October 23rd 2018
21 members met at Portinscale Village Hall for their first meeting of the Local History Group. Introductions were made . Discussions took place as to what members wanted. Lots of topics for discussion were suggested. It was thought sub groups for research would be the way forward.

November 20th 2018
17 members met at Portinscale Village Hall. Members brought in lots of books about Keswick local History, old documents, maps, photos etc. An enjoyable meeting for members to browse through these documents.

December 11th 2018
11 members met in the Crosthwaite Room at the Keswick Museum. Pat Appleton gave an illustrated talk entitled “For so Good and so Great a Purpose” - a book written by Pat about the history of the Congregational Church, Lake Road, Keswick. Pat spoke about the meeting houses where people gathered in secret to preach. Usually one person was on look out duty so that the congregation could be warned of impending danger. One meeting house had a stable type door which was let down to be used as a table. Pat showed a slide of Adams Cross.

January 15th 2019
18 members met in the Crosthwaite Room at the Keswick Museum. Jane Grave, Editor of the Keswick Reminder gave a very interesting talk about the history of the Reminder from when it was started in 1896 by her great grandfather George Watson McKane who passed it onto his son Percy Watson McKane then to his daughter Pat Branthwaite and now in the hands of Jane Grave and her brother David Branthwaite. A truly family business producing around 3300 copies per week. The Reminder can’t be viewed on line but some readers opt to get their copy by PDF email.

February 26th 2019
Stuart Cresswell gave the group a very interesting illustrated talk entitled “The Schoolmaster’s House - History and How. Stuart outlined the history of the house and its occupants and how they fit in with the school and village life. There were 21 members st the meeting.

March 26th 2019
20 Local History members met for the March meeting to hear a talk by local author Keith Richardson. Keith has written numerous books and his talk today was about one of them, the River Greta. From several sources high up on the fells to the meeting of the Derwent, the Greta lies at the heart of Keswick. Keith talked about the people who live very close to the river and how their lives are affected by it.

April 23rd 2019
Local historian, Donald Angus gave an illustrated talk to 17 members of the group. Donald has spent all his life in the area and devoted most of his time outdoors either for work or leisure and has gained a wealth of knowledge and love for the countryside. This became evident during his informative and enthusiastic talk. Donald encouraged members to look really hard and search out the history that is out there to be found.

May 28th 2019
14 members met at the Moot Hall in the town centre and were taken on a guided walk by Patricia Howell. The group first visited some of the yards of the town and Patricia showed us the beautiful stained glass windows of the Royal Oak Hotel before moving on to talk about the well known local resident Jonathan Otley. Moving on down the Main Street next stop was at the site of the former Workhouse and the charitable works of Sir John Bankes. On the whistle stop tour Patricia talked about Crosthwaite Parish Rooms, Rawnsley Hall, the former Keswick School of Industrial Arts, Greta Hall and finally Greta Hamlets.

June 18th 2019
Dickon Chaplin-Brice gave an illustrated talk entitled "Threlkeld Quarry - a history", outlining key dates from 1862 when the quarry opened commercially to coincide with the CKP railway through to 1982 when it finally closed due to financial problems. After a decade the site was taken over and developed as a working museum. The museum is now thriving with many tourists and locals visiting to learn about the wealth of local history it contains. 21 members were in attendance.

July 30th 2019
Following on from a very informative talk by Jane Branthwaite about the Keswick Reminder members were delighted to be shown around the Printworks by David Branthwaite. Members were shown the whole process of producing the Keswick Reminder and were delighted to see an example rolling off the press. It was amazing to hear that all 3500+ copies of the weekly newspaper were assembled and folded by hand.

September 24th 2019
Ray Greenhow gave an illustrated talk on the recent book he’d written entitled “Britain’s First Black Policeman” – The Life of John Kent, A Police Officer in Cumberland 1835 – 1846.
Ray gave an excellent talk about John Kent and told of many stories of the beat officer all gleaned from the extensive research he had done.

October 22nd 2019
One of our own members Roy Ellis gave a very interesting talk about the influential Calvert Family who lived at Brundleholme in Keswick. As a legacy the town still has Calvert’s Bridge connecting Brundleholme to Penrith Road.

November 19th 2019
“The House that Justice Wren Built – a Moment in time at Castlerigg Hall” was the title of the illustrated talk Christine Craghill gave to the group. Christine has done much research into old Cumberland farm houses and of course Castlerigg Hall is on our doorstep! It was interesting to learn of the additions and alterations to the house over the years and to see images of some of the original features still in the house.

December 10th 2019
We had a bit of a social get-together and over mulled wine and festive nibbles the members tackled a light hearted local themed quiz. No prizes but the participating members were amazed at how much they did, or didn’t know about their local town.

January 21st 2020
Margaret Bragg, a well known lady around the town, gave an unscripted talk to members entitled “Oil Lamps and Earth Middens”, Talking totally from her experiences as an evacuee from South Shields to Cumberland Margaret entertained and enthralled the group for the duration of her talk.

February 25th 2020
The Local History group (along with other U3A members) visited the Alhambra Cinema courtesy of member Tom Rennie and his daughter Carol who own the cinema. The first film shown was “Lights, Camera, ALHAMBRA” a film commissioned to commemorate the centenary of the Alhambra in 2014. Then followed a short film about the restoration and refurbishment of the cinema which was partially funded by locals of Keswick and enthusiasts who want to see this iconic building restored. After the films members were given the chance to look behind the scenes and into the projection room where I think possible everyone pushed the buttons to open and close the curtains!

June 30th 2020
Ros Downing gave the group a talk via Zoom about the Stead McAlpin mill on the outskirts of Carlisle. The factory has been manufacturing high quality furnishing fabrics since 1835 and Ros gave a fascinating history of the factory. Some of their designs were produced for Liberty.

July 21st 2020
Another Zoom meeting. This time one of our own members, Roy Ellis talked about the famous Keswick Tresspasses which took place in 1887. A crisis came to a head after the owner of Latrigg, Mr Anthony Spedding erected locked gates, wire fences and trees to bar the way to the summit of Latrigg along what is known as the terrace route. In October of 1887 a mass protest of around 2000 people assembled and disposed of any obstructions to forge a way to the summit. A court case ensued and afterwards the judge suggested the land owner and the Footpath came together and eventually a compromise was reached thus allowing access to the fell.

October 20th 2020
Roy Ellis presented another Zoom talk for the group. His subject this time being Canon Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley. Rawnsley being well known in the town for setting up Keswick School of Industrial Arts as well as being the Reverend for Crosthwaite Church.

November 17th 2020
Mark Hutton gave an excellent Zoom talk about the German Miners in Elizabethan Keswick charting their arrival in 1564 from Augsburg. These German miners were exceptionally skilled and mined in amongst other places Goldscope in the Newlands Valley. Mark explained just how important the Brigham smelting processes were.

December 8th 2020
A festive get-together and quiz

January 19th 2021
Roy Ellis came to the rescue again by giving an other Zoom talk. His subject this time was Marian Twelves. Marian was born in London but travelled north to Elterwater to be housekeeper for Albert Fleming. It was whilst living in Elterwater that Marian became influenced by John Ruskin and set up opportunities for the local women to earn money from spinning. She followed the Rawnsley's to Keswick and became involved in the KSIA movement before setting up the Ruskin Linen Company

February 16th 2021
The group welcomed Stuart Eastwood from the Cumbria Military Life Museum, Carlisle. Many Keswickians enlisted in the WW1 and joined the Border Regiment.

March 16th 2021
Pete Marritt, one of our members gave a Zoom talk about "Portinscale over the Years". Pete gave a potted history about many of the buildings in the village and how life has changed over the years.

April 20th 2021
This month we welcomed Tom Snaith, a retired teacher and now very keen historian. Tom spoke about Sarah Losh born in 1785 in Wreay in the north of the County. Sarah was very much ahead of the times and was a renowned designer and architect, not easy for a woman in what was usually a mans world. She is well remembered for funding the building of St. Mary's in Wreay. Sarah died in 1853.

May 18th 2021
Bob Price, Chair of the Acorn Bank Watermill Trust gave a very informative talk about the restoration of the watermills. It was in 2007 when a small group of volunteers banded together determined to get the mill turning again to grind flour. This was achieved in 2011.

June 15th 2021
The title of the talk today was "Millbeck - A Mill Hamlet through Time". Kevin Grice spoke about the vibrant woollen industry which arose in the 18thC. There was a hive of activity with carding mills, weaving shops, fulling mills and tenters areas employing many local people.

September 21st 2021
Christine Craghill gave a very interesting talk entitled "Footprints in the Hills". Footprints not as you would imagine but footprints of buildings long gone from around the Uldale and the northern fells. Christine pointed out that if you look around hard enough you will see much evidence of how our forefathers farmed the land.

October 19th 2021
Mark Hatton returned to the group and gave a fascinating talk about the Coppermines of Coniston Fells. Marks knowledge never ceases to amaze and again the group learned so much about the geology and history of mining.

November 16th 2021
At this meeting we learned from Mark Radcliffe about James, the 3rd Earl of Lord's Island on Derwentwater and a possible connection to Lady's Rake on Walla Crag.

December 14th 2021
An enthusiastic and passionate talk by Tom Snaith about the late great Donald Campbell. There'll hardly be a Cumbrian who hasn't heard of the ill fated attempt of a water speed record by Campbell but Tom threw in so much more information from all the research he had done. Campbell, of course perished in 1967.

January 18th 2022
The subject of the talk by Dr. Jim Cox was "Who Killed Percy Toplis". Francis Percy Toplis 1896 - 1920 was easily identified by the monocle he wore. During WW1 Toplis served as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps. After the war he became notorious following the murder of a taxi driver and the wounding of a police officer in the then county of Cumberland. He was tracked down and killed near Plumpton - but who killed Percy Toplis?

February 15th 2022
Kevin Grice returned to give the group a talk about The Hollens Estate at Grasmere. His talk included water features, Wordsworth, Dove Cottage, De Quincey, Ralph Alcock and Alcock Tarn

March 15th 2022
It was very fitting that the meeting today took place in Crosthwaite Church as the speaker Ron East was giving his talk about "The History and Development of Bells and Bell Ringing". Crosthwaite Church has 8 bells and Ron gave a very informative talk about them

April 19th 2022
Ian Tyler, the well known historian gave the group about "Thirlmere and the Drowning of the Valley". There was much opposition of the scheme to flood the valley to create a reservoir especially from the two main land owners - Countess Ossalinsky and Thomas Leathes until the carrots of cash were dangled before them! In 1890 Alderman Harwood laid the foundation stone of teh dam and 4 years later water flowed to the citizens of Manchester.

May 24th 2022
Lena Stanley-Clamp came along to give the group a talk about the "Spencer-Bells of Fawe Park", Portinscale. Fawe Park is remembered on two counts. One, it was the holiday house of Beatrix Potter and featured in her well known story The Tale of Benjamin Bunny and secondly it achieved some fame as a battleground for a footpath dispute in the 1880's

June 21st 2022
One of the Local History group members, Ann McWatt led some of the members on an outside visit to Caldbeck. The visit included The Howk, Priests Mill, St. Kentigern's Church and John Peel's burial place. Whilst at the church we saw a leper's slit, quite rare in teh county

September 13th 2022
Dr. Phil Sykes gave a talk about "Dr. William Brownrigg; a forgotten 18th Century Polymath". William Brownrigg 1712 - 1800 was a doctor and a scientist who practiced at Whitehaven. His life was dedicated to medicine and the sciences and he was created a Fellow of the Royal Society. He retired to Ormathwaite Hall and still spent his time in research. Brownrigg is buried in Crosthwaite Churchyard.

October 11th 2022
Ray Greenhow returned to talk to the group. Ray, a retured police inspector spends much of his now retired time researching unusual snippets he has uncovered. His talk was about the "Derwent Division; a forgotten Cumbria Constabulary and his talk included the story of James Armstrong a Keswick constable who perished on duty on Clough Head. There is a plaque to commemorate him at the Royal Hotel Dockray.

November 15th 2022
Another visit from Kevin Grice who this time spoke about "Loaves and Fishes; the Mills, Ponds and Granaries of Shap Abbey.

December 13th 2022
Our annual festive get together. Sue Grant gave a couple of short talks about the research she has undertaken. Sue's talk was about "Tales from Crosthwaite Graveyard" when she spoke about Thomas Christian and William Nixon. The afternoon was rounded off with mulled wine and mince pies!

14th October 2025
The Leyland Bus Factory at Lillyhall, 1970 to closure 1993. David Quainton

4 November 2025
Soldiers of World War 2 who became Keswick Characters. Bill Richardson

KeswicK Reminder 7 November 2025

Skiddaw U3A marked Remembrance week with a talk to the Local History Group by Bill Richardson, a former Poppy Appeal Organiser. The subject was Keswick Soldiers who returned from World War 2 to help make Keswick the town it is today.

Bill took over from Alec Davidson in 2005, Like many of his contemporaries Alec was a in the Border Regiment of the Territorial Army. He was sent to Belgium with the BEF in 1940. He was later plucked from the sea at Dunkirk by Major Kemp, later Lord Rochdale.Alec served in North Africa and Italy where he was wounded. On return to Keswick he worked as a hospital porter. A well known figure, he was a dedicated supporter of the Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer Societies as well as the Royal British Legion.In contrast Billy Hewer was taken prisoner at Dunkirk spending 5 years as a POW.
Johnny Richardson was in the Highland Light Infantry attached to the French Army. He was one of the few members of the Highland Division to be evacuated from Cherbourg before the Fall of France. In North Africa he was taken prisoner at the fall of Tobruk. Taken to Italy he escaped and was taken in by villagers in the mountains near Rome. He returned to be well known as the Huntsman for Blencathra Fox Hounds.
Barty Hodgson was a Paratrooper who won the Military Cross on D Day . His platoon secured the landing grounds at Ranville Bridge near Caen for the Glider bourne troops. He returned to the Family building firm and built among many other things parts of Windebrowe Avenue and Latrigg Close.
Frank Harrison was a Royal Engineer building bridges often under fire from Caen through Belgium and Holland to Germany. He was awarded the Military Medal for a series of acts of bravery. Although from a farming family he returned to Keswick as a joiner. He was a prominent member of the Normandy Veterans Association.
Arthur Ibbotson a Grenadier Guard landed on Sword Beach on D Day and fought all the way to Gemany. For many years he ran the Esasedale Hotel. He died in 2023 and was probably the last of Keswicks veterans.
In the Far East John Bryson was in the Catering Corps baking bread at the Kohima Field Kitchen while being bombed and shelled by the Japanese. On demob he came to Keswick and established the eponymous Bakery and Cafe on Main Street.
Ronnie Green was in the Home Guard and then the Royal Artillery in Burma. He was in the Army of occupation in Japan and visited Horishima. He returned to the Family Joinery and Undertakers Business. He was a major Figure in Keswick Rugby Club and was president of the Cumbria RFU. He met his wife Melles during the war. She was a volunteer in the Canadian Air Force. She became a leading figure in the Royal British Legion and carried the standard at the Royal Albert Hall. With Ronnie she was also a keen bowler serving as president of Keswick Bowls club.The talk finished with Bill talking about his long relationship with
Jim Newstead of the Royal Welch Regiment. A highly visible and audible member of the Poppy Appeal team, particulary at Booths. Active to the very end he is fondly remember by many in the town . He fought through Northern Europe. An enthusiastic sailor at Nicol End. He died during covid . His cortege was saluted by a socially spaced parade of RBL members with their standard. Many members of Booths staff came out to applaud his coffin as he passed by.

2nd December 2025

More Keswick and Cumbrian postal History Mike Mapleton

6th January 2026

A Wasdale Lad. A family journey from to Mungrisdale to West Cumberland. Rob Steele

10th February 2026

Cumbrian Yarn and Secret Keswick. Author of several books on Cumbrian History. Beth Pipe

10th March 2026

The Death of a Government Inspector. A tudor Mystery in the Keswick Mines. Freda Chapman