Shipyard Town Project
An exciting new heritage gallery, made possible by a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £816,700, will tell the story of shipbuilding in Barrow-in-Furness at the town’s Dock Museum. Shipyard Town focuses on the rich heritage of Barrow’s main industry from the 1950s to the present day, as well as looking to the future.
The total cost of the project is just under £1 million, with the National Lottery Heritage Fund contribution made possible by money raised by National Lottery players. All additional funding has been secured, with BAE Systems contributing £100,000 and the Sir John Fisher Foundation also making a donation.
Shipyard Town is a two-year project that will include the creation of a new permanent shipbuilding gallery, the building of a research room, an upgrading the museum’s entrance and the introduction of a fun family-friendly “Squeeze in a Sub” learning zone. Two new shipbuilding films will be commissioned, and a pair of new walking trails starting from the museum will be developed so that the town’s shipbuilding heritage can be explored in detail.
As well as their financial contribution, BAE Systems have donated an internationally-important collection of 3,000 images from its shipbuilding archive. Some of the pictures will form part of the new gallery, while all the images will be restored before being scanned and made available to the public online and in the museum’s research room.
