Barrowin Furness

Barrow-in-Furness, a town and port in Lancashire, 35 miles N.W. of Lancaster, at the extremity of the peninsula of Furness, which forms the northern boundary of Morecambe Bay. The prosperity of the place depends on the abundance of iron in the district, but these resources have only been developed within the last fifty years by the chief landowners, the Dukes of Devonshire and Buccleuch, and Sir John Ramsden, a local pioneer of great energy and perseverance. The steel-works are the largest in the kingdom; the docks, opened in 1867, cover 69 acres; shipbuilding has grown to be an important industry; hundreds of thousands of tons of iron in various forms are annually exported; and the population in half a century has increased two hundredfold. The town, built chiefly on reclaimed ground, is well laid out, and returns a member to Parliament. Within the municipal boundary are the ruins of Furness Abbey, founded in 1127.