Carnforth, Lancashire, UK - a Short and Simple History
Created | Updated Jan 11, 2011
Carnforth is in the north-western corner of Lancashire, about six miles north of Lancaster not far from the Cumbrian border. In the Domesday Book of 1086, Carnforth was referred to as 'Chereneforde'. There have been a couple of suggestions as to the origins of 'Chereneforde'. It could come from 'a ford where cranes frequented' or simply from its original position as a crossing point over the River Keer. The area also has valuable deposits of sand and gravel, caused by the fall of a glacier during the Ice Age that ground across the landscape.
Settled by invading Danes, many of the place names in the surrounding district suggest Scandinavian origin - Hallgarth, Grisedale and Thrang End are examples. Shifts in the salt marsh occasionally reveal shipyard artefacts including remnants of tools and half-wrought ship yard timber. This suggests that at some time in the past, the River Keer was navigable by small ships.
For most of its life Carnforth changed little and remained a small rural hamlet for many years. Even as recently as 1801, Carnforth only had a population of 219. Ancient Saxon courts were held on nearby hills known as Moot-How. Charles II encamped his army at Carnforth in 1651 on his way to Scotland.
With the emergence of the Industrial Revolution arrived the progress that Carnforth needed. The Lancaster Canal was opened in 1797, allowing coal to be transported along the canal by horse-drawn barges. The canal made little improvement to Carnforth and its population remained low. In the memorandum of resident James Irvine, the town consisted of: 28 cottages, 17 farms, two good houses, a school, a smithy, a Methodist chapel, a station (a halt) and three pubs.
It was not until the opening of the railway junction that the town really took off. A post office, money order office, workingmen's building society, newsroom, library and eight first-class houses were all built.
The Iron Works
In the 1840s, Carnforth became the site for a new iron works. Many of the workers came from the Earl of Dudley's failing works in Worcestershire. Then, with the opening of the station, the Railway Companies needed to build more houses to accommodate the staff and engine drivers. With the increase of workers, the population thus trebled during the next ten years to 1091.
In 1864, the iron works was taken over by the Carnforth Haematite Company, which expanded production by bringing in ore from the Furness Peninsula using the railway. In 1872, the works was started using the Bessemer process to produce high quality steel. However, by the 1890s things were not going well, and three of the four blast furnaces we closed and production carried on until the iron works was closed in 1929. Even in the present day, the site is still often referred to as 'The Old Iron Works'.
The Railway Station
Carnforth and its station have grown up alongside each other. Carnforth has a long association with the railways dating back to 1846, when the first station opened.
The town further expanded when it formed the junction of three railway lines. Later, Carnforth was also linked to the coalfields of Durham by the South Durham and Lancashire Railway. Its importance as a railway centre continued through into the 20th Century. Now more famous as a railway town Carnforth Station was the location for the filming of the well-known film Brief Encounter starring Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson. This film has been regarded as one of the best ever to come out of the British film industry.
Carnforth station expanded to five platforms, two of which were main line stops. By 1970 however, the main line platforms had been closed and physically removed, leaving Carnforth once again as a branch line. Eventually, even the ticket office was closed, and the only British Rail staff there were those signing on and off shift.
In 1996, Carnforth Station and Railway Trust Co Ltd. was formed with a view to refurbishing the station and turning it into a tourist attraction for fans of Brief Encounter. Even the mechanical components (once thought lost) of the clock that features so significantly in the film have been recovered and was refurbished. It was restarted on Friday, 5 July, 2002, at 3pm. Apparently the clock was built somewhere around 1880 by Joyce of Witchurch, however, due to a major fire at the manufacturers site, records no longer exist.
Steamtown
Not far from Carnforth railway station is what used to be the 'Carnforth Motive Power Depot' where many steam engines were based in steam's heyday. However, on 13 August, 1968, the very last job undertaken by a steam engine on British railways was completed at Carnforth. The fires in engine 44871 were allowed to drop that evening. And so ended the steam era in Britain.
During the last weeks of steam, Carnforth became very popular with enthusiasts, and sometime in 1969, Steamtown was born out of the ashes, so to speak, of the old Motive Power Depot. Over the years, Steamtown preserved and restored many engines, and for quite some time was the home of such famous locomotives as The Flying Scotsman, Mallard and Sir Nigel Gresley, not to mention many others familiar to rail enthusiasts. Incidentally, the train featured in the Harry Potter films, called the Hogwarts Express on screen is stored in the sheds at Steamtown.
Regrettably, due to the increase in commercial work at Steamtown, the decision was taken to close the site to the general public for safety reasons in 1997. Work still goes on at Steamtown. Of slight note for enthusiasts, the concrete coaling plant there was built during the Second World War, apparently by Italian prisoners of war. This coaling plant is still functional, an in fact still uses the original electric motors!
The Present Day
Carnforth is a town getting its second wind. The area is one of great natural beauty and history. It has excellent transport connections by road and rail and is a convenient stopping off point for people travelling to the Lake District.
