Barrow Post 1914 GAZ Barrow
BARROW POST 1914
Economic Activity:The output of the Iron, Steel and Shipbuilding works in the town peaked during the First World War but from 1920 these industries began a long decline. There was a revival during the Second World War, and from 1945 the post-war ’tanker boom’ meant that the shipbuilding industry was fully occupied. From the 1960s the Shipyard began to specialise in submarine building, a decision which resulted in the Barrow yards escaping the fate which overtook many British shipyards during the second half of the twentieth century. The Barrow yard, now a part of the BAE Systems group, continues to be a major employer in the town. The town’s other founding industry fared less well. The ironworks closed in March 1963, the steelworks continuing until 1983. Of the once numerous foundries and metal works in the town only the foundry of David Caird Ltd survived into the 1970s, and its closure in 1988 finally brought to an end the history of the town’s iron and steel industry.
In the post-war period Listers & Co built a woollen spinning plant at Roose in 1947 and in 1959 British Cellophane established a factory at Sandscale. A number of light industries were established in the town during this period including the production of laundry machinery; clothing; electrical goods, and parts for motorcars. However by 2000 all these industries had disappeared. One survivor is the Kimberly Clark Paper Mill which opened in 1967 and is still in production.
Places of Worship:To cater for the town’s expansion after 1945, new Anglican churches were built at St Aidens, Newbarns in 1952 and St Francis, Ormsgill in 1955. Roman Catholic churches were opened at Newbarns (Holy Family) in 1951, and St Pius X at Ormsgill in 1957. The Baptist church of 1873 was destroyed in the blitz on 16 April 1941, and was replaced by a new building on a new site near Barrow Park in 1958. Christ Church was also destroyed in the blitz, and its remaining assets were employed to open the Beacon Hill (Christ Church) in Holyoak Avenue in 1956.
Growing secularism has seen the closure or merger of a number of places of worship. In 1951 the original Wesleyan Chapel in Hartington Street closed, its members transferring to what had been the Primitive Methodist building nearby. In 1991 the Abbey Road Methodist and Ainslie Street Congregationalist Churches merged to form the Trinity Church Centre, utilising the building of the former. The former Methodist chapels closed at Hindpool Road in 1935; Storey Square 1952; Forshaw Street and Marsh Street in 1953; Roose Road in 1976; Hawcoat 1989, and Stonedyke in 1991. Hindpool Road Congregationalist Church closed in 1931 and the Presbyterian Trinity Church in School Street closed in 1971. The Synagogue moved from Abbey Road to 29 Crellin Street in 1918 and then to 62 School Street in 1925. It closed in 1974.
Schools : By 1924 the list of council schools in Barrow numbers 16, these being augmented by a further 3 Roman Catholic schools. A new school was built at Risedale in 1926, and a Grammar School for boys was opened in 1930 followed by a similar establishment for girls in 1932. New primary schools were established on the new council estates at Greengate in 1950; Ormsgill in 1951, and South Newbarns in 1953 together with a new St. Paul’s Church of England School in 1957. St Aloysius’ Roman Catholic Secondary School was opened in 1953. The growing requirements for further education in the post-war era was catered for by expanding the Technical School into a new Central College of Further Education, a new building being opened in Howard Street in 1954. In 1964 the Technical School was split from the College and housed in a new building in Thorncliffe Road. By this time the town of Barrow had 37 council and 4 Roman Catholic schools. A period of retrenchment followed this expansion. New primary schools were built at Yarlside and Hawcoat in 1972, and St. Mary’s R.C. Primary was replaced by 2 new schools at St. Pius X in Schneider Road and Holy Family at Newbarns in 1974, however subsequent developments have mainly centred on reorganisations following the introduction of the Comprehensive system in 1979. This created 4 comprehensive schools in the town. The Grammar School and, briefly, the Risedale sites, became Parkview School; the Technical School became Thorncliffe School; St. Aloysius became St Bernard’s School, and Alfred Barrow School on the site of the original Higher Grade School retained its name. Also in 1979 a new 6th Form College was opened in Rating Lane but numbered among the buildings which have disappeared or no longer used for education purposes are those at Holker Street; Abbey Road Technical School; Howard Street; Roa Island; Rampside; Risedale, and Thwaite Street.
In September 2009 Alfred Barrow; Thorncliffe, and Parkview Secondary Schools were amalgamated into Furness Academy. Roman Catholic Secondary education remains catered for at St. Bernard’s R.C. High School. All further education, apart from 6th Form, is now concentrated at Furness College which is built on a completely new site at Channelside. Private education is available at ’Chetwynde’ School Rating Lane.
Other institutions: Barrow saw the opening of a large number of cinemas during the first half of the twentieth century. These establishments all tended to have a number of changes of name over the years and only the final names appear here. By the 1950s the town could boast of 8 cinemas, of these the Odeon, later the Classic, had been converted to cinema in 1937 from the old Alhambra Palace and the Regal had similarly converted from the Alexandra Theatre in 1931. This left Barrow with only one live theatre, The Theatre Royal, which after a number of name changes had by 1952 become known as Her Majesty’s Theatre. With the spread of television ownership from the late 1950s the demise of these places of entertainment was swift. The towns last live theatre , Her Majesty’s, gave its last performance on 12 April 1968, and when the Classic cinema closed in 1976 the town was left with just the Ritz cinema opened in 1936 on the corner of Holker Street and Abbey Road. This cinema survived with a number of name changes before final closure and subsequent demolition in 1999. It was replaced with the Apollo cinema which continues to operate on Cornerhouse Park. Live productions are now catered for on an intermittent basis at the council owned Forum 28 Arts Centre on Duke Street.
A new purpose built library was opened in Ramsden Square in 1922, and this was followed by small branch libraries at Salthouse and Victoria School in 1940, and Barrow Island in 1944. By 2000 the library service in Barrow consisted of the main Ramsden Square building and branches on Roose Road, Barrow Island, and a “Link” Library at Ormsgill. The Ramsden Squre Library housed the town’s museum until 1994 when this was relocated to the Dock Museum, built on the site of the redundant Graving Dock.
The town’s football club attained Football League status in 1921 and remained there until 1972. The club has subsequently played in the national non-league system and achieved some success in winning the F.A. Trophy at Wembley in 1990 and 2010. The rugby club found a permanent home at Craven Park in 1931 and remains in the Rugby League having success in winning the R.L. Challenge Cup in 1955. Barrow Cricket Club moved to the Earnest Pass Memorial Ground in Abbey Road in1927. In 2004 the club joined the Northern Cricket League. Barrow Golf Club was founded in 1922 and is sited on a 18 hole course at Hawcoat. A leisure centre including a gymnasium and swimming pool was built in Barrow’s Public Park in 1991, and the park itself was restored to its original design in 2005.
The town’s health provision was expanded during the first half of the twentieth century by the opening of Risedale Maternity Hospital in 1921 and the Infant Clinic in Abbey Road in 1934. All the towns health provision was transferred to the National Health Service in 1948.
With the evolution of the welfare state during the twentieth century, the role of Roose Workhouse was gradually changed, having many roles until in 1948 it was absorbed into the National Health Service and became known as Roose Hospital. In its final form the hospital served the needs of geriatric and elderly care in the town before its final closure in 1993 when these services transferred to other providers. The building was subsequently demolished. The North Lonsdale Hospital continued to serve the town until 1984 when it was replaced with a new facility, Furness General Hospital, in Dalton Lane. The opening of the new hospital not only resulted in the closure and subsequent demolition of North Lonsdale, but also the closure of Devonshire Road and Risedale Hospitals.
A crematorium was opened in Barrow Cemetery in November 1962.
