HENRY Schneider was a gambler who risked large sums of money searching for mineral riches – in Furness he hoped to find iron ore in profitable amounts.

He was close to giving his search on the Earl of Burlington’s land at Park, near Barrow, when in 1850 a shaft was sunk close to Slater’s Farm and found iron in large quantities at 36ft.

What became the Burlington Pit proved to be the richest in Furness and was worked until 1921.

In 1885 the Park mine produced 308,000 tons of iron ore

In 1858 the directors of the Furness Railway offered Henry Schneider and his partner Robert Hannay the lease of a coastal strip of Hindpool, adjoining the railway line.

The opening ceremony was held on Tuesday October 18 in 1859

It required two million ordinary bricks and another 1.4 million fire bricks.

Barrrow Steelworks was born on paper in 1864 with the seventh Duke of Devonshire as Chairman, Sir James Ramsden –Barrow’s first mayor - as managing director and Josiah T. Smith as general manager.

The new steel works started work in 1866 with 18 Bessemer converters each of five-ton capacity.