Keswick

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About Keswick

Any photo colour, B&W , or scanned image related to Keswick England is welcomed to this group formed on 18th May 2008. It has to be one of my favourite places in the World and is worthy of a group of it's own although I am not a native of Keswick or Cumbria.

Keswick is a market town in the Northern Lakes of Cumbria,England.

The name 'Keswick' is said to mean 'cheese farm' and is first recorded as a settlement in 1240. Its origins as a market town date back to 1276 when Edward I granted Thomas, Lord of the Manor of Derwentwater a charter to hold a Saturday market, which still continues today over 700 years later. The Moot Hall in the Market Square, now the home of the Tourist Information Centre, was used in the past as a covered market, a courthouse, a museum and a prison.

It has a fantastic setting between Derwentwater, Blencathra and Skiddaw. It is over looked by Latrigg and is my favourite place outside of Suffolk in the World and is a great centre for Lakeland climbers and serious fell walkers.

It is the home of the Cumberland Pencil Museum where you can follow the path of pencil making from the reign of Elizabeth lst to the present day.

Keswick has a long history of mining, dating back to 1564, when German mining experts arrived to look for copper and lead. When pencil making arrived, graphite was sought out, and with the arrival of the railways a whole array of local minerals became valuable. Visit the Mining Museum in Keswick it is well worth a visit.

Keswick Museum and Art Gallery in the Fitz Park was built in 1898 with good information on the Lakeland Poets Southey,Wordsworth and Walpole.

If you are visiting Keswick be sure to visit the Theatre by the Lake which was opened in 1999. Perhaps some of you remember the Blue Box Theatre and have photos?

Friars Crag is a promontory jutting into Derwentwater on a stretch of shore about half a mile from the boat landing stages. Ruskin described the view as one of the three most beautiful scenes in Europe.