Photographs from Barrow-born family the Sankeys documented life in and around the town in the early 20th century.

During this time, manufacturing dominated industry in the town during the first and second World Wards and its major employers were Barrow Hematite Steel Company, Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering and the Kellner Partington paper mills.

The photographers were lucky to gain access to these heavy-duty manufacturing sites.

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Their historic images, which have been painstakingly curated by volunteers for Signal Film and Media's online project, shows how people used to work in relatively formal clothing with virtually no health and safety.

Construction workers working hard to build Walney Bridge in time for its summer opening in July 1908 can be seen sweating in the heat wearing hats, overcoats and waistcoats.

(Image: Sankey online archive) Similarly, female workers in the paper mill can be seen fully covered with aprons over their high-necked tunics and long sleeves and skirts.

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Many industrial diseases were documented in the years to come because of working conditions such as these. 

(Image: Sankey online archive) Work down at docks in Lancashire did not look to be too comfortable either.

One photo taken at Fleetwood Docks in the 1920s shows three men bent over packing fish into F Kelsall's wooden boxes on the cold, hard, damp floor.

A happier photo taken outside in the sunshine, however, shows them showing off a fish surrounded by  a plethora of large knives, barrels and buckets. 

(Image: Sankey online archive)

Perhaps the most gruelling working conditions could be seen at Vickers shipyard with several scores of men working on massive pieces of industrial machinery on what was largely a dusty factory floors.

One photo taken in 1910 shows four men down a massive pit working on turbine casing.

(Image: Sankey online archive)

Work at the quarry wasn't for the faint-heart either with a couple of photographs showing two workers at Narrow Gauge Railway Quarry in 1923.

Wearing flat caps and braces, they can be seen 'fettling' sections of narrow-gauge whilst their colleagues work on a narrow ledge three meters up with a rod to prepare for blasting. 

The Sankey Photography Archive website is a Signal Film and Media project funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund. All images copyright The Sankey Family Photography Collection, courtesy of Cumbria Archives.