Art and Culture
‘A place almost too beautiful to live in’ was how nineteenth century writer John Ruskin described the town of Keswick. Still this is exactly what many other poets, writers and artists chose to do.
Greta Hall housed Samuel Taylor Coleridge from 1800 to 1803 and Robert Southey from 1803 to 1843. Southey is buried at Crosthwaite Church, where his memorial written by William Wordsworth, a frequent visitor to Greta Hall, can be seen.
It is not difficult to see what attracted these men to the town. It is situated in an area of such extreme beauty that many consider Castlerigg, one of the earliest Neolithic stone circles in Britain and just outside Keswick, to be situated in a more attractive location than any other stone circle in the country, including Stonehenge.
The town’s creative heritage is carried forward today by “The Theatre by the Lake”—a purpose built theatre offering locals and visitors the best in arts and entertainments in a stunning location.
Meanwhile, “The Keswick Jazz Festival”, an innovation developed by Tony when he was an Allerdale District Councillor, brings around 100 renowned jazz acts to the town each summer. The constituency also boasts the annual Maryport Sea Festival featuring live acts and the Silloth Kite Festival, which takes place in this charming seaside village.
Silloth’s wide stylish tree lined streets, ample sea front green and magnificent promenade stretching towards Skinburness attracts many visitors to a town which was home to thousands of servicemen in World War II.
The constituency is also the birth place of the pencil. After the discovery of Cumberland graphite on Seathwaite Fell in Borrowdale near Keswick in about 1500 pencil production began for the first time about 50 years later in Keswick.
Legend has it that shepherds discovered large masses of exposed black material after a violent storm and believed it to be coal. Disappointed and confused that the material did not burn they were compensated by the fact that Cumberland graphite proved a good material for marking their sheep and so the pencil was born. This story can be investigated at Keswick’s Pencil museum.
Meanwhile, Cockermouth also boasts an impressive museum collection, including the Museum of Printing and the Toy and Model Museum, while the Jennings Brewery in the town offers tours.
Visitors are also drawn to the Church of St. Kentigern in Aspatria. This is a former Norman Church rebuilt around -48 incorporating some of the original 12th Century features.
While, a memorial fountain in memory of the temperance movement supporter, Sir Wilfred Lawson MP was erected in 1908 in Aspatria town centre and is inlaid with four bronze tablets. This stands next to a red stone Market Hall.
On the edge of town stands Castlemont, a large 1900’s stone mansion built for a mine manager. Worryingly, another nearby country home, Gill House, was said to be haunted by an evil spirit during World War II.
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