Keswick

Market Square to Lake Road

The Moot Hall stands in the middle of Market Square with its unusual one-handed clock. The present building dates from 1813 and replaced structures on the site dating back to 1571. Over the centuries, the site has served as a courtroom, market hall and museum. Look up at the clock before heading into the square.

Keswick Market fills Market Square and Main Street twice a week. Its roughly 65 to 70 stalls sell food, clothing and homeware, making the town centre a good place to begin a visit.

Bryson's has baked in Keswick since 1947. Its Lakeland Plum Bread and Borrowdale Tea Bread are local specialities made to the bakery's own recipes. The shop on Main Street has an upstairs tea room serving snacks and meals.

Walk down Lake Road to Fellpack at number 34 for Fellpots, the restaurant's inventive dishes. Its short, seasonal and eclectic menu and mix of reservable and walk-in tables make it a useful stop after time on the fells.

Pubs, Pizza and Outdoor Kit

Back near the square, the Dog & Gun is a Greene King pub that welcomes dogs on leads in its indoor and outdoor seating areas. The Pack Horse, tucked into Pack Horse Court off the high street, serves draught beer and has dining areas on three upstairs terraces.

The Square Orange on St John's Street serves Roman-style pizza from a stone oven and European-inspired tapas. It welcomes well-behaved dogs and does not take bookings, so plan to find a table when you arrive.

On Brewery Lane, Keswick Brewing Company pours beer at the Fox Tap beside its brewery shop, which sells bottled and canned beers.

George Fisher began with a small shop at 17 Lake Road in 1957. In 1967 he took over the present Borrowdale Road premises, formerly the Abraham family's photographic business. The brothers George Dixon and Ashley Perry Abraham were mountain photographers and pioneer climbers; Fisher later led the Keswick Mountain Rescue Team and received an MBE in 1980.

Pencils and Copper in Keswick

Keswick's Pencil Museum traces the town's graphite and pencil-making history on the former pencil works site. Its displays include secret Second World War pencils containing hidden maps and one of the largest colour pencils in the world, measuring almost eight metres. The museum makes an everyday object into a way of exploring the town's industrial past.

An unusually pure deposit of graphite was discovered in Borrowdale in the sixteenth century. Local tradition says a fallen tree exposed the mineral and shepherds used it to mark sheep. Graphite was also used in cannonball moulds, and pencil-making became an important local industry.

Copper mining shaped Keswick too. In the sixteenth century, German miners were brought to the area for their expertise, and industrial sites grew beyond the town. Together with graphite and later pencil-making, the mines explain why this fellside market town has an industrial history as well as a walking one.

Keswick has no entry of its own in the Domesday record. Cumberland was part of the kingdom of Scotland until 1092. Several origins have been proposed for the town's name, including the Anglian 'cheese farm' and Scandinavian and Norwegian derivations.

Lake, Fells and Ancient Stones

From Market Square, walk towards the Derwentwater shore and continue to Friar's Crag for a view across the lake.

The Keswick Launch offers a roughly 50-minute circuit of Derwentwater, with hop-on, hop-off travel at eight jetties. Hawes End is the landing stage for the main Catbells walk, a moderate route with a short steep ascent and minor scrambling. Allow time for the walk as well as the crossing.

Latrigg offers views over Keswick, Derwentwater and Borrowdale. The graded viewpoint route from the head of the Gale Road car park is about two kilometres out and back. Its first 150 metres climb at a 1:7 gradient; self-propelled wheelchair users should avoid this route.

Castlerigg Stone Circle stands on a hill outside town, with Helvellyn and other fells behind its ring of 38 stones. It was probably built around 4,500 years ago in the late Neolithic, although its precise age is uncertain. The circle is about 1.7 miles east of Keswick in a straight line; allow more for the walking route.

Arriving, Rainy Evenings and Market-Morning Weather

Penrith is the nearest railway station for Keswick, with bus connections into town. The former Keswick railway line is now the Keswick to Threlkeld walking and cycling trail. The River Greta bridge near the Keswick end is closed during autumn 2026 replacement works; the trail east of it remains accessible towards Threlkeld.

For an evening indoors, Keswick has Theatre by the Lake near Derwentwater and the Alhambra Cinema on St John's Street. The cinema company was founded in 1913, but its first film was shown in January 1914 after a technical fault delayed the planned opening-night screening.

Back in the centre, the fells rise beyond the rooftops. The lakeshore paths, shops and fell routes offer different ways to carry on from the square.