By Isla Quinn
A storm, a root and a black lump. That is the legend of how graphite was found in Borrowdale, and the sources disagree on how much of it to believe.
The find
A Grace’s Guide page on the Cumberland Pencil Company says that, in the early 1500s, after a violent storm in the Borrowdale area of Cumberland, uprooted trees revealed a black material later identified as graphite. It says shepherds reportedly used it to mark sheep, and it labels this a legend. A British Library article gives 1564 for the discovery of the purest lump graphite in Borrowdale, near Keswick. The two dates differ by several decades, and we show both. We have not seen a primary record.
The smuggling
The British Library article says the find led to a smuggling trade in the area. It does not say how the trade worked or how long it lasted.
Wood around the lead
The British Library says graphite was first wrapped in string because it was too soft and brittle to use alone, and was later placed in hollowed-out wooden sticks, which created the wood-cased pencil. It says graphite had been found in Bavaria at the start of the fifteenth century, and that Nicolas-Jacques Conté invented the modern pencil in 1795. We have not checked what the article means by “modern.”
The factory
The British Library says the first Keswick pencil factory opened in 1832 as Banks, Son and Company, now the Derwent Cumberland Pencil Company. Grace’s Guide says that in 1832 a cottage pencil industry developed and led to the formation of the UK’s first pencil factory, and that the factory, which had several earlier owners, became the Cumberland Pencil Company in 1916. So the two sources agree on 1832 and differ on the name of the factory’s first owner and the date of the company name. We do not choose.
What the later dates add
Grace’s Guide lists the company as an exhibitor at the British Industries Fair in 1922 and 1929, making pencils and penholders for school, drawing and office use, with blacklead, coloured chalk and copying ink pencils among the products in 1929. It says a children’s range was launched in 1930 and that a fine art range first appeared in 1938. We name no brand, since a brand name is a company claim and the page is a company history.
How a pencil is made
Grace’s Guide says pencils are made by sandwiching a graphite or coloured strip between two wooden pieces, then cutting and finishing them. It says production was once entirely manual and is now almost fully automatic. It does not say what year that change happened.
Dates in order
The sources give these dates. The early 1500s for the storm legend, according to Grace’s Guide. The start of the fifteenth century for Bavarian graphite and 1564 for the Borrowdale lump, according to the British Library. The year 1795 for Conté. The year 1832 for the factory, in both. The year 1916 for the company name, according to Grace’s Guide. The years 1922 and 1929 for the trade-fair listings, 1930 for the children’s range and 1938 for the fine art range. The 1832 date is the only one both sources give.
Later ownership
Grace’s Guide says that in 1980 a stationery company acquired the Cumberland graphics and pencil businesses, including a Keswick factory, and that the products were marketed through a larger stationery distributor. It says the company later became part of British Pens Limited. We name neither buyer, since the page is a company history and the details are brief.
Two accounts of the factory side by side
On the first factory, the British Library gives a name, Banks, Son and Company, and a link to the present company. Grace’s Guide gives a process instead: a cottage industry that grew into the first pencil factory, with several owners before 1916. The two fit together if the early firm was one of those owners, but neither source says so, and we do not claim it.
A word in the sources
The 1929 listing in Grace’s Guide uses the term blacklead for one of the products, and the same page uses graphite for the material in the pencil. We have not found either source explaining the relation between the two words.
What kind of sources these are
Grace’s Guide is a history site for British industry, and its company page is a summary of ownership changes and trade-fair listings. The British Library article is an institutional blog post for general readers. Neither is a pencil maker’s own account.
What the sources do not say
Neither says how much graphite Borrowdale produced, when the mine stopped or what Keswick’s pencils are made of today. We have not filled those gaps. We left out all information about visiting, museums and shops.
What it means for a buyer
Our view is that a pencil is a simple object with a complicated history. Ask where it was made and whether the graphite is from Borrowdale, since the sources tie the find to that place and give no sign that the mine supplies pencils now. Ask whether the case is wood or something else. And treat a “since 1832” claim as a date for a factory, not for a particular pencil design.
Where sources differ, we show each: when the graphite was found, who owned the first factory and when the company took its name. We list them in the check file.
Roam first. Shop later.