Discovering Durden

James Durden (1878 – 1964) was a leading painter of his time. One day in 2020, Janet Durden-Hey, his granddaughter, left the painter’s archive with Ros Roberts, a volunteer at Keswick Museum.

She was thrilled by the mass of old letters, news-cuttings, sketches and other bits and pieces she received. But then, she had to make sense of them all.

This is the journey she made through that archive as she discovered more and more of the lives and works of James and his talented daughter, Betty.

It was a particularly exciting journey as Ros lived in Applethwaite near to Millbeck Place, the house that the Durdens had made their home.