The Tale Telt Project (2025)
Since May 2024, over the course of this project, Hannah Fox, Story Researcher, travelled the county, searched high and low, met countless Cumbrians and recorded remarkable tales. Tale Telt has now drawn to an close. We have held a major exhibition of the gathered tales, printed them in a newspaper, held a wide range of participatory workshops and been out on the road through 2025 sharing the treasure trove of tales at community events and festivals across the region. The audio recordings and associated transcripts can now be found here: Tale Telt: Real Voices sharing fantastic Cumbrian tales – YouTube
A celebration of the heritage and craft of Cumbrian storytelling
Cumbria’s famous authors and poets are renowned the world over, and yet these figures are only a small part of the picture. Keswick Museum has been seeking out and capturing the cultural heritage of storytelling in Cumbria. We’ve been on the hunt for both traditional and adapted tales, the narratives shared amongst communities and through families, that say something about the mythical and magical nature of this county.
Hannah Fox, Story Researcher, has been out and about across Cumbria to identify and record local storytellers and their tales- listening to the stories and looking for those who have told, and are still, telling them.
We are exploring their origins, how they have developed and what forms they now take. The gathered tales are being shared and celebrated in our new exhibition in gallery 2.
A Taste of the Tales
Explore the audio clips below to hear some of our favourite tales, told by real Cumbrian people in their own voices.
Prefer to read? Click the banners for transcriptions of every Tale Telt story!
Want to see the tales brought to life? Keep scrolling to see original stop motion animations.
Sample story: Big Hands (1 minute, 52 seconds)
Sample story: Pranking Jobbie (44 seconds)
Sample story: The King of Dunnerdale (4 minutes, 14 seconds)
Sample story: Meg and the Fiddler (5 minutes, 41 seconds)
Sample story: The Bardsea Boggart (3 minutes, 16 seconds)
Sample story: Jam Eaters (2 minutes, 4 seconds)
Tale Telt: Animated
The Haltwhistle Film Project created these wonderful animations in partnership with The Edington Centre, a day Centre in Penrith dedicated to providing care for adults with learning difficulties. The group used stop-motion and their own artwork to bring their favourite Tale Telt stories to life.
Look out for more Tale Telt activities beyond the museum…
Tale Telt On the road
Come see us storytelling live at:
- Keswick Mountain Festival (16-18th May 2025)
- Keswick Summer Fair (7 June 2025)
- Stealing Thunder Festival (20-22 June 2025)
- EskFest (10-12 July 2025)
- Cumberlandia (25-27 July 2025)
- Keswick Show (25 Aug 2025)
Museum activities for everyone
- Weekly storytelling & crafts for under 5s with Stay and Discover
- Family stories & crafts
- Lunchtime talks
- Storytelling workshops & performances
