Introduction to Keswick
Keswick developed and remained the main focus of tourism in the Lake District, until the arrival of the railway and the growth of Windermere. Tourism in turn became its main industry.
Due to its position on Derwentwater, the small town of Keswick became the centre for the “discovery” of the English Lakes in the mid-eighteenth century. Through the 1780s, tourists and visitors become a major part of Keswick’s economy. By 1791, though Keswick was also a manufacturing town using water power to produce textiles, tourism was dominant.
Another important draw for the tourists was the presence of Robert Southey, who moved to Keswick in 1803.
Adam Walker, a returning native of Patterdale, noted that Keswick “being the general headquarters of numerous Tourists... improves fast, particularly in Inns and Accommodation: and the inhabitants begin to feel (as at Watering-Places) that it is very convenient to make the Summer provide for the Winter”.
Tourism contributed greatly to the growth of Keswick: the improvements of its buildings; the economic opportunities for its residents; the growth in its population and its social life, with everything from regattas to museums.
Caroline Bowles, Keswick Main Street, bridge and fells, 1823?, watercolour, The Wordsworth Trust.