Penrith Museum, Robinson's School,
Middlegate, Penrith, CA11 7PT
Currently on show until the end of January 2007
is a small but intriguing display by the
Alston Moor Historical
Society 'A Glimpse into Alston's Past'. The photographs,
documents and objects cover a wide range of themes. One photograph
shows a Cumberland style wrestler thought to be Gemmy Fawcett of
Nentsbury, another a boy getting water from a 'pant', one of the
gravity fed standpipes set up in the town in the 1890's.
You can find out about the Alston Rifles, and the
local Victorian novelist 'Austin Clare' (Miss James of Clarghyll
Hall) and read the letter written from Moonyoonooka near Geraldton,
West Australia (where land could be got for 50 pence an acre) by
Jos. Hodgson who had emigrated from Alston. He describes shooting
wild turkey and kangaroo, and how an eight-mile long bushfire is
raging as he writes.
On a darker note, from the Museum's own
collection you can see the Mauser pistol and bullets used by
Charles Corbett Kennedy in September 1949 to kill an Alston bank
manager, a taxi driver, and shortly afterwards, himself. Kennedy
the son of a Morpeth Grammar School maths master was a dirt-track
rider. If you want to pursue the history of Alston and
neighbourhood in more detail the Penrith Tourist Information Centre
has sourced some of the latest books on the subject which will make
ideal Christmas presents.
Free admission
Opening Hours:
Monday - Friday: 10am - 4pm
Saturday: 10.30am - 4pm
Closed:
Sunday 24 December to Wednesday 27 December 2006
and Monday 1 January 2007
Museum Curators
Penrith Museum curators are available to answer
questions on current and future exhibitions as well as any other
questions concerning the museum:
- Contact: Dr Sydney T Chapman or
Mrs Judith Clarke, MA AMA, Joint Curators,
- Address: Penrith Museum,
Robinson School, Penrith CA11 7PT
- Telephone: (01768) 865105
- Email:
museum@eden.gov.uk
