Dalton Before 1914 GAZ Dalton

Dalton Before 1914 

Economic Activity: Market charter granted in 1239; Dalton remained the market town of low Furness for the next 300 years. However the market declined after the dissolution of Furness Abbey in 1537 and was superseded by that of Ulverston. By 1836 hand-loom weaving, malting and brewing were recorded at Dalton, with some small scale iron ore mining. Major expansion of iron mining after the opening of the Furness Railway in 1846, with mines at Lindal Moor; Newton; Crossgates; Rickett Hills; Elliscales; Mouzell; Roanhead and Butts Beck, and what was then the largest iron ore deposit in the world was discovered at Park, near Askam, in 1850. Ironworks established at Askam in 1865, using limestone from a new quarry at nearby Goldmire. The iron trade provided the foundation of the area’s economic activity for the next fifty years. Brickworks established at Greenscoe in 1845.

Places of Worship: Medieval parish church of St. Mary, Dalton-in-Furness, rebuilt 1885. Early chapel of ease at Ireleth, rebuilt as St.Peter's, Ireleth, on a new site in 1865.  New Anglican churches of St. Peter, Lindal built 1885; St. Barnabas, Newton, built 1900 and St. Margaret, Ulverston Road, built 1904.

Methodist chapel above a stable in Skelgate, Dalton, by 1823; replaced 1864 by a new build in Wellington Street. Primitive Methodist (1868) and Bible Christians (United Methodist Church) chapels in Dalton; same three denominations also had chapels at Askam, built about 1875–80. Wesleyan Methodist chapels also at Lindal, Marton and Newton. Baptist churches at Dalton (built 1868–73), and at Askam.  Other places of worship included: Plymouth Brethren and Welsh Calvinists (1874) who used the old grammar school in Beckside Road. Roman Catholic chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary on the corner of Prince Street and Ulverston Road, built 1879. St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic church, Askam, opened 1896.

Schools: The earliest school in the area was founded at Ireleth in 1612. “Free School” in Dalton town, founded in 1622, survived for over 200 years; then refinanced and rebuilt by local entrepreneurs, opening as a church school in 1862. This school was known locally as The Green School. Grammar School, opened in Beckside Road in 1746, appears to have closed by 1876. After establishment of Dalton School Board in 1876 new public elementary schools were provided: Dalton Board Boy’s School in Broughton Road and Girl’s School in Chapel Street were opened in 1878. Roman Catholic school on the lower floor of the church on Ulverston Road opened 1880, and a junior mixed school in Nelson Street in 1884. At Askam: Senior Mixed School opened 1873; mixed infant school, the Victoria Council School, opened 1887. School at Ireleth rebuilt in 1862. Mixed and infant school provided at Lindal in 1870 and a public mixed elementary school at Newton opened in 1877.

Other Institutions: Dalton Workhouse at Goose Green, built 1825, replacing an earlier facility dating from 1735 at Billingcote. Carnegie Free Libraries in Nelson Street, Dalton, opened 1903, and Lord Street, Askam, in 1904.