Cumbria Museum Consortium is a grouping of museum organisations in Cumbria, north west England, which receives funding from Arts Council England as a "Major Partner Museum". [1]
The members of the consortium are Lakeland Arts (which operates Blackwell, the Arts & Crafts House near Windermere, Abbot Hall Art Gallery and the Museum of Lakeland Life & Industry in Kendal, and Windermere Jetty, scheduled to re-open in 2018, on Windermere); the Wordsworth Trust (which operates Dove Cottage and the adjacent Wordsworth Museum in Grasmere); and the Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery in Carlisle. [2]
In 2015-2018 the consortium was allocated £3,135,495 by Arts Council England, a reduction of 5.5% in real terms compared to its 2012-2015 funding. [3]
The Consortium supports a programme of Cumbrian cultural learning networks, covering the county of Cumbria in three geographical areas: the Lakeland Museums Education Network (LMEN), The Cumbria Coast Learning Network (CCLN) and CONNECT Cumbria, which serves the North of Cumbria and the Eden Valley. The networks "support lifelong learning in its broadest sense, providing opportunities for people of all ages to engage with culture in a meaningful and appropriate way". [4]
The Treasures of Cumbria website is a project of the Consortium, and encourages residents or visitors to contribute to "an online space for people to record and share what they treasure about Cumbria". [5]
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, Lancashire to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Carlisle.
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region and national park in North West England. It is primarily famous for its mountain, lake, and coastal scenery, and for its literary associations with William Wordsworth and other Lake Poets, Beatrix Potter, and John Ruskin.
Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery is a museum in Carlisle, England. Opened by the Carlisle Corporation in 1893, the original building is a converted Jacobean mansion, with extensions added when it was converted. At first the building contained the museum and also a library, an art school and a technical school.
Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Westmorland and located in the Lake District National Park, the town sits at the head of Windermere, England's largest natural lake. In 2020 it had an estimated population of 2596.
Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived from.
Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Cumberland unitary area of Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cockermouth has a population of 8,204, increasing to 8,761 at the 2011 Census.
Windermere is a town in Cumbria, England. In the 2001 census the civil parish of Windermere and Bowness had a population of 8,245, increasing at the 2011 census to 8,359. The town lies about half a mile (1 km) east of the lake Windermere, from which it takes its name.
Grasmere is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England, in the centre of the Lake District and named after its adjacent lake. Grasmere lies within the historic county of Westmorland. The Ambleside and Grasmere ward had an estimated population of 4,592 in 2019. William and Dorothy Wordsworth, the 'Lake Poets', lived in Grasmere for 14 years and called it "the loveliest spot that man hath ever found."
Bowness-on-Windermere is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Windermere, in the Westmorland and Furness district, in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It lies next to Windermere lake and the town of Windermere to the north east. The town was historically part of the county of Westmorland and is also forms an urban area with Windermere. The town had a population of 3,814 in the 2011 Census.
Hawkshead is a village and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, the parish includes the hamlets of Hawkshead Hill, 1.2 miles (1.9 km) to the north west, and Outgate, a similar distance north. Hawkshead contains one primary school but no secondary school and four public houses.
Wigton railway station is a railway station serving the market town of Wigton in Cumbria, England. It is on the Cumbrian Coast Line, which runs between Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.
The Wordsworth Trust is an independent charity in the United Kingdom. It celebrates the life of the poet William Wordsworth, and looks after Dove Cottage in the Lake District village of Grasmere where Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy Wordsworth lived between 1799 and 1808. It also looks after the majority of the surrounding properties in the conservation area of Town End, and a collection of manuscripts, books and fine art relating to Wordsworth and other writers and artists of the Romantic period. In 2020 it introduced the brand name Wordsworth Grasmere.
CN Group Limited was formerly an independent local media business based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England, operating in print and radio. It is now owned by Newsquest and their newspapers are printed in Glasgow.
Abbot Hall Art Gallery is an art gallery in Kendal, England. Abbot Hall was built in 1759 by Colonel George Wilson, the second son of Daniel Wilson of Dallam Tower, a large house and country estate nearby. It was built on the site of the old Abbot’s Hall, roughly where the museum is today. Before the Dissolution of the Monasteries this was where the Abbot or his representative would stay when visiting from the mother house of St Mary's Abbey, York. The architect is unknown. During the early twentieth century the Grade I listed building was dilapidated and has been restored as an art gallery.
Windermere Jetty: Museum of Boats, Steam and Stories is a museum on the eastern shore of Windermere between Bowness-on-Windermere and the town of Windermere in Cumbria, England. It reopened in March 2019 after 12 years' closure and redevelopment work.
Lakeland Arts is an English charitable company, successor to the Lakeland Arts Trust, based in the Lake District. It operates Blackwell The Arts & Crafts House near Windermere, Abbot Hall Art Gallery and the Museum of Lakeland Life & Industry both in Kendal, and Windermere Jetty: Museum of Boats, Steam and Stories which re-opened in March 2019.
Brathay Trust is a youth-development charity with its head office and residential centre based at Brathay in Cumbria, England. Founded in 1946 by Francis C. Scott, the charity is based at the Brathay Hall and estate near the town of Ambleside. The charity's mission is to transform the lives of young people in need. Methods include outdoor education and experiential learning, but also delivers people and organisation development courses for adults. In 2007, the trust began holding the Brathay Windermere Marathon, a now annual charity marathon.
The Lakeland Book of the Year, also known as the Hunter Davies Lakeland Book of the Year is an award given annually for a book "set in or featuring Cumbria in some way", and is named for the Lake District of north west England. It was founded by writer Hunter Davies in 1984 and is administered by Cumbria Tourism. Davies was one of the judges from 1984 to 2022. In 2023, following Davies's retirement from the role, the judges were Fiona Armstrong, Eric Robson, Michael McGregor, director of Wordsworth Grasmere, and "guest judge" Rachel Laverack from Cumbria County Council. The prizes are traditionally announced at a gala lunch in June, although in 2020 the proceedings took place online because of COVID-19.
Mary Elizabeth Burkett OBE (1924-2014) was an English supporter of the arts, especially in Cumbria, the director of the Abbot Hall Art Gallery from 1966 to 1986, and an expert on felt-making.
Westmorland and Furness is a district and unitary authority area in Cumbria, England. The economy is mainly focused on tourism around both the Lake District and Cumbria Coast, shipbuilding and the port in Barrow-in-Furness, and agriculture in the rural parts of the area.