Bardsea

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Bardsea is a village in the Low Furness area of Cumbria in northwest England. It is two miles to the south-west of Ulverston on the northern coast of Morecambe Bay, and lies within the historic borders of Lancashire.

Bardsea was a small farming and fishing village well into the nineteenth century. It was accessed mainly by crossing the treacherous sands of Morecambe Bay. The church of Holy Trinity dates from 1843.

The area was also associated with the early Quaker movement; when founder George Fox married local landowner Margaret Fell, he took over Swarthmoor Hall and much of the land round Bardsea. There is an old Quaker burial ground nearby at Sunbrick on Birkrigg Common, although George Fox himself was buried in London, whilst his wife was to be interred at Swarthmoor.

When iron ore mining and production led to industrialization in Furness, Bardsea became an important port, with steamers leaving for Fleetwood and Liverpool. This was shortlived, however, with the Furness Railway and Ulverston Canal taking business away from the village by the late end of the Victorian period.