Museum of Lakeland Life & Industry

Name: Museum of Lakeland Life & Industry
Address: Abbot Hall, Kendal, LA95AL, GB
Telephone: 01539 722464
Price range: $
Rating: 5

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Museum of Lakeland Life & Industry

Museum of Lakeland Life & Industry Lakeland Museum is closed for redevelopment. Part of Lakeland Arts. Visit lakelandmuseum.org.uk

The Museum takes you back through time to explore the story of the Lake District and its inhabitants. Isolated before the arrival of the railway and motorcar, this area developed its own unique customs and traditions. Recreated period rooms and workshops reveal how rural people lived and worked and played and how different life was before the introduction of machinery. Discover a Lake District kit

chen, complete with traditional recipes and utensils, a bedroom full of vernacular furniture and furnishings – including a magnificent 17th century four-poster bed, a farmhouse parlour with a working phonograph and rare 18th century oak panelling.

12/07/2023

Art Fund Museum of the Year prize is here! The Art Fund prize gives outstanding museums a reward for their excellence, innovation, creativity and imagination.

Congrats to all the finalists:
The Burrell Collection
Leighton House and Sambourne House
The MAC
Natural History Museum, London
Scapa Flow Museum part of the Orkney Arts, Museums and Heritage

The winner will be announced at the British Museum ceremony tonight.

Art Fund, a fantastic supporter and funder of Lakeland Arts, has been supporting museums for 120 years and is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the award, having overseen Museum of the Year award since 2013. We are proud to be a part of National Art Pass where Art Fund members get free entry to Abbot Hall and 50% off entry to Blackwell - The Arts & Crafts house and Windermere Jetty Museum.

Fifty years ago today, 12 July 1973 Museum of Lakeland Life & Industry received the first ever Museum of the Year award, then known as the Gulbenkian Museum Prize. The award was received by Lakeland Museum’s Curator at the time, John Anstee and Abbot Hall Director at the time, Mary Burkett OBE.

Image description: Oil painting of Mary Burkett OBE by Carel Victor Morlais Weight (1908–1997) © the artist's estate / Bridgeman Images. Photo credit Lakeland Arts

19/06/2022

Happy Father's day from all of us!

02/06/2022

🎉 Congratulations to Her Majesty The Queen on her 70-year historic reign! 🎉

We have been getting in the Jubilee spirit by taking a look back at the Lakeland Arts Royal visits over the years!

We’ve had the pleasure of welcoming several members of the Royal family, including the lady of the hour, Queen Elizabeth II herself in 1986! As well as Princess Margaret for the opening of Abbot Hall in 1962, Prince Charles at Blackwell and most recently the Duchess of Cambridge visit to Windermere Jetty Museum!

01/06/2022

It’s so we wanted to take this chance to say a big thank-you to our hard-working volunteers who are helping us audit the social history collection at Lakeland Museum.

This week, we audited a wonderful collection created by Mr John Park. Mr Park was the Senior Agricultural Adviser to the Ministry of Agriculture in Lancaster for 40 years. He began this collection in the mid-1930s and early 1940s, and his widow, Mrs Park, generously donated it to the museum in 1989.

It contains a selection of seeds, grass and ingredients for animal feed that were used in South Lakeland, Furness and North Lonsdale as well as Mr Park’s family farm near Kendal. Highlights include fodder beet seeds and a stick of ancient charcoal!

Collection of seeds and animal feed, mixed materials. Kindly donated by Mrs Park. Image credit: Lakeland Arts Trust

23/05/2022

Are you our new Digital Marketing Assistant? 👀

We are looking for a tech-savvy, social media guru to join the team at Lakeland Arts 💻

Working across all Lakeland Arts’ award-winning venues you will be responsible for capturing compelling content, while creating and delivering exceptional digital campaigns to engage our diverse audiences!

Full job description and application form available over on our website ➡ bit.ly/0611LAC
⏰ Closing date: Monday 20 June 2022, 9am

Know the perfect person for the job? We’d love it if you could share!

26/04/2022

Today’s is this illustrated World War One era triangular St Johns Ambulance Association bandage. When taking it out of bag for auditing we were very excited to take a closer look at its wonderfully detailed design.

During the nineteenth century the triangular bandage became an important piece of first aid equipment used by soldiers and medics on the battlefield. It was first designed in 1869 by Dr Friedrich von Esmarch who was a military doctor in the German army and it was quickly adopted by other countries.

The bandage’s efficient compact design allowed it to have many different practical uses across the body. It’s inclusion of handy illustrations were useful for applications by those who were less experienced or under pressure and having to administer first aid during a battle.

Over time the bandage became a popular item within everyday civilian first aid and as a result the illustrations changed to focused on regular men (and occasionally women) rather than specifically soldiers. In the 1870s the bandage became an essential piece of kit distributed by the St John Ambulance Association and they continued to supply the illustrated version until the mid 1950s.

Photo credit: Lakeland Arts

22/04/2022

Our latest from the social history audit is the Bee Meter which was found on a shelf containing to collection of beekeeping objects. However all is not as it seems! 🐝

Despite its name the device has nothing to do with bees and is actually a pocket watch sized light meter used by photographers. Designed by Alfred Watkins in 1890 it contains light-sensitive paper that darkened when exposed to light. The amount of time taken for this to happen was then calculated using the scale around the edge to work out the light levels.

In 1910 during Scott’s Artic Expedition the device was used by the photographer Herbert George Ponting to work out the exposure time required to capture the landscape. His amazing photographs are still highly regarded today and were reportedly only possible because of the Bee Meter.

After the expedition sales boomed and it was exported all over the world. However, in the mid-1900s technological advances led to its decline due to the development of electrical photometers.

Photo credit: Lakeland Arts

17/04/2022

Happy Easter from Lakeland Museum! 🎉

12/04/2022

Today’s is this typewriter, which is one of a number in our collection. However, this one was made by a company who became embroiled in a fascinating story of industrial strike action and institutional racism.

Imperial Typewriters was founded in 1908 and was the last company to make working typewriters in the UK. In the 1960s it was bought out by an American firm who then employed 1000+ Asian workers to increase productivity. However, the workers later discovered that they were not receiving the same wages or benefits as their white colleagues and many went on strike.

Hundreds of workers joined the action and organised big meetings, picket lines and campaigns to bring attention to the issues in the company. However, the strikers failed to receive official backing from local trade unions which led to claims of institutional racism within the movement over their lack of support for migrant workers.

Despite attracting negative attention from the national press and far right political groups the strikes went on for a few months, until a summer factory shut down put an end to the action. By this point many of the strikers had been sacked and the Leicester based factory closed soon after with production moved abroad.

Despite the failure of the Imperial Typewriters strike it highlighted the prejudices within society towards migrant workers who demanded equality and respect in the workplace. Their actions influenced later strike action within the country and had lasting effects on the British labour movement and racial discrimination.

Photo credit: Lakeland Arts

31/03/2022

This week’s photograph is one of many wonderful shots in the collection taken of sheep shearing here in the Lakes. These particular farmers look like they are just about ready to take a break and enjoy some of the delicious looking refreshments being prepared by the ladies for the group. We don’t know about you but we would love to get a closer look at what delicious snacks are on that tray!

Our records say this photograph was taken ‘at Bridgestone’, after a bit of google sleuthing we know there is a Bridgestone Farm at Kentmere but we don’t know if it’s a match. Can you help identify the correct Bridgestone or recognise the people in the photograph? Let us know!

Image credit: Joseph Hardman Collection, Lakeland Museum.

29/03/2022

Our latest is this miniature cast iron fireplace. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the expansion of the railways led to a rise in door to door selling. Travelling salesmen were now able hop on a train and go town to town visiting shops, homeowners, dealers, and farmers in previously inaccessible or rural parts of the country to sell their goods.

Rather than lug around full size versions of the products they were pedalling, companies began to produce smaller scaled down sales aid models that were easy to carry. According to an article in 1921 salesman were suspicious at first of the miniatures and felt they would look silly carrying around a ‘toy’. However, the models were a success as they generated interest and allowed customers to see what they were being offered before buying.

Salesman samples became very popular and there was a wide range produced including fireplaces like ours, miniature pieces of furniture, toilets, stoves, washing machines and typewrites to name a few. They even produced miniature versions of farming equipment such as working plows and hay loaders!

Photo credit: Lakeland Arts

23/03/2022

It’s lambing season and we have been loving the sight of all the little lambs roaming around. So, for today’s photograph we have chosen this scene of sheep and their fluffy lambs being driven down a road in the small village of Bowland Bridge in the South Lakes. They are being guided by a farmer and his helpers which includes a very cute pair of sheep dogs!

Do you recognise any of the people in this photo or have any information you can add to help us improve our records? Let us know in the comments!

Image credit: Joseph Hardman Collection, Lakeland Museum.

10/03/2022

Lakeland Arts stands with the people of Ukraine and we back the International Council of Museums’ statement, concerning the invasion of Ukraine.

At Lakeland Arts, we believe passionately that the arts, culture and heritage of people and place should be universally preserved and protected. We support the people of Ukraine and our colleagues in the museums and heritage sector.

10/03/2022

For today’s photograph we were drawn to this shot of a beautiful house against the backdrop of patchwork fields and rolling hills under an atmospheric cloudy sky.

Our collection records for this photograph are brief and describe the scene as looking out towards the Howgill Fells. Can you help up identify the location of this house to help improve our knowledge of this collection?

Image credit: Joseph Hardman Collection, Lakeland Museum.

03/03/2022

Last weekend’s glimpse of sunshine has got us excited for Spring here at Lakeland Museum! With many of the county’s daffodils ready to burst into colour, we have chosen this photograph of a farmer driving his tractor and plough past a bank lined with flowers to brighten your day.

We don’t know much about this farmer or the farm buildings sitting at the foot of the fell, so if you any information or recognise the location please let us know and help us add to our knowledge of this wonderful collection!

Image credit: Joseph Hardman Collection, Lakeland Museum.

Address

Abbot Hall
Kendal
LA95AL

Telephone

01539 722464

Website

http://lakelandmuseum.org.uk/

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Videos

We are incredibly grateful to everyone for your ongoing support and we're wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day! We want to say a very big THANK YOU to all who have helped us along the way, funded our projects, visited our spaces, supported our events, become members, made donations, volunteered and worked with us. Lakeland Arts loves you! You can Love Lakeland Arts by supporting us through memberships and donations, both of which help us to look after the collections and buildings, so that we can continue to inspire our local community through arts, culture and heritage, for maintain them for generations to come. Find out more on our website under join and support - lakelandarts.org.uk #lakelandarts #abbothall #blackwellartsandcrafts #windermerejetty #museumoflakelandlife #thankyou #lovelakelandarts #support #heritage #arts #culture #community #lakedistrict #cumbria

LGBT+ Within and Beyond exhibition at Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry

LGBT+: Within and Beyond runs until 1 February 2020 at Museum of Lakeland Life & Industry. Watch curator Rachel Roberts and Graham Easterlow from Bordello Theatre talk about this landmark exhibition in Kendal.

Who doesn't love a bit of bingo!? Pick up some games at our shop for kids and adults this Christmas - no screens or Amazon excessive packaging required. There are also some handmade craft alternative Christmas wreaths which our friendly staff will tell you all about while you're browsing and buying. #buylocal #handmade #supportsmallbusiness #kendal

It's officially an indoor day! But our Museums have you covered ☂️ with plenty to see and do - like our family friendly Child Labour exhibition in Kendal https://www.lakelandmuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/child-labour Escape the rain, treat the kids to something different and try a #MOLLIChallenge

Abbot Hall Art Gallery 2019

We're so excited to announce our fantastic programme of exhibitions for 2019! Highlights include Ruskin and Turner, works by the Scottish Colourists, a partnership with National Gallery and an exhibition on refugee artists. Find out more at: http://ow.ly/td3K30mrFgh #artexhibitions #Kendal #notjustlakes

Families can become budding reporters...

Families can become budding reporters as part of our exhibition marking the 200th birthday of the local paper Westmorland Gazette. Create your own newspaper, separate real from fake news, even star in your own front page. From Wordsworth to the Web: 200 Years of the Westmorland Gazette - on now at Museum of Lakeland Life & Industry, Kendal, Cumbria. https://www.lakelandmuseum.org.uk/westmorlandgazette200

‪Our choir is in fine voice, we're sure you agree! until 7.30 stop by Museum of Lakeland Life for our Victorian Christmas Cracker ‬

Museum of Lakeland Life & Industry

12/07/2023

19/06/2022

02/06/2022

01/06/2022

23/05/2022

26/04/2022

22/04/2022

17/04/2022

12/04/2022

31/03/2022

29/03/2022

23/03/2022

10/03/2022

10/03/2022

03/03/2022

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Website

Alerts

Contact The Museum

Videos

LGBT+ Within and Beyond exhibition at Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry

Abbot Hall Art Gallery 2019

Families can become budding reporters...

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