Barrow-In-Furness has experienced an astonishing transformation from a village to a major industrial town over the past 150 years. This fascinating and detailed book reveals the stories behind this growth through contemporary newspaper headlines and reports. Digging for iron, steelmaking, shipbuilding, the growth of the railways and the laying of tram lines are described in articles and historical notes drawn from Barrow’s local newspaper, the North West Evening Mail, and from a number of other daily and weekly papers once published in the town.

The newspapers have left us a record of daily life in Barrow, its triumphs and its tragedies. A wide range of town events are covered, from royal visits and launch ceremonies to complaints about late trams and delays in building a bridge to Walney. Read about the day Barrow took on Everton at football, when the might Hindenburg flew across Barrow’s rooftops and how the town commemorated the end of the two world wars. Discover how the town’s population swelled as munitions workers produced the millions of shells needed to win the First World War and was then hit by a recession and unemployment.

The extracts have been selected by the Evening Mail’s assistant editor, Bill Myers, mainly from material he researched for an exhibition at the Dock Museum to celebrate the newspaper’s centenary. The illustrations are drawn from the author’s extensive collection of postcards and photographs showing the development of the North West over the past century.