last furnaces at Barrow that
by 1876 formed the largest steelworks in the world. Its success was a result of
the availability of local iron ore, coal from the Cumberland mines and easy
rail and sea transport. The Furness Railway, who counted local aristocrats
William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire and the Duke of Buccleuch as
investors, kick-started the Industrial Revolution on the peninsula. The railway
brought mined ore to the town, where the steelworks produced large quantities
of steel. It was used for shipbuilding, and derived products such as rails were
also exported from the newly built docks. Thus Barrow's population, only 700 in
1851, reached 10,000 by 1864 and 47,000 by 1881, forty years after the railway
was built. In an attempt to diversify Barrow's economy James Ramsden founded
the Barrow and Calcutta Jute Company in 1870 and the Barrow Jute Works was soon
constructed alongside the Furness Railway line in Hindpool. The mill employed
2,000 women at its peak and was awarded a gold medal for its produce at the
1878 Paris Exposition Universelle.
The sheltered strait between Barrow and
Walney Island was an ideal location for the shipyard. The first ship to be
built, the Jane Roper, was launched in 1852; the first steamship, a 3,000-ton
liner named Duke of Devonshire, in 1873. Shipbuilding activity increased, and
on 18 February 1871 the Barrow Shipbuilding Company was incorporated. Barrow's
relative isolation from the United Kingdom's industrial heartlands meant that
the newly formed company included several capabilities that would usually be
subcontracted to other establishments. In particular, a large engineering works
was constructed including a foundry and pattern shop, a forge, and an engine
shop. In addition, the shipyard had a joiners' shop, a boat-building shed and a
sailmaking and rigging loft.
During these boom
