Helena Thompson Museum And Former Stables

The Helena Thompson Museum and former stables, originally known as Parkend House, is a late 18th-century building that was part of the Curwen estate. It features cement-rendered walls with a dentilled cornice beneath a blocking course and V-jointed quoins set on a chamfered plinth. The roof is made of graduated greenslate with coped gables and large cement-rendered end chimney stacks. The structure is two storeys high with five bays, and it includes a lower two-storey, two-bay right wing that connects to the former stables at a right angle, creating an overall L-shape.

The main entrance has panelled double doors with an interlace overlight, set within panelled reveals and a fluted-pilaster doorcase topped with a dentilled pediment. The building has sash windows with glazing bars, although the ground-floor left windows have been altered in the 20th century and enlarged below the sills, all framed in eared architraves. The return walls feature Venetian attic windows, with the right one having been rebuilt. The wing includes a 20th-century porch and sash windows in painted stone surrounds. The stables have 20th-century garage doors and a gable roundel, while the return wall has blocked windows.

Inside, the museum retains many features from the 18th and 19th centuries. A rear ground-floor room boasts a heavily-moulded Gothic plaster ceiling. The staircase is notable for its three turned balusters on each tread, a moulded handrail, and a panelled dado. This building was originally constructed for the steward of the Curwen estate and was acquired by the Thompson family, who served as stewards in the early 19th century. Helena Thompson purchased the property in 1934 and bequeathed it to Workington as a museum, which opened its doors in 1949.