The Ruskin Museum offers an award-winning, thought-provoking 'Open Sesame' into a fascinating Cabinet of Curiosities, crammed full of wonderful objects and paintings, which introduces Coniston's rich cultural and literary heritage.
This museum was the brainchild of Ruskin's secretary and biographer WG Collingwood, who wanted to create a space that would serve as a memorial to the artist, and celebrate the area's heritage. As well as a Ruskin collection – which reveals how the great Victorian critic developed his ideas through drawing – there are exhibits relating to the region's coppermines, slate, geology, lace and farming
Permanent collection
The Bluebird Wing focuses on the 1940s, when Conniston served as a race-track to the hydroplane Speed Aces Sir Malcolm Campbell and his son, Donald Campbell. The wreckage of Donald's K7 from his fatal crash in 1967 is currently undergoing a conservation rebuild, but there are plenty of other artefacts relating to the pilot and his story – including the Bristol-Siddeley Orpheus engine that sat in the lake for 34 years, and Campbell’s pension plan.
