BARROW travelled back to the Victorian era yesterday to celebrate a landmark anniversary.

The Dock Museum staged a free day of events to mark the 150th anniversary of the incorporation of the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness and its ports.

The Victorian-themed event had everything from Victorian magic, to a flea circus and even a Victorian style mad scientist.

Victoria Powell, operations manager at the Dock Museum, said: "It was very successful. We are very happy with how the day went.

"The event was really busy, there were eight shows in the tent throughout the day and 50 people in each one.

"We also had about 600 people come through the museum and the two shows inside had about 100 people in each."

Visitors could be seen enjoying the delights of the street performers, Gary Bridgens as Sir James Ramsden, and the chemical reactions of the crazy scientist.

Mr Bridgen was instrumental in bringing the performers to the show, some of whom travelled from as far as Devon.

Mrs Powell said: "It was a tremendous success and nice to have something different at the museum.

"It was fantastic to celebrate the history in a spectacular way.

"It was magnificent and we were very pleased to have the British ports involved."

In March 1866 a petition called for Barrow to be able to govern its own affairs and was successful on June 13 in 1867.

After that, as the town continued to grow, it could choose to involve itself in hospitals and public health, in gas, water and electricity, in fire and police services, education, trams, buses and public parks.

It was soon to need more public services as people arrived in their thousands from all over the British Isles.

The Dock event proved a popular way of celebrating the town's rich history.