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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

TELL ME MORE

Derwent Pencil Museum: a must-visit venue for writers and artists

18/5/2018

15 Comments

 
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When Janice, one of the viewpoint characters in my third novel, Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home, had a friend to entertain on a wet weekend in the Lake District, I sent them to the pencil museum in Keswick. Although I’d known of it since childhood, I’d never visited until, on a wet Wednesday at the end of my research trip to Cumbria, I had the chance to put that right. Entering into a single room through a rather kitsch mock-up of a graphite mine, I thought I’d be in and out in five minutes. Not so! I’m sure that anyone who writes or draws would find the museum fascinating.



I don’t know if my characters picked up the same things as I did (as their visit is dealt with in less than a single sentence), but here’s some of what I learnt:
 



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When we refer to lead pencils, we really mean graphite. The word graphite comes from the Greek for to write but, when first discovered in the Borrowdale Valley around 1550, graphite was originally referred to as black lead. The shepherds who found it, after a storm uprooted a tree, tried to burn it, like peat or coal. Although that didn’t work, they noticed the mineral stained their hands, so they began using it to mark their sheep to denote ownership.


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The term black market has its origins in graphite smuggling. Besides the manufacture of pencils, graphite was important to the “armaments trade” as a lining for the cannon and musket ball moulds. In 1650, graphite became more valuable than gold, leaving little available for pencils. Locals scavenged for scraps from the Borrowdale mines which were then transported across the fells by packhorse to the port of Whitehaven. Those involved were identifiable by the stains on their hands and, if caught, could be sentenced to flogging, hard labour or transportation.


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Pencils are constructed from a cedar-wood “sandwich”. The first wood-encased pencil was made by Italians in 1565. Pencil manufacture was a cottage industry in and around Keswick until the late eighteenth century when the process became industrialised. While pencil manufacture continues in Cumbria to this day, although it has moved from Keswick to Workington, the graphite used is now imported.


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Cumberland pencils helped win the Second World War. In true James Bond style, managers of the Cumberland Pencil Company were tasked with producing a pencil containing a tissue-thin rolled-up map that could be carried by airmen or sent to prisoners of war. The work was carried out secretly after dark without the knowledge of the local community or workers on the factory floor.


Coloured pencils don’t contain graphite. The Cumberland Pencil Company produced its first coloured pencils in 1932 with orders received from around the world.

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Do you have any interesting facts to share about pencils? Do you know of any quirky museums that would especially appeal to writers and artists?


Charli’s observations of competition between nesting birds has led to a challenge to write a 99-word story about property values. The property could be “a home, business or pencil museum”. How could I resist such a delightful nudge to share my account of my visit? I’m so enthused, I’ve composed two flash fiction pieces: the first based on the history of graphite; the second on a thread of the novel WIP that prompted this research.
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The original black marketeers

Black lead didn’t burn like peat or coal, and their wives complained it marked their clothes. So the shepherds who discovered it didn’t protest when a wealthy lawyer acquired the title deeds for the mine. A century on, their descendants cursed them, now graphite cost more than gold. These men scavenged for scraps by moonlight, sold on to Flemish smugglers to carry by packhorse to the coast. If they believed they were only claiming their birthright, it was no defence in court. The original black marketeers, betrayed by the stains on their hands, flogged and transported for their crimes.



Not in my backyard

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against them myself. I’m thinking of the old folk, and the kiddies walking past to school. With that lot shambling and gurning, shouting obscenities or proclaiming themselves the second coming of Jesus Christ. It wouldn’t be nice, like Halloween without the dressing up, the apples and sweets.

Am I concerned about house prices? Not really, I wasn’t thinking of myself. But now you mention it, it does seem unfair. Of course, the poor souls have to go somewhere. But this is such a pleasant neighbourhood. Why do the authorities want to spoil it?

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
15 Comments
Norah Colvin link
20/5/2018 01:00:19 pm

OMG, Anne. I'm fascinated with what you've shared of the pencil museum. I would have expected five minutes to be enough too, but what a history you learned and shared. It's interesting to think that one should require only two pencils to write a novel, as long as no rewrites are necessary. :) I can't think of any other museums of special interest to writers, though I did enjoy my visit to the Dickens Museum the day I met you in London, and Luccia has written her flash about the Emily Dickinson Museum. I guess any writers' residences would be interesting. I would have enjoyed visiting Stratford-upon-Avon when I was over there, but didn't have time. Never mind, I got to meet three very special English writers instead.
Both of your flash stories are well done. You have captured the history quite succinctly.
In your novel situation, I understand the concern - nobody wants "those" people in their neighbourhood. Not only might it be contagious, what would it do to property values!

Reply
Annecdotist
21/5/2018 05:42:12 pm

Glad you enjoyed it, Norah. I met up with a friend the other week who loves that part of the country. When I said I’d been to the pencil museum she told me that years ago I’d laughed at her for saying she was considering a visit! Shame on me, although I have no memory of that.
Even though London’s much closer for me, I’ve never been to the Dickens Museum (despite your very convincing appraisal of it), or even the Freud Museum in the two years I was doing a day a week course very close by. One day – or maybe not!
Oh yes, it might indeed be contagious – and I did enjoy touching on those prejudices in my WIP. Although I can’t trace it – or can’t afford the time to try – I do recall some research into property values and de-institutionalisation amidst the widespread belief that they would decline. I don’t think I’m misremembering that there was no evidence to support this assumption.

Reply
Annecdotist
4/6/2018 02:38:34 pm

Two pencils to write a novel – great observation, although as a pedant and must query how much of the pencil is comfortable to use! If – after multiple sharpenings – it doesn’t reach the connection between forefinger and thumb it might stifle inspiration. Which makes me wonder how much graphite is wasted in pencils generally. I have four on my desk at the moment – including the freebie from the museum – all longer than from my wrist to the tip of my little finger. (I knew there was something important in your comment I’d missed responding to!)

Norah Colvin
30/3/2021 12:23:19 pm

I'm sorry I didn't get back to reply to your responses, Anne. It's a good thing you sent me over now. I remembered reading about the Pencil Museum but wanted to have another look.
How long should a pencil be? That's an interesting thought, though it's not quite as puzzling as the question about a length of string. :)

Anne Goodwin
1/4/2021 10:21:41 am

Thanks for your virtual return visit, Norah. Maybe I'll get to go in real life soon and I can ask about the optimal length for a pencil ;-)

Robbie Cheadle link
20/5/2018 03:55:25 pm

I enjoyed both these pieces, Anne.

Reply
Annecdotist
21/5/2018 05:34:29 pm

Thanks, Robbie. Will check yours out soon.

Reply
Molly Stevens link
23/5/2018 10:52:09 am

Wow! You wrote your flash about a pencil museum, which I saw as a random possibility when Charli offered this week’s challenge. And your trip to the museum was most fascinating. I enjoyed both of your flash entries this week, Ann. -Molly

Reply
Annecdotist
30/5/2018 10:23:55 am

I think it might have been a gentle nudge to me as Charli was aware I had a post on my visit waiting in wings. Thanks for reading, Molly, and your kind feedback on my flash. And apologies for the belated reply – the comments function has failed me for the last few days.

Reply
Chelsea Owens link
1/6/2018 02:58:45 pm

My son was just asking me about how pencils are made! -Loved the prompts, too.

Reply
Annecdotist
4/6/2018 02:31:05 pm

Well done to your son for asking the right questions. So glad my blog could be of assistance.

Reply
Kerry E.B. Black
2/6/2018 11:51:55 pm

Really well done, both pieces. Thank you for sharing the interesting information about pencils and graphite, too!

Reply
Annecdotist
4/6/2018 02:29:40 pm

Thanks, Kerry, glad you liked them.

Reply
D. Avery link
19/3/2021 04:12:04 pm

I love quirky museums. Museums in general. Here's one I took Charli too in 2019: https://museumofeverydaylife.org/exhibitions-collections
It's a great place with a different focus each year, set up in an old dairy barn.
When I was young I hung out in Soapy Smith's Saloon, aka Jeff Smith's Parlor, except by that time it was a museum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soapy_Smith
The owner of the property, George Rapuzzi (National Geographic January 1984) had the Gold Rush era bar preserved including a replica of Smith himself, posed as in the picture, that would turn when the front door opened and fire a fake pistol at the person entering. The Parlor was filled with relics of the Yukon gold rush as well as stuffed animals, wolves, moose. The place has since fallen into disrepair and when it is restored I hope that it retains Mr. Rapuzzi's stamp.
I guess I didn't comment here back when I read this in 2018. Shy. But three years later here I am and looking forward to Mattie's story. I sure have enjoyed her visits to the Saddle Up Saloon.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
21/3/2021 10:12:51 am

Two shy? Never! Thanks for your repeat visit and for sharing your own quirky museums. Those showing ordinary life are often the most interesting. We have a few of those in the UK. I hope that pistol welcome didn't trigger any heart attacks.

Reply



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