Keswick 1750 - 1860 GAZ Keswick

Economic Activity:  The publications which described Derwentwater and its environs attracted national audiences from 1751. This led to Keswick’s establishment as the principal accommodation town for gentry picturesque tourism from the 1770s, facilitated by the new turnpike roads. Keswick’s inns, including the Queen’s and Royal Oak hotels, improved and expanded from the 1770s. By 1780 Vicar Island had become Pocklington’s Island, and the scene of annual regattas, and Crosthwaite’s museum had opened, followed by Hutton’s. By the 1790s Keswick’s premiere position was established, and the growth and prosperity of Keswick was based on tourism, and has remained so. Facilities for tourists included entertainment by travelling theatre companies, a new theatre building being noted by Charlotte Deans c.1810. From 1850 the Oddfellows Hall was the principal venue. By 1852 the number of tourist during the season was estimated at 12,000 to 15, 000.

During the period to 1860 population growth and visitor numbers strained the facilities of the town, which was still contained within the developed burgage plots. Growth stalled as railway proposals of 1844-5 did not find support, and while improved sanitation was agreed and implemented.

While the production of leather had declined, Keswick manufactured textiles, carding spinning dyeing and weaving, principally of woollens in the late C18th, but also cotton by 1811. The River Greta was used for motive power, both in the town and at Greta Mills at Briery, where in 1840 seven wheels powered a variety of manufactures. By 1852 the textile industry was less important. By 1852 the textile industry had declined.

Keswick advanced pencil manufacturing from individual hand crafted items to factory production, becoming the town’s largest industry. Foremost amongst the early manufacturers was Joseph Banks, at Greta Mill from 1835.

Places of Worship: St John’s church, designed by Anthony Salvin and paid for by the Marshall family, was consecrated in 1838, with its district annexed from Crosthwaite in 1839. The Congregational Chapel in Lake Road was built in 1858-9, replacing the Independent Chapel of 1803, and the earlier chapel. The Wesleyan Chapel was built in 1814, and the Bethesda Chapel in 1851.

Schools and Other Institutions: In 1819 Crosthwaite parish had ‘five or six’ schools in total containing about 332 children supported by quarter pence. In 1833 Keswick township had twelve daily schools, supported by the parents, containing 144 males and 171 females, though dedicated buildings are not identified. There were then three Sunday schools in the township, belonging to the established church, the Wesleyan Methodists and the Independents.

Schools attached to St John’s commenced in 1840 with a Sunday school which also educated infants on weekdays and, later, girls. The boys’ school for St John’s was sited at Brigham, opening in 1853.

The Moot Hall was rebuilt by the Greenwich Hospital in 1813, the lower floor being used as a market house on Saturdays. The poor house was retained but diminished after the Cockermouth Union was formed in the late 1830s, but closed after 1862. The Keswick Library, with lecture hall facilities, was opened in 1849, when the Mechanics’ Institute was also formed. The Oddfellows Hall was built in 1850, the society being formed in 1831. Coal gas was supplied by a gas works in 1846, and a water works established in 1856. The police force, and station, was created in 1857.

Compiled by: Derek Denman, Keswick History Group