Page 45 - Minutes of meeting
P. 45
Barrow – A Town of Distinction
The opening of the Furness Railway in 1846 was the first significant step which
drove the phenomenal growth of Barrow-in-Furness from a small agricultural
community of circa 150 residents to a population of 45,000 by 1879. The railway
was built to transport iron ore from nearby Dalton and slate from Kirkby to the port
at Barrow. The creation of a local ironworks and blast furnaces in1859, followed
by a steel plant in 1865, drove Barrow’s subsequent growth for the next 30 years.
As competition and diminishing returns made Furness ore extraction and steel
making more expensive, Barrow transformed itself from a steel town to a shipyard
town, facilitated by Barrow’s natural attributes including a tidal port and the
availability of steel. The town developed into a significant producer of naval
vessels, with a specialism in submarines. The onslaught of World War 1
accelerated population growth further, reaching a peak of 90,000 residents in
1917.
The ironworks closed in 1963, followed by the steelworks in 1983. The shipyard continues to be the dominant industry in the town
to this day, and the cyclical nature of military spending contracts has contributed to peaks and troughs in the workforce over time,
with a significant downturn at the end of the Cold War in 1991 contributing to high levels of unemployment in the town and
population decline as the workforce shrank to 5,800 in 1995.
Under the auspice of BAE Systems Maritime, Barrow is now at the centre of the national defence programme to develop a new
generation of nuclear deterrent submarines (the £40bn Dreadnought programme) which will see the site occupied to 2050 and
places Barrow at the forefront of shipbuilding and innovation in the UK. There are currently some 8,500 workers directly
employed by BAE Systems in Barrow in addition to a large contractor workforce and indirect jobs created through the supply chain.
Barrow has a growing economy, underpinned by this world class marine offer, and advanced manufacturing, energy and offshore
industries.
Copyright © Hatch 2018. All Rights Reserved. Source: Heritage Impact Assessment, 2018; Photo credit: BAE Systems
