Object of the month: Valentine card, Puzzle Purse

For February’s Object of the Month, we have decided to search our collections for love tokens inspired by Valentine’s Day. Let’s look back at one of the more popular traditions. The Valentine Puzzle Purse was a popular method of spreading messages of love and romance. The oldest known printed Valentine

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Object of the month: Lost Species.

For November’s object of the month, we have decided to bring to light not just one artifact from our collection, but a whole group. On our social media, we have been posting about some of our extinct species specimens for Remembrance Day for Lost Species day on the 30th of

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Object of the Month: Lithophone

Lithophone expert Mike Adcock visited the museum recently and gave these beautiful instruments a tune. About lithophones A lithophone looks like a xylophone but it is made out of stone, rather than wood. ‘Lithos’ meaning stone in Greek, and ‘phone’ being voice or sound. Kendal Museum has two of these

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Object of the Month: Knitting Sticks

Our object of the month for the month of September is our collection of Knitting Sticks. These objects were used to speed up the knitting process, allowing for up to three or four needles to be used at once. They also enabled knitting to be done both standing and whilst

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Object of the Month: Puff Adder

For this Object of the Month, we have chosen the Puff Adder! Puff Adders can be found in Africa, as well as the southern Arabian Peninsula (countries like Yemen and Oman). Their Latin name is ‘Bitis arietans’. Bitis is the name of the genus of vipers, and arietans means ‘striking

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Object of the Month: Roman Face Jar

This is a rare example of a Roman coarse ware face jar. This jar is incised to create a bearded face. The fragments were found at Watercrook Roman fort near Kendal. Face pots were probably introduced into Britain by the Roman Army in the 1st century AD. The faces may

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Object of the Month: John Gough

John Gough Bust In the corridor down to the Wildlife Gallery, Kendal museum has an imposing marble bust of the ‘Blind Philosopher’ of Wordsworth’s epic poem The Excursion. This handsome man was a Kendalian famous for his wide range of scientific interests. John Gough was born in 1757, the son

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Object of the Month: Puffin

Puffin Puffins are unmistakable birds with their black back and white underparts, distinctive black head with large pale cheeks and their tall, flattened, brightly-coloured bill. Its comical appearance is heightened by its red and black eye-markings and bright orange legs. Used as a symbol for books and other items, this

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Object of the Month: Chatelaine

A Chatelaine is an ornament which was used by both men and women and usually fastened to a belt or pocket, with chains bearing hooks on which to hang small articles such as watches, keys, seals, writing tablets, scissors, and purses. The word chatelaine is derived from a word meaning the

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Object of the Month: European Rabbit

Rabbits in Britain Rabbits live in large groups in underground burrow systems known as ‘warrens’. Female rabbits, called ‘does’ produce one litter of between three and seven babies called ‘kittens’ every month during the breeding season. Rabbits can be popular among predators such as stoats, buzzards, polecats and red foxes,

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