Furness
For the village in Derbyshire, see Furness Vale.Furness is an area of north-west
England. It is the detached part of the
traditional county of
Lancashire, lying to the north of
Morecambe Bay (it is sometimes known as
Lancashire, north of the sands or "Lancashire over the water"). It now forms the south-western part of the
non-metropolitan county of
Cumbria.
It is also known as
North Lonsdale, as the northern part of the historic
Lonsdale hundred. From 1894 to 1974 the rural part constituted a
North Lonsdale Rural District.
The area is divided into Low Furness and High Furness. Low Furness is a
peninsula that juts out into the
Irish Sea and delineates the western edge of Morecambe Bay. The southern end of the peninsula is dominated by the bay's tidal
mudflats. The long thin island of
Walney lies off the peninsula's south-west coast. High Furness is the northern part of the area and is within the
Lake District National Park. The town of
Barrow-in-Furness dominates the region with well over two thirds of its population.
 |
Furness is the detached area, "over the sands", north west of the main part of Lancashire |
The oldest record of its name is
Fuþþernessa about
1150. It probably came from
Old Norse Fuðarnes = "Fuði's
headland". The meaning of Old Norse
fuð makes it clear that the man's name "Fuði" is a crude shipboard nickname with sexual reference, and not a formal name given by his parents.
Evidence of
Roman inhabitation has remained low until recently, but archealogical surveys in
Urswick have suggested that the local church dates to this time, and may even have been a monastery. It has also been claimed that this was the site of the birthplace of
St Patrick [
1]. Furness was part of the
Scottish Kingdom of Strathclyde, though it has also been suggested that the local
Viking settlers were actually
Manx, rather than coming directly from
Scandinavia. By the time of the
Domesday Book, Furness was at the very north-western corner of
William the Conqueror's kingdom, disputed by
England and the Scots.
As the border moved northwards, the status of Furness became more settled and the latter
Middle Ages saw dominance by the monks of
Furness Abbey. They owned much of the local land, and built structures such as
Piel Castle. Buildings from this age are in the traditional
sandstone of the region, which was later used for the
gothic style town hall of Barrow-in-Furness in the
Victorian era. At one stage, the power and wealth of Furness Abbey was exceeded in the United Kingdom only by
Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds. However, the monastery fell to ruins during the
Dissolution of the Monasteries in the
1530s. The Abbey's lands in Furness were passed to the
Duchy of Lancaster in
1540.
Furness remained a remote farming and fishing district, accessible only across the dangerous sands of
Morecambe Bay.
William Wordsworth was among those who enjoyed the remote splendour of the area, writing a number of sonnets about local features such as Piel Castle and the
River Duddon. The highland areas of
High Furness began to experience tourism in the late
18th century, before the tourist boom of the
Victorian era.
The fortunes of Furness changed dramatically in
1840s and
1850s, when
William Schneider found the second largest
iron ore deposits in the
United Kingdom at
Askam-in-Furness. Further resources were found at
Dalton-in-Furness,
Lindal-in-Furness and
Roose. The
Furness Railway was built to transport this ore, providing the area with its first safe transport route to the rest of
England.
The iron ore and steelworks were, at their time, the biggest in the world. The population of
Barrow-in-Furness rose from a few hundred to 47,000 by
1881, bypassing
Dalton-in-Furness and
Ulverston as the area's biggest town, and engulfing a number of smaller villages along the way. The Furness Railway expanded to the mining sites at
Coniston and
Greenodd, and helped develop Barrow along a unique town plan. Mining in Furness reached its peak in
1882, when 1,408,693 tons of ore were won. At the same time, the popularity of tourism in the Coniston and
Hawkshead areas increased, popularised in part by the work of
John Ruskin.
Tourism in High Furness was promoted by the writings of
Beatrix Potter in the early part of the
20th century. Potter was one of the largest landowners in the area, eventually donating her many properties to the
National Trust. In particular, sites such as
Coniston Water,
Tarn Hows and
Windermere became popular.
Iron and steel soon gave over to shipbuilding in Low Furness, with Barrow's docks becoming one of the largest in the United Kingdom. In particular,
submarine development became a speciality of the town, with the
Royal Navy's first submarines built there. During the
World Wars, this allowed Furness to escape many of the economic problems that other areas suffered, due to the constant work provided by the military. Although tourism declined, the rural areas of Furness were able to rely on agriculture for survival.
After
World War II demand for ships and submarines remained high, while the development of the
Lake District National Park fostered tourism further. Attractions such as the
Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway, steamers on Windermere and Coniston Water, and fell walking, caused parts of Furness to become dependent on the tourist trade.
In the
1980s, the decline of shipbuilding due to the end of the
Cold War led to mass redundancies in the area. The shipyard's employment figures fell from 20,000 to 3,000 in a twenty year period. However, the shipyard in Barrow remains
England's busiest and the only
nuclear submarine facility in the country. Tourism has increased even more, with the
Aquarium of the Lakes and
South Lakes Wild Animal Park among the newer attractions.
Transport has become an increasingly controversial issue, with conservation groups and local business clashing over the need for improvements to the
A590 trunk road, the main link to the
M6 Motorway. Proposals for a road bridge over
Morecambe Bay have appeared, but are yet to progress beyond the planning stages.
The Furness region consists mostly of low-lying hills, forests and flats, with some higher ground towards the north.
The highest point of the region is
Coniston Old Man at 803 m (2634
ft). Other notable summits include
Dow Crag,
Wetherlam and
Swirl How which, together with "The Old Man", are known as the
Furness Fells.
Gummer's How is a prominent hill in the east of the region.
Lakes include
Windermere,
Coniston Water and
Esthwaite Water. The wide expanse of
Grizedale Forest stands in-between these lakes.
Historically the area is a detached part of the
traditional county of
Lancashire bordering
Cumberland to the north-west and
Westmorland to the north-east (see
Three Shire Stone). It is known as "Lancashire beyond the sands [of Morecambe Bay]" or "north of the sands" or "over the sands" as in Grange-over-Sands. The area formed the northern part of the hundred of
Lonsdale.
In
1974 Furness became part of the
shire county of
Cumbria. At the district level it now consists of
Barrow Borough and part of
South Lakeland.
Some people, particularly those born or brought up in the area, prefer to retain the designation "Lancashire".
Towns and villages in Furness include:
*
Aldingham,
Askam-in-Furness *
Backbarrow,
Bardsea,
Barrow-in-Furness,
Baycliff,
Bouth,
Broughton-in-Furness*
Cartmel,
Coniston*
Dalton-in-Furness,
Dendron*
Furness Abbey,
Foxfield,
Flookburgh*
Gleaston,
Grange-over-Sands,
Great Urswick and
Little Urswick,
Greenodd*
Haverthwaite,
Hawkshead*
Ireleth*
Kirkby-in-Furness*
Lakeside,
Leece,
Lindal-in-Furness,
Lindale*
Marton*
Newby Bridge,
Near Sawrey and
Far Sawrey,
Newton-in-Furness*
Roose,
Rampside,
Roa Island*
Satterthwaite,
Scales,
Stainton-with-Adgarley,
Swarthmoor*
Torver*
Ulverston*
Walney IslandSee also the
Islands of Furness*
Coniston Water*
River Crake*
River Duddon — forms the west boundary
*
Esthwaite Water*
River Leven*
Windermere is part of the eastern boundary of Furness
*
Cumbrian Coast Line*
Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway*
Furness Line*
Furness Railway*
Sir John Barrow was born and lived in Ulverston
*
George Fox and
Margaret Fell lived at
Swarthmoor Hall near Ulverston
*
Stan Laurel was born in Ulverston
*
Beatrix Potter lived in Near Sawrey
*
St Patrick — it has been suggested that he was born in the area
*
Keith Tyson, artist and
Turner Prize winner, was born in Ulverston and educated in Dalton and Barrow
*see
Barrow-in-Furness for notable births in that town
*see
Coniston Water for more people
*
Holker Hall*
Barrow Borough Council*
South Lakeland District Council*
The Backbarrow Company and the Furness iron industry
*
Furness discussion forum
