Armitt Museum Museums

The Armitt is a unique place combining Gallery, Museum and Library. It is a treasure-house for scholarship and fun, art and entertainment. It encapsulates all that is best about Lakeland and its people and preserves that essence for future generations to enjoy. The Armitt is situated in Ambleside, Cumbria, in the very heart of the magnificent English Lake District.

Water-colours, prints, pastels and oil paintings. This collection includes over 400 water colours by Beatrix Potter depicting fungi, fossils and Roman archaeology. Other works are by Kurt Schwitters, William Green, William Payne, J B Pyne James Walton and T L Aspland.

Neolithic, Bronze Age and Roman material collected in and around Ambleside.

Manuscripts, letters, folk songs, local account books, poor-law records and deeds. Many items relate to Lake District personalities and scholars, including John Ruskin, Harriet Martineau and Charlotte Mason.

Over 10,000 titles relating to the Lake District and the people who lived, worked and visited there. Includes an extensive collection of early guide books, a wide range of books about local history, Medieval Cumbria, Charlotte Mason's educational theories, work by local authors, such as Arthur Ransome, Beatrix Potter and Norman Nicholson and books about mountaineering collected by Bob and Muriel Files.

Items made and used by local people in the home and at work. We also have an interesting textile collection featuring work from the Langdale Linen industry and samples of Ruskin Lace.

The Museum Shop is a Treasure Trove of books, both modern and antiquarian, photographs, prints, greetings cards, stationary and other delightful gifts relevant to the Museum and Library Collection. .