Ulverston after 1870 GAZ Ulverston
Economic Activity
The North Lonsdale Iron and Steel Co established their Iron Smelting works in the mid-1870s and villages grew up around the furnaces constructed at Canal Foot and Sand Side. By the 1880s, the company had also constructed Beaconsfield Pier. A paper factory and a chemical works were also soon established in the town, whose businesses also included tanneries, and specialist craft industries, such as the making of patent shutters. By 1914, agriculture still occupied the outlying parts of the township.
The current station building dates from 1878. The unusual platform layout (where the northbound line has a face on both sides) is a legacy of the station's former role as the interchange for the branch line to Lakeside on the southern shore of Windermere. This branch opened in 1869, and was much used by the increasing numbers of tourists making excursions to Windermere. Accommodation for these tourists could be found at the town’s numerous hotels. In the second half of the twentieth century, Glaxo built a factory on the old iron-works site. In 2012, GlaxoSmithKline announced its decision to build a new factory in Ulverston.
Places of Worship
Holy Trinity Church was enlarged in 1881 and again in 1908. Two mission churches were built: St. Jude's at Sandside in 1874, and a mission-room at Ratton Row (Quay Street) in 1867. A Baptist chapel was built in Fountain Street in 1871. The Wesleyan Methodist chapel was replaced by a new chapel on an adjoining site in Neville Street in 1901. A mission chapel was opened in Steel Street in 1875. A Primitive Methodist chapel was built in Union Street in 1906. By 1914 there was also a Bible Christian group; Salvation Army barracks in Burlington Street; the Church of Christ in The Ellers; and a Spiritual church in County Square. There was also then a Friends meeting house in New Church Lane. The Catholic Chapel in Fountain Street was succeeded by the church of St. Mary of Furness, built in 1893-95. There was a convent in Ulverston from 1913 until 1929. The Nuns from the order of The Sacred Heart of Mary then moved to the convent in Barrow.
From the 1950s there has been a significant reorganisation of Ulverston’s churches. The medieval parish church of St Mary remains to serve the Anglican congregation, and the Roman Catholic congregation continues to be served by St Mary of Furness in Lightburn Road. The Wesleyan church of 1901 was restored in 1992 and continues as Ulverston Methodist Church. Other survivors are the Quaker meeting house at Swarthmoor and the former mission room in Quay Street which now operates as the Grace Baptist Church. New churches have opened in adapted premises. These are the Ulverston Church of Christ in The Gill, and The Bethany Christian Church (Plymouth Brethren) in Lightburn Road.
All other places of worship have now been closed, the last survivor being St Jude’s at Sandside, which held its last service, the Harvest Festival, on 1 October 2006.
Conishead Priory was acquired by English Buddhists in 1976, having stood empty since 1972. The building became the Manjushri Buddist Centre, with around 100 residents. In 1995-7 the Kadampa Buddhist Temple was built in the grounds of the estate.
Schools and other institutions:
The National School was enlarged in 1884 and the infant school in Church Walk was completely rebuilt in 1896. The old building subsequently became a Parish Room. As the town’s population expanded, a new National School was built in Dale Street in 1876, this being enlarged in 1886. The growth of South Ulverston resulted in a mixed school being built at Sandside in 1885, and in 1887 St Mary’s R.C. School was built in Brogden Street, this replacing an earlier school of 1834 at Tarnside. At the same time a Wesleyan School was attached to the Church in Neville Street. Townbank Grammar School was replaced by a new Higher Grade School in Hart Street, opening on 1 October 1900. Lightburn Council mixed school in Argyll Street opened in 1915, and in 1930 a new Grammar School was opened in Springfield Road. This represented the zenith of school building in Ulverston.
In 1930 the National School of 1834 in The Ellers closed. Subsequently the building has seen use as a Labour Exchange and Arts Centre. By 2013 the building has become unused and stands for sale. The Wesleyan School closed in the 1930s and no trace remains of the building. The school system then remained largely untouched until the 1960s. In July 1963 Sandside School closed and its pupils transferred to Lightburn School. It reopened a year later as a school for pupils with special needs and survived in this form until final closure and demolition in 1997. The school then became Sandside Lodge state special school for pupils aged 2 to 19 and currently (2013) operates from an adapted modern former training building about 200 yards from the site of the original school. In 1971 Brogden Street R.C. School was replaced with a new build school in Springfield Park, the former becoming a Catholic Youth Club. The advent of Comprehensive education resulted in the Grammar School and Hart Street combining to create Ulverston Comprehensive School. The Grammar became known as Upper School, Hart Street as Lower School. The school became one site in 1997 centred on the old Grammar School in Springfield Road. Today (2013) this is Ulverston Victoria High School which serves the secondary needs of the area, and is augmented by a 6th Form centred at the adjacent Todbusk House. The Hart Street building served for a short spell as a refugee centre during the Balkan troubles, but was demolished in 2001. Major changes to the primary sector began in the early 1980s. By then, due to the development of a new housing estate, the Dale Street School building of 1876 found itself cut off from the street which gave it its name, and was now located on both sides of Lund Terrace. However, confusingly, it retained the name Dale Street School. By 1987 Dale Street Junior Girls had amalgamated with Lightburn Junior Boys to form a new Sir John Barrow Primary School on the redeveloped site of the latter. Dale Street infants then moved across the road into the former junior school. Despite strong local opposition, Dale Street infants were absorbed by Sir John Barrow Primary School in 2009, ending 133 years of primary education on the Dale Street site. The infant school has now (2013) found employment as a private Pre-School Nursery, whilst the 1876 building was demolished and a new building on the site hosts Ulverston Sure Start Centre. Ulverston C of E Infant School in Church Walk remains in 2013 as the oldest established school in Ulverston. The new housing estate at Croftlands is served by the 1960s built Croftlands Infant and Junior state primary schools which operate from adjoining sites on Oakwood Drive.
A cottage hospital was opened in 1873 and enlarged in 1904. The mansion house at Conishead Priory became a hydropathic hotel, ‘The Paradise of Furness’, in 1878. In 1928-9 the premises were bought by the Durham Miners as a convalescent home and were used as a military hospital in the Second World War. In 1881, Neville Hall was demolished and replaced by a new residence for the superintendent of police.
By 1882, public entertainments were held at the Victoria Concert Hall in Mill Street, (built 1850. By 2013 in use as a Christian Centre and Cafe) the Temperance Hall and Drill Hall (erected 1873 and by 2013 in use as the Red Rose Social and Recreational Centre). The Masonic Hall was built in 1905-6 (by 2013 still in existence but out of use) and the Coronation Hall opened in 1920. The North Lonsdale Agricultural Society, founded in 1838, held its show in the town every August, and the Rose Society was founded in 1884.
Ulverston’s first cinema, The Palladium, was opened in Victoria Road in 1922. It closed its doors in 1957 and was demolished in 1965 during a major road improvement scheme. The site is now occupied by the “Jubilee Gardens”. Another cinema, The Roxy in Brogden Street, was opened in June 1937. It survives as a working cinema to this day. (2013).
The Catholic Association Club was established on the corner of Lightburn Road and Princes Street in the 1920s. The building was the centre for the church’s social activities until the mid-1970s.
The present Library building dates from 1961. Welfare State International, an arts organisation, was based in Ulverston since the early 1980s. It established the town's annual Lantern procession (founded 1983), Comedy festival, and Flag Festival. In 1999 the organisation moved into the former National School building, which had been converted into an arts centre, Lanternhouse. The centre closed in 2012 due to budget cuts. Ulverston is home to the Laurel & Hardy Museum, which opened in 1983 and moved to larger premises situated in the Roxy Cinema in 2009.
In 2013 there is an amateur rugby league club, football team, and sports centre.
