Museum collection types

Penrith and Eden Museum is home to locally and nationally significant arts and heritage collections. The Museum collects and displays material reflecting the history and culture of Penrith and the Eden Valley. The Museum is a gateway to exploring the Neolithic age in the Eden Valley and Long Meg Stone Circle. Our collections are comprised of thousands of fascinating objects, including finds from the Roman period, mementos of Penrith’s local heroes and an extensive geology collection.

The heritage collection

The Penrith and Eden Heritage Collection is comprised of thousands of fascinating historical objects, many of which have local significance to Penrith and Eden.

The old Penrith collection

This forms the foundation of the Museum. It was brought together in the 19th Century and includes material dating from antiquity to the recent past, some of it of 'Curiosity' interest. It includes the geological collection of Vice-Admiral Wauchope of Dacre Lodge and the herbarium collections donated by Dr. Michael W Taylor, the Museum's first Honorary Curator.

The fine art collection

The Fine Art Collection encompasses a fine group of Dutch and Flemish landscape and genre paintings, local topographical views and contemporary works by Eden artists Phil Morsman, Alan Stones, Lorna Graves, David Boyd and William S. Cowper. The 19th century artists Jacob Thompson and Edward Hobley are well represented, and important works by Thompson have been acquired with grants from the Art Fund and the V&A/MLA Purchase Grant Scheme.