Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum

About the museum

Threlkeld Quarry was opened in the 1870s to supply stone ballast for the Penrith to Keswick railway. Output grew from a few hundred tons a year to 80,000 tons by 1894, and the owners also ran a works making concrete flagstones. The quarry closed in 1937, reopened in 1949 after modernisation and was mechanised with heavy excavators and a new crushing plant after the Second World War. It closed for good in 1982, when the last owner stripped the site of anything of value.

A narrow gauge tub railway once carried the rock from the quarry face to the crushers, and steam locomotives later extended the system towards neighbouring quarries and down to the main line at Threlkeld station. In 1992 the Lakeland Mines and Quarries Trust leased the site to set up a museum, and volunteers repaired the buildings and landscaped the ground. A company took over in 1995 and, for some years, mining displays from the Caldbeck Mining Museum were added.

Today the museum is run by volunteers. Its mining and quarry rooms hold plans, photographs, minerals, rock samples and displays on lighting, drilling and explosives, while the site shows a working collection of vintage excavators and quarry machinery, including the Vintage Excavator Trust. A relaid 2ft gauge railway takes visitors into the inner quarry. A new museum building is being planned.

Highlights

• Narrow gauge train ride into the old granite quarry
• Mining Room with minerals, plans and photographs
• Quarry Room with rock samples from over fifty quarries
• Collection of vintage excavators and quarry machinery
• Mineral panning for children and adults

Permanent exhibitions

• Mining Room – Artefacts, plans and photographs of local mines, a mineral display and exhibits on lighting, drilling and explosives.
• Quarry Room – Explains how local geology relates to quarrying, with rock samples keyed to a large map and photographs from over fifty quarries.
• Quarry railway and vintage excavators – A 2ft gauge railway runs into the inner quarry past a collection of vintage excavators and quarry machinery.

Founded

1995

Operated by

Threlkeld Quarry Museum Ltd

Admission & discounts

Admission includes the museum and the train ride; a museum-only price is not listed. Holders of a Heritage Railway Association Privilege card or a Rail Staff Travel card get free admission. School trips cost £8.50 per child.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible: no information
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom: not available
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Wheelchairs can be taken on the train, which has a ramp and space in the guard’s van. There are toilets, but no fully accessible toilet yet. Well-behaved dogs are welcome on the site, in the museum building and on the train.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Hands-on stations
• Stroller-friendly

The museum offers activities for all the family, including mineral panning for budding geologists. Buggies can travel in the guard’s van or be left on the platform. Santa trains run in December.

Getting there & parking

The quarry is opposite the village of Threlkeld, about 3 miles from Keswick on the A66 towards Penrith. Follow the brown tourist signs along the B5322 (St John’s in the Vale Road); the quarry is less than a mile from the junction. Satnav postcode CA12 4TT.

Amenities & dining

• Café: not available
• Museum shop

There is no café at present; takeaway tea and coffee, locally made traybakes, cold drinks, ice cream and snacks are sold. A café is planned for the new museum building.

Events & venue rental

The museum welcomes enquiries about filming on site.

Plan your visit