It finally came and off we went. By the time we got there it was lunch time so we found a place to eat and then went to the "Pencil" Museum which someone we ran into at the Glengorm castle had recommended.
It turned out to be pretty interesting. Who knew how pencil's were made. The very first graphite ever discovered was in the Seathwaite Valley on th side of a mountain near Keswick about 1500.
The popular story is that following a very violent storm, the shepherds went out to see their sheep on the mountain side and found several downed trees exposing a large black mass. Mistaking it for coal, they tried to burn it. When it wouldn't burn they were at a loss. Then they discovered it to be excellent for marking sheep.
The value was quickly realized and the mines were taken over by the government.
The graphite was transported from Keswick to London and used for medicinal purposes, but most importantly it was used to make molds for cannonballs. Graphite was so valuable, that much thievery took place and in the first half of the 18th century the theft of graphite was punishable by hard labor or transportation.
The first pencils ever made was in 1558 when Cumberland graphite was discovered. This one was made for the Queen's Jubilee
Another interesting thing was that during WWII pencils were used to aid downed RAF pilots. Tiny wafer thin maps and compasses were made to hide inside the pencils and given to the pilots to help them escape if they were shot down over Germany. A chap named Charles Fraser Smith was assigned the job to find and develop various gadgets for WWII spies and he came up with the pencil idea.
Following the pencil museum we decided we better go to the bus stop. If it took as long to get back to Windermere as it did to get to Keswick, well..... and it did.
Finally got back around 6:00 PM, So we spent the entire day going to Keswick (pronounced Kessick) to look at pencils. Ha. Good day though. NO RAIN.
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