Ulverston
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Things to see and do in Ulverston and the surrounding area.
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Staying or Eating in Ulverston?
Facts about Ulverston.
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Companies in Ulverston.
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The History
of Ulverston
The market town of Ulverston is situated
on the Furness peninsula a few miles South of the English Lake District.
Some sources claim that the area was inhabited as early as 430 A.D., the
start of the dark ages.
There are several possible
origins for the place name Ulverston which was apparently mentioned in the Domesday book as
Ulureston
- it stems from a Saxon or Nordic named man or farm called one of the following...
Wulfhere, Ulfarr, Ulph or Ulptia.
-
it is derived from the words Wulf-heres-tun, as there was a large population of wolves in the area.
King Henry I joined Ulverston and the surrounding
area with Lancashire (some people consider Ulverston still to be a part of Lancashire)
and gave control of the area to his nephew Stephen
(Earl of Mortain). Stephen founded Furness
Abbey at nearby Dalton (ancient capital of Furness) in 1127 and gave
control of the area to the monks. By 1180 control of Ulverston had passed
to William de Lancaster and in his capacity as as Lord of the Manor of
Ulverston under Furness Abbey, he granted to Conishead Priory "All Conishead,
The Church of the Four Ones at Ulverston,and forty acres in its fields,
a salt works, the rights of turbary, pasture, pannage and timber taking
in his woods and the Manor of Ulverston".[1] The Church of the Four
Ones was so named as it was completed in 1111 A.D. but later rebuilt as
the present St
Mary with Holy Trinity.
On the 11th of September 1280 in Carlisle,
King Edward I granted Ulverston its market Charter, this gave the town
the authority to hold a market on the Thursday of each week and a Fair
on the 7th, 8th and 9th of September.
-
Ulverston Fact - In 1980 Ulverston celebrated
the 700th Aniversary of its Charter and each year there is now a "Charter
Festival" during the week containing the 11th of September. The opening
ceremony is performed by the Town
Band, after which there are numerous social, educational and fun events
and as a finale the spectacular "Lantern Procession" converges on the town
centre.
The
Dissolution of the Monasteries across England and Wales by King Henry
VIII meant the end of Furness Abbey and so Dalton's control over the Furness
Peninsular waned. Ulverston, due to it's central location and Market Town
status, as well as it's connection across the sands of Morecambe
Bay became the centre for local trade.
Ulverston played a crucial part in the
history of the Society of Friends or "Quakers". It was at Swarthmoor Hall that their founder George Fox spent several years. His church
or "Meeting House" still stands today, less than one mile from Swarthmoor
Hall on "Meeting House Lane". Fox was not enamoured with the locals, as
in 1652 he is reputed to have said "The people of Ulverston are liars,
drunkards, whoremongers and thieves and follow filthy pleasures!".
By the eighteenth-century Ulverston had
become an iron ore port where up to one hundred and fifty ships involved
in costal trade were based. The opening of the Ulverston Canal in 1796
was instrumental in the town's expansion. The one and a half mile long
(2.4km) canal handled 94 ships with a tonnage of 4,700 tons in its first
year, at its peak in 1846 a total of 946 ships of with a tonnage of 61,000
tons used the canal. The development of the port of Liverpool
drew many of these ships away.
-
Ulverston Fact - Sir John Barrow (born
1746, in what is now known as "John Barrow Cottage" Dragley Beck, Ulverston. died 1848) was an Arctic explorer in his
early days and later Secretary of the Admiralty. His name lives on through
several geographical features in the North West Passage to the Pacific
Ocean such as Barrow Point in Alaska and the Barrow Straits of northern
Canada (Although visited Greenland as a boy, he never actually visited
the places named after him). [2]
It has also been said that whilst he was Secretary
to the Admiralty it was Sir John's decision that led to the exile of Napoleon
to St Helena and that he was the original author of the history that was
"The Mutiny of the Bounty".[3] The Sir
John Barrow Monument was erected in 1850 two years after his death.
The monument, which stands on Oubas Hill (Map Reference: SD2978) at the
head of the canal is in the shape of a lighthouse (based upon the design
of the Eddystone Lighthouse) was jointly funded by The
Royal Geographical Society and Trinity
House and now looks a little out of place, except to those who are
aware of Ulverston's maritime history!
The onset of the steam age saw the arrival
of the the railway, although this helped Ulverston in many ways, it had
the dual effect of making Barrow
easily acessible by land, This was effectively the end for Ulverston as
a centre of trade and shipping.
-
Ulverston Fact - The actor Stan
Laurel (born 16th June 1890, Argyle Street, Ulverston) is probably
the best known Ulverstonian through the "Laurel & Hardy" films he made
in Hollywood with Oliver Hardy in the 1920's and 1930's. Stan Laurel is remembered in Ulverston through what is often claimed to be
the world's only Laurel & Hardy Museum
(but there's an equivalent in Oliver Hardy's hometown of Harlem, Georgia).
. There is an appeal fund to place a Statue
of Stan & Ollie in Ulverston, they are over half-way to their target,
the website is based in the Netherlands, but the bank account is held in
UlverstonLooks like they reached their target as the statue is now being manufactured.
As a matter of historical interest, Ulverston has produced three winners of
the Victoria Cross, they were
- Private Harry Christian
- Lt. Basil Weston
- Fusilier Frank Jefferson
An information on these men can be obtained from the
Ulverston Heritage Centre
on Victoria Road.
Lord (William) Norman
Birkett is another notable Ulverstonian. Born in 1883, he was a Liberal
member of Parliament 1923-24 and 1929-31. He was a judge of the King's
Bench Division 1941-50, and in 1945 was appointed as one of Britain's judges
at the Nuremberg
War Crimes Trials.
Following World War II, a pharmaceutical
factory was built in Ulverston, in the area of the town formerly occupied
by the old Iron Works. This site has undergone several name changes over
the years but has been one of Ulverston's major employers. The site is
now a part of GlaxoSmithKline.
If you are interested in visiting Ulverston,
I suggest you contact the Ulverston
Tourist Information office.
[1] The Cistercian Way -
A south Lakeland Walk by Ian O. Brodie: Carnegie Press, 1989, ISBN 0-948789-31-X.
[2] Source - David Marriott,
Burnaby B.C., Canada - djmarriott@infoserve.net
The Arctic Grail - The quest
for the North West Passage and the North Pole 1818-1909" by Pierre Berton,
Penguin 1989, ISBN 0 14 01.1680 X, originally pub. NY Viking 1988
[3] Source - Gordon Dickinson
- Gordon@teddington.ndo.co.uk
This Lakeland
Loop site owned by Michael H. Barker.
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