We don’t have an image of Union Street before it was decimated. It was only after a night-raid on 16th April 1941, when German bombs killed 17 residents, that it was photographed. Apart from Vernon St, Union St suffered the largest number of fatalities as a result of the Blitz on Barrow.

Along with Brewery St, Thwaite St and Whitehead St, Union St sat in the middle of a key target area for German aircraft. When they were built in the 1860s, these streets were near a brickworks and then a timber yard, but over time other businesses were built in the area: the most critical was the town’s power station.

Image 604 shows the area from the Park Avenue side of the rail line, with the chimney of Case’s brewery in the top left hand corner, and the old cooling tower of the power station. Image A581 shows the massive new cooling tower – built the year before war broke out. (Image 7361 shows how close the brewery was to the town – its chimney was clearly visible from Duke St).

Along with the power plant, Union St was also near a major brewery, the town abattoir, a large bakery – and backed onto the main railway line. It was less than half a mile from the Central Station, and closer still to the main postal sorting office and bridge over the railway on Abbey Road. The local school was on Thwaite St. 

Of the seventeen who died the night of the bombing, or who perished a shortly afterwards, five were from the same family, found dead in 8 Union St. 

Listed below are those who died on Union St. They all died in their homes.

• BEATTIE, GEORGE – died at 2 Union St, aged 47
• CARSON, HEZEKIAH- died at 2 Union St, aged 41
• FRASER, JAMES STANLEY -died at 9 Union St, aged 56
• FRASER, MARGARET ELLEN -died at 9 Union St, aged 49
• GERRISH, EDITH MAY -died at 12 Union St, aged 40
• GOUDE, ELLEN JANE -died at 4 Union St, aged 69
• GOUDE, MABEL -died at 4 Union St, aged 44
• HARRISON, ELIZABETH ANN -died at 8 Union St, aged 73
• LANCASTER, CHARLES -died at 13 Union St, aged 83
• McKINNON, AGNES -died at 10 Union St, aged 77
• PUGH, ANNIE MCKINNON -died at 10 Union St, aged 60
• PUGH, JOSEPH -died at 10 Union St, aged 53
• TAMBLYN, ALICE ANN -died at 4 Union St, aged 72
• WELSH, MARIAN -died at 8 Union St, aged 21
• WELSH, RECARDA-died at 8 Union St, aged 25
• WELSH, THOMAS DOUGALL-died at 8 Union St, aged 51
• WELSH, VIOLET-died at 8 Union St, aged 50

Some years after the destruction of Union St, Whitehead Close (below) was built on the area once occupied by the street.