Originally separate from the British mainland, land reclamation in the 1860s saw the northern fringes of the island connected to Central Barrow.

The area is home to the vast majority of Barrow's shipyard including the Devonshire Dock Hall complex - the main occupier of the reclaimed land from Walney Channel.

The island has become notorious for its high unemployment rate and a number of other social issues which saw it feature in a 2009 episode of The Secret Millionaire.

The land surrounding the apartments and along the main roads has benefited from a £1 million landscaping project to create parks, open spaces and growing areas.

Barrow Island is also home to a large business park currently under construction as part of the £200 million Waterfront Barrow-in-Furness project.

Many of the existing shipyard buildings were constructed by VSEL, including the huge Heavy Engineering Workshop and Devonshire Dock Hall complex.

Despite this, current owners, BAE Systems, have ambitious expansion plans on Barrow Island associated with the Trident successor programme.

Historically Barrow Island was served by two railways stations, Ramsden Dock and Shipyard Junction as well as the Barrow-in-Furness Tramway.