THE story of old Barrow Village and the growth of a new industrial town was told through its buildings on a guided walk as part of the Bay Archaeology Festival.

It was led by Dan Elsworth of the Ulverston-based Greenlane Archaeology.

The event was organised by the Morecambe Bay Partnership.

Walkers got to see traces left by the original shoreline community - built from near the town hall to the Harbour pub.

Only sections of wall and pieces of cobbled track show the former cottages and routes of the farming village which grew to ship out Furness iron ore into Walney Channel.

Mr F. Barnes writing in the 1969 book Barrow and District said there were only eight houses in the mid-18th century, five of them farmhouses.

The librarian and museum curator said that iron ore shipments became important after 1790.

Three cottages were built for labourers involved in iron shipments and farm outbuildings were converted into homes.

By 1801 there were 11 houses and by 1845 the total had risen to 30.

A second iron ore jetty had been built in 1833 and a third in 1839.

He wrote: "This slow but steady expansion was caused by Barrow's growing use as a port."

A survey by W. B. Kendall in 1843 showed the position of the houses in Barrow Village.

It showed that the high water mark of spring tides would lap against coal and iron ore yards at the edge of the channel.

Also shown are lime kilns, a brewery and malt kiln and a clay pit.

By 1843 the village had a school, shipping agents and an office of customs - there was even a wig maker.

Some of the buildings still standing in 1843 dated back to the 1740s.