Lost Railway at Greenodd | Snapshot Series

The small village of Greenodd, just off the A590 on the way in or out of Furness, today is a quite place with a few local amenities among the houses. Back in the 1800s though the sound of steam trains would have been heard regularly puffing by the village.

It might be hard to tell now but Greenodd once had a busy railway line running alongside it, as well as it's own station.

The line was opened in 1869 as part of the new Furness Railway, which was connecting much of Furness with Lakeside for the easy transport of goods.

The train line would have had many trains with industrial cargo hammering though but there was also a passenger train, which people could board from the station. This station once stood near the end of current Main Street with the railway running where part of the A590 now sits.

There isn't much evidence of the long lost train line but it’s nice to know that one once ran here.

Greenodd Station, image courtesy of NW Evening Mail.

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The Snapshot Series is a series of short posts on singular locations, features or artefacts found in the Furness area. Not large enough to warrant a long blog post we will explore these sites in snapshots!

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A Lost Industrial Site and Stately Home, Claye's Wagon Works and Infield House

Extending off of Salthouse Road, Barrow, next to Vulcan Road is a small industrial site including a car garage. The site is not the most attractive looking place and many wouldn't give it a second glance but this site has a hidden past that many may not know!

During the 1800's Barrow saw a boom in industry taking the town from a small fishing village to a large and at times crowded town. One industry that sprang up in the town during this period was S.J.Claye's Wagon Works. The Works was set up to build railway wagons for the ever growing Furness Railway and it is where the small industrial site and garage now lie that the Wagon Works were built.

A man named Samuel John Claye, who already had a successful wagon works at Long Eaton in the Derbyshire came to the town and saw need for a works. He bought land on Salthouse Road and soon built the Wagon Works. The building was a large construction some 300+ feet long and 170 feet wide. In fact part of the building we believe still stands today and is currently occupied by the garage we spoke of earlier. The garage is in a small building which looks to have once been part of a larger one. The two triangle sectioned roof is typical of Victorian industrial buildings and matches the style of roof the Wagon Works once had. The Works had a large main building split into three sections; the wagon shop, the paint shop and the saw mill. At the end of the main building was a smaller attached section holding two rooms; the Engine Room and Boiler Room. It is in these two rooms where the garage is situated today. You can see a plan of the building at the foot of this section as well as a map from 1873 which has the Wagon Works marked on it so you can see it's shape and positioning. Unfortunately the remains of the Wagon Works, now occupied by the garage, have been covered in a pebbledash render. This has covered up the typical red brick construction of Victorian Barrow but you can still find evidence of it where the render has come away.

The Wagon Works continued to make wagons for the railway and iron industry for several years after it's construction employing many skilled workmen from the town. Two of it's workmen were part of controversy in 1875 when they took part in a prize fight! The two men, Ennis and Hockney, had a dispute over something and decided to have a prize fight to settle the matter. A prize fight being a bare knuckle fight where bets are placed on the out come. The fight took place on a plot of land called Kendall's Garden some 100 feet from the Wagon Works. The men fought for 2 hours, taking breaks occasionally, and up to 200 spectators gathered over its course. The fight reached its end with Ennis dealing a fatal amount of blows, which resulted in Hockney's untimely death. Ennis was later arrested and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment at Lancaster. It is perhaps ironic that not long after Ennis was released from prison he himself died taking part in a similar fight!

At sometime Mr. Claye decided to build himself a home in the ever expanding town. He did this on the then outskirts of Barrow, just off of Abbey Road. The house, well, the mansion, he built was named Infield and stood some way back from the road surrounded by land. It is unclear how long Mr. Claye lived here for but by 1882 he had gone into liquidation and left the town to live out the rest of his life in Long Eaton. He died on 3rd April 1887 from a short illness aged 68.

After his death both Infield and the Wagon Works were sold off. The Wagon Works eventually went to the Vulcan Steel and Forge that stood next to the works. Infield however went on to become a War Memorial and Convalescent home after World War 1, where people would stay to be treated for long term illness and/or injury. Eventually the home shut and fell into disrepair, after this the building was demolished and a housing estate was built in the 1960s on the land where it once stood. This estate still stands today and retains the name of the former mansion that stood there, Infield. The wall that stands at the front of the estate is the same wall that would have once surrounded the mansion, the original gate posts are still standing too. You can see these features and the estate just off of Abbey Road past the entrance to Chetwynde School.

While in Barrow Mr. Claye took to local politics and stood for election in the Yarlside Ward of the Municipal Council for many years until 1877. Also in 1875 he applied for a license to sell alcohol in a house he intended to build on the corner of Foundry Street and Salthouse road, just across the road from his Wagon Works. Although after a dispute he withdrew his application. Eventually a pub was built where Mr. Claye had originally intended but it wasn't by him, the pub still stands today, if closed, as the Rifleman's Arms.

Although not much remains of the Wagon Works or Infield house it is wonderful to know that these buildings once existed in Barrow. It is a shame that Infield is no longer standing as it was surely an impressive sight to behold. The Wagon Works must also have been rather impressive but as many of our industrial buildings it was lost to demolition and 'progress'. 

The next blog will be online from February 18th and will be the next in our Victorian Emergency Services Series, this time looking at Dalton-in-Furness. So be sure to check back then, in the meantime we hope you have enjoyed this post!

Left: Sketch of Infield House.      Right: Photo of inside Infield when it was a convalescent home.

 Left: The Site of Infield House Today.      Right: The Site of Claye's Wagon Works Today.

Model of an S.J.Claye Wagon. This one from his Long Eaton Works.

Water Reflecting an Industrial Past, Ulverston Canal

Stretching out from Ulverston town to meet with the sea at, the appropriately named, Canal Foot is Ulverston Canal. An 18th Century built canal made for the import and export of goods to and from Ulverston.

Today the canal has a number of footpaths leading to and along it for anyone to use. There is a footpath that runs along the whole canal and is a lovely walk to take. Walking along this path, if you look closely, you can see some interesting reminders of the once working canal.

The canal was once the shortest, deepest and broadest in Britain and was first started in 1793 with Thomas Sunderland cutting the first sod on June 1st. The company Pinkerton and Murray had won the contract to dig the Canal and basins. They earned 3 1/2d per cubic yard but a lack of funds ended in them being unable to complete the contract. A Mr H. Baird took over to complete the canal construction, which was now lagging behind. Originally intended to open around 1794 the Canal eventually opened over two years late in 1796. Locals gathered around the locks at Canal Foot to witness The Sally be the first vessel to enter the Canal. A further three vessels entered after including The Content which was pulled with rope along the Canal by the crowds. The Content managed to overtake The Sally and was the first to reach the top basin of the Canal at Ulverston!

The Canal was built for the import of coal, cotton, timber, spirits and sugar to Ulverston and the surrounding area. It was also used to export charcoal, slate and linen to the rest of the country. With the newly built Canal many industries sprang up along it's edge including an iron founder, a timber yard and appropriately a sail maker and a boat builder. The Canal opened up new possibilities for industry and trade providing a new platform to export across the country and even beyond.

Along the Canals edge you can come across interesting remnants of the past. The footpath on which you walk is the 'towpath' of the Canal, which, as its name suggests, would have been used to tow sail-less boats along the canal. Humans or horses could have used this path to tow the boats. Along the towpath there are small metal capstans, pictured to the left, which boats could be tethered to, to prevent them drifting off in the water. There will no doubt be many of these hidden amongst the undergrowth along the canal so keep an eye out for them. Running next to the towpath is the back drain, this would have been constructed to drain any excess water from the canal to keep it at a set level. It would have been important to keep the water level at a set point to avoid flooding at the many industrial sites springing up right next to the canal.

Trade hit its peak on the canal in 1846 with 944 vessels entering it that year. With the discovery of iron ore in Furness the need of a railway to transport the ore to Barrow became evident. It was in May 1844 that a Furness Railway Bill was passed and a railway opened in 1846. By 1854 the railway had reached Ulverston and with this came the decline of the Canal. In 1857 a new section of line opened that cut right across the Canal. As pictured to the right a viaduct, to take the new track, was built across the Canal, this prevented tall ships from reaching the top basin. Iron became cheaper to transport by rail than by boat, this along with the viaduct's construction saw the end of the Canals dominance in industrial transport. Eventually, in 1949, the Canal was empty of boats and the lock gates at Canal Foot were sealed with concrete never to be opened again. The lock gates still remain today, if in a state of disrepair, as a lasting reminder of the Canals glory days in the 18th and 19th century.

The Nahula sitting as the last boat on Ulverston Canal.

She was the last vessel to ever sail through the lock gates.

The Canal is easy to access and is great for a nice leisurely walk on easy terrain. There is plenty of space to park at Canal Foot and the footpath running alongside the Canal takes you for just over a mile to the top basin. If you go for an explore keep an eye out for the various hidden heritage including the lock gates, the capstans, back drain and of course remember that you are walking in the footsteps of our ancestors on the towpath! Also look out for some old rail tracks cutting across the path that would once have linked up to the Iron Works that was established across the Canal. There is even a red brick tower standing on the other side of the Canal that may have been part of the Iron Works.

The Act for the construction of the Canal
published on 8th May 1793.