The Dock Museum is situated in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it 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. In 2023 the ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Most of its exhibits concern the history of the town, focusing on the

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...

industry at VSEL (now

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

), the

steelworks A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

industry — of which Barrow once had the world's largest, the

Furness Railway The Furness Railway (Furness) was a railway company operating in the Furness area of Lancashire in North West England. History Formation In the early 1840s, the owners of iron ore mines in the Furness district of Lancashire became interested i ...

and the World War II bombings of the town. There has been a museum in Barrow since 1907 and in its current location since 1994, when 50,000 people visited it in its first year, visitor numbers peaked at 120,000 in 2001. The museum has free entry and remains under public ownership.

Exhibits

On initial entrance to the museum, the ground floors galleries are about the town's history, its rapid mushrooming, as well as how it was affected by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The largest part of the museum is housed in a former

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

, where three floors containing models of ships and submarines built in Barrow, along with other exhibits can be found. The Vickers Photographic Archive, an archive of 10,000 glass plate negatives donated by the shipyard, was once available online. There are changing temporary exhibitions, two historic, locally-built vessels as well as a filmshow illustrating the town's past and present on the very bottom floor. The museum takes its name from the dock in which it is built. This is the oldest part of the museum, opened in 1872, and is one of its main attractions. The Dock Museum focuses largely on Barrow-in-Furness and its immediate surroundings. It is a common misconception that it is solely a

maritime museum A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navies and the militar ...

. The museum has a strong prehistory collection, natural history artefacts, domestic furnishings, toys and maritime objects. The

Furness Hoard The Furness Hoard is a hoard of Viking silver coins and other artefacts dating to the 9th and 10th Century that was discovered in Furness, Cumbria, England in May 2011 by an unnamed metal detectorist. The exact location of the find, as well a ...

of Viking artefacts discovered in 2011 is currently being held at the museum with hopes it can be acquired after being valuated.

Museum boats

There are currently four small boats preserved at the Dock Museum, including a yacht called ''White Rose,'' which was built in the late 19th century; Banshee, a ''Whammel'' fishing boat; and the 1914 traditional Morecambe Bay prawner, ''Nance''. The museum's largest vessel—the RNLB ''Herbert Leigh'' (ON 900)—is sited adjacent to North Road.

Location and facilities

The Dock Museum is located in Barrow-in-Furness alongside the

Walney Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. It is part of Barrow-in-Furness, separated from the mainland by Walney Channel, which is spanned b ...

Channel. The Museum has a distinctive shape, and can be seen from the nearby intersection of the

A590 road The A590 is a trunk road in southern Cumbria, in the north-west of England. It runs north-east to south-west from M6 junction 36, through the towns of Ulverston and Barrow-in-Furness to terminate at Biggar Bank on Walney Island.Premier Inn Premier Inn is a British limited service hotel chain and the UK's largest hotel brand, with more than 72,000 rooms and 800 hotels. It operates hotels in a variety of locations including city centres, suburbs and airports competing with the like ...

hotel and

Brewers Fayre Brewers Fayre is a licensed pub restaurant chain, with 161 locations across the UK as of August 2018. Owned by Whitbread, Brewers Fayre restaurants are known for serving traditional British pub food and for their Sunday Carvery. History The f ...

restaurant in 2014, with current parking now available to the south of the museum directly adjacent to the outdoor play area. The museum is home to the 'Bridge Coffee Shop', a

gift shop A gift shop or souvenir shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs, memorabilia, and other items relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collect ...

, a maritime themed adventure

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...

, toilets, disabled access, a studio for hire as well as access to the 'Channelside Walk', which leads up to the towns old

slag Slag is a by-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and used metals. Broadly, it can be classified as ferrous (by-products of processing iron and steel), ferroalloy (by-product of ferroalloy production) or non-ferrous/base metals (by-prod ...

banks, with good views of Barrow,

Walney Island Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. It is part of Barrow-in-Furness, separated from the mainland by Walney Channel, which is spanned b ...

, the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

and the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

when the weather permits. It is a fully accessible museum.

Lease to BAE Systems

The lower floor as well as The Studio (previously used to generate income from workshops and events) are now home to BAE Systems HR department. Barrow Borough Council and BAE Systems entered this financial partnership to give prospective employees a good first impression and some local knowledge of the town. Some resistance from regular visitors to the museum was met, but building modifications went ahead and a 25-year lease was signed. All building work was completed in early 2015, and the HR department moved into the museum. The Dock Museum are still offering workshops, events and tours, though in a revised capacity.

References

External links

Dock Museum official website
{{coord, 54.1121, -3.2400, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title 1907 establishments in England Buildings and structures in Barrow-in-Furness Drydocks Industry museums in England Local museums in Cumbria Maritime museums in England Museums established in 1907 Museums established in 1994 Museums in Cumbria Tourist attractions in Barrow-in-Furness