world in terms of number of cases and sixth worst in terms of deaths. The source of the bacteria was later found to be steam from a badly maintained air conditioning unit in the council-run arts centre Forum 28 . At the conclusion of the inquest into the seven deaths, the coroner for Furness and South Cumbria criticised

6588-539: The districts of Barrow, Eden and South Lakeland merged to form Westmorland and Furness . A civil parish was formed named just "Barrow" from the unparished area. At the same time, ward boundaries within Barrow were redrawn, combining previously independent wards. These include: 'Old Barrow' (comprising the existing Barrow Island, Central and Hindpool wards), Hawcoat and Newbarns, Ormsgill and Parkside, Risedale and Roosecote and Walney Island. The Barrow-in-Furness UK Parliament constituency first came into existence during

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6696-474: The eastern boundary, with the rest being made up of the Leven , from its source at Windermere's southern tip to its mouth at Morecambe Bay. In total Furness has an area of about 250 square miles (650 square kilometres). The Furness Fells are formed of Ordovician volcanic rocks, and Silurian shales and slates to the south. They are cut through by Windermere, Coniston Water , and numerous valleys which drain into

6804-571: The facility. The end of the Cold War and subsequent decrease in military spending saw high unemployment in the town through lack of contracts; despite this, the BAE Systems shipyard remains operational as the UK's largest by workforce (12,000 employees in 2024) and is now undergoing a major expansion associated with the Dreadnought -class submarine programme. Furthermore, in 2023 it

6912-455: The filling of the channel to create land for the shipyard it is now directly connected to the town. Other islands which lie close to Barrow are Piel Island , whose castle protected the harbour from marauding Scots , Sheep Island , Roa Island and Foulney Island . There are numerous natural and managed public parks and open spaces within Barrow. Walney North and South Nature Reserves are protected as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, as

7020-419: The first mayor of Barrow, which was given municipal borough status in 1867, and county borough status in 1889. The imposing red sandstone town hall , designed by W.H. Lynn, was built in a neo-gothic style in 1887. Prior to this, the borough council had met at the railway headquarters: the railway company's control of industry extended to the administration of the town itself. The Barrow Shipbuilding Company

7128-519: The hall in the late 2010s has taken the total area to over 35,000 square metres (380,000 sq ft), retaining its place as one of the largest shipbuilding construction complex of its kind in Europe. The DDH provides a controlled environment for ship and submarine assembly, and avoids the difficulties caused by building on the slope of traditional slipways. Outside the hall, a 24,300 tonne capacity shiplift allows completed vessels to be lowered into

7236-652: The industrial town of Barrow-in-Furness at its head. The peninsula is bordered by the estuaries of the River Duddon to the west and the River Leven in Morecambe Bay to the east. The wider region of Furness consists of the peninsula and the area known as High Furness , which is a relatively mountainous and sparsely populated part of England, extending inland into the Lake District and containing

7344-502: The largest employers. In Barrow and up the west coast of Furness, the Sellafield Nuclear site is also a significant employer. The rest of Furness is rural, with the mountainous, wooded and lacustrine environments. To the west, the main settlements of Kirkby-in-Furness and Broughton-in-Furness are dominated by farming and commuting. The Lake District National Park covers most of High Furness, with Coniston and Hawkshead

7452-571: The latter had already been deforested by the time the Scandinavians arrived. Scandinavians probably formed the majority of the Furness population, and Old Norse remained a living language in the region until at least the late 12th century. Before the Conquest, Furness, assessed to contain 82 ploughlands , was part of the Manor of Hougun , held by Tostig, Earl of Northumbria . By 1086, Furness

7560-572: The main centres for tourism, while major tourist attractions include Grizedale Forest , the Aquarium of the Lakes , South Lakes Safari Zoo and the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway . The northern and eastern communities of Furness share more in common with the Lake District towns of Ambleside and Bowness , outside of the region, than with the more urban areas of Low Furness. Mining was once

7668-680: The main line was promoted, as the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway , by a group led by John Brogden and opened in 1857. It was promptly purchased by the Furness Railway. The docks built between 1863 and 1881 in the more sheltered channel between the mainland and Barrow Island replaced the port at Roa Island. The first dock to open was Devonshire Dock in 1867, and Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone stated his belief that "Barrow would become another Liverpool". The increasing quantities of iron ore mined in Furness were then brought into

7776-531: The mainland via an isthmus , for example, in the Isthmus of Corinth which connects to the Peloponnese peninsula. Peninsulas can be formed from continental drift , glacial erosion , glacial meltwater , glacial deposition , marine sediment , marine transgressions , volcanoes, divergent boundaries or river sedimentation. More than one factor may play into the formation of a peninsula. For example, in

7884-484: The most important global companies in their respective fields during the 20th century. In the present day, manufacturing remains the largest employment sector in the town. BAE Systems is the single largest employer with around 12,000 employees as at 2024, anticipated to increase by a further 5,000. However, like most of the UK, employment trends have greatly diversified since the 20th century and there are no other predominant employment sectors in Barrow. Barrow has played

7992-502: The munitions factory and shipyard, with the town's population reaching to an estimated peak of around 82,000 during the War. Thousands of local men fought abroad during World War I, 616 were ultimately killed in action. During World War II, Barrow was a target for the German air force looking to disable the town's shipbuilding capabilities (see Barrow Blitz ). The town suffered the most in

8100-527: The name originally referring to the headland immediately opposite (where Rampside is), before being extended to the entire region. Alternatively it could be Walney Island : though it little resembles a rump today, erosion could have altered its shape over time. Furness's border follows the River Duddon up to Wrynose Pass , and then the Brathay until it flows into Windermere . The mere forms most of

8208-451: The new Dreadnought -class programme. Further to this, commitments associated with the AUKUS submarine programme will safeguard the shipyard's long-term future. Significant investment in renewable energy is also taking place with emerging proposals to repurpose Rampside Gas Terminals to facilitate the storage of carbon in the depleted Morecambe gas fields. In 2023 media reported that Barrow

8316-431: The new administrative county of Cumbria . At the district level, it now consists of the borough of Barrow and part of South Lakeland . From April 2023, Furness will form part of the new unitary council area of Westmorland and Furness , which will replace Cumbria County Council and the districts of Barrow and South Lakeland , all of which will be abolished. Low Furness and the western part of High Furness are in

8424-475: The newer attractions. Transport has become an increasingly controversial issue, with conservation groups and local business clashing over the need for improvements to the A590 trunk road, the main link to the M6 Motorway . Proposals for a road bridge over Morecambe Bay have appeared, but are yet to progress beyond the planning stages. Furness formed the greater part of the North Lonsdale exclave of

8532-517: The parish was abolished and became an unparished area . It still forms a part of the Duchy of Lancaster . The Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council formed the 'lower' tier of local government under Cumbria County Council . Since the 2011 local election , the Labour Party has had overall control of the borough council, while the Borough elected six Labour and five Conservative Party councillors at

8640-563: The population. The first people to settle in what is now Barrow were the Celts and Scandinavians followed by the Cornish . Most Barrovians however are descended from migrants from Scotland , Ireland and other parts of England who arrived from the late 19th century onwards. Barrow's Chinese connections were the subject of a documentary on Chinese state television in 2014. The programme covered diplomat Li Hongzhang 's fact finding mission to

8748-557: The relief of Thurland Castle in South Lonsdale, then besieged by Colonel Rigby , but Rigby took some of his men over the sands and met the Royalists at Lindal , where they were routed. The Parliamentarians looted the Dalton neighbourhood before retreating to Cartmel the same night. In 1644 the Royalists remained in control of Furness, though the country folk were hostile to them, and Parliament ships landed at Piel Island to aid in

8856-468: The sediment is deposited, forming a delta peninsula. Marine transgressions (changes in sea level) may form peninsulas, but also may affect existing peninsulas. For example, the water level may change, which causes a peninsula to become an island during high water levels. Similarly, wet weather causing higher water levels make peninsulas appear smaller, while dry weather make them appear larger. Sea level rise from global warming will permanently reduce

8964-669: The settlements of Hietun, Rosse and Hougenai, which are now the districts of Hawcoat , Roose and Walney respectively. In the Middle Ages the Furness peninsula was controlled by the Cistercian monks of the Abbey of St Mary of Furness, known as Furness Abbey . This was in the "Vale of Nightshade", now on the outskirts of the town. Founded for the Savigniac order , it was built on the orders of King Stephen in 1123. Soon after

9072-532: The size of some peninsulas over time. Peninsulas are noted for their use as shelter for humans and Neanderthals . The landform is advantageous because it gives hunting access to both land and sea animals. They can also serve as markers of a nation's borders. Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just " Barrow ") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria , England. Historically in Lancashire , it

9180-404: The tourist trade. In the early 1990s, the decline of shipbuilding led to mass redundancies in the area. The shipyard's employment figures fell from 20,000 to 3,000 in a 20-year period. However, the shipyard at Barrow remains England's busiest and the only nuclear submarine facility in the country. Tourism has increased even more, with the Aquarium of the Lakes and South Lakes Safari Zoo among

9288-479: The town continued its decline. The shipyard's dependency on military contracts at the expense of civilian and commercial engineering and shipbuilding meant it was particularly hard hit as government defence spending was reduced dramatically. As a result, the workforce shrank from 14,500 in 1990 to 5,800 in February 1995, with overall unemployment in the town rising over that period from 4.6% to 10%. The rejection by

9396-595: The town is sheltered from the Irish Sea by Walney Island , a 14 mile (22.5 km) long island connected to the mainland by the bascule type Jubilee bridge . About 13,000 live on the isle's various settlements, mostly in Vickerstown , which was built to house workers in the rapidly expanding shipyard. Another significant island which lay in the Walney Channel was Barrow Island , but following

9504-424: The town was in the borough of Barrow-in-Furness , which had directly inherited the municipal and county borough charters given to the town in the late 19th century. Historically it is part of the hundred of Lonsdale 'north of the sands' in the historic county boundaries of Lancashire . From the 1974 local government reforms until 2023, the town was within the administrative county of Cumbria . On 1 April 1974

9612-488: The town's steelworks and shipyard in 1896 as well as the 2012 discovery of a hoard of Chinese coins discovered in Barrow dated around a similar time that have been suggested as having been brought over by sailors or labourers. The Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding is a charity with a branch based in Barrow that aims to develop relations with the British Chinese community and the general British population. It

9720-534: The turn of the 20th century, the Scottish-born population had increased to form the highest portion anywhere in England. Other notable immigrant groups included Cornish people who represented 80% of the district of Roose's population at the time of the 1881 census. In an attempt to diversify Barrow's economy James Ramsden founded the Barrow and Calcutta Jute Company in 1870 and the Barrow Jute Works

9828-564: The volcano erupts near shallow water. Marine sediment may form peninsulas by the creation of limestone . A rift peninsula may form as a result of a divergent boundary in plate tectonics (e.g. the Arabian Peninsula ), while a convergent boundary may also form peninsulas (e.g. Gibraltar or the Indian subcontinent ). Peninsulas can also form due to sedimentation in rivers. When a river carrying sediment flows into an ocean,

9936-626: The water independently of the tide. Vessels can also be lifted out of the water and transferred to the hall. The first use of the DDH was for construction of the Vanguard -class submarines, and later vessels of the Trafalgar class were also built there. The shipyard is currently constructing the Astute -class submarines, the first of which was launched on 8 June 2007. BAE Systems is currently studying

10044-610: The world. Its success was a result of the availability of local iron ore and coal from the Cumberland mines and easy rail and sea transport. The Furness Railway, which counted local aristocrats the 7th Duke of Devonshire and the Duke of Buccleuch as investors, kick-started the Industrial Revolution on the peninsula. The railway brought mined ore to the town, where the steelworks produced large quantities of steel. It

10152-487: Was "torn apart" by false grooming gang allegations , with public demonstrations targeting the local newspaper , the Asian community and police. The scandal was the subject of the 2024 BBC documentary Liar: The Fake Grooming Scandal and the perpetrator Eleanor Williams was duly convicted and sentenced to eight and a half years in prison. Barrow is the largest town in the district of Westmorland and Furness . Previously

10260-648: Was 55,489, making it the second largest urban area in Cumbria after Carlisle , and the largest in the Westmorland and Furness unitary authority. Natives of Barrow, as well as the local dialect, are known as Barrovian . In the Middle Ages , Barrow was a small hamlet within the parish of Dalton-in-Furness with Furness Abbey , now on the outskirts of the town, controlling the local economy before its dissolution in 1537. The iron prospector Henry Schneider arrived in Furness in 1839 and, with other investors, opened

10368-419: Was announced that a new class of nuclear submarine, associated with the trilateral AUKUS military alliance, will be designed and principally constructed in Barrow. Today Barrow is also a hub for energy generation and handling. Offshore wind farms form one of the highest concentrations of turbines in the world, including the second largest offshore farm , with multiple operating bases in Barrow. The name

10476-456: Was built in the 19th century to cater to the increasing demand. Iron and steelworks were established at Barrow, and the town's population grew from 325 in 1847 to 51,712 in 1891, surpassing Dalton's and Ulverston's. Mining in Furness reached its peak in 1882, when 1,408,693 tons of ore were won. At the same time, tourism in the Lake District increased, popularised in part by the work of John Ruskin and William Wordsworth . Tourism in High Furness

10584-504: Was created from a large deposit of glacial drift . The hill of drift becomes a peninsula if the hill formed near water but was still connected to the mainland, for example during the formation of Cape Cod about 23,000 years ago. In the case of formation from volcanoes, when a volcano erupts magma near water, it may form a peninsula (e.g., the Alaskan Peninsula ). Peninsulas formed from volcanoes are especially common when

10692-638: Was established in 1975 and publishes the quarterly China Eye magazine. In 2021 93.0% of the borough's population was born in England, 2.3% in Scotland , 0.5% in Wales and 0.4% in Northern Ireland . 3.8% of the town's 2021 population were born elsewhere in the world. The five most common foreign countries of birth were the Philippines , India , Nigeria , Germany and Poland . According to

10800-459: Was in the possession of the crown. In 1127 Prince Stephen founded Furness Abbey , granting the abbot most of the land in Furness and giving the rest to a Fleming named Michael. Henry III later granted the rent due from the lord of Michael's Land (£10 per year) to the abbot of Furness, making him the sole tenant-in-chief , and thus one of the most powerful abbots in the country. In the 14th century Dalton Castle and Piel Castle were built by

10908-468: Was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness . The borough was merged into the new Westmorland and Furness district in 2023. At the tip of the Furness peninsula , close to the Lake District , it is bordered by Morecambe Bay , the Duddon Estuary and the Irish Sea . In 2021, Barrow's population

11016-440: Was originally that of an island, Barrai, which can be traced back to 1190. This was later renamed Old Barrow, recorded as Oldebarrey in 1537, and Old Barrow Insula and Barrohead in 1577. The island was then joined to the mainland and the town took its name. The name itself seems to mean "island with promontory", combining British barro- and Old Norse ey , but it is more likely that Scandinavian settlers simply accepted barro- as

11124-462: Was promoted by the writings of Beatrix Potter in the early 20th century. Potter was one of the largest landowners in the area, eventually donating her many properties to the National Trust . Shipbuilding later replaced iron and steel as Low Furness's main industry, and Barrow's shipyards became the largest in England. In particular, submarine development became a specialty of the town, with

11232-612: Was soon constructed alongside the Furness Railway line in Hindpool . The mill employed 2,000 women at its peak and was awarded a gold medal for its produce at the 1878 Paris Exposition Universelle . The sheltered strait between Barrow and Walney Island was an ideal location for the shipyard. The first ship to be built, the Jane Roper , was launched in 1852; the first steamship, a 3,000-ton liner named Duke of Devonshire , in 1873. Shipbuilding activity increased, and on 18 February 1871

11340-527: Was taken over by the Sheffield steel firm of Vickers in 1897, by which time the shipyard had surpassed the railway and steelworks as the largest employer and landowner in Barrow. The company constructed Vickerstown , modelled on George Cadbury 's Bournville , on the adjacent Walney Island in the early 20th century to house its employees. It also commissioned Sir Edwin Lutyens to design Abbey House as

11448-461: Was the MP for the constituency between the 2010 and 2019 general election , when Conservative Simon Fell succeeded as MP for the Borough. In the 2024 General Election , Labour candidate Michelle Scrogham became MP for Barrow and Furness, with 18,537 votes. Barrow is situated at the tip of the Furness peninsula on the north-western edge of Morecambe Bay , south of the Duddon Estuary and east of

11556-472: Was the first public body in the country to face corporate manslaughter charges. 2006 saw the construction of Barrow Offshore Wind Farm , which has acted as a catalyst for further investment in offshore renewable energy . Ormonde Wind Farm and Walney Wind Farm followed in 2011, the latter of which became the largest offshore wind farm in the world. The three wind farms are located west of Walney Island and are operated primarily by Ørsted (company) , contain

11664-463: Was used for shipbuilding, and derived products such as rails were also exported from the newly built docks. Barrow's population grew rapidly. Population figures for the town itself were not collected until 1871, though sources suggest that Barrow's population was still as low as 700 in 1851. During the first half of the 19th century, Barrow formed part of the parish of Dalton-in-Furness , the population of which shows some of Barrow's early growth from

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