Barrow Island is an area, current Town Council and former district-level ward of
Westmorland and Furness
Westmorland and Furness is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Cumbria, England. The economy is mainly focused on tourism around both the Lake District and Cumbria Coast, shipbuilding and the Royal Port of Barrow, Royal ...
,
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. Originally separate from the British mainland, land reclamation in the 1860s saw the northern fringes of the island connected to Central Barrow. Barrow Island is also bound to the south and east by the town's dock system and to the west by Walney Channel. The Ward population taken at the 2011 census was 2,616.
Whilst still an electoral ward for Barrow Town Council, the ward was combined at a district/ local authority level with Central and Hindpool wards in April 2023 following formation of the new
Westmorland and Furness
Westmorland and Furness is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Cumbria, England. The economy is mainly focused on tourism around both the Lake District and Cumbria Coast, shipbuilding and the Royal Port of Barrow, Royal ...
local authority and be named 'Old Barrow'.
Background and history
The name of the town of Barrow-in-Furness is believed to derive from the Norse word ''Barrae'', meaning ''Bare Island'', which actually referred to Barrow Island. Since the 1860s the island has been connected to the mainland as its channel was modified to form two docks, the Buccleuch Dock and the Devonshire Dock. The remainder of its channel has also now been developed as part of the dock system. The island is also known as 'Old Barrow'.
The Second World War defences constructed around Barrow Island have been documented by William Foot. They included a number of pillboxes to defend the
docks
The word dock () in American English refers to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore). In British English, the term is not used the same way as in American Engli ...
. The principal threat was seizure of the docks by airborne troops; a seaborne landing was thought to be highly unlikely unless
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
was occupied first.
During the late 19th century when most of Barrow Island's tenement housing was constructed the majority quickly became occupied by
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
and Irish working class immigrants who worked at the town's shipyard, steelworks and jute mill.
Still classed as one of the
Islands of Furness
The Islands of Furness are situated to the south-west and east of the Furness Peninsula. Within England, they are the third biggest collection of islands. They are generally quite small, though at 12.99 km2 Walney Island is the eight ...
, Barrow Island is characterised by densely constructed tenement housing alongside huge industrial buildings. The area is home to the vast majority of Barrow's shipyard including the Devonshire Dock Hall complex - the main occupier of the reclaimed land from Walney Channel. In 2011, the ward's population stood at 2,616 which although relatively small compared to Barrow's other wards equates to a higher population density, and twice the national average. The island has become notorious for its high unemployment rate and a number of other social issues which saw it feature in a 2009 episode of ''
The Secret Millionaire
''The Secret Millionaire'' is a reality television show which originated in the UK, in which millionaires go incognito into impoverished communities and agree to give away tens of thousands of pounds (or tens of thousands of dollars in the Americ ...
''.
Barrow Island, which is nicknamed 'Baz I' locally, is served by a primary school, nursery school, two churches, several pubs, post office, pharmacy and a number of small supermarkets. Work is currently underway to convert a former shipyard canteen/arts centre into two new retail units with office space.
With a previous unoccupancy rate of 80%, 320 of the apartments have been converted into serviced accommodation called 'The Maritime Apartments', costing around £5 million to refurbish. These are popular with contracted BAE workers, offshore wind farm and rig engineers and those in the construction industry. The land surrounding the apartments and along the main roads has benefited from a £1 million landscaping project to create parks, open spaces and growing areas. These are now known as the 'Maritime Streets'.
Barrow Island is also home to a large business park currently under construction as part of the £200 million Waterfront Barrow-in-Furness project. The business park will be built over a period of 15 years and once complete, it is expected to have created between 1,200 and 1,600 highly skilled jobs.
In 2018 Barrow Island featured in news stories when it was revealed that over a 12-month period no books were loaned from its library, based in Barrow Island Primary School.
Shipyard
The island is home to Barrow Shipyard, owned now by
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...
. Former owners included the Barrow Iron Ship-Building Company, Vickers Shipbuilding, VSEL and Marconi Marine (VSEL), which became part of BAE in 1999. The shipyard remains one of the largest in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, rivalled only by that of
Govan
Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...
Associated British Ports
Associated British Ports (ABP) owns and operates 21 ports in the United Kingdom, managing around 25 per cent of the UK's sea-borne trade. The company's activities cover transport, haulage and terminal operations, ship's agency, dredging and mari ...
. A large portion of the Waterfront Barrow-in-Furness is planned to be constructed on Barrow Island.
The urbanisation of Barrow Island came about entirely as a result of the booming shipyard. Many of the existing shipyard buildings were constructed by VSEL, including the huge Heavy Engineering Workshop and Devonshire Dock Hall complex. Despite this, current owners, BAE Systems, have ambitious expansion plans on Barrow Island associated with the Trident successor programme.
Barrow Island itself is a conservation area, while many of the shipyard buildings are listed buildings, as are numerous tenement houses including the Grade II* listed Devonshire Buildings.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census, males outnumbered females in Barrow Island to significant degree which is in contrast to the Barrow and national averages. The central and western areas of Barrow Island are within the 3% most deprived nationwide, while the more modern eastern areas are within the 20% most deprived.2010 Indices of Multiple Deprivation by Super Output Area /ref> Deprivation is measured in Barrow Island by its high percentage of individuals with long-term illnesses, an unemployment rate almost twice as high as England's average, low levels of the overall degradation of the living environment.
Transport
The
A590
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.Walney Bridge and terminating on
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. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is part of Barrow-in-Furness, sepa ...
. To the south of Barrow Island, Michaelson Road Bridge is another vehicle and foot bridge that crosses Buccleuch Dock into Central Barrow. Island Road is a wide tree-lined boulevard that acts as the primary artery through Barrow Island's eastern residential areas.
Historically Barrow Island was served by two railways stations, Ramsden Dock and Shipyard Junction as well as the Barrow-in-Furness Tramway. Although all evidence of the railway has gone, tramlines of the tramway are preserved across the island, most noticeably on Island Road and Michaelson Road.
See also
*
Islands of Furness
The Islands of Furness are situated to the south-west and east of the Furness Peninsula. Within England, they are the third biggest collection of islands. They are generally quite small, though at 12.99 km2 Walney Island is the eight ...