3398 Christchurch and Trevelyan Hotel on Dalkeith Street (The Dole Queue). Circa 1920's - 1930's. © The Sankey Family Photography Collection
Trevelyan Hotel, Ancient Order of Forresters Guide to Barrow, 1902-1906. CASCAT BDX 750. © Cumbria Archives.
Abbey Road showing Barrow Christ Church on the right © The Sankey Family Photography Collection
Searching the wreckage of The Trevelyan © The Evening Mail

See more from the Barrow Blitz Exhibition

The Trevelyan Hotel

Peter Laird

The first photograph is pre-war, showing workers queuing for dole money during a strike at Vickers shipyard. The building on the left behind them is Christ Church, which can be seen on the right in the lower photograph. The building directly behind the men is the Trevelyan Hotel on Dalkeith Street. The site is now occupied by a funeral chapel.

On two nights, Easter Monday the 14th and Wednesday 16th April 1941, substantial damage was caused by air raids on and about Abbey Road and Dalkeith Street. In the Trevelyan Hotel, several people were killed, mostly commercial travellers, but also including –

  • Albert Wilfred Edney, aged 53
  • William Herron, aged 67
  • Ada Charlotte Jenner, aged 56
  • Harold Jenner, DSM, aged 40
  • Mary Pemberton, aged 24

Harold had been staying at the hotel waiting for the launch of the submarine HMS Unbending.(3)

Margaret Bainbridge in her diaries of the time noted on the night of 14th 15th April 1941:Siren at 3.10am. Big Bombs dropped….Trevelyan Hotel, 15 killed many homeless. Time bomb found in Trevelyan. All clear at 3.45am.’(4)

In a recent interview Eddie Parker, aged 91 (in a recent recording we undertook) spoke of his time during the war, and  how he went to see the Trevelyan a couple of days after the bombing, “There was a wall standing and a floor with just a bed on.”(5)

In their book Barrow at War, Trescatheric and Hughes, state that ’One woman was found in her nightdress and fur coat, evidence of a desperate attempt to reach shelter.’(6)

The Trevelyan was destroyed by the bombing on the 14th April 1941, and Christ Church on the 16th April 1941. (7)

Additional Information:

The Trevelyan Hotel was built in 1874. Due to a licensing dispute it spent its first 15 years as the local workhouse, not fully opening as a hotel until 1889.Christ Church (full title Methodist New Connexion – Christ Church) was constructed in 1875. Mostly destroyed by bombing, small parts of the lower church still stand today and house a gym.

Thanks to:

Sue Benson, archivist, Barrow Archives and Local Studies Centre for her help in sourcing material, and the Evening Mail for permission to use the photograph.

References:

(1) Memory Lane Barrow, North West Evening Mail, (Breedon Books 2001), p58
(2) BDX750, Barrow Archives and Local Studies Centre
(3) North West Evening Mail, 14 April 2016
(4) Margaret Bainbridge War Diaries, BDX555, Barrow Archives and Local Studies Centre
(5) Tape recording 13th April 2021, Eddie Parker of North Scale (Walney Island, Barrow), in conversation with Peter Laird, recorded by Julia Parks for this exhibition
(6) B. Trescatheric and D. J. Hughes, Barrow at War (Furness Museum 1979, Pub: Countryside Publications Ltd.), p19
(7) Barrow in Furness, Abbey Road, Christ Church Methodist New Connexion Chapel | Lancashire | My United Methodists