BARROW-IN-FURNESS. A seaport and county borough in Lancashire, England, on the southwestern coast of Furness Peninsula. on the Irish Sea (Map: England, C 2). It is S miles southwest of Ulverston and 18 miles northwest of Lancaster. Its importance as a great manu facturing centre dates from the discovery in 1840 of rich hematite ore in the neighborhood, and the subsequent establishment of mines and smelt ing works. The town is built on a rectangular plan. The chief of several fine public buildings is the town hall. and the handsome Gothic Church of Saint George. The municipality maintains a public and branch libraries, a school of science and art; owns its waterworks, gas, and electric light plants, markets, abattoirs and cemetery. There are several fine docks. and among the num erous industrial establishments are foundries, engineering works, extensive ship-building yards, ship-armor and wire works, jute and paper fac tories. Copper as well as iron ore is obtained in considerable quantities near Barrow. The
chief export trade is pig-iron, steel rails, and ore. Its imports include timber from Sweden and Canada, coal from Wales, and preserved provi sions from the United States. A large cattle trade is carried on with Belfast. There is regu lar steam communication with Glasgow and Belfast. and the Isle of Man. The town takes its initial name from Barrow Island, a tradi tional burial place of Norse rovers, and now the central point of the harbor and the seat of its ship-building industries. The interesting and picturesque ruins of the Twelfth Century Cis tercian Abbey of Furness are within 2 miles of the town; and there are ruins of an ancient castle on Piel Island. In 1847, Barrow was a fishing village of 300 inhabitants. The popula tion in 1891 was 51,712: in 1901, 57,584. Con sult Furness, Past and Present (Barrow, ISSO) .