Where to find out more

Nenthead smelt mill (G.Brooks)

Throughout this website there are many suggestions as to where you can find out more about a particular subject. Here on this page are listed some of the more general sources of information – books; an ever-increasing number of on-line sites; and museums that display material about local industries.

Books
 The industrial archaeology of the Lake Counties : M.Davies-Shiel and J.D.Marshall, David & Charles, 1969
The Lake District at work : J.D.Marshall and M.Davies-Shiel, David & Charles, 1971
A guide to the industrial archaeology of Cumbria : John and Jan Bennett (eds.), Association for Industrial Archaeology, 1993
Life and tradition in the Lake District : William Rollinson, Dalesman Books, 1981
A history of Cumberland and Westmorland : William Rollinson, Phillimore, 1996
Industrial Cumbria (in old picture postcards) : Bill Myers, European Library, 1993
The Lake Counties at work (Britain in old photographs) : John Marsh, Alan Sutton, 1995
The Lakes & Cumbria mines guide : Ian Tyler, Blue Rock Publications, 2006
Cumbria (The Buildings of England) : Matthew Hyde and Nikolaus Pevsner, Yale University Press, 2010
Water-power mills of South Lakeland : Michael Davies-Shiel, Hayloft Publishing, 2017
Cumbria’s industrial past : Cumbria Industrial History Society, 2017
Ore mining in the Lake District : Alastair Cameron & Liz Withey, Amberley, 2017
Industrial railways and locomotives of Cumberland (with details of industrial sites) : Peter Holmes, Industrial Railway Society, 2017

Resources on-line
Find photos and search the archive of Historic England under “images and books” at www.historicengland.org.uk
Maps, photos, topics and more are in the Lakes Guides at www.lakesguides.co.uk
Industrial topics are included in the transcripts and recordings of the Ambleside Oral History Group http://www.aohg.org.uk/
Thousands of images from around Cumbria can be seen in the Cumbria Image Bank http://www.cumbriaimagebank.org.uk/
Many more images of Cumbria are in the Heritage Photo Archive http://heritagephotoarchive.co.uk/
You can search the County Council’s Historic Environment Record (for places outside the Lake District National Park http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/planning-environment/countryside/historic-environment/HER_online.asp
Many industrial topics are included on the Past Presented website http://www.pastpresented.info/
The transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society have been published since 1884 http://cumbriapast.com/cgi-bin/ms/main.pl
The catalogue of the county council’s archive service is at
http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/archives/online_catalogues/default.asp
For places within the Lake District National Park search their Historic Environment Record http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/
The British Library have digitised a number of newspapers from this part of the world https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
Historical directories of England & Wales will tell you who did what and where over the years http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/cdm/landingpage/collection/p16445coll4
Old maps from the National Library of Scotland collection http://maps.nls.uk/index.html
Mining history at the Durham Mining Museum http://www.dmm.org.uk/mindex.htm
Search for mining and industrial history in the website of the Cumbria Amenity Trust Mining History Society at http://www.catmhs.org.uk/
The county library’s catalogue for books and local history is at http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/Landing_page/librariesandarchives.asp
The County History Trust have their own list of resources here

Museums
Barrow-in-Furness – The Dock Museum http://www.dockmuseum.org.uk/
Carlisle – Tullie House http://www.tulliehouse.co.uk/
Coniston – The Ruskin Museum http://www.ruskinmuseum.com/
Kendal – Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry https://www.lakelandmuseum.org.uk/
Keswick Museum https://keswickmuseum.org.uk/
Millom Discovery Centre http://millomdiscoverycentre.co.uk/
Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum
Whitehaven – The Beacon https://thebeacon-whitehaven.co.uk/
Workington – The Helena Thompson Museum http://www.helenathompson.org.uk/

(Page created 04/03/18. Last updated 07/01/24)