Lakeland Museum
Museum of everyday life in the Lake District, based at Abbot Hall in Kendal and currently closed during a phased redevelopment.
Have only individual sections read aloud
About the museum
The museum opened in 1971 as the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry and is now called Lakeland Museum. It is based at Abbot Hall in the centre of Kendal and is part of Lakeland Arts, the charity that also runs Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Blackwell and Windermere Jetty Museum.
Its collection shows how people in Cumbria lived and worked in the 18th and 19th centuries. Displays included reconstructed farmhouse kitchens and bedrooms, a Victorian toy shop, a post office and a pharmacy, together with the tools of farmers and miners. Further sections covered the author Arthur Ransome, whose inspiration came from the Lake District landscape, and the photographer Joseph Hardman, who worked for the Westmorland Gazette from the 1930s to the 1950s and left about 5,000 negatives.
The museum is currently closed for a multi-phased redevelopment that aims to find new ways of presenting the collection and the site. In October 2025 Lakeland Arts received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £244,000 to study the feasibility of a new cultural destination for Kendal. No reopening date has been published.
Highlights
- Reconstructed Cumbrian farmhouse rooms from the 18th and 19th centuries
- Material about the author Arthur Ransome
- Archive of about 5,000 negatives by the photographer Joseph Hardman
- Victorian toy shop, post office and pharmacy displays
- Founded
- 1971
- Operated by
- Lakeland Arts
Admission & discounts
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Accessibility
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Kids & families
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Getting there & parking
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Amenities & dining
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Events & venue rental
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