Bardsea (Furness)

Bardsea is a village in the Low Furness area of Cumbria that is part of the traditional county of Lancashire. It lies two miles to the south-west of Ulverston on the northern coast of Morecambe Bay.

Bardsea was a small farming and fishing village well into the nineteenth century. It was accessed mainly by crossing the trecherous sands of Morecambe Bay. The area was 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 .He is buried today at the church in Sunbrick, a nearby hamlet.

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.