Barrow-in-Furness
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Barrow-in-Furness is a town in the administrative county of Cumbria, and the traditional county of Lancashire, England. It is the main town in the borough of Barrow-in-Furness, with a population of 71,980 (2001 census [1] (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/pyramids/pages/16uc.asp)).
Barrow dates from the 19th century and owes its existence to iron ore mining. In the late 19th century a shipbuilding industry was established. The shipyard is now one of the few remaining facilities in the UK having the capacity to build nuclear submarines.
In 2002 Barrow suffered the UK's worst outbreak of legionnaires' disease. Six women and one man were died as a result of the illness, another 172 people also contracted the disease. The caused was found to be faulty air conditioning at the town's Forum 28 arts centre.
Geography
Barrow-in-Furness is located at 54°07′ N 03°14′ W (http://kvaleberg.com/extensions/mapsources/index.php?params=54_07_N_03_14_W_) [2]. The town is situated on Morecambe Bay facing Walney Island, a part of which is connected with the borough via Jubilee Bridge, a lifting bridge of the Bascule type. Half an hour away is the English Lake District.
Barrow-in-Furness railway station provides connections to Whitehaven, Workington and Carlisle to the north, via the Cumbrian Coast Line, and to Ulverston, Grange-over-Sands and Lancaster to the east, via the Furness Line. Barrow has a second railway station, called Roose railway station, which serves the suburb of Roose.
Sport
Barrow is a stronghold of rugby league, its team Barrow Raiders play in National League one. Barrow is also home to one of the largest supported non-league football teams, Barrow A.F.C..
England defender and Liverpool F.C football captain Emlyn Hughes was born in Barrow.
External links
- Barrow Borough Council (http://www.barrowbc.gov.uk)
- Disease case guilty verdict (http://society.guardian.co.uk/localgovt/news/0,8368,1466170,00.html)
