Kendal

Kendal is in The Lake District National Park in England.

The market town of Kendal is situated in South Lakeland, Cumbria in England and is known as the southern ‘Gateway to the Lake District’, being only 9miles from Windermere.

Kendal’s buildings were mostly constructed with the local grey limestone, earning it the nickname the ‘Auld Grey Town’.

Home of the famous Kendal Mint Cake, it is a lively market town, where you can find speciality shops, down cobbled streets and yards.

Kendal has something for everyone in and around the town. Whether it’s a tempting choice of tearooms, speciality shops, museums, castles, exhibitions or festivals, you’ll always find something to occupy you. There’s also a Farmers’ Market on the last Friday of each month and if you are feeling active then you should head to the large sports and leisure centre, indoor climbing wall or dry ski slope at Kendal’s Snowsports Club.

Historically, Kendal was one of the most important woollen textile centres in England. The numerous yards that are filled with shops nowadays, was once filled with industrial activity, with numerous workshops for weaving, dyeing, shearing, dry-salting and tanning. Kendal rapidly developed as a trade centre for all manner of local goods, but it was the woollen industry that brought fame and wealth to the town and sustained its economy for over 600 years.

In 1695, over half of Kendal’s householders were involved in textile occupations. The jobs included wool combing, weaving, cropping, dyeing and tailoring. Women and children would do knitting and spinning. Evidence of the importance of the wool trade is reflected in Kendal’s motto of ‘Pannus mihi panis’, ‘Cloth is my bread’. The coat-of-arms features teasels for raising the fabric’s nap and hooks for securing bales of wool and cloth to packhorses.

Many different woollen cloths were made in Kendal but the most famous is ‘Kendal Green’. It is a hardwearing cloth and said to have been worn by the Kendal Bowmen who were instrumental in the English victory over the French at the Battle of Agincourt. Kendal Green was also worn by slaves in the Americas and is mentioned in songs and literature from that time.

Kendal’s first castle, a wooden motte and bailey, was erected at Castle Howe, but was later replaced by the stone built Kendal Castle on the opposite side of the river.

This 13th-century castle, was the seat of power and administration for the barons of Kendal for over 200 years but on the death of the last baron in 1483 it gradually fell into a ruinous state. The Parr family held the barony in the mid-15th century, whose most famous member, Catherine Parr, was the sixth wife of Henry VIII. Today, only parts of the castle wall and a tower survive above ground, with two vaulted cellars under the Hall Block.

Kendal Museum is one of the oldest museums in the UK. It has fascinating displays on the natural history, geology and archaeology of the Kendal area.

The famous Kendal Mint Cake is known for its high energy giving qualities and is the choice of many outdoor explorers. Kendal Mint Cake was taken to the Antarctic by Sir Ernest Shackleton on his expedition of 1914 and to the summit of Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953.

Postman Pat’s creator, John Cunliffe, lived in Kendal. He based his fictional post office on the former post office at Greenside. Longsleddale, near Kendal, is where he based the fictional town of Greendale, in the Postman Pat stories.

Created: 27  November  2016  Edited: 29  November  2023