Cumbria Crystal

Lord and Lady Cavendish backed a group of local investors to open Cumbria Crystal at Canal Head in 1976, bringing in glassmakers from Stourbridge to establish full lead crystal production in Ulverston. A team of seventeen still blows and hand-cuts every piece using diamond-tipped wheels and traditional lathes, without mechanisation, making it one of the last factories in England producing lead crystal this way. Glasses from the workshop have appeared in James Bond films and Downton Abbey and are used at British embassies. A free viewing gallery lets visitors watch the glassblowers on weekday mornings and afternoons, with the factory shop open daily including engraving on request.