8196, Part Of Vickers Works From The Big Crane. Circa 1924 © The Sankey Family Photography Collection
Annotated detail of a map of the bombs which hit Barrow.
Bombing of the Shipyard, East Shop 1941, Barrow- in- Furness, From the collection of the late Mr James Swainson Littlewood (courtesy of Mrs Littlewood) (1)
Bombing of the Shipyard. East Shop 1941, Barrow- in- Furness, From the collection of the late Mr James Swainson Littlewood (courtesy of Mrs Littlewood) (2)
Bombing of the Shipyard. East Shop 1941, Barrow- in- Furness, From the collection of the late Mr James Swainson Littlewood (courtesy of Mrs Littlewood)

See more from the Barrow Blitz Exhibition

Shipyard Bombing

Martin Bates

I have always been aware from photographs, accounts and gaps of buildings in streets, of the extensive war damage to the town, but until recently had seen very little of the damage to the shipyard. A number of these   images, not taken by the Sankeys, record some of the damage. 

Inspection of a map of bombs which hit Barrow, held by the Archives (along with details in other records), show that the area of Vickers adjacent to Devonshire and Buccleuch Docks was bombed on five separate nights. 

The records indicate that the bombs were large High Explosive Bombs; one of the two of unexploded bombs (UXB) is listed as being 1400kg (1).

The first bombs landed on 6thand 7th April, and then the Copper and Pattern Shops were destroyed on 3rd– 4th May. These are show on the left of the Sankey Image (No 8196, top photograph).

The series of images presented below the map are believed to be the result of the bomb dropped near Buccleuch Dock, on the East Shop (No 6 Bay), on 7th-8th May. Two nights later, on 9th-10th May, a further bomb struck the eastern end of East Shop. 

During the first bombing of East Shop, the nearby hammerhead crane was also severely damaged; most likely as a result of the explosion which destroyed the centre of East Shop.

The images show very few large machines in the East Shop and it is assumed that the workshop was used for light engineering /machining.  Thus, the work in hand could have been transferred to another location, with the minimum of impact. 

The impact of the bombing of the crane is described in another piece in this exhibition.

Additional Information: 

(1) Barrow Archives & Local Studies Centre BA/C/CD/7/102

The images of the bomb damage were taken by an unknown Vickers photographer and were in a collection of prints in the GMES (East Shop) that was rescued from being disposed of by the late James Swainson Littlewood. 

The collection is now in possession of Mrs Lilian Littlewood. She has kindly agreed these can be used in this exhibition, subject to acknowledgement of her late father-in-law, Mr James Swainson Littlewood. Thanks to Graham Baines for scanning the images.