THE role played by Furness in the development of the textile industry from 1200 to 1700 was explored in a study day held at Lancaster University. 

Alan Crosby looked at the growth of a Lancashire regional economy based largely on wool. He was speaking at an event arranged by the Regional Heritage Centre, part of the university's history department. Dr Crosby said: "The North West was becoming an area with identifiable industry long before what is regarded as the beginning of the Industrial Revolution." A few of these early industrial sites survive. often in remote parts of Lancashire and the lake District. Here, the buildings - or stones they were made from - were not needed for other uses. After 1955 when the term Industrial Archaeology was coined, greater interest was taken in water mill sites and charcoal-fired forges at places like Cartmel and Furness. He said: "In the North West we have some magnificent sites which illustrate aspects of industrialisation." Monastic records for sites such as Cockersand Abbey, near Lancaster, show the use of fulling mills in the early 13th century. These used water-powered hammers for cleaning and felting woollen cloth. Furness Abbey had three fulling mills, at Swarey, near Colton and near Dalton. In Cumberland there were more than 20 fulling mills - both monastic and privately owned - operating between 1250 and 1350. Surnames can give clues to families who once worked in the medieval woollen industry. Dyer and Fuller can still be be found as names, as can Walker - named after the process of walking or trampling on cloth where a fulling mill was not available. Lancashire and Cumbria even developed an export market for its woollen goods. Much of the cloth produced in Furness went to Kendal to be finished and was then taken to the south coast port of Southampton by packhorses and sold under the brand name of "Kendal Greens". Cotton cloth began to be produced in the 17th century and mixed fibre fustians. There were retting ponds in use to help turn flax into linen and hemp was grown to produce rope and canvas for sailmaking. Barow has a Hempland Avenue and Outcast at Ulverston had a rope walk for twisting the hemp into rope for ships or canal barges, However, Dr Crosby said: "Woolen cloth was much the most important."