Derwent Pencil Museum in Keswick prepares for a move to Rawnsley Hall

Keswick's Derwent Pencil Museum is getting ready to write a new chapter. In August 2026 the attraction announced that it is moving from its long-standing home at Southey Works to Rawnsley Hall, a short walk away and closer to the town centre.

The museum will close at its current site on 1 November and reopen in its new home in March 2027. Its new building has its own place in Keswick history, having been built in 1898 as part of Keswick School and more recently used by the Keswick Convention.

The move will give the museum a larger, brighter space for visitors, complete with a visitor café. Its familiar exhibitions will remain at the heart of the experience, with the extra room allowing them to grow.

The museum opened in 1981 and has become one of the town's best-known attractions, welcoming up to 60,000 visitors a year. Many come to see one of the world's largest colouring pencils, which measures almost eight metres long.

It tells the story of pencil making in Keswick and of Derwent, the art materials brand behind it. For artists and families alike it is a cheerful, hands-on introduction to a local industry with a global reach.

The museum has long been a popular stop for visiting groups. Cycling clubs, families and holidaymakers sheltering from a Lakeland shower all find their way through its doors.

Alongside the exhibitions there is a Derwent retail shop, where visitors can stock up on pencils, paints and sketchbooks before heading out to capture the fells for themselves.

For a town so closely tied to pencil making, the move keeps the story firmly in Keswick while giving it room to grow. A new café and brighter galleries should make the museum an even more welcoming place to spend a rainy afternoon, and the restored use of a historic Keswick School building adds a fresh layer to the town's heritage.

There is still time to visit the museum at Southey Works before it closes on 1 November. Updates on the move and the reopening at Rawnsley Hall are shared on the Derwent website.