The Collection
Keswick Museum and Art Gallery
Address: Fitz Park,
Station Road, Keswick, CA12 4NF
Telephone: (017687) 73263
Fax: 017687 80390
Hours of Opening: Tuesday to Saturday,
10am - 4pm plus Bank Holidays. Open to the public from Easter until
End of October.
Notice required: Appointments necessary for
research, or to view items not on display. Research appointments
can be made outside of normal dates of opening.
Access: Ramped access is available to
the public areas of the museum
N.B. There is only up to 20% of the
Museum's Collection on public display at any one time.
Origin of collection:
The Museum was purpose built in
1897. The collection at Keswick Museum
was founded by the local Literary and Scientific Society in 1873,
with a particular focus on Natural Sciences. The
collection of random, chance finds of local, natural and
antiquarian interest was quickly focused under several local
naturalists and geologists, including James Clifton Ward, to active
systematic collecting. A number of pieces were
bought including Flintoft's model of the Lake District, while the
bequest of James Edmonson's butterfly collection forms a focus of
the entomological collections today. The
important literary collections were begun when Canon H.D. Rawnsley,
one of the founders of the National Trust, became a Fitz Park
Trustee in the early part of the twentieth century. His fame
brought donations and bequest from many quarters including members
of the Southey family. The collection is largely
provenanced to Keswick and the North Lakes.
Scope of
collection:
- Books: early tourist and geology
guidebooks
- Periodicals/Journals: Almost complete
run of The Fell and Rock Journal from 1942 to 2002.
- Newspapers: English
Lakes Visitor and Keswick Guardian (1870s
1910)
- Maps/plans: geological maps associated
with James Clifton Ward.
- Photographs/audio-visual: collections of
photographs by early Keswick photographers such as the Maysons,
Pettits and Abrahams. The Abrahams firm in particular holds
national significance as photographers of pioneering mountaineering
climbs locally and elsewhere.
- Non Paper-Based Holdings: Detailed
below
Fine Art - 500 Items
Primarily works on paper, mainly 19th Century in date
and of regional significance. The exceptions are nationally
important works by Nash and Westall, primarily of 18th
Century Southey family portraits and contemporary views, and a
significant collection of etchings and lithographs by Brangwyn.
Other notable artists include Sir Charles Holmes, Collingwood and
Longmire.
The easel paintings are again mainly 19th century
in date and of regional importance, though the collection does
include a number of works by James Durden, a portrait of Robert
Southey by Opie and a Redpath oil.
Decorative Art - 80
items
This collection mainly consists of metalwork from the Keswick
School of Industrial Arts (KSIA), founded by Canon H.D. Rawnsley in
1884. The collection includes some early pieces of repoussé and
chased copper articles by named artists including W.H. Mawson and a
fine portrait of Rawnsley in bronze relief by Edith Maryon, and
various sporting trophies and shields, some silver, but the bulk is
later stainless steel commemorative ware. There are also some KSIA
fixtures and fittings in the building itself. The busts of the Lake
Poets include a nationally important bust of Hugh Walpole by
Epstein. The Goldscope Cup is a fine piece of silversmithing, but
its main importance lies in the locally sourced silver.
The bulk of the collection comprises of local pre-historic
worked stones and axes, including examples from the Langdale Axe
Factory sites, showing techniques from rough outs to highly
polished axes, and settlement patterns in the area. The pre-history
collection also includes a small number of bronze items. The Roman
collection is mainly ceramic in nature, from Samian to lower wares
from different local sites, and a few unprovenanced coins. The
Medieval collection is also ceramic in nature from key local sites
such as Lords Island, seat of the Earls of Derwentwater, except for
a recently acquired lead seal.
Social History - 1000 itemsThe social history collection is mainly domestic and community
orientated, with significant material in the costume collection,
(mainly 1920s and 30s daily wear and accessories) and associated
with pastimes, sport and especially the Musical Stones. The Museum
has three sets of Musical Stones and a significant archive of
associated material. The areas of work and commerce cover a few
commercial companies such as the Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith
Railway and Gas, Light & Coke Company, following specific
deposits of material. The collection also covers local schools and
'celebrities', such as Sir J G Woodford.
Natural History - 16000 items
The natural history collections formed the original basis of
the Museum and most specimens date from the 19th and
20th Century. Most is of local and regional significance
with some specimens of national interest, such as the Vendace,
a local relict of the ice age, together with
published examples of taxidermy, for example, Greenwell Blackett's
Buzzard. Most have close associations with notable local
naturalists such as Joseph Flintoft and Linneas Eden Hope who
helped develop the collections (excluding geology), consist of a
range of mounted birds and mammals, some not found in Cumbria
today, some osteological material, several hundred clutches of
birds eggs and nests, and a naturally mummified "500 Year Old Cat".
There is also a large entomological collection of mainly British
Lepidoptera and Micro-Lepidoptera, and a comprehensive collection
of local Coleoptera. The collection includes fish, reptiles and
amphibians, preserved wet, dried and mounted, with a significant
collection of freshwater and marine shells from Britain and the
world. The herbarium includes over 1000 sheets of pressed
material.
Geology - 3000 items
The geology collection contains a good balance of rocks,
minerals & fossils, mostly from local sites and well
representing the complex local geology, industrial activity and the
work of important 19th Century collectors. A large
proportion of the minerals and rocks are from named collections,
including that of James Clifton Ward, Robert Harkness, John
Postlethwaite and Jonathan Otley; all early geological pioneers.
The Museum also holds a small collection of minerals collected by
John Ruskin, the great Victorian author, artist and social reformer
and has specimens donated by 20th Century geologists
such as Edgar Shackleton. Cumbria has the greatest number of
mineral species in the country and the minerals of the Caldbeck
Fells, an internationally important mineralogical area, now
collecting restricted, are well represented, including many
irreplaceable specimens. Local commercial exploitation and use of
stone is also documented in the collections.
Graptolites and other marine fauna of the Skiddaw Slates are
well represented in the fossil collection, with some type and
figured material of national importance. Plant fossils of the Coal
Measures are also well represented and the Museum has one specimen
of footprints in Eden Valley Sandstone.
Special collections: a
collection of archives, documents, maps and literary material
primarily associated with the Lake Poets and writers including
Robert Southey, William Wordsworth, De Quincey, Coleridge. Hugh
Walpole, Canon H.D. Rawnsley and John Ruskin.
The Robert Southey archive is the most substantial and consists of
early manuscripts of published poems and unpublished letters.
Allerdale Borough Council
