The Dock Museum in Barrow in Furness re-opens this month after a major refurbishment. The museum straddles a 19th century dry dock alongside Walney channel – the only one in the world to have such a setting.
It houses galleries exploring the history of the people and industries of the Furness area of Lancashire north of the sands, covering everything from how a hamlet of a few farms became an area of industrial innovation which fuelled world-wide expansion of technology.
It shows how the local railway inspired Reverend Wilbert Awdrey to write Thomas the Tank Engine and how local real events informed his storylines.
And it has a room of changing exhibitions, a gift shop and a café and outside it hosts a large outdoor sea themed playground with space for picnics and displays the Herbert Leigh lifeboat – the longest serving lifeboat at the Barrow RNLI station from 1951-1982.
Even before this year’s investment, the museum had won three major awards in the last 12 months: a hidden gem award from Visit England; a small visitor attraction award from Cumbria Tourism and Highly Recommended attraction from Going Places, which was voted for by visitors.
This year it has been given a new front entrance, seen its main gallery expanded and refreshed, and had the amphitheatre refurbished. As part of the works, a new permanent shipbuilding gallery will be created and a fun family-friendly learning zone will be developed.
In addition, two new shipbuilding films will be commissioned, a new mobile app will be designed and a pair of new walking trails starting from the museum will be developed so the town’s shipbuilding heritage can be explored in detail.
This has been financed by National Lottery, topped up with donations from BAE Systems whose impressive hangars, where the latest generation of nuclear submarines are built, overlook the museum.
‘It is a really exciting time to be here,’ says Lancaster-born Charlotte Hawley, curator for the last two years. ‘It is a transformative time for us, bringing the museum up to date with all the new stories.’
She came from the world of historic houses and National Trust properties, throughout northern England and Scotland.
‘With historic houses the history can be about one wealthy family, but what is special about the history here in Barrow is that it is about everyday people doing extraordinary things.
‘And we are still at it, leading the world in windfarms and green energy and of course with the nuclear submarines still building things as complicated as space rockets. I am in awe of this place, I really am,’ she says.
Charlotte joined the seven-person team running the museum around the same time as former policeman John Irving, who started as a volunteer, became manager.
‘We want to make the museum the focal point for celebrating all the great history and developments in the Furness area,’ he says.
The museum itself had a stuttering start. The distinctive sail-like central building was originally constructed by a maritime trust in 1988, to house historic boats, but the charity folded before it even opened.
The now defunct Barrow Borough Council took it over and combined it with the old museum above Barrow Library. It was expanded to its current size and layout and opened in 1994. It has now been inherited by the new Westmorland & Furness Council, which has committed to its further development.
Charlotte adds: ‘We are very excited and grateful to our funders for making this possible. The transformation of the museum will be amazing and allow us to better tell the fabulous stories of the people of Barrow, our ship building history and heritage.
‘The main gallery was last refurbished over two decades ago so these works will help to bring it right up to date with the latest technology and new exhibits. We are also creating a new app that will allow visitors to see beyond the exhibitions and will include virtual tours and two walking routes starting from the museum.’
For John, the most startling story of the museum is the rapid rise of Barrow from a small farming community of 152 people in 1841 to one of 47,000 in 1881.
‘In just 40 years, Barrow boomed from a farming hamlet to this hub of engineering innovation. Not for nothing was it known as the English Chicago,’ he says.
‘It starts with the mining of iron ore, then making steel for the railways in America and Australia. They started moving it with horses and carts, then Sir James Ramsden decided to build the Furness Railway.’
Sir James, originally from Little Bolton, between Eccles and Salford, was not only the railway manager but also the steelworks director and five times Mayor of Barrow, which he envisaged as a rival to Liverpool.
Mr Irving adds: ‘Then they put in the docks in 1872 and started to build ships. It has been at the cutting edge of technology building the world’s first submarine, airships, warships and passenger liners.’
The museum is popular with Japanese visitors who come to see a model of the Kongo Imperial armoured cruiser, one of several models of iconic boats built in Barrow. They feature in the main ship-building gallery, which has just been redeveloped with high technology and interactive displays.
Other displays include Viking life in the area, locally found hoards, Victorian life and how Barrow suffered and survived bombing blitzes during World War Two.
But for this visitor at least, it was how the area inspired Rev Awdry’s Thomas the Tank Engine which was the biggest surprise. Apparently, he used to holiday at Biggar’s Bank on Walney Island and fell in love with the Furness Railway Line. He describes the Island of Sodor, on which his creation lives, as between Barrow and the Isle of Man, which can only be Walney.
Then a story in the first series of books is called Down the Mine, which essentially retells the real story of how a train on the Furness line plunged into a mine sinkhole. In real life Sir James Ramsden – could he be the original fat controller? – told his men to just fill it on and get with the railway.
That seems to sum up the history of Barrow, and the continued success of the Dock Museum.
The museum – at North Road, Barrow, LA14 2PW – will fully re-open on September 27. Admission is free, with free parking and it is open 11am-4pm Wednesday to Sunday. dockmuseum.org.uk
