Description

BARROW IN FURNESS

SD1968 BRIDGE ROAD, Barrow Island
708-1/13/33 (South side)
06/05/76 General offices,
technical/commercial, at VSEL
(Formerly Listed as:
BRIDGE ROAD
Vickers Shipbuilding Group (building
dated 1872 only))

GV II

Shipyard office buildings. Dated 1872 with extensive additions
of c1900. Originally for the Barrow Iron Shipbuilding Co,
additions for Vickers, Sons and Maxim Ltd. Red sandstone with
ashlar dressings, slate and corrugated sheet roofs.
L-shaped range with Bridge Road front of 3 storeys and attic
and 5 storeys; 10:12:11 windows to 1st floor. Left return,
facing Michaelson Road steps down to single-storey; five 3-bay
gables and 12-bay block aligned with road.
Bridge Road front: lower 2 storeys of the centre and gateway
to right are the original office and entrance of the shipyard:
chamfered plinth, impost band to square-headed ground-floor
windows mostly having plain sashes; segmentally-arched windows
to 1st floor, some of them in pairs; corbel table. Later 2nd
floor has square-headed windows with double keystones, ashlar
entablature.
Shipyard Gate in projection on right with iron gates and steel
girder, to left of gate is a roundel with rope moulding,
stag's head and 'BSBC 1872'; above gate are paired windows and
corbel table. Shipyard Gate is set in the 5-storey section
with its 4th-floor windows having double keystones under
ashlar frieze; the top 2 storeys at right end have been
altered.
Left end stack set behind C20 elevator shaft. Left part of
range is set back slightly and has square-headed, 4-pane
sashes; single keystones to 1st floor and double keystones to
2nd. Frieze over 1st floor windows; entablature with small
windows in the parapet; skylights; ashlar gable copings.
Left return: end gable of front range has giant pilasters;
double windows to centre bay and tripartite window to attic
having segmental arch, keystone and hood-mould. 3-storey gable
to left with architraved roundel and inclined corbel tables to
coped gable parapet; three 1-storey gables beyond have
segmentally-arched windows under similar roundels and gables.
Range completed by 12-bay shed aligned with road: continuous,
chamfered sill band to large segmentally-arched windows with
keystones; oversailing course and blocks support gutter; gable
copings. End of this 12-bay shed has 3 gables.
The Barrow Iron Shipbuilding Company was formed in 1870; the
office building fronted the shipbuilding yard with its
slipways into Walney Channel. Contemporary plans show that
much of the site was occupied by sheds relating to timberwork.
The company was taken over by the Naval Construction and
Armaments Co Ltd in 1888 and then by Vickers Sons and Co in
1896 (became Vickers, Sons and Maxim Ltd in 1897). In this
later ownership the yard saw massive development during a time
of major expansion in the world's navies. Much of the building
here is likely to date from c1900. The buildings are all now
given over to administration and drawing offices; those
fronting Michaelson Road are included primarily for the
contribution made to the industrial scene by their roadside
elevations.
(The Barrow in Furness Almanack and Tide Tables: Barrow in
Furness: 1886-: 86-89 & LITHOGRAPHS).

Listing NGR: SD1949468207

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26571926

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey