Advertisements
One of the results in the increase in tourism in the Lake District was a corresponding increase in advertising by those looking to make money from visitors. In order to ensure that visitors to the Lake District would make use of their services, it was essential that guides, inns and museums made themselves known to tourists.
By the mid-nineteenth century guidebooks began advertise on end pages, touting everything from accommodation to souvenirs. The services on offer were diverse: they included transport (railways, coaches, steamers; hotels and private accommodation; artists’ materials; guidebooks and views of the Lakes; prints and paintings and exhibitions.
Newspapers also contained advertisements for travelling attractions like theatre companies, which were attracted to the area by the high number of visitors. One such advertisement in the Cumberland Pacquet in 1828 informed the reader that Madame Tussaud was touring the Lake District and was currently on display in the George Inn in Penrith.
Advertisement by Peter Crosthwaite for his museum in Keswick, photographed with the kind permission of The Keswick Museum.
Newspaper advertisement in The Cumberland Pacquet, 1 November 1834, reproduced with the kind permission of Cumbria County Council.