Description
Railways transformed Morecambe Bay, creating the industrial town of Barrow, the resorts of Grange-over-Sands and Morecambe, and culminating in the new deep-water port at Heysham in 1896. This book looks at these achievements as well as a long and fascinating pedigree, beginning with perilous foot crossings of the bay which for centuries formed the main route to Furness.
Special attention is given to the now forgotten ports of Milnthorpe, Greenodd and Ulverston – the last with its ship canal – and their role in the area’s principal trading route. A final chapter focuses on viaducts across the rivers Leven, Kent and Beela, the first two now the two most prominent features of the bay. There is a profuse selection of illustrations, many of which portray structures still surviving from a former heyday.
Gordon Biddle has written fourteen books on railway civil engineering and architecture as well as inland waterways. He is a founder member of the RCHS, its first secretary, and now a vice-president. He lives at Silverdale, overlooking Morecambe Bay.
64 pages softback.
