Lake District 1/3: Derwent Pencil Museum

Since my best friend went here in primary school it has basically been a lifetime wish to go to the Pencil Museum in Keswick. We arrived by bus from another town and it was a couple of minutes walk from the main bus stop near Booths (best supermarket in the UK, totally amazing, go there).

I was a bit sad that it wasn't in the above building really, and you didn't get to see the pencils being made in person(?!), that was what I was really, really hoping for. Despite these letdowns, it was really interesting!

It was really busy to be honest, we picked a rainy day in august so it was peak time I suppose. Entry was £3.50 which before visiting I thought was a bargain but having been I would retract that, to be honest.

The museum was all on one level, in one room with another space which served as an auditorium for showing a short ten minute documentary on the history of the pencils. This was really interesting as you saw footage of how they were made, making up for not getting to see it in real life.

I didn't get a lot of good pictures of the interior as it was packed with kids running about doing the trail which seemed really fun! I would certainly reccommend it for families with children of primary school age. I have found some fantastic pictures here on Flickr which show the exhibits though, well worth a look. The cases and exhibits were all really thoughtful and well cared for, and showed some fascinating aspects of the history of pencil making.

My personal favourite display was a section on pencils during the war. Normal pencils were made and sold unpainted due to limited materials. An exception to this was a special type of pencil, designed for the soldiers in World War 2. The exterior of the pencil appeared utterly normal, with a lead and rubber on the top, however the rubber could be unscrewed to reveal a compass and a map of Europe!

There was also the worlds longest coloured pencil on display! It was a real working pencil too, not just a decoration as I'd assumed on first sighting.

Image Source

(There is another awesome photo here!)

Not the longest pencil though, that title is for the 76 foot long pencil constructed in Queens, New York, back in 2007 - check it out!

So yeah, it wasn't quite what I was expecting in a lot of ways but it was still well worth going while I was in the area and really interesting. I went to a couple of other museums whilst in the Lake District so will be updating about them as soon as I can.