Barrow-in-Furness information

Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and port in Cumbria, North West England. It is known for its shipbuilding and steel-making industries. The town, often simply known as Barrow, is situated at the tip of the Furness peninsula. Barrow is the second largest settlement in Cumbria, the seventh largest on the Irish Sea coast, and the nineteenth largest in North West England. Barrow forms the overwhelming amount of territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. Barrow is located just over 220 miles north-west of London and 60 miles south of the Scottish border.
Historically a part of Lancashire, Barrow was a small fishing village before the arrival of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-19th century. The building of the Furness Railway allowed iron ore to be transported to the area; the village's location made it ideal for smelting and then exporting steel. The natural harbour the booming town possessed allowed the locally produced steel to be put to another use: shipbuilding.
The shipyard became a significant producer of naval vessels and from the 1960s increasingly specialised in the construction of nuclear-powered submarines. The original iron- and steel- making enterprises closed down after World War II, leaving boat building the area's main industry and employer. All of Britain's Vanguard class submarines, which carry the Trident nuclear deterrent, were manufactured at the facility. With the end of the Cold War and subsequent decrease in military spending the town suffered high unemployment. (...) more....

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