Prehistoric Islands An Industrial Revolution Barrow Airships Key Dates Prehistoric nds inc. axe heads have been discovered around the Islands of The expansion of Barrow-in-Furness was due to three men: Lord Cavendish, 7th 1911 Britains rst rigid airship HMA 1 ‘Mayy’, built in Barrow’s Cavendish 1127 Furness Abbey is established; The First Savignac Monastery in England The Islands of Barrow Barrow, many on Walney Island and Sandscale Haws. The coast oered stone age Duke of Devonshire (the nancier), Henry Schneider (local iron ore magnate) & Dock. 1134-1342 Furness Abbey becomes 2nd most powerful Cistercian Abbey in England communities, a wide range of foods and materials, often gathered during the James Ramsden (managing director of the Furness Railway Company). 1487 Lambert Simnal Lands on Piel Island & Claims English Throne hard winter months. It also oered opportunities for trade & communication via HMA 1 Mayy (named as such because “she may y” famously broke in two 1839 Henry Schneider a speculator & dealer in iron arrives during a test ight over Cavendish Dock but important lessons were learnt. sea-borne trac. Indeed, for much of prehistory, the sea was a link to the wider Ramsden built a ne house (now demolished) in Abbots wood above Furness Abbey. 1843 Only 32 dwellings & two pubs in the Hamlet of Barrow Later designs for rigid & non rigid airships were built by H.B. Pratt & Barnes world, rather than a barrier to it. Perhaps it is no surprise that the earliest cereal Some of Ramsden’s possessions & furniture were given to the Town Hall. Ramsden’s 1846 Furness Railway built by Schneider & James Ramsden to transport iron ore & slate Pictorial Wallis for the Vickers Airship Dept. in a new hangar on Walney Island. (now crops so far recovered from Cumbria, were found in Barrow-in-Furness, dating statue can be seen in Ramsden Square. 1851 Schneider discovers massive iron ore deposits near Roanhead demolished) from around 5800 years ago. 1859 Schneider builds furnaces in the town, with John Hannay. (Pictured below) Schneider lived at Belseld House beside Lake Windermere. 1865 World’s Largest Bessemer Process Steelworks is established. We know there was trade between Ireland and England at that time, He left home each morning on his personal steam launch SL Barnes Wallis’s Walney airships culminated in the HMA R80 which began ight 1871 Barrow Shipbuilding Company formed on Barrow Island. and utilising the Isle of Man as a stop-o point within the Irish Sea, Esperance, (on which he’d have breakfast), & cross the lake to trials in 1920. R80 was the rst fully streamlined British airship. (more overleaf) B 3 Walney Island may well have been an important link for these early Lakeside. Then a train with a private carriage on the railway 1881 Barrow’s population had reached 47,000. (Current population is around 72,000) he helped to build to his oce in Barrow. 1900 HIJMS Mikasa Launched; The most Historically important Japanese Battleship sea-farer’s. 1911 Maiden ight of the rst seaplane to be own in the UK takes place 1901 First British Naval Submarine ‘HMS Holland 1’ Launched from Cavendish Dock. It is also the rst seaplane to be tted with twin oats. 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 The pebble beaches of the west coast of Cumbria also oered a Schneider’s steam launch is preserved in Windermere 1911 Maiden ight of the rst seaplane to be own in the UK: A Prototype AVRO Type D I S L A N D S Steamboat Museum. It became the model for Captain Flint's valuable source of int, washed up from the bed of the Irish Sea, in an During the development of HMA 1: ‘Mayy’, under construction in its oating 1911 First British Rigid Airship Built on Cavendish Dock houseboat in Swallows and Amazons. He had other homes area where it is otherwise a scarce resource. hangar in Cavendish Dock a group of naval ocers purchase & modify an Avro 1917 HMA 23 British Rigid Airship Built on Walney Island Barrow Island in the area; at Roa Island, next to the lifeboat station (now a Type D biplane, which is used to evaluate a number of dierent oat designs hotel) and at Oak Lea, near Sowerby Woods, Barrow which 1919 First British Sea-going Concrete Ship; ‘Armistice’ is Launched O 4 F 4 R 1 Dova Haw tted to the aircraft's standard undercarriage. burnt down in mysterious circumstances in 1903. 1920 First British fully Streamlined Airship HMA R80 Built on Walney Island: Barnes Wallis 1936 Hindenburg Zeppelin ies over Barrow gathering intelligence prior to WW2 Foulney Island Devonshire Dock Devonshire HMA 1 Leaving Hangar Cavendish Dock 1911 Hangar Cavendish 1 Leaving HMA 1943 Bouncing Bombs built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness to a Barnes Wallis design A statue of Schneider stands in Schneider Square near the R 1 Headin Haw Town Hall. Furness Railway HMA R80 Flight Tests 1920 1943 X Craft X5 Midget Submarines built to Attack Tirpitz (later subject of 1955 movie) 1946 Wilbert Awdry writes Thomas the Tank Engine Stories based on Barrow’s Islands Piel Island 1953 HMS Hermes Launched; Aircraft Carrier; former Royal Navy Flagship Ramsey Island 1956 1,155,076 tonnes of Iron Ore alone is Exported through the Port of Barrow O 4 Roa Island 1960 First British Nuclear Submarine HMS Dreadnought Launched. 1960 Oriana Cruise Liner Launched. The last Orient Steam Navigation Company Ocean Liner Sheep Island 1965 British Admiral 103,000 ton Oil Tanker Launched; then The Worlds Largest Ship W 4 Walney Island 1975 First British Woman Principal Lighthouse Keeper: Peggy Braithwaite, Walney Island 1977 HMS Invincible Launched; Aircraft Carrier; former Flagship of the Royal Navy 1986 Devonshire Dock Hall, Tallest building in Cumbria: 2nd largest Facility of its type in Europe 2001 HMS Albion Launched; Current Flagship; Royal Navy 2007 HMS Astute Launched: The most advanced British Nuclear Submarine ever built HIJMS Mikasa Launch: 1900 (see overleaf) Britains rst sea plane, Cavendish Dock 1911 Cavendish Britains rst sea plane, Barrow Ironworks Est. 1859 Bouncing Bomb Test 1943: Designer, Barnes Wallis Cavendish Tenement Flats Barrow Island Net Sinker or Late Neolithic mace head Piel Island: Piel Castle & Ship Inn as seen when approaching by sea Furness Abbey 6500-4500 BC Found in Barrow Park 1910 Piel Island Middle Ages Industry & Nature Barnes Wallis In the Middle Ages, Barrow was a small hamlet within the Parish of The Islands of Barrow feature many little-known & exciting locations where, Industry & Nature Dalton-in-Furness. collide. Furness Abbey was the second most rich & powerful Cistercian Abbey in the country Industry and Nature XT5 Midget Submarine being ‘X Craft’ Dock 1944. Devonshire into lowered (after Fountains), & it controlled the local economy. The articially warm waters of Cavendish Dock (heated by the power station) encourage migrating Dock Ramsden Devonshire Dock 2010 and above birds to overwinter. Ponds in former mine workings have become thriving wildlife habitats. Barrow’s Island Hangar c.1920 Walney Non Rigid Airship In the Middle Ages Piel was known as Fowdray (or Fouldrey) Island. (from the dune systems rely on sheep grazing to keep them ‘open’ and able to support rare species inc. Coralroot Old Norse words ‘fouder’ meaning fodder, and ‘ay’ or ‘oy’ meaning island.) Orchid. 1127 Piel’s known history begins; King Stephen gives Piel Island to the Savignac monks. Nature and Industry Barrow Island at War Later 12th c. Savignacs become part of the Cistercian order & the Island came Nature has given Industry Barrow’s natural harbours for ship building, sand, gravel & rich deposits of under the control of Furness Abbey. iron ore. Even the wind is now a major resource o Walney Island; driving the biggest o-shore Wind Coralroot Orchid Orchid Coralroot Vickers’s Barrow Island site was an essential naval vessel builder during WW1 & WW2. Farm in the World. Early 13th c. The Cistercians use Piel as a safe harbour & build a warehouse for the ‘The Yard’ also became a prime target for enemy bombers. Numerous pillboxes, machine gun batteries, search light emplacements, air raid shelters & bombing raid storage of grain, wine and wool. Some was shipped over from Ireland. The relationships between the activities of man & the processes of nature continue to evolve as they have done for millenia. But man-made global warming is changing local bird migration patterns & decoys were erected during WW2 & remain across the Islands of Barrow, many lie 1212 Monks granted a licence by King John to land one cargo of "wheat, our & within what are now Nature Reserves and SSSI’s. (detailed overleaf) other provisions" to stave o famine caused by the local harvest failing. Later in the countless other ecosystems which may have unforeseen eects. Maybe it‘s time to start giving something more back to nature? century an unlimited cargo licence was granted & 1258 ships owned by Furness The rst sign of German interest in Barrow came in May 1936, when the Hindenburg St John’s Church, Barrow Island Barrow Church, John’s St Abbey were placed under royal protection. The monks fortied the Zeppelin ew over Barrow. Locals & the Government believed it was spying on the Natterjack Toad Breeding Ponds, (Sandscale) Six Spot Burnet Moth Oystercatchers www.barrowbc.gov.uk island, rstly with a wooden tower surrounded by a ditch with shipyard, although it was claimed she was simply carrying passengers on a luxury Sandscale Haws sand dunes HMA 23 : Flight Trials on Walney Island 1917 North Walney Beach through Marram Grass palisades. trip. 1327 Monks begin to build a Motte & Bailey fort. The largest of its kind in North West England.