Kendal Museum of Lakeland Life

: Kendal

Kendal Museum of Lakeland Life is closed for redevelopment. Abbot Hall art gallery reopened on Saturday 20 May 2023 with a major exhibition by internationally renowned artist Julie Brook.

image of the exterior of Abbot Hall Museum in Kendal, Cumbria

The Museum of Lakeland Life shows how our Cumbrian ancestors worked, lived and entertained themselves in the changing social climate of the past three hundred years. Our ancestors are long gone, but their belongings live on to tell their story, from the age of 18th Century yeomen farmers, through Georgian and Victorian periods and into living memory.

image of the main entry to Kendal Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry

The exhibition includes a typical street scene with pharmacy, toy shop and tailor’s shop. There are reconstructed workshops displaying curious machinery and furnished domestic interiors. Examples of patchwork, elegant costumes, and embroideries from the Arts and Crafts movement are also on display.

There is a room dedicated to Arthur Ransome, with his writings and drawings and a reconstruction of his study (left), where his desk, typewriter, pipes, books and general memorabilia are kept.

image of an aerial view of Kendal Parish Church, with the Museum of Lakeland Life and Abbot Hall above — Kendal Parish Church, with the Museum of Lakeland Life and Abbot Hall above.

The museum has a gift shop and there is a coffee shop located opposite in Abbot Hall Art Gallery. A pleasant walk along the River Kent will take you to the Kendal Museum.

Abbot Hall, Kirkland, Kendal, LA9 5AL. Tel 01539 722464
Email : info@lakelandmuseum.org.uk