Keswick, Cumbria
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Keswick ( ) is a
market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
and
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
in the
Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...
unitary authority area of
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
, England. It lies within the
Lake District National Park The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...
, just north of
Derwentwater Derwentwater, or Derwent Water, is a lake in the Lake District in North West England, immediately south of Keswick, Cumbria, Keswick. It is in the unitary authority of Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland within the ceremonial county of ...
and from
Bassenthwaite Lake Bassenthwaite Lake is a body of water in the Lake District in North West England, near the town of Keswick. It has an area of , making the fourth largest of the lakes in the region. The lake has a length of approximately long and maximum wid ...
. The parish had a population of 4,658 at the 2021 census. There is evidence of prehistoric occupation of the area, but the first recorded mention of the town dates from the 13th century, when
Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 â€“ 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...
granted a
charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
for Keswick's market, which has maintained a continuous 700-year existence. The town was an important mining area, and from the 18th century has been known as a holiday centre; tourism has been its principal industry for more than 150 years. Its features include the Moot Hall; a modern theatre, the Theatre by the Lake; one of Britain's oldest surviving cinemas, the Alhambra; and the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery in the town's largest open space, Fitz Park. Among the town's annual events is the
Keswick Convention The Keswick Convention is an annual gathering of Conservative evangelicalism in the United Kingdom, conservative evangelical Christians in Keswick, Cumbria, Keswick, in the English county of Cumbria. The Christian theological tradition of High ...
, an
Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
gathering attracting visitors from many countries. Keswick became widely known for its association with the poets
Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...
and
Robert Southey Robert Southey (; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic poetry, Romantic school, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth an ...
. Together with their fellow Lake Poet
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...
, based at Grasmere, away, they made the scenic beauty of the area widely known to readers in Britain and beyond. In the late 19th century and into the 20th, Keswick was the focus of several important initiatives by the growing conservation movement, often led by Hardwicke Rawnsley, vicar of the nearby Crosthwaite parish and co-founder of the
National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
, which has built up extensive holdings in the area.


Name

The town is first recorded in Edward I's charter of the 13th century, as "Kesewik". Scholars have generally considered the name to be from the
Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
, meaning "farm where cheese is made", the word deriving from "cēse" (cheese) with a Scandinavian initial "k" and "wīc" (special place or dwelling), although not all academics agree. George Flom of the
University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...
(1919) rejected that derivation on the grounds that a town in the heart of Viking-settled areas, as Keswick was, would not have been given a
Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
name; he proposed instead that the word is of Danish or Norse origin, and means "Kell's place at the bend of the river".Flom, George T
"The Origin of the Place-Name 'Keswick'"
, ''The Journal of English and Germanic Philology'', Volume 18, number 2, April 1919, pp. 221–225
Among the later scholars supporting the "cheese farm" toponymy are
Eilert Ekwall Bror Oscar Eilert Ekwall (8 January 1877 in Vallsjö – 23 November 1964 in Lund) was a Swedish academic, Professor of English at Sweden's Lund University from 1909 to 1942 and one of the outstanding scholars of the English language in the firs ...
(1960) and A. D. Mills (2011) (both
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
), and Diana Whaley (2006), for the English Place-Name Society.


Prehistory

Evidence of prehistoric occupation in the area includes the
Castlerigg stone circle Castlerigg Stone Circle (alternatively Keswick Carles, or Carles) is situated on a prominent hill to the east of Keswick, in the Lake District National Park, North West England. It is one of around 1,300 stone circles in the British Isles and ...
on the eastern fringe of the town, which has been dated to .
Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
-era stone tools were unearthed inside the circle and in the centre of Keswick during the 19th century. The antiquary W. G. Collingwood, commenting in 1925 about finds in the area, wrote that they showed "Stone Age man was fairly at home in the Lake District". There is little evidence of sustained settlement in the area during the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
, but from excavations of
hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...
s it is clear that there was some
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
occupation, circa 500 BC, although scholars are not agreed about how permanent it was. In
Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...
Cumbria was the territory of the
Carvetii The Carvetii (Common Brittonic: *''Carwetī'') were a Brittonic Celtic tribe living in what is now Cumbria, in North-West England during the Iron Age, and were subsequently identified as a ''civitas'' (canton) of Roman Britain. Etymology The ...
. As the site of the western part of
Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...
, it was of strategic importance. The north of the county is rich in archaeological evidence from the period, but nothing is known that suggests any Roman habitation in the Keswick area, other than finds that point to the existence of one or more Roman highways passing the vicinity of the present-day town. Such nearby settlements as can be traced from the era of the Romans and the years after their departure seem to have been predominantly
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...
. Many local place names from the period, including that of the River Derwent, are Celtic, some closely related to Welsh equivalents. Several Christian saints preached the Gospel in the north of England in the late 6th and early 7th centuries AD; in Keswick and the surrounding area the most important figures were St Herbert of Derwentwater and his contemporary St Kentigern.Bott, pp. 4–5 The former, the pupil and friend of St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, lived as a hermit on an island in Derwentwater, now named after him. Kentigern, who lived and preached in the area before moving to Wales, is traditionally held to have founded Crosthwaite Church, which was the parish church of Keswick until the 19th century.


History


Middle Ages

Keswick's recorded history starts in the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
. The area was conquered by the Anglo-Saxon
Kingdom of Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...
in the 7th century, but Northumbria was destroyed by the
Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
s in the late 9th century. In the early 10th century the British
Kingdom of Strathclyde Strathclyde (, "valley of the River Clyde, Clyde"), also known as Cumbria, was a Celtic Britons, Brittonic kingdom in northern Britain during the Scotland in the Middle Ages, Middle Ages. It comprised parts of what is now southern Scotland an ...
seized the area, and it remained part of Strathclyde until about 1050, when
Siward, Earl of Northumbria Siward ( or more recently ; ) or Sigurd (, ) was an important earl of 11th-century northern England. The Old Norse nickname ''Digri'' and its Latin translation ''Grossus'' ("the stout") are given to him by near-contemporary texts. It is possibl ...
, conquered Cumbria. In 1092
William II of England William II (; – 2 August 1100) was List of English monarchs, King of England from 26 September 1087 until his death in 1100, with powers over Duchy of Normandy, Normandy and influence in Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland. He was less successfu ...
, son of
William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...
, marched north and established the great baronies of Allerdale-below-Derwent, Allerdale-above-Derwent, and Greystoke, the borders of which met at Keswick.Bott, p. 11 In 1181 Jocelyn of Furness wrote of a new church at Crosthwaite, Keswick, founded by Alice de Romilly, the Lady of Allerdale, a direct descendant of William II's original barons.Wilson and Kaye, p. 8 In 1189,
Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 â€“ 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard CÅ“ur de Lion () because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ru ...
granted the rectory of Crosthwaite to the
Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...
order of
Fountains Abbey Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercians, Cistercian monasteries in England. It is located approximately south-west of Ripon in North Yorkshire, near the village of Aldfield. Founded in 1132, the abbey operat ...
. During the 13th century, agricultural land around the town was acquired by Fountains and
Furness Furness ( ) is a peninsula and region of Cumbria, England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale, Historic counties of England, historically an exclave of Lancashire. On 1 April 2023 it became part of the new unitary author ...
Abbeys. The latter, already prosperous from the wool trade, wished to expand its sheep farming, and in 1208 bought large tracts of land from Alice de Romilly. She also negotiated with Fountains Abbey, to which she sold Derwent Island in Derwentwater, land at Watendlath, the mill at Crosthwaite and other land in
Borrowdale Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland, England. It is in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, and is sometimes referred to as ''Cumberland Borrowdale'' to distinguis ...
. Keswick was at the hub of the monastic farms in the area, and Fountains based a steward in the town, where tenants paid their rents. Furness also enjoyed profitable rights to the extraction of iron ore. Keswick was granted a charter for a market in 1276 by
Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 â€“ 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...
. This market has an uninterrupted history lasting for more than 700 years. The pattern of buildings around the market square remained broadly the same from this period until at least the late 18th century, with houses – originally timber-framed – fronting the square, and sturdily enclosed gardens or yards at the back. According to local tradition these stout walls and the narrow entrances to the yards were for defence against marauding Scots. In the event it appears that the town escaped such attacks, Scottish raiders finding richer and more accessible targets at
Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...
and the fertile Eden Valley, well to the north of Keswick.


16th and 17th centuries: agriculture and industry

With the Dissolution of the Monasteries, between 1536 and 1541, Furness and Fountains Abbeys were supplanted by new secular landlords for the farmers of Keswick and its neighbourhood. The buying and selling of sheep and wool were no longer centred on the great Abbeys, being handled locally by the new landowners and tenants. This enhanced Keswick's importance as a market centre, though at first the town remained only modestly prosperous: in the 1530s John Leland wrote of it as "a lytle poore market town". By the second half of the century, copper mining had made Keswick richer: in 1586
William Camden William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland that relates la ...
wrote of "these copper works not only being sufficient for all England, but great quantities of the copper exported every year" with, at the centre, "Keswicke, a small market town, many years famous for the copper works as appears from a charter of king
Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 â€“ 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...
, and at present inhabited by miners". Earlier copper mining had been small in scale, but
Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...
, concerned for the defence of her kingdom, required large quantities of copper for the manufacture of weapons and the strengthening of warships. There was the additional advantage for her that the Crown was entitled to royalties on metals extracted from English land.Bott, p. 17 The experts in copper mining were German, and Elizabeth secured the services of Daniel Hechstetter of
Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...
, to whom she granted a licence to "search, dig, try, roast and melt all manner of mines and ores of gold, silver, copper and quicksilver" in the Keswick area and elsewhere. As well as copper, a new substance was found, extracted and exploited: this was variously called wad, black lead, plumbago or black cauke, and is now known as
graphite Graphite () is a Crystallinity, crystalline allotrope (form) of the element carbon. It consists of many stacked Layered materials, layers of graphene, typically in excess of hundreds of layers. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable ...
. Many uses were quickly discovered for the mineral: it reduced friction in machinery, made a heat-resistant glaze for crucibles, and when used to line moulds for cannonballs, resulted in rounder, smoother balls that could be fired further by English naval cannon.Bott, pp. 22–23 Later, from the second half of the 18th century, it was used to make pencils, for which Keswick became famous. The copper mines prospered for about seventy years, but by the early 17th century the industry was in decline. Demand for copper fell and the cost of extracting it was high. Graphite mining continued, and quarrying for
slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
began to grow in importance. Other small-scale industries grew up, such as tannery and weaving. Although the boom of the mid-16th century had finished, the town's economy did not slide into ruin, and the population remained generally constant at a little under 1,000.


18th and 19th centuries: beginnings of tourism

The historian George Bott regards
John Dalton John Dalton (; 5 or 6 September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an English chemist, physicist and meteorologist. He introduced the atomic theory into chemistry. He also researched Color blindness, colour blindness; as a result, the umbrella term ...
(1709–63) and John Brown (1715–66) as the pioneers of tourism in the Lake District. Both wrote works praising the majesty of the scenery, and their enthusiasm prompted others to visit the area. The poet
Thomas Gray Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, and classics, classical scholar at Cambridge University, being a fellow first of Peterhouse then of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Pembroke College. He is widely ...
published an account of a five-day stay in Keswick in 1769, in which he described the view of the town as "the vale of Elysium in all its verdure", and was lyrical about the beauties of the fells and the lake. His journal was widely read, and was, in Bott's phrase, "an effective public relations job for Keswick". Painters such as Thomas Smith of Derby and William Bellers also contributed to the influx of visitors; engravings of their paintings of Cumberland scenery sold in large numbers, further enhancing the fame of the area.Bott, p. 39 In 1800 the Romantic poet
Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...
wrote, "It is no small advantage that for two-thirds of the year we are in complete retirement – the other third is alive & swarms with Tourists of all shapes & sizes." Coleridge had moved to Keswick in that year, and together with his fellow
Lake Poets The Lake Poets were a group of English poets who all lived in the Lake District of England, United Kingdom, in the first half of the nineteenth century. As a group, they followed no single "school" of thought or literary practice then known. They ...
(see
below Below may refer to: *Earth *Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) *Less than *Temperatures below freezing *Hell or underworld People with the surname * Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general * Fred Belo ...
) was possibly the strongest influence on the public esteem of Keswick and the Lake District. During the 18th century and into the 19th,
turnpike trusts Turnpike trusts were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal roads in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries. At the peak, in the 1830s, ...
were established and major roads in Cumberland were greatly improved. With the Lake District now accessible by coach the area attracted well-off visitors, particularly at times of war in mainland Europe, which made the aristocratic Grand Tour impossible there.Bott, p. 43 Regular public coach services were established in the 1760s, but they were expensive. The ten-hour journey from
Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...
to Penrith via Keswick cost 12
shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...
s (numerically equivalent to 60p), at a time when country labourers typically earned 10 shillings a week or less, and the annual income of even the most prosperous tenant farmers was rarely more than £200. Nonetheless, by the 19th century the number of tourists visiting Keswick during each season was estimated at between 12,000 and 15,000. Some of the Keswick inns that catered for affluent visitors remain as hotels, including the Queen's, where Gray stayed. The construction of the railways in the mid-19th century made the Lake District, and Keswick in particular, more accessible to visitors of modest means. The original impetus for building the
Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway The Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway (CK&PR) was an English railway company incorporated by act of Parliament (UK), act of Parliament on 1 August 1861, to build a line connecting the town of Cockermouth with the London and North Western ...
(CKP) line came from heavy industry: the new
Bessemer process The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is steelmaking, removal of impurities and undesired eleme ...
of steelmaking brought a great demand for the rich iron ore from west Cumberland and the
coking Coking is the process of heating coal in the absence of oxygen to a temperature above to drive off the volatile components of the raw coal, leaving behind a hard, strong, porous material with a high carbon content called coke. Coke is predomina ...
coal from Durham on the east side of the country. The CKP was built to enable ore and coal to be brought together at steel foundries in both counties. The line opened for goods traffic in 1864, and the following year it began to carry passengers. Fares varied, but holidaymakers could buy excursion tickets at discounted prices, such as six shillings for the return journey from Preston to Keswick. In addition to its growing importance as a tourist centre, Keswick developed a reputation for its manufacture of pencils during the 19th century. It had begun on a modest scale in about 1792, as a
cottage industry The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work, like a tailor. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the p ...
, using graphite mined locally. This developed on more industrial lines in factories purpose-built by several companies. Pencil making was the town's most important manufacturing industry by the mid-19th century, textiles and leather goods having declined. The Moot Hall was rebuilt in 1813, and the lower floor was used as a market house on Saturdays.
Coal gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...
was supplied by a gas works from 1846; the Keswick library opened in 1849; a water works began operation in 1856; and Keswick police station opened in 1857. The local weekly newspaper, ''The Keswick Reminder'' was founded in 1896, and in 2019 continues to be published every Friday. In an article in ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' in 1978, Christopher Brasher wrote that as long as the ''Reminder'' flourishes, "there will be one corner of these islands that is forever England." In 1883 Hardwicke Rawnsley was appointed vicar of Crosthwaite. In a study of Lake District towns in 1974, H. A. L. Rice commented that to write about Keswick without mentioning Rawnsley would be the equivalent of writing about
Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...
without mentioning Shakespeare, so great was Rawnsley's impact on the town. He and his wife set up classes to teach metalwork and wood carving; these grew into the Keswick School of Industrial Art, which trained local craftsmen and women from 1894 until it closed in 1986. He revived the ancient May Day festival in the town, and was a leading figure in the establishment of Keswick School, Blencathra Sanatorium and the County Farm School. As co-founder of the
National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
, Rawnsley contributed to Keswick's continued growth as a tourist centre, with the acquisition by the Trust of many acres of popular scenic land around Derwentwater, beginning with Brandelhow Wood in 1902.


20th century and beyond

Keswick's history throughout the 20th century was one of increasing reliance on tourism, the pencil industry being the second largest source of employment. The Cumberland Pencil Company, formed at the turn of the century, occupied a large factory near the River Greta on the road leading out of Keswick towards Cockermouth. The conservation movement continued to develop; Rawnsley led successful campaigns to save the medieval Greta and Portinscale bridges from replacement with ferro-concrete structures; and the National Trust continued to acquire land locally. In the First World War Keswick lost many of its young men: the war memorial near Fitz Park commemorates 117 names, from a population at the time of less than 4,500. By the 1930s Keswick was firmly established as the main centre of tourism in Cumberland and Westmorland. An article in ''
The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' in 1934 called it "the capital of the Lake District", and continued: During the Second World War, students from St Katharine's College, Liverpool, and
Roedean School Roedean () is a private boarding school governed by royal charter on the outskirts of Brighton, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1885 by three sisters to educate wealthy daughters and heiresses of aristocracy and industrial elites of the 19t ...
, Sussex, were evacuated to Keswick when their own buildings were requisitioned for use as a hospital and a navy base respectively. Students were also brought to the safety of Keswick from Central Newcastle High School, Hunmanby Hall School,
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
, and the Liverpool Orphanage. The creation of the
Lake District National Park The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...
in 1951, with strict control over new development, prevented any expansion of the town beyond its pre-war borders. Keswick's population has remained stable at a little below 5,000 residents. The town's reliance on tourism increased in 2006 when Cumberland Pencils moved production from Keswick to Lillyhall,
Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...
, only the Derwent Pencil Museum remaining at the old site. At the beginning of the 21st century, more than 60 per cent of the population were employed in hotels, restaurants and distribution. A survey of retail premises in 2000 found that more than ten per cent were outdoor clothes shops, a similar proportion were cafés or restaurants, and more than eight per cent were gift shops. The age profile of the Keswick population is significantly higher than the English average. In 2011 children under 10 made up 7.6 per cent of the town's population, compared with 11.9 per cent for England as a whole. Between ages 10 and 20 the comparable figures are 10.2 and 12.1; and from ages 20 to 44, 25.9 as against 34.3. The percentage of Keswick's population aged 45 and upwards is above the national average, the largest difference being within the 75- to 84-year-old bracket, which contains 9.6 per cent of Keswick's population compared with a national average of 5.5. Figures from the same census show that Keswick has fewer than average "large employers and higher managerial occupations" and more small employers and self-employed people. Long-term unemployment is considerably below the average for England.


Ownership

In medieval times the township was within the manor of Castlerigg and Derwentwater. The earliest surviving official record of the town is the market charter of 1276 granted to the lord of the manor, Thomas de Derwentwater. The manor was granted by Alice de Romilly to Adam de Derwentwater before 1216, and subsequently passed to the Radclyffe family through marriage. The Derwentwater estate was forfeit to the Crown after the execution of
James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater (26 June 1689 – 24 February 1716) was an English peer who participated in the Jacobite rising of 1715 and was executed for treason. Life Radclyffe was the son of Edward Radclyffe, 2nd Earl of Derwen ...
in 1716 for his involvement in the
Jacobite rising of 1715 The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( ; or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Francis Edward Stuart, James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and Kingdom of Scotland ...
. In 1735 the Crown granted the income from the estates to support the Greenwich Hospital, London. Land to the south and west were part of Greenwich Hospital's forestry and farming estates until the 19th century.Bott, p. 61 In 1925 the then owner, Sir John Randles, gave the National Trust of land in this estate, including the foreshore woodland.


Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering Keswick, at
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
(town) and
unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...
level: Keswick Town Council and Cumberland Council. The town council is based at 50 Main Street. The parish is wholly within the Lake District National Park, and so some functions are administered by the Lake District National Park Authority, notably
planning Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. Some researchers regard the evolution of forethought - the cap ...
. For national elections, Keswick is within the Penrith and Solway constituency.


Administrative history

Keswick was historically a
township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...
of the extensive parish of Crosthwaite, in the historic county of
Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...
. Crosthwaite's parish church of St Kentigern's is north of the centre of Keswick at Great Crosthwaite on the north side of the River Greta; it was historically in the township of Underskiddaw. The township of Keswick took on civil functions under the
poor laws The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief in England and Wales that developed out of the codification of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws in 1587–1598. The system continued until the modern welfare state emerged in the late 1940s. E ...
from the 17th century onwards, and therefore also became a
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
in 1866, when the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws. In ecclesiastical terms, Keswick became a separate
ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
from Crosthwaite in 1839, following the completion of St John's Church in the town. The township of Keswick was also made a local board district in 1853. The district's boundaries were enlarged in 1876 to take in part of the neighbouring township of St John's Castlerigg and Wythburn. The boundaries were enlarged again in 1894, to take in Great Crosthwaite village from the civil parish of Underskiddaw, further territory from St John's Castlerigg and Wythburn, and a former
extra-parochial area In England and Wales, an extra-parochial area, extra-parochial place or extra-parochial district was a geographically defined area considered to be outside any ecclesiastical or civil parish. Anomalies in the parochial system meant they had no ch ...
east of the town known as Briery. Local board districts were reconstituted as urban districts under the
Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county leve ...
. In its early days, the urban district council met at the town's Moot Hall, and bought the building from the
lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...
in 1896. The urban district council moved its meetings and offices to a converted former bank at 50 Main Street in 1926. Keswick Urban District was abolished in 1974. The area became part of the borough of
Allerdale Allerdale was a non-metropolitan district of Cumbria, England, with Borough status in England and Wales, borough status. Its council – Allerdale Borough Council – was based in Workington, and the borough had a population of 96,422 at the ...
in the new county of Cumbria. A
successor parish Successor parishes are Civil parishes in England, civil parishes with a parish councils in England, parish council, created in England in 1974. They replaced, with the same boundaries, a selected group of Urban district (England and Wales), urban d ...
of Keswick was created covering the former urban district, with its parish council taking the name Keswick Town Council. Allerdale was abolished in 2023 when the new Cumberland Council was created, also taking over the functions of the abolished Cumbria County Council in the area.


Geography

Keswick lies in north-western England, in the heart of the northern Lake District. The town is southwest of Carlisle, northwest of
Windermere Windermere (historically Winder Mere) is a ribbon lake in Cumbria, England, and part of the Lake District. It is the largest lake in England by length, area, and volume, but considerably smaller than the List of lakes and lochs of the United Ki ...
and southeast of Cockermouth.
Derwentwater Derwentwater, or Derwent Water, is a lake in the Lake District in North West England, immediately south of Keswick, Cumbria, Keswick. It is in the unitary authority of Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland within the ceremonial county of ...
, the lake southwest of the town, measures approximately and is some deep. It contains several islands, including Derwent Isle, Lord's Island, Rampsholme Island and St Herbert's Island, the largest. Derwent Isle is the only island on the lake that is inhabited; it is run by the National Trust and open to visitors five days a year. The land between Keswick and the lake consists mainly of fields and areas of woodland, including Isthmus Wood, Cockshot Wood, Castlehead Wood and Horseclose and Great Wood, further to the south. The River Derwent flows from Derwentwater to Bassenthwaite, the most northerly of the major Cumbrian lakes. The Derwent and its tributary the
Greta Greta may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Greta'' (2018 film), a thriller film directed by Neil Jordan * ''Greta'' (2020 film), a documentary film about activist Greta Thunberg Music * Greta (band), hard rock band * Greta (song), ...
, which flows through Keswick, meet to the east of Portinscale. The source of the Greta is near Threlkeld, at the confluence of the River Glenderamackin and St John's Beck. Keswick is in the lee of the
Skiddaw Skiddaw is a mountain in the Lake District National Park in England. Its summit is traditionally considered to be the List of Wainwrights, fourth-highest peak but depending on what topographic prominence is thought to be significant is also ...
group, the oldest group of rocks in the Lake District. These fells were formed during the
Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...
period, 488 to 443 million years ago; they form a triangle sheltering the town, reaching a maximum height of on Skiddaw itself. To the west of Portinscale, to the south-west of the village of Thornthwaite, is Whinlatter Forest Park and Grisedale Pike. To the east, beyond Castlerigg stone circle, is St John's in the Vale, at the foot of the Helvellyn range, which is popular with ramblers starting from Keswick. In 2010, Electricity North West, United Utilities, the Lake District National Park Authority and the conservation charity Friends of the Lake District invested £100,000 to remove power lines and replace them with underground cables, to improve the quality of scenery in the vicinity. Climatically, Keswick is in the North West sector of the UK, which is characterised by cool summers, mild winters, and high monthly rainfalls throughout the year. Keswick's wettest months fall at the end of the year, the peak average of falling in October. Rain, sunshine and temperature figures are shown below.


Demography

At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 4,658, and the built up area had a population of 4,344. The population of the parish had been 5,243 at the 2011 census. The registers of Crosthwaite Church stated that there were 238 interments in 1623, believed to have been something between a twelfth and a tenth of the whole population of the parish at that time. In the 1640s there was a sharp fall in population, brought on by the plague epidemic which affected Keswick, Carlisle, Cockermouth and Crosthwaite and other areas in 1645–47. In the 1801 census, the township of Keswick, including the town and surrounding hamlets, had a reported population of 1,350 people. The population grew at a steady rate, increasing to 1,683 in 1811, 1,901 in 1821, 2,159 in 1831, 2,442 in 1841, and 2,618 in 1851.Whellan, p. 339 In 1871 the township had a population of 2,777 people. The population grew at a faster rate towards the late 19th century and by 1901 it stood at 4,451 people. There has been little fluctuation in population since, and in the 1991 census the town had a population of 4,836. In the 2001 census, 4,984 people were recorded, and 4,821 in 2011. At the 2021 census, 54.3% of the population identified as Christian, 37.8% as non-religious, 0.4% as Buddhist, 0.3% as Muslim, 0.2% as Hindu, and 0.3% as some other faith. The remaining 6.7 per cent did not specify their religion.


Landmarks

Keswick is the home of the Theatre by the Lake, opened in 1999.Thorncroft Tony
"Wave of delight greets Keswick theatre"
''
The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'', 10 September 1999; and Ward, David."Reinvention of regional theatre in the Lakes"
''The Guardian'', 10 July 1999
The theatre serves a dual purpose as the permanent home of a professional repertory company and a venue for visiting performers and festivals. It replaced the Century Theatre or "Blue Box", which had spent 25 years in semi-retirement on a permanent lakeside site in Keswick, after a career of similar length as a mobile theatre. The Alhambra cinema in St John Street, opened in 1913, is one of the oldest continuously functioning cinemas in the country; it is equipped with digital technology and satellite receiving equipment to allow the live screening of plays, operas and ballet from the National Theatre,
Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...
and other venues. The town is the site of the Derwent Pencil Museum. One of the exhibits is what is claimed to be the world's largest coloured pencil. Fitz Park, on the bank of the River Greta, is home to the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, a Victorian museum which features the Musical Stones of Skiddaw, Southey manuscripts, and a collection of sculptures and paintings of regional and wider importance, including works by Epstein,
John Opie John Opie (16 May 1761 – 9 April 1807) was a British painter whose subjects included many prominent men and women of his day, members of the British royal family and others who were notable in the artistic and literary professions. Early ca ...
, Richard Westall and others. After extensive restoration and enlargement the museum reopened in 2014. In 2001 the cricket ground in Fitz Park was named the most beautiful in England by '' Wisden Cricket Monthly''. Greta Hall (see Lake Poets, below), is a
Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
. The home of Coleridge in 1800–04 and Southey from 1803 until 1843, it later became part of Keswick School and is now in private ownership, partly divided into holiday flats. The three-storey house dates to the late 18th century and features a flush-panelled central double door with Gothic top panels and Venetian windows. A carved oak fireplace inside is dated to 1684. The Moot Hall is a prominent Grade II* listed building situated at the southern end of Main Street. It was built in 1571 and rebuilt in 1695, and the current building dates to 1813. It is built of lime-washed stone and slate walling, and has a square tower on the north end with a round-arched doorway and a double flight of exterior steps. At the top of the tower is what the Keswick Tourist Information Board describes as an "unusual one-handed clock". Formerly an assembly building, The Moot Hall contains a tourist information centre on the ground floor, with an art gallery on the floor above. The prominent social thinker and art critic
John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...
, who had links to Keswick, is commemorated by a memorial at Friars' Crag. Erected in 1900 on Rawnsley's initiative, it is a
Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
structure.


Churches

Until 1838, Keswick had no
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
church within the town boundaries and was part of the widespread parish of Crosthwaite. The present
parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
, St John's, was designed by
Anthony Salvin Anthony Salvin (17 October 1799 – 17 December 1881) was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on Middle Ages, medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations, such as those of the ...
and consecrated in 1838. It is geometrical in style, with pink castle-head
ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...
sandstone and a slate roof. The church was extended in 1862, 1882 and 1889 by the parish's benefactors the Marshall family; the
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
windows, designed by Henry Holiday, installed in 1879, were taken down and reinstalled when the chancel was extended in 1889. St John's became a Grade II* listed building in 1951. Keswick's former parish church, St Kentigern's, at Crosthwaite, just outside the town, is also Grade II* listed. Dated to at least the 14th century, it is built mainly in the Tudor-Gothic style and was expanded in 1523 and later restored in 1844 by
George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he ...
. The
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
s had an early meeting house in the town, replaced in 1715 by one at Underskiddaw. Protestant dissenters met at a private house from 1705 or before, moving to a chapel in Lake Road in the latter part of the 18th century.Bott, pp. 130–133 A
Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...
chapel was built in 1858–59. The first
Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...
chapel was built in 1814 in a small yard off Main Street at a cost of £331 10s; the present
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
church is in Southey Street. Since 1928
Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
in Keswick have been served by Our Lady of the Lakes and St Charles in High Hill. A new
Quaker meeting house A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), where meeting for worship is usually held. Typically, Friends meeting houses are simple and resemble local residential buildings. Ornamentation, spires, a ...
opened in the town in 1994. An
Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...
church was inaugurated in 2007, holding services in Keswick and the nearby village of Braithwaite. There are no other religious buildings in Keswick; Muslim worship was accommodated on Fridays in a room at the local council building in Main Street. This has since discontinued.


Public houses and hotels

Keswick's old inns and their successors include many listed buildings, mainly Grade II in designation.Listed Buildings in Keswick, Cumbria, England
, British Listed Buildings, retrieved 31 August 2014
The George Hotel, stated to be the oldest inn in the town, dates to the 16th century, with the alterations made during the Georgian period still evident. The King's Arms Hotel, in the main market square, dates from the early 19th century; it is built from
stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...
ed stone, with Victorian shop windows on the ground floor. The Queen's Hotel in Main Street, a pebbledashed stone building dating from the late 18th century, was renamed "The Inn on the Square" in 2015. The Bank Tavern in Main Street and the Dog and Gun public house in Lake Road are both Grade II listed 18th-century buildings. The following are the listed buildings in Keswick. The listings are graded: * 10–15, Borrowdale Road (Grade II) * 123 and 125, Main Street (Grade II) * 17–23, St John's Street (Grade II) * 18, High Hill (Grade II) * 2, Eskin Street (Grade II) * 25, St John's Street (Grade II) * 3, Penrith Road (Grade II) * 3–6, High Hill (Grade II) * 36–50, St John's Street (Grade II) * 4 and 6, Derwent Street (Grade II) * 4 and 6, Eskin Street (Grade II) * 6–12, Police Station Court (Grade II) * 8 and 10, Eskin Street (Grade II) * 85–91, Main Street (Grade II) * Balustrading, Urns, and Terrace Wall to Garden on North Side of Castlerigg Manor (Grade II) * Brigham Forge Cottages (Grade II) * Calvert's Bridge (Grade II) * Castlerigg Manor (Catholic Youth Centre) (Grade II) * Castlerigg Manor Lodge (Grade II) * Central Hotel (Grade II) * Chestnut Hill House Shelley Cottage with Adjoining Stables and Coach House to North (Grade II) * Church of St John (Grade II*) * Church of St Kentigern (Grade II*) * County Hotel (Grade II) * Crosthwaite Sunday School (Grade II) * Crosthwaite Vicarage (Grade II) * Derwent Isle House (Grade II) * Forge Bridge (Grade II) * Formerly Mayson's Shop (Grade II) * George Hotel (Grade II) * Greta House (Grade I) * Heads House (Grade II) * Ivy Cottage (Grade II) * Keswick Industrial Arts (Grade II) * Keswick Railway Station Building and Platform (Grade II) * King's Arms Hotel (Grade II) * Oak Cottage Oak Lodge (Grade II) * Oddfellows Arms Public House (Grade II) * Packhorse Inn Including Attached Former Stables (Grade II) * Police Station and Magistrates Court (Grade II) * Priorholm Hotel (Grade II) * Royal Oak Hotel (Grade II) * Ruskin Monument (Grade II) * Skiddaw Cottage (Grade II) * Small Outbuilding Opposite Packhorse Inn and Behind Ye Olde Friars (Grade II) * The Bank Tavern (Grade II) * The Dog and Gun Public House (Grade II) * The Moot Hall (Grade II*) * The Old Chapel at Landing Stage (Grade II) * Toll Bar Cottage (Grade II)


Education and health

The Crosthwaite Free Grammar School, adjoining Crosthwaite churchyard, was an ancient institution, its date of foundation uncertain. In 1819 the parish of Crosthwaite had five or six schools in the town and the outlying areas, with a total of 332 children. By 1833 Keswick had twelve daily schools, including a new National School at High Hill. The new parish church of Keswick, St John's, started educational work in 1840 with a Sunday school which also educated infant boys, and later girls, on weekdays. A full-time boys' school opened in 1853. For older pupils, Keswick School, the free co-educational grammar school, successor to the Crosthwaite Free Grammar School, opened at a site diagonally opposite Greta Bridge in 1898. In 1951 a new
secondary modern A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupils ...
school was built at Lairthwaite in Underskiddaw.Bott, pp. 145–146 Junior education is provided by St Herbert's School, which had a roll of 263 in 2013. At senior level, Keswick and Lairthwaite schools merged in 1980 as a single comprehensive secondary school, with the name Keswick School. It was included in ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
''s list of the top thirty comprehensives in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2014. The
Local Education Authority Local education authorities (LEAs) were defined in England and Wales as the local councils responsible for education within their jurisdictions. The term was introduced by the Education Act 1902, which transferred education powers from school bo ...
for Keswick is
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
. The Mary Hewetson Cottage Hospital, founded in 1892, has fifteen beds and a minor injuries unit. It underwent a major rebuilding and upgrade in 2013.


Sport

Keswick is home to Keswick Football Club. The principal team plays in the Westmorland League Division One, and it also has a reserve team which plays in Westmorland League Division Two, a female team which plays in the Cumbria League, juniors who compete in the under-16, under-14, under-12 and under-10 categories in the Penrith Junior Football League; there is a veteran team, which competes in the Cumbria League."Sports Clubs"
, Keswick Town Council, retrieved 8 September 2014
Keswick Rugby Union Football Club, established in 1879, plays at Davidson Park, and has teams that play in the Cumbrian League and the Cumbria Rugby Union Raging Bull Competition. The rugby club is involved in the organisation of the Keswick Half Marathon, usually held in the first week of May. Keswick Tennis Club has grass courts in upper Fitz Park, and also runs hard courts on Keswick's Community Sports Area in the lower park area. Keswick Cricket Club was established in the 1880s. Its principal team competes in the North Lancashire and Cumbria Cricket League, Premier Division. The second team plays in the Eden Valley Cricket League, 3rd Division, and the club also has junior under-11, under-13, and under-15 teams and a women's cricket team. Keswick Fitz Park Bowls Club was founded in 1882. In cycling, Keswick hosted the Keswick Bikes Borrowdale Cross of the North West League, second round, in September 2010 for junior riders, an event that was supported by the British Cycling Federation. The same month, the town hosted an activity weekend for children, involving the juniors of the Brooke Steelers Wheelchair Basketball Team, whose senior players who were competing in a race from Keswick to Penrith to raise money for children's cancer. Keswick is also home to Keswick Croquet Club, Keswick Archers, and Greta (Keswick) Junior Badminton Club, for children from eight to 16 years of age. The town leisure centre, Keswick Leisure Pool and Fitness Centre, is operated and managed by Carlisle Leisure Limited (CLL), and has a pool and fitness facilities, and offers lessons in canoeing.


Transport

Keswick is on the
A66 road The A66 is a major road in Northern England, which in part follows the course of the Roman road from Scotch Corner to Penrith. It runs from east of Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire to Workington in Cumbria. The road has been progressively ...
linking
Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...
and Penrith, as well as the A591, linking the town to
Windermere Windermere (historically Winder Mere) is a ribbon lake in Cumbria, England, and part of the Lake District. It is the largest lake in England by length, area, and volume, but considerably smaller than the List of lakes and lochs of the United Ki ...
,
Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...
and Carlisle (via the A595). There are no rail links to Keswick; the line built in the 1860s for the
Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway The Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway (CK&PR) was an English railway company incorporated by act of Parliament (UK), act of Parliament on 1 August 1861, to build a line connecting the town of Cockermouth with the London and North Western ...
closed in 1972. Since the 1990s a plan to rebuild it has been under discussion. Some 90 per cent of the earthworks of the railway still exist, but according to 2000 estimates, a reopening would cost £25 million. From the town's bus station at Booths,
Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
operate bus services: X4 and X5 to
Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...
,
Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. The name refers to the town's position by the confluence of the River Cocker into the River Derwent. At the 2021 census, the built u ...
and Penrith, 555 to Grasmere,
Ambleside Ambleside is a town in the civil parish of Lakes and the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Westmorland and located in the Lake District National Park, the town sits at the ...
,
Windermere railway station Windermere railway station serves the town of Windermere, Cumbria (town), Windermere, in Cumbria, England. It is the northern terminus of the Windermere Branch Line, which runs from . It is owned by Network Rail and is operated by Northern Trai ...
,
Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...
and Lancaster, 77 and 77A to Seatoller,
Buttermere Buttermere is a lake in the Lake District in North West England. It has a length of approximately and a maximum width of , an area of , a maximum depth of , and a surface elevation of above sea level. Its primary outflow is Buttermere Dubs, a ...
and Whinlatter visitor centre , open top bus route 78 to Seatoller, services 553 and 554 to
Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...
, 509 to Pooley Bridge and then Penrith and X8 back to Chorley on Saturdays. The flow of traffic from Penrith to Cockermouth and beyond was eased after the A66 was diverted to a new bypass in 1974, a development that caused controversy because of a prominent new viaduct carrying the road across the Greta Gorge to the north of the town. The majority of visitors arrive by car and are catered for by three town centre car parks, another large one next to the Theatre by the Lake, and smaller ones elsewhere in the town.


Media

Local TV coverage is provided by
BBC North East and Cumbria BBC North East and Cumbria is one of the BBC's BBC English Regions, English regions covering Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Gateshead, South Tyneside, City of Sunderland, County Durham, Northumberland, north and mid Cumbria and parts of N ...
and
ITV Border ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway, th ...
. Television signals are received from the
Caldbeck Caldbeck is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, historically within Cumberland, it is situated within the Lake District National Park. Part of the parish lies within the Skiddaw Group SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). T ...
and local relay transmitters. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Cumbria on 95.6 FM, Smooth Lake District on 101.4 FM, Greatest Hits Radio Cumbria & South West Scotland on 96.4 FM, and Lake District Radio, a community radio station that broadcast online. Local newspapers include ''The Keswick Reminder'' and ''
The Westmorland Gazette ''The Westmorland Gazette'' is a weekly newspaper published in Kendal, England, covering "South Lakeland and surrounding areas", including Barrow and North Lancashire. Its name refers to the historic county of Westmorland. The paper is now owned ...
''.


Culture


Regular events

Annual events in the town's calendar include the Keswick Film Festival (February–March). It features screenings of old and new films, interviews with directors, and the festival's Osprey Awards for short films by local filmmakers. The ten-day Words by the Water literary festival is held in March every year, based at the Theatre by the Lake. The festival began in 1995, and events have been presented by
Melvyn Bragg Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg (born 6 October 1939) is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is the editor and presenter of ''The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010, 2012–2023), and the presenter of the BBC Radio 4 documentary series ...
,
Louis de Bernières Louis de Bernières (born 8 December 1954) is an English novelist. He is known for his 1994 Historical fiction, historical war novel ''Captain Corelli's Mandolin''. In 1993 de Bernières was selected as one of the "20 Best of Young British Nove ...
,
Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and feminist, regarded as one of the major voices of the second-wave feminism movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literature, she ...
, Steve Jones,
Penelope Lively Dame Penelope Margaret Lively (née Low; born 17 March 1933) is a British writer of fiction for both children and adults. Lively has won both the Booker Prize (''Moon Tiger'', 1987) and the Carnegie Medal (literary award), Carnegie Medal for ...
,
Princess Michael of Kent Princess Michael of Kent (born Baroness Marie-Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz, 15 January 1945) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to Prince Michael of Kent, who is a grandson of George V, King George V. Prince ...
, Michael Rosen and Joanna Trollope. In May each year, Keswick is host to three contrasting events. The Keswick Half Marathon, in the early part of the month takes participants around Derwentwater with an additional loop into Newlands Valley."Month by Month guide to what's on"
, Keswick – The Lake District, retrieved 25 June 2014
In the second week of May there is the four-day Keswick Jazz Festival, with more than 100 jazz events at a dozen local venues. Participants include British and international exponents of mainstream and traditional jazz. After the Jazz Festival is the four-day Keswick Mountain Festival in mid-May. In the words of the organisers, the festival "celebrates everything we all love about the outdoors". It includes ghyll scrambling, mountain biking, guided walks, map reading, canoeing, climbing, a triathlon and other events. The main event of the town's calendar in June is the Keswick Beer Festival, a two-day event that attracts more than 5,000 participants each year. July is marked by the opening of the annual
Keswick Convention The Keswick Convention is an annual gathering of Conservative evangelicalism in the United Kingdom, conservative evangelical Christians in Keswick, Cumbria, Keswick, in the English county of Cumbria. The Christian theological tradition of High ...
, an international gathering of
Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
Christians, described in 1925 as "the last stronghold of British Puritanism", promoting biblical teaching and pious lifestyles. Among those associated with the Convention have been Frank Buchman and
Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (; November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American Evangelism, evangelist, ordained Southern Baptist minister, and Civil rights movement, civil rights advocate, whose broadcasts and world tours featuring liv ...
. The event has grown from a single week to three weeks, straddling the latter part of July and early August. In August, Keswick features the Derwentwater Regatta. It was inaugurated by the eccentric local landowner Joseph Pocklington in 1792, and after a lapse of more than two centuries was revived in 2013. Its organisers describe it as "A weekend of mayhem and madness afloat, with the chance to climb aboard in a variety of races on Derwentwater". The Keswick Agricultural Show, founded in 1860, has traditionally been held on August Bank Holiday Monday at the western edge of the town on the Crossing Fields section of the open land known as the Howrahs. The show features both commercial and charity stands, and attracts large numbers of competitors, exhibitors and spectators. From 2014 the venue has changed to Pump Field, a few hundred yards further from the town centre towards Braithwaite. Classical music is presented throughout the year, both in conjunction with the Lake District Summer Music Festival and independently through the Keswick Choral Society and the Keswick Music Society, which was founded in 1947. Performers in Keswick have included the Chilingirian Quartet,Ogden, Paul
"Hills are alive with sound of ..."
, '' The Manchester Evening News'', 6 July 2010
the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Tasmin Little, the City of London Sinfonia,"Sixty one years on and a full season ahead for the Keswick Music Society"
, ''The Cumberland News'', 22 July 2008
Red Priest and Nicolai Demidenko.


Lake Poets and other Keswick notables

Coleridge and
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...
were close friends and collaborators; when Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy took up residence in the Lake District in late 1799 it was, in Bott's word, inevitable that Coleridge would follow suit. Six months after the Wordsworths moved into Dove Cottage at Grasmere, Coleridge leased Greta Hall in Keswick, away. In 1803
Robert Southey Robert Southey (; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic poetry, Romantic school, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth an ...
, Coleridge's brother-in-law, agreed to share the house with Coleridge and his family. Southey remained at Greta Hall after Coleridge left in 1804, and it remained Southey's family home until his death in 1843. Many famous literary figures stayed at Greta Hall in these years, including the Wordsworths, Charles and Mary Lamb,
Thomas de Quincey Thomas Penson De Quincey (; Thomas Penson Quincey; 15 August 17858 December 1859) was an English writer, essayist, and literary critic, best known for his ''Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' (1821).Eaton, Horace Ainsworth, ''Thomas De Q ...
,
William Hazlitt William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary criticism, literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history ...
,
Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...
, and
Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...
.Bott, pp. 73–79 Lamb, a Londoner devoted to his native city, remained doubtful of the attractions of the Lake District, but most of the visitors to Greta Hall wrote eloquently of the beauty of the scenery, and further enhanced the public regard for, and desire to visit, the area. Southey was well regarded locally, but played little part in the life of the town. He is buried in Crosthwaite churchyard and there is a memorial to him inside the church, with an inscription written by Wordsworth. Among Keswick notables before the Lake Poets was Sir John Bankes, a leading Royalist during the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
. He was Charles I's Attorney General and Chief Justice. Bankes was born at Castlerigg near Keswick in 1589. A bust in his memory is in upper Fitz Park close to the museum. In 2014 he was further commemorated by the conversion of the former Keswick courthouse into a bar named in his honour with his full title, "The Chief Justice of the Common Pleas". Later residents of the area have included the classical scholar, essayist, poet and founder of the
Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...
, Frederic Myers, who was born in Keswick, and the campaigner for animal welfare
Donald Watson Donald Watson (2 September 1910 – 16 November 2005) was an English animal rights and veganism advocate who co-founded The Vegan Society. Early life Watson was born in Mexborough, Yorkshire, the son of a headmaster in a mining community. As a ...
, founder of the Vegan Society, who lived in Keswick after retiring from teaching. The pioneer mountaineers and photographers George and Ashley Abraham lived and worked in Keswick. Their photographic shop in Lake Road, built in 1887, was later taken over by the local mountaineer and outfitter George Fisher; the shop still contains memorabilia, including photographs, from the Abrahams' era. Of literary figures after the Lake Poets among those most closely associated with Keswick was the novelist
Hugh Walpole Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (13 March 18841 June 1941) was an English novelist. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman, intended for a career in the church but drawn instead to writing. Among ...
. In 1924 he moved into Brackenburn, a house between Keswick and Grange at the opposite end of Derwentwater. Like the Lake Poets in the previous century, he wrote enthusiastically about the Lake District, and its scenery and atmosphere often found their way into his fiction. He wrote in 1939, "That I love Cumberland with all my heart and soul is another reason for my pleasure in writing these Herries books. That I wasn't born a Cumbrian isn't my fault: that Cumbrians, in spite of my 'foreignness', have been so kind to me, is my good fortune."Walpole, p. vii


Notes and references


Notes


References


Sources

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External links


Keswick Town Council

Cumbria County History Trust: Keswick
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
Keswick web cam

Keswick Leisure Pool
{{Authority control Civil parishes in Cumbria Market towns in Cumbria Towns in Cumbria Cumberland (unitary authority)