Keswick Museum
{{Short description|Museum in Keswick, United Kingdom}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox museum
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| image = Keswick Museum and Art Gallery.jpg
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| caption = Keswick Museum and Art Gallery in 2011
| map_type = United Kingdom Allerdale#United Kingdom Lake District
| map_caption = Location in Allerdale, Cumbria##Location in the Lake District National Park, England
| map_dot_label = Keswick Museum
| coordinates = {{coord|54.6031|-3.1329|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
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| established = 1873
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| website ={{URL|https://keswickmuseum.org.uk/}}
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Keswick Museum is a local museum based in Keswick in the English Lake District, which exhibits aspects of the landscape, history and culture of the area.
History
The collection was established as the Keswick Museum of Local and Natural History, a creation of the Keswick Literary and Scientific Society, in the Moot Hall, in 1873.{{cite web|url=https://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/learning/forteachers/archaeologyindepth/moothall|title=Moot Hall|date=29 July 2005|publisher=Lake District National Park|access-date=1 August 2020}} An important item in the original collection at the Moot Hall was a three-dimensional model of the Lake District, measuring 12 feet by 9 feet, made by Joseph and James Flintoft in 1837.
The collection moved to purpose-built facilities, in Fitz Park, constructed as a memorial to the Hewetson brothers, distinguished Keswick benefactors, in 1897. Cannon Hardwicke Rawnsley, one of founders of the National Trust, attended the opening of the art gallery at the museum, in 1906.{{cite web|url=https://www.hdrawnsley.com/index.php/life-times/timelines/1904-1907|title=Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley (1851-1920)|access-date=1 August 2020}}
The Fitz Park Trust got into financial difficulties and the collection was rescued by Allerdale Council in April 1994.{{cite web|url=https://democracy.allerdale.gov.uk/documents/s119004/Collections%20Development%20Policy%20-%20KMAG%202017.pdf|title=Keswick Museum and Art Gallery: Collections Development Policy|publisher=Allerdale Council|access-date=1 August 2020}} Then, in February 2007, Keswick Museum and Art Gallery Management Limited was formed to operate the museum on behalf of the council as the sole trustee.Source: Short history of Keswick Museum given as handout to visitors
The building was extensively refurbished, with financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund,{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-17549322|title=Keswick Museum to shut for a year for £2m refurbishment|date=29 March 2012|publisher=BBC News|access-date=13 January 2013}} at a cost of £2.1 million between September 2012 and May 2014.{{cite news|title=New beginning for Keswick museum|url=http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk/new-beginning-for-keswick-museum-1.1138037|access-date=17 October 2014|work=The Cumberland News|date=23 May 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006074630/http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk/new-beginning-for-keswick-museum-1.1138037|archive-date=6 October 2014|df=dmy-all}}{{cite web|title=Keswick Museum reopens after £2m refurbishment|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-27564272|publisher=BBC News|access-date=17 October 2014|date=25 May 2014}}
The collection
The museum has a collection of about 20,000 objects, of which 5-10% are on display. While these include material relating to the whole of north Cumbria, the museum now only collects items from the Derwent Seven Parishes, approximately the CA12 postcode area.{{cite web |title=Our Collections |url=https://keswickmuseum.org.uk/about/our-collections/ |website=Keswick Museum |publisher=Keswick Museum}}
The collection includes artifacts from Keswick's landscape, history and culture{{cite web|title=Keswick Museum and Art Gallery (leaflet)| url=http://www.daysoutinfo.co.uk/pdfs/KMAG-leaflet-low-res.pdf|publisher=Daysoutinfo.co.uk| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021175028/http://www.daysoutinfo.co.uk/pdfs/KMAG-leaflet-low-res.pdf|access-date=17 October 2014| archive-date=21 October 2014}} as well as the three-dimensional model made by Joseph and James Flintoft. It also includes The Musical Stones of Skiddaw, a number of lithophones built across two centuries around the town of Keswick using hornfels, a stone from the nearby Skiddaw mountain, which is said to have a superior tone and longer ring than the more commonly used slate.{{cite web| title = The Skiddaw Stones| url = http://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/26-percussion/g4-the-skiddaw-stones/| website = Soniccouture| publisher = Soniccouture Sound Design Ltd| access-date = 24 April 2015}} Other items in the collection include a 700-year-old cat (found mummified within the wall of a church at Clifton near Penrith), a penny-farthing bicycle and a man-trap.{{cite web |title=Keswick Museum and Art Gallery |url=https://www.visitcumbria.com/kes/keswick-museum-and-art-gallery/ |website=Visit Cumbria |access-date=23 October 2022 |language=en-gb}}
The Hugh Walpole Collection includes manuscripts of all the Herries novels by Hugh Walpole (four novels set in the Lake District) and letters to Walpole from 13 leading English writers.{{cite book | last=Hart-Davis | first=Rupert | year=1998 | title=Halfway to Heaven: Concluding memoirs of a Literary Life | location=Stroud, Gloucestershire | publisher=Sutton | isbn=0750918373 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/halfwaytoheavenc0000hart }}
The Mountain Heritage Trust maintains a changing exhibition in the museum: in 2018/19 "Man and Mountain" featured Chris Bonington,{{cite web |title=Annual Report 2018/19 |url=https://www.mountain-heritage.org/about/annual-report |publisher=Mountain Heritage Trust |access-date=22 February 2020}} and in 2019/20 it focused on Siegfried Herford.{{cite web |title=Mountain Heritage Trust |url=https://keswickmuseum.org.uk/collections/mountain-heritage-trust/ |publisher=Keswick Museum |access-date=22 February 2020}}
References
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External links
- {{official|https://keswickmuseum.org.uk/}}
- [https://www.facebook.com/KeswickMuseumandArtGallery The Museum's official Facebook page]
- {{cite web|title=Keswick Museum and Art Gallery (leaflet)|url=http://www.daysoutinfo.co.uk/pdfs/KMAG-leaflet-low-res.pdf|publisher=Daysoutinfo.co.uk|access-date=17 October 2014}} The Museum's 2014 information leaflet
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20141006214008/http://www.allerdale.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/museums-and-galleries/keswick-museum/the-collection.aspx Description of the collections on Allerdale Borough Council website]
- {{YourPaintings GLAM}} Illustrates 44 works
- {{EW charity|1088956|Keswick Museum and Art Gallery}}
- [https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/5042580 "Kewsick Museum and Art Gallery Management Ltd, registered charity no. 1156330"], Charity Commission for England and Wales
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Category:Art museums and galleries in Cumbria
Category:Geology museums in England
Category:Natural history museums in England
Category:Local museums in Cumbria
Category:Art museums and galleries established in 1873
Category:1873 establishments in England