Barrow In Furness, Biggar Bank Swimming Pool 1934

Photo ref: 86197

More about this scene

Officially it is designated Her Majesty's Submarine Torpedo Boat No 1. Many at the Admiralty still considered the new- fangled machine a shameful and un-British device. Despite these early doubts, by the outbreak of the First World War Britain had the largest and most advanced submarine fleet in the world, and Vickers were responsible for building 69 of the 74 submarines in the Royal Navy. However, it was not all good news. An industrial town's prosperity ebbs and flows with the vagaries of the world market. Stewarts rope works, along with the iron foundries at Waddington, Longbottom, Briggs, and Beveridge all became defunct. The decline in iron ore mining continued, and the iron and steel industry was being affected by foreign competition that began to increase in the early 1900s. The Furness Railway Company needed to look to other ways to expand and enlarge; it examined a number of different business opportunities, and selected an option that has echoes that ripple through to today - the tourist trade. Following the First World War, many changes took place once again around Britain, and in Barrow and Furness in particular. The market for the iron and steel industry collapsed; this had devastating effects on the Furness iron manufacturers, and therefore unemployment increased dramatically. In 1919 the Paper Pulp Company was reorganised. It finally became known as Barrow Paper Mills Ltd, and it was still a major employer. In 1923 special rail transport was provided to take Barrovian families who decided to leave to find a new life in Canada, the USA, and South Africa. A large number of the remaining out-of-work men were employed on special projects; these included the making of a new road following the coast to link Ulverston and Barrow, and the construction of a public swimming pool at Biggar Bank, which was opened in 1931.