PRIMARY school children from across Barrow Island and Walney banded together for the first Junior History Detective project, set to span over a 10-week period.

Spearheaded by Inspiring Barrow, the project will take children in year five - from Barrow Island Primary School, South Walney Primary, North Walney Primary, and Vickerstown Primary School - through the vast history of Barrow and Furness.

Week one saw local historian Gill Jepson guide the children through the bread and butter of any detective: primary and secondary sources, and where to find them.

Mrs Jepson said: “We don’t want the history of Barrow to be forgotten. “We’re teaching these children about their home and how it came to be.

“The history of the town is both industrious and impressive.”

History expert Mrs Jepson along with Inspiring Barrow project support officer Kerry Stockdale will eventually take the children on trips to the surrounding area’s tourist hotspots, including Furness Abbey, to discover the rich history of how these celebrated structures originated.

Miss Stockdale said: “The main aim of this project is to create leadership and teamwork within these children, while improving communicational skills.

“Inspiring Barrow has many other projects which help students of a higher age bracket than the children we’re with for the History Detective project.

“However, we wanted to create a bespoke programme to inspire children from an earlier age.

“By teaching these young students about Barrow’s history, we hope it may trigger something within them which will start them on a career path they never thought possible.”

Meeting at Abbottmead Community Development Centre, the children were taken through map reading and comparing the development of the area,starting at the Victorian era all the way to present day.

The young History Detectives were also given a presentation on Queen Victoria and how - during her reign -Barrow was one of world’s major shipping ports for iron ore, thanks to industrial forerunners The Duke of Devonshire William Cavendish, and 5th Duke of Buccleuch, Walter Scott.