Geology museums of Britain: Kendal Museum of Natural History and Archaeology, Cumbria
Jon Trevelyan (UK)
Kendal Museum is one of those charming, cluttered museums I feared were dying out (Fig. 1), but still seem to defy the odds and continuing surprising visitors. Like the museum in Whitby (see Geology museums of Britain: Whitby Museum, Yorkshire), at Kendal, there seems to be exhibits stuffed anywhere possible, with surprises everywhere you look.
The museum itself is a local museum in Cumbria, on the edge of the Lake District in northwest England. It was founded in 1796 and includes collections of local archaeology, history, geology and natural history from around the globe, but especially from the Lake District itself.
In April 2011, Kendal Museum achieved the Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Scheme assessment, awarded by Visit England. It is managed by Kendal College on behalf of South Lakeland District Council and is part of the Arts and Media campus at the North End of Kendal.
History
The Museum of Natural History and Archaeology is one of the oldest museums in the UK, with displays of local and global natural history, and archaeology. Kendal’s first museum was founded in 1796 by William Todhunter, who exhibited a collection of fossils, minerals, plants, animals and antiques. In 1835, the Kendal Literary and Scientific Society took over the museum and, as the collection grew, the museum had to be rehoused several times.
In 1913, the current building was offered to the Town Council to house the museum. After WW1, the collections were moved to the renovated buildings – formerly a wool warehouse (Fig. 2) – and the museum was run by a series of honorary curators on behalf of the Town Council.
One of these was Alfred Wainwright, the iconic chronicler of Lake District walks, who gave up his spare time for 30 years to look after the collections. Indeed, there is a special display (Fig. 3) dedicated to the man, including a recreation of his office.
And the museums is great for children, who will not only love the eclectic nature of the exhibits but also some of their more interactive elements (Fig. 4).
The exhibits
Artefacts from the Galava Roman Fort at Ambleside are also held at the museum, and there is a tombstone which tells of a record clerk killed by enemy action. There is also a nice collection of hand axes (Fig. 5) from the Neolithic axe factory on the flanks of Pike O’Stickle (one of my favourite Lakeland hills; Fig. 6); and a natural history gallery, providing and insight into many Lakeland habitats in the form of a miniature nature trail.
There is an ongoing display which tells the story of Kendal Castle, its people and the life of the town, and there are displays showing medieval objects and reconstructions of the castle. In addition, there is an established wildlife garden with varied habitats and wildflowers that attract butterflies and birds.
Fossils and minerals
However, inevitably, it was the geology and fossils that attracted me. The Lake District is no longer recognised as a great place to collect fossils (but it was, as displayed at the museum), but with its mining history, there are minerals to be collected and to be seen in the museum.
The really great thing about the geology at the museum is that it really is very local. For example, the museum has a splendid collection of minerals from the private collections of John Hammer and Bill Shaw (Figs. 7, 8 and 9), many from the old Lake District mines.
Bill Shaw was perhaps the last real mining entrepreneur in the Lake District, who descended from five generations of miners. In 1950, he became mining Superintendant managing Sandbeds Gill Mines in the Caldbeck Fells. During his long career, he collected from the mines of the Lake District, North Wales and Dumfriesshire, and his collection is now at Kendal Museum.
John Hamer’s collection is one of the most extensive mineral collections from the North of England. He lived as a recluse, never married and when he died in his 90s, solicitors were engaged to deal with his affairs. When they visited his house, they found almost every room full of floor-to-ceiling shelves and cabinets containing an estimated 2,000 mineral specimens, along with fossils and archaeological artefacts. Fortunately, they contacted the museum, where they now are on display.
As for the fossils, I love the way this really good collection of local fossils (for example, Fig. 10) are set out in trays, as if they have been there for decades (they may well have been) and that the labels are all handwritten – everything that an amateur collector like me wants from a local collection.
And importantly, these are fossils from the local area, for example, from the early Carboniferous limestone that surrounds much of the Lake District (Fig. 11 and Fig 21), including some fine gastropods (Fig. 12) with my favourite Gigantoproductus giganteus (Fig. 13).
In addition there are some fine examples from the coal measures of the Cumbrian Coalfield (Fig. 14).
Not all the fossils are from the local area (Fig. 15), but they mostly are.
There are ammonites (Fig. 10 and Fig. 16), brachiopods (Fig. 13), bivalves (Fig. 17), gastropods (Fig. 18), orthoceras (Fig. 12), corals (Fig. 12, 19, 20 and 21), marine reptile bones (Fig. 22), ice age mammals (Fig. 23) and much more. All within a small area of the museum.
This really is a gem of a museum and I heartily recommend it for a visit. And I am not alone in having liked it. When the President of the Geological Society, Roderick Murchinson no less, visited the museum with Russian geologist, Count Alexander von Keyserling in 1842, they were highly complementary of the geology exhibitions. I am in good company!
| Parking and address |
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| There is parking by meter and a gift shop. The museum is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. |
| Station Rd Kendal LA9 6BT Tel: 01539 815597 Email:michael.bult@kendal.ac.uk |