Keswick, Cumbria
Keswick is an English market town and a civil parish, historically in Cumberland, and since 1974 in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria. It had a population of 5,243 at the 2011 census, and is now home to more than 5,000 people, including 2,000 pensioners and 1,000 carers. It has one of Britain’s oldest surviving cinemas, the Alhambra; and the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery in Fitz Park.
About Keswick, Cumbria in brief
Keswick is an English market town and a civil parish, historically in Cumberland, and since 1974 in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria. Lying within the Lake District National Park, Keswick is just north of Derwentwater and is 4 miles from Bassenthwaite Lake. 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 granted a charter for Keswick’s market. 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. Keswick became widely known for its association with the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey. The area was conquered by the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria in the 7th century but is traditionally held to have moved to Wales, before moving to the area before moving again in the 10th century. In Roman Britain Cumbrian was the territory of the Carvetii, and as the site of the western part of Hadrian’s Wall, it was of strategic importance. Many local place names from the period, including that of the River Derwent, are Celtic, closely related to some of the early Welsh equivalents in Keswick and early 6th and 7th centuries AD.
Several Christian saints preached the Gospel in the north of England in the late 7th and early 8th century AD; the most important figures were St Herbert of Cuthbert and St Kentigern, who lived on an island in Derwent water, now named after him. In the 19th century 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, which has built up extensive holdings in the area. The name Keswick comes from the Old English, meaning ‘farm where cheese is made’ or ‘Kesewik’, which means ‘Kell’s place at the bend of the river’ and is thought to be of Danish or Norse origin, although not all academics agree on the origin of the toponymy. It is thought that the name is of Saxon origin, but scholars are not agreed about how permanent it was in the Viking-settled area of Keswick, which was at the time of Edward I’s charter of the 13rd century. It had a population of 5,243 at the 2011 census, and is now home to more than 5,000 people, including 2,000 pensioners and 1,000 carers. It has one of the oldest cinemas in the UK, and has a museum and art gallery in Fitz Park, which is open to the public.
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This page is based on the article Keswick, Cumbria published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 02, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
