 23 May 2012 |
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Cumbria Museums & Galleries
including civic and independent art galleries and museums in Cumbria ...
Museums long ago ceased to be stuffy rooms full of glass cases containing bits of old pottery and fossilised bones. Today even most conventional museums include changing displays but over recent years there has been a growth in industrial and "living" museums. Here you can learn about local heritage, get a feel for how people lived and worked, the hardships they endured...
Galleries listed include not just civic galleries displaying publicly owned artworks, but also privately owned galleries with items for sale.
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Cumbria Museums and Galleries |
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Hill Top
Near Sawrey, Ambleside, LA22 0LF
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Beatrix Potter Gallery
Main St, Hawkshead, Ambleside, Cumbria, LA22 0NS
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Wordsworth House
Main Street, Cockermouth, CA13 9RX
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Cartmel Gatehouse
The Square, Grange-Over-Sands, Cumbria, LA11 6QB
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Kendal Museum of Natural History & Archaeology
Station Rd, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 6BT Kendal Museum is one of the oldest museums in the country. It houses outstanding displays of archaeology and natural history, both local and global. With many examples of Lakeland Flora and Fauna, the Museum charts developments from prehistoric times to the present.
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Solway Aviation Museum
Carlisle Airport, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA6 4NW Open: Sat/Sun only and Bank Holidays, early April to late October. The Solway Aviation Museum is run by volunteers from the Solway Aviation Society. The society owns nine aircraft - the most prominent of which is an Avro Vulcan bomber. This was the standby aircraft during the Falklands War, and visitors may climb up into the cockpit - a remarkable experience. There is a new indoor exhibition, with a small display on the history of Carlisle airport, and all the local RAF Airfields, during the war years. On display in the museum are various aero engines from early piston engines through to the Rolls Royce Merlin (as used in the Spitfire). There are more modern jet turbine engines including an early Frank Whittle design, as fitted to early jet aircraft such as the Meteor. Various aircraft fittings and equipment including ejector seats and instruments can be seen, along with various RAF uniforms, radio and radar equipment.
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Cumberland Toy & Model Museum
Banks Court, Market Place, Cockermouth, Cumbria,
CA13 9NG The museum exhibits a wide selection of mainly British toys from 1900 to the present in adjoining carefully restored late 18th Century buildings, one a former hat factory and the other a joiner's workshop. On entering the museum you see a large central display of two train layouts, one a Hornby Dublo, the other of earlier tinplate material. Generally the displays are set out chronologically. The displays of toys from more recent years reflect the introduction of plastic, and electric motors. Meccano is well represented, showing some of its infinite construction possibilities. Upstairs there is a large Scalextric race track which you can have a go with. There are cars, trams, a lifeboat, a small dinosaur, a display of clockwork boats and a model of the 'Duchess of Fife' a paddle steamer from the Clyde. There is a display of Lego from the early days to the new sophisticated kits.
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Lakeland Motor Museum
Holker Hall, Cark In Cartmel, Grange-Over-Sands,
Cumbria, LA11 7PL Within the grounds of Holker Hall is the Lakeland Motor Museum. There are over 150 cars, motorcycles, tractors, cycles and engines plus rare motoring automobilia. There is the Campbell Legend Bluebird Exhibition featuring the exploits of Sir Malcolm Campbell and his son Donald Campbell who captured 21 world speed records for Great Britain. Highlights include full size replicas of the Bluebird car (above) that broke the world land speed record in 1935, and the famous Bluebird jet Hydroplane in which Donald Campbell was killed on Coniston Water in 1967. The exhibition features video, photographs and scale models of the cars and boats used by the Campbells. The museum is open daily 1st April to 31st October, 10.30 am - 4.45 pm except Saturdays.
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The Helena Thompson Museum
Park End Rd, Workington, Cumbria, CA14 4DE The museum was bequeathed to the people of Workington by Miss Helena Thompson, a local philanthropist, in 1940. It houses displays of pottery, silver, glass, and furniture dating from Georgian times, as well as the social and industrial history of Workington and the surrounding area. Helena had a special interest in the history of costume and needlework, and collected many examples of women's and children's dresses in the styles fashionable from the late 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century. A selection of these, along with jewellery and accessories are displayed. There is a Georgian room, and a Victorian room, displaying decorative art and furniture from these periods. Upstairs in place of the bedrooms, is a large exhibition space housing the local history gallery. There is a display centred round the Curwen family, and showing a model of Workington Hall as it used to be. There are displays relating to the shipbuilding, pottery, brick-making, coal-mining, railway and steel industries.
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Keswick Museum & Art Gallery
Station Rd, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 4NF The local history collection stretches back to Roman times, and includes such items as the famous 500 year old cat, a penny farthing cycle, and a man trap. One of the prime exhibits is a set of musical stones (below), variously termed the stone dulcimer, the rock harmonicon or the geological piano. It has travelled to London where performances were given to Queen Victoria. There is Flintof's relief model of the Lake District, made in 1834 and covering 1200 sq miles at a scale of three inches to the mile, showing fells and valleys, rivers and roads. There is a fine collection of rocks and minerals. The 'Poets Corner' has an impressive collection of original manuscripts and memorabilia from Robert Southey, William Wordsworth and Hugh Walpole. There are examples of items made in 'The School of Industrial Art', set up in the town by Canon Rawnsley and his wife. The lamp fittings in the museum were made there. Monthly exhibitions by local artists are held in the Art Gallery.
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Roman Army Museum
Carvoran House, Greenhead, Brampton, Cumbria,
CA8 7JB Lying in magnificent countryside next to a sweeping section of Hadrian's Wall, at Walltown Crags, the Roman Army Museum brings Roman frontier history to life in a spacious setting. The Roman soldier, his pay, training, armour, weapons, living quarters and off duty activities are explained in an informative and entertaining way. The Roman past reaches out to you through reconstructions, life sized figures, superb scale models, audio commentaries, films and displays of Roman objects. Can Centurion Petronius persuade you to join the Roman army? Watch the recruiting film, fill in your join up sheet (free for families) and you could become an honorary Roman soldier.
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Ruhm
15 Victoria Rd, Penrith, Cumbria, CA11 8HN Our newly refurbished gallery is the perfect place to see a wide variety of art from across the region. Within a very short space of time we have developed a reputation as a favourite place for artists to exhibit, and for visitors to explore. The key to this success is the wide variety of exhibitions we host, the wonderful, relaxed atmosphere of our gallery, cafe and gift shop, and the warmth of the welcome we extend to our visitors. After enjoying your morning coffee, a light snack or a tasty lunch, you can always browse through the exhibits at your leisure - there are no watchful salespeople here! The pieces on display will often cover a wide variety of mediums and styles - from ceramics to wooden sculptures, screen printing to oil paintings - so whatever your interests we hope you'll find something to enjoy.
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Dove Cottage & The Wordsworth Museum
Town End, Grasmere, Ambleside, Cumbria, LA22 9SH Dove Cottage was William Wordsworth's home from 1799 - 1808. Visitors are offered guided tours of the beautifully preserved cottage. The garden, 'a little nook of mountain-ground', is open when the weather permits. The award-winning Wordsworth Museum displays a unique collection of manuscripts, books and paintings interpreting the life and works of Wordsworth, his family and circle. There are special exhibitions throughout the year and a programme of special events. An excellent shop sells books, gifts and local crafts.
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Threlkeld Quarry & Mining Museum
Threlkeld, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 4TT The museum has what is probably the finest collection of small mining and quarrying artefacts in the North. Threlkeld Mining Museum is a museum that offers the chance to see and touch the tools that the miners used many years ago. With a variety of memorabilia including photographs, maps and plans. The museum also contains a mineral collection, and in the Geology Room there is a marvellous table top relief map of the Lake District geology. There is also a pictorial history of Threlkeld and other quarries in the area. There is a shop which stocks the largest selection of mining, geology and mineralogy titles in the north of England. There are also beautiful minerals from around the world, and some much sought after local specimens. Included are healing crystals.
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Armitt Library & Museum Centre
Low Nook, Nook Lane, Ambleside, Cumbria, LA22
9BL The Armitt is a unique place combining Library and Museum, scholarship and fun, art and entertainment. The Armitt encapsulates all that is best about Lakeland and its people and preserves that essence for future generations to enjoy. The Armitt Museum and Library has an astounding collection of Art, Archaeology, Archives, Books, Geology, Photography and Local History as depicted here.
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Cars of the Stars
Standish St, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 5LS This museum features vehicles from TV and films, including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the Batmobile, Back to the Future Delorean, the James Bond collection, Del Boy's Reliant Robin, Knightrider's KITT, Laurel & Hardy's Model T, FAB1, The Dukes of Hazzard, Harry Potter, The A Team, The Flintstones, The Munsters and many other famous vehicles and motorcycles. 'Cars of the Stars' is privileged and proud to own as part of its museum, its extensive 'James Bond Collection' of vehicles. These include several Aston Martins, Lotus Esprits, Dr No's Flame Throwing Dragon, and many other vehicles. There is a shop selling motoring memorabilia and gifts. Postcards of the cars are available, as is a Souvenir Guide with pictures and much information about the exhibits. Open 2004 3rd April-30th November and weekends December.
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Heaton Cooper Studio
Grasmere, Ambleside,
Cumbria LA22 9SX The gallery and art shop is a small family business established by artist Alfred Heaton Cooper in 1905.
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A World In Miniature Museum
Houghton Hall Garden Centre, Houghton, Carlisle,
Cumbria, CA6 4JB This amazing museum contains one of the world's top three collections of miniatures.
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Artists' Open Studio
Glen Cottage, Blencarn, Penrith, Cumbria, CA10
ITX
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The Bond Museum
Southey Hill Trading Estate, Keswick, Cumbria
CA12 5NR
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Museum of Lakeland Life
Abbot Hall, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 5AL
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Farfield Mill
Garsdale Road, Sedbergh, Cumbria LA10 5LW
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