YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

1940

Kirkbie-Kendall, Westmorland.

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H <JU 5Hc/i

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mirkbie*1kenfcall.

FRAGMENTS COLLECTED RELATING TO ITS
ANCIENT
STREETS AND YARDS ;
CHURCH AND CASTLE; HOUSES AND INNS.

JOHN F. CURWEN,
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS.
AUTHOR OF " SIZERGH CASTLE," " LEVENS HALL,"
" WORKINGTON HALL," ETC., ETC.

FLOREAT CANDALIA.

KENDAL:
Printed and Published by T. Wilson, 28, Highgate.
mdcccc.

The Contents.

INTRODUCTION-

Page.

I

Definition and Early History
Roads and Coaches - 13
River Kent ; Floods and Rainfall 21
Population - 25
II. SOUTERGATE— Finkle Street to Lowther Street 27
White Hart Inn to All Hallows Lane 60
Cripplegate, All Hallows, Beast Banks, and Race Course 80
III. SOUTERGATE, Continued—
Lowther Street to Colonel Square 93
All Hallows Lane to Blindbeck 127
IV. KIRKLAND— Blindbeck, Capper, High Front to Watch Field 153
Nether Bridge to Cemetery - 196
V. HOLY TRINITY CHURCH—
Early History and Notes - 201
Restoration of 1829 222
Restoration of 1850 226
Pulpit, Seats, and Organ - - 237
Stained Glass, Monuments, and Bells - 245
Rectors and Vicars - - 260

VI. CONTENTS.
VI. STRICKLANDGATE— Crown Inn to Entry Lane - - - 267
Finkle Street to Moot Hall 289
Moot Hall, Town Clock, Market Cross, and Pillory 292
St. George's Chapel, Stocks, and Market Place - - 297
The Fell Side - - 310
VII. STRICKLANDGATE, Continued—
Entry Lane to House of Correction 317
Market Place to Strickland Place - 340
Kendal Fell Lands, Dockwray Hall, and Kendal Green - 356
VIII. THE FINKLE—
Soutergate to Kent Street 365
Stricklandgate to Branthwaite Brow 377
Miller Bridge to Goose Holme, New Road, Aynam & Canal 380
IX. STRAMONGATE— Down to the Bridge 389
Wildmangate and Doodleshire 413
Railway to Dodding Green 421
X. THE CASTLE—
Early History 427
The Ruins 441

ERRATA

" For the Booke I'le say, if there be errors in't,
The world had not known them, but for th' Print." — Barnabee.

Page

5-
5-
9-
13- rg.
20.23- 3i-78.
171.igg.
247.260.

332- 383-

Line 10. — For " watch camp," read " sentry post."
10. — For " Norman," read " late Norman."
30. — Insert "r" in " cheeful."
g. — Read "at the end" instead of "in the beginning."
20. — After "Stricklandgate," insert the words "foot, the entrance to."
30. — For " 1857," rea-d " I852."
2. — The sentence, "At Colonel walk" to "their copperas," is wrongly
placed as it refers to the 1831 flood.
10. — For " 1804," read " 1802."
26. — For "sixty," read "seventy."
3. — After " 1680," read " Rev. William Lancaster for five years until his
death in 1730."
12. — For " filled," read " subscribed."
ig. — Insert " r " in " barulets."
12. — At the head of list of Rectors insert, " — 1215 Adam of Kendal. Fourth
Abbot of Holm Cultram from 1215 to 1223, deposed therefrom
for reckless extravagance."
26. — For "112" read "108."
30. — For "114" read "112."
31. — Insert a "," after "down."

PREFACE.

FELLOW-TOWNSMEN, to you who have learnt to love and look with
pride upon this Borough wherein we live, whose glory is its age, and
whose history is enwrapt with that deep sense of voicefulness in almost every
stone ; to you who can, standing upon the shoulders of time, inhale the spirit
of those men who have spent their life's existence to build it up and make us
what we are, I wish to dedicate these pages.
But in doing so, I aim at so arousing your natural interest as to gain an
answer to these two appeals ; and the first is this: — Our town's real name is
Kirkby Kendal, signifying the " Church town in the Kent dale," a name which
carries with it the fact that it is not only of Saxon origin, but that it has grown
up around its ancient Church. Alike with the Church town in the Lune's
dale, these two existed before the Norman Conquest, these two alone in
Southern Westmorland ; and yet, whilst Kirkby Lonsdale has retained the full
glory of its name, we in Kendal — shall I say in sloth, or for what other reason?
— have allowed the distinctive name of Kirkby to disappear, step by step,
comparatively only- within recent years, and certainly without authority. But
can there be no revival ? To you, then, who love your ancient Borough I
make this first appeal, that in all documents, print, postal, and other
communications we reinstate the name. And there can be no difficulty in so
doing, for the Post Office authorities recognise the name.
The second is this : — The Society of Arts in London and other people
elsewhere now recall to visible memory the locality in which their celebreties
dwelt, by erecting circular tablets on the walls where such were born, lived or
died. And have we none to whom honourable memory is due ? We who have
a whole string of Kendal worthies. Would not the cost of such tablets be as
nothing compared with our pride of them ? I venture to appeal then for this
also,— that our naturalists may have visible knowledge of the houses wherein
John Gough and William Hudson were born ; and the merchant where Sandes

X. PREFACE.
sat by his desk ; that the enterprising youth may learn of Dr. Shaw, the
artist be able to point to the house of Romney, and the legal student to those
of Alan Chambre and John Bell ; that the scholar may know of Anthony
Askew, and the school boy remember that in his grammar school, Ephraim
Chambers and Edmund Law were educated. So with others in like manner,
that all these great men, though dead, may yet be called to life as it were, to
speak to us encouragement by an ever present voice.
" If indeed there be any profit in our knowledge of the past, or any joy in
the thought of being remembered hereafter which can give strength to present
exertion or patience to present endurance, there are two duties " incumbent
upon us, whose importance it is impossible to everrate — the first to render the
lives of those who have paved the way before us historical, and the second to
preserve as the most precious of inheritances, all that is good and noble in the
record of past ages.
Now as to the book itself ; may it please you to understand that its object
is to primarily deal with the town's buildings alone and with the lives and
stories directly connected with them. I have sought to carefully draw the line
against all the general history of its inhabitants, manufactures, charities, etc.
And further, I desire to emphasise the fact that I cannot claim to be an
original writer on these subjects, but only a collector and compiler of
innumerable MSS. and papers— and therein lies my liability to record many
errors calling for amendment ; for the which ignorance I claim excuse and can
only rely upon the townsmen of to-day informing me concerning the same,
that such may be corrected in any subsequent edition that might be called for.
" This observation have I found most true
Erring, I karne mine errors to subdue." — Barnabee.
For my dates I have resorted to Bartholomew Noble's MSS. of 1736 and
Wharton's "Chronology," which was commenced in 1724, continued by
Pennington till 1802, and by John Taylor till 1823. But, naturally, my main
stay in this has been the most excellent " Local Chronology " compiled in the
year 1865 up to the year 1850 by the two newspaper editors. Fortune has
moreover, possessed me with the late Alderman John Fisher's original MSS
relating to the " Old Houses of Kendal ; " and his indefatigable coadjutor the

PREFACE. XI.
present antiquary of Kendal, Mr. Thomas Jennings, has with infinite pains and
trouble placed at my disposal his large store of local information.
I have also to acknowledge my great indebtedness to our " Annalist,"
Cornelius Nicholson, and to Miss Nicholson for the loan of some of his MSS. ;
also to Mr. Titus Wilson for his personal remembrances, to D.K.K.'s
" Person's and Places in Kendal," to Mr. Rushforth's " Short History of the
Parish Church," and Mr. DeRome's MSS. on the " Roman Catholic History
of Kendal." Lastly, it is with considerable pleasure that I here acknowledge
my many extracts from Mr. John Watson's admirable articles on our " Local
Inn Signs." But yet a great amount of information about our ancient Borough must
still be hidden in the many title deeds and documents buried away in the safes
of our landlords, which, could they be looked through, might bring to light
many an old name of street, yard, or house of which we have at present but
little idea.
The present book, therefore, is only an attempt to bring together the
information that I have been enabled to glean of the history, romance, and
legend that is in danger of being forgotten ; and to so arrange it, not
chronologically, but in the order as the houses range themselves along our
streets.

JOHN F. CURWEN.

Horncop HaU, Kendal, 1900.

1.
The Introduction.

" A straggling burgh, of ancient charter proud,
And dignified by battlements and towers.
Of a stern castle, mouldering on the brow
Of a green hill — " (Wordsworth).

INTRODUCTION.

THE town of Kirkbie-Kendall is situated, as its name implies, within <he
valley ofthe Kent, and just at that point where the surrounding fells con
verge the most nearly together, a strategical point at an altitude of 183
feet above sea level, commanding the whole valley. In this narrowed portion of
the vale, Nature has further strengthened the position by a central hill, formed by
a terminal moraine, thus subdividing it into two still narrower ways. Here it was
that the sagacious Romans raised their watch camps on Castle Hill and Castle
How Hill, in connection with their larger military station at Water Crook.
And through this valley flows a river whose name is the same as one of the
most ancient counties in the kingdom, and we know that the names attached to
rivers and mountains are more ancient than any other. Celtic in its origin, and
with its signification still retained in a Welsh word implying a district of rolling
hills. The town's name, alike to so many other ancient places, is derived from the
primitive Church planted by the side of this river, then known and until Camden's
time written, as the "Can." Kirk bye Can dale — Church town in the Can or
Kent dale. A town of Saxon institution, the site of a Roman station, the seat and
capital of a feudal barony of considerable power, with its solitary Christian Church
over an extensive district, some 40 miles in circumference.
The ancient Brigantes— that last proud British tribe to bend the neck to the
Roman yoke, with the flower of its youth crushed and degraded by servitude and
conscription into Constantine's legions — harried on every side by ruthless enemies,
became an easy prey, after the departure of the Romans, to the Anglo-Saxons, who
were formerly their allies against the Picts and Scots. The tribes from the shores
ofthe Elbe. and the Baltic poured into Cumberland and Northern Westmorland by

way of the Roman Road and Maiden Way, and by way of Ulverston and Dalton
they advanced and occupied the country about Kendal. As colonists, these English
folk gathered in village communities, girting their " hams " or " tuns " about by a
hedge. All the individuals of the community were united by the " blood-bond,"
each freeman or " ceorl " was a landowner, and had a right to sit at the folk-mote
and " witan." The chiefest among them called the " earlderman " became the
overlord and ruler.
If we turn to the Sagas, and other early records of the history and manners of
the Saxons, we find that their principal habitations rarely consisted of more than
two apartments, and that the lord and his " hearth-men " sat by the same fire at
which their repast was cooked, and at night retired to share the same bedroom,
which served also as a council chamber. Camping out was the normal existence
of the mass of the people, their wooden huts of one room being only considered
as a more permanent kind of camp. If they required an internal fire, it was
kindled in the centre of the floor and the smoke made its way out through an
opening in the roof, or by the door, window, or eaves, of the thatch. And such,
doubtless, would be the style of dwelling that the Saxons would bring with them
to this country. The quarries which had supplied the Roman builders ceased to
be worked, and the thane built his " hall " from the woods of the district, and
thatched it with reeds or straw, or roofed it with wooden shingle. One house
differed but slightly from its neighbour, and all must have been alike rude internally
and externally, faintly lighted, badly ventilated, and wanting in every appliance
for comfort and decency.
By-and-bye, near the spot where possibly stood the sculptured cross, erected by
the wandering Christian missionary who first came to our river side to baptize and
preach the gospel, there arose the simple little church on forked timbers or
" furcce," with roof of thatch and mud wattle-woven sides, now under charge of a
resident priest. The religious establishment begat tithes ; this entailed the necessity
of a union of several " tuns " or townships and hence followed the organization of
the parish, with its boundaries and " God's acre." Thus did the Saxons exist in the
land of Cumbria, along with the Brythons of Strathclyde, till the end of the IXth
century, when the Danes and Norwegian Vikings entered the land by way of
Morecambe Bay.
The Scandinavians were pushing, energetic settlers, expert with the axe and
fond of the soil. They cleared spaces in the forests termed " thwaites," and raised
their homesteads and called them " by" or " bye " prefixed by their own surname.
Artists sprang up who could design an infinite variety of beautiful patterns with the

interlacing band, knot, and plait-work, who could delineate and carve on the stone,
figures and symbols derived from the pagan mythology of their fatherland, and
set them forth to elucidate some religious thought, or to exemplify some Christian
verhy. It is impossible, of course, to give a description of what Kirkby Kendal was
like in those days of troublous anarchy, ravages, and ruthless bloodshed, so that
we can only conjure up from the realms of fantasy, a vague idea of the little
community and wattle church, until the days when the country came within the
grip of the conquering Norman, and the town was given over to Ivo de Tailbois.
In place of the Roman watch camp, a Norman castle was built, with its dairy and
flour mill at Castle Dairy and Castle Mills.
The amount of accommodation in the ordinary Norman house was not much
greater than in the Saxon or Scandinavian homestead, for we find, still only the
chief room or hall and the single bedchamber or thalamus. Buildings of stonework
were too costly for general adoption, and so the Normans continued to build with
timber, and employed mud-stickers (luti appositoies) to fill in the framework with
mud-clay well mixed with straw, and plasterers (dealbatores) to whitewash the whole
work over. We must not therefore consider the practice of whitewashing as a vice
peculiar to modern times, for even so late as the days of the introduction of sea
borne coal as fuel, our ancestors strongly objected to it because the smoke
blackened the white walls of their buildings.
The home manufacturers, consisting of spinners and weavers, settled on the
unenclosed ground, extending from the common land on the fell side down to the
river, and in consideration of liberty to plant themselves thereon, and the protection
the baron in his castle afforded them, they bound themselves to learn archery,
in some cases to find horses, and to answer the summons of the lord when he
required their assistance to march against an enemy.
Nevertheless, it will be noticed that the church and town stand upon one side
of the river, not easily crossed in flood time, and the castle on the other, a circum
stance which must have given to the town an independent character of its own, and
history shows that its trade and industries were carried on in alliance with, rather
than in subserviance to, the great baron across the water. Kendal has no Bond-
gate to mark the street where the bondmen lived, nor has it any designation by
which any of its localities are pointed out as the residence of the serf. Doubtless,
at the time of the Conquest, the little place consisted only of the three streets which
bear the Saxon postfix of "gate"— viz., Soutergate, Stirklandgate, and Stream-
moundgate, but even these were not of the same length or width as our modern

6
thoughts would fancy, for in early days be it not forgotten, even the principal
towns were then only like the villages of to-day.
With the fortified castle belonging to the great Barons, and the industrious
Saxon population able and worthy to maintain their own ways, it was natural that,
at so early a period as the reign of Richard I., a charter should be granted to
Kendalians to hold a weekly market every Saturday, which in the year 1210 was
further extended to the holding of a fair in addition.
Yes, brave little Kendal ; throughout the advances and retreats of the Roman
legions, the invasions of the Picts, and the destructions and burnings by Saxons
and Danes, the vitality of this community overcame all and grew — slowly it might
be, yet steadily — in trade, character, and wealth.
An inquiry into the state of domestic architecture in Kendal during the Early
English period, when Henry III. was the " Architect King," is attended with much
difficulty. No remains here have descended to our time, owing no doubt to the
combustible materials of which they were built, and what few buildings there are
scattered about the country of this period, are so greatly dilapidated or so entangled
with later alterations, that it becomes next to impossible to describe even their
main features.
And the same may be said of the Edwardian period, when the Decorative style
prevailed. But of this, we do know that Edward I. laboured to introduce and
encourage in England the arts that he had witnessed spring up around him in
France, and, simultaneously with the rapid development in ecclesiastical archi
tecture, similar progress was made in the planning and enlargement of domestic
buildings, with an increase in comfort and of more civilized ideas.
The progress of commerce and national enterprise in the XVth century,
opened up fresh channels, of which our townsmen seem to have taken full
advantage. Moreover, the institution of guilds and fraternities among the trades
diffused a spirit of emulation into the commercial and working classes. Labour
became divided, the "mysteries" of trade increased, the feudal system was
breaking up, and the people, instead of living under a superior who secured their
services in return for food and protection, became more independent, and sought
their own homes wherein to live. So that we find the " hefd house " of the burgher
and the cottage home of the peasant, alike rendered the more comfortable by this
general prosperity.
And yet it is very unlikely that there were many beds or even bedrooms in
their houses. Any one who may take the trouble to look over the printed wills and

inventories of this date cannot fail to perceive how very valuable beds were
esteemed. The fact is, that we are only too apt to view the manners and habits of
remote times through a medium highly tinged with the results and conveniences of
modern life, and it is only by looking through the dry schedules of household effects,
and taking the number of their pots and pans, their beds and tables, and other
domestic goods, that we can be enabled to judge how meagerly our ancestors were
lodged, and how far from luxurious their daily mode of life must necessarily
have been.
During the XVIth century shops began to appear in the principal streets, but
they were mostly of the store-room kind, the chief places for the display of goods
still being in the market or fair.
There can be little doubt that wood still formed the principal material for
building purposes, for Harrison, in his Description of England, during this period,
observed that " with the exception of mansions belonging to the nobility, and the
more wealthy gentry, buildings were generally constructed of timber." So long
as there was a great abundance of a material so easily convertible, it was naturally
preferred to stone, the use of which, even when quarries were near at hand, involved
a considerable expense for any sort of work but that of the rudest nature.
The framework of the XVIIth century buildings was constructed of massive
oak beams, very rudely "sett vpp, made and fframyd," and firmly pinned together
by strong wooden pegs or trennels. Large open oaken galleries formed a con
spicuous feature in these houses. They were approached from the street by heavy
flights of stone stairs, and were carried, sometimes in double tiers, along the whole
frontage of the building, opening into other shops or dwellings.
The projection of the gallery made the front or ground floor beneath it into a
sort of piazza, quite open to the street, which, by the tempting shelter it afforded in
foul weather, and before the days of the " portable oilcloth-pent-house carried in the
hand,"* became notorious as the rendezvous where the loungers " most did con
gregate," and where the unruly spirits of the town gathered together to laugh and
unsparingly launch their gibes at the luckless passers-by. The upper stories thus
projecting over the lower had the further advantage, in the narrower streets, of
allowing the ladies ensconsed beside their latticed casements, to chat or fratch as
the case might be, across the way.
The smaller houses were inconveniently low, so much so indeed that a man

* The first Englishman who carried an umbrella was Jonas Hanway, who died in 1786, but it was known
in England earlier.

exceeding the middle stature could not pass under the lintel of the door without
stooping. They were
for the most part
thatched, and the tim
ber of the roof did not
rest upon the walls,
but upon upright posts
that were fixed into the
ground, and formed
the skeleton which the
mason or plasterer
completed. The
groundfloor frequently
was laid below the
court, which necessi
tated a descent of a
step or two, and yet
apart from these in
conveniences they
were none the less in
teresting, especially as
regard their interiors,
and it is from them
that we learn the
names given to the
various parts, which
are now so quickly
disappearing from our
vocabulary.
Beneath the heavily nailed front door, with its wooden latch and bolt, was the
" threshwood," a huge piece of oak, let into the ground, secured in the walls on
either side, and standing some five or six inches above the floor level. It was
upon this "threshwood " that cross-straws and horseshoes were laid to prevent the
entrance of witches. Within was the " hallan ' leading to the several rooms,
which were partitioned off by a wicker-work smeared over with clay and cow dung.
Passing through the " mell-door," you entered into another passage called the
" heck," which was divided off from the " house-room " by an oaken screen,
panelled and carved with scroll ornament, initials and date, whilst from a beam

above usually hung some cow hair for the purpose of cleaning the combs upon.
Behind this " heck " was placed the great polished settle, winking solemnly in the
heat beside the fire.
The main front window to this house-room was generally divided into three or
four lights, at first only some eight inches wide. But, when the condition of the
town became more settled and neighbours more peaceful, these lights were made
wider and secured by iron bars for the purpose of keeping out intruders. The
smaller window opened from under the ingle-nook, and seldom exceeded two lights.
Though glass was in partial use at this time, it is beyond all doubt that wooden
lattices and shutters (fenestra lignecs) were still the ordinary apparati for the
exclusion of light and air, as well as for protection against the weather. But even
when fitted with the greatest accuracy, these " window-doors " must have been
chilly neighbours to one's chair, for in looking through household accounts, it is
no uncommon thing to find an entry for " making the windows shut better than
usual." Window-glass was one among the many commodities which we obtained
in the middle ages from the Flemings in exchange for our staple woollen produce.
Opposite the fire-side the eye rested upon a large oaken closet of different com
partments — gleaming with pewter — on which again were carved the owner's name
or initials, the year in which it was made, usually between 1650 and 1720, and
endless scrawls and runic knots, some of which are extremely amusing to trace
through all their intricate windings.
Though the dwellings of our ancestors appear rude in description, their
furniture was plain and homely in an equal degree. Running down the length of
the common room was to be found the immovable board which, passed from
generation to generation, that long oaken table with a bench on either side, where
all the family — master, mistress, children and servants — ate together from off a
service of pewter, or in the poorer houses, from off their maple trenchers; the
puddings being served up in " piggins" or small wooden vessels, and the liquids of
every kind, whether milk, broth or beer, were served in wooden vessels made of
staves and hoops. The cheeful blazing fire, composed until the days of coal of
peat and " elding,"* was lighted on a hearth slightly raised from the ground ; and
above, the " rannel-balk " crossed the chimney, from which beam hung the "ratten-
crook " for the purpose of suspending the kettles over the fire. In front was the
iron tripod, " brandiron " or " brandreth," with its girdle, a circular iron plate for
* Saxon for old and dead things, retained as a provincial name for firing stuff.

io
baking the famous oat cakes, clap bread, or riddle bread upon. In front of the fire
was the " sconce," a kind of long moveable settle, that not only kept the cold
draughts from off the back, but also acted as a kind of Dutch oven wherein the
older members of the family seated themselves. The chairs were of heavy oak, and
made to serve many generations, with high arms and carved backs, which by being
narrow and upright, " Pressed hard against the ribs,
And bruis'd the side; and elevated high,
Taught the raised shoulders to invade the ears." — Coivper.
Conveniently situated nearby, stood a square upright staff fixed into a solid block
of wood at the bottom. This simple contrivance supported the candlestick,
properly named at that time, as it was little else than a hollowed stick fixed bv
a peg into the upright stand, notched out at different levels to receive it.
What a picture at once presents itself of those olden days, when the hams hung
aloft amid convolving wreaths of smoke ascending to the small speck of sky which
appeared like a lid to the chimney ! Beneath this dome — in wet weather con
tinually shedding a black sooty lee, called the " hallan drop," and in the gloom,
only rendered more gloomy by the light of the spluttering candle — sat the family,
when " smoke and smothre smytt in yr eyen," and yet withal cosy and warm. Here,
the men with their hats on,* would engage in their wool carding, whilst the
spinsters with their spindle and whorl, would
" Spin i' the spark, and knit i' the dark."
The people wore very little cloth of any kind that was not gathered from the fleeces
of their own flocks and spun at home. Part of the yarn the journeying weaver
would manufacture into a kind of duffel or frieze for the clothing of the men, and a
sort of russet or wincey for the use of the women. The rest of the yarn was knit
into stockings, and the careful housewife, to save them from the hard wear of the
wooden clog, adopted the simple expedient of smearing the heels with melted pitch
and then dipping them immediately in the ashes of turf. This glutinous mixture
incorporated with the woollen, formed a hard and flexible compound, which acted
in a most efficacious manner.
The few bedsteads that anciently were in use were of massy oak, having a

* Some old country men are still in the habit of sitting by the fire with their heads covered, which is
doubtless a survival of the once necessary custom for protecting the hair from the sooty lee of the chimney.

I!
tester ofthe same material, and to serve the purpose of the modern wardrobe the
apartments were furnished with a number of rudely carved chests.
Thus were the houses built and furnished, as by degrees the town sprang into
existence. Ponderous buildings, sometimes of many tenements, were set up against
some lowly thatched abode, just how and where each fancy placed it, necessarily
along the town-way sides, but without any thought for its neighbour, and without
any line to dictate its bearing. Little wonder have we then in finding, that after
the New Biggin was "sett vpp " in the middle of Soutergate, that the authorities
awoke to tbe position of things, and fearing lest the " lyke or worse should heare-
after ensewe," they enacted in 1577 the following "Order for buyldinge wthin this
Borouglie," which has been preserved for us in the Boke off Recorde : —
5 december, 1577. The Alderman and Burgesses of this Boroughe off Kirkbiekendall at this
pnte (present) not onelye beinge and throughlie pceyvinge (perceiving) by sundrye
Examples the manyfest hurte and Inconvenyence alredye come to this Boroughe by
the great streitninge off the Markett places within the Same, By reason Chefflye off
Dyvers howses, shoppes, Taverns, grecis (galleries), stayres, and buyldinge heretoafore
beinge sufferide to bee sett vpp, made, and fframyd by sundrye psonns (persons) wthin the
Same, But also doubtinge that the lyke or worse heareafter should ensewe and be
attemptyd & doone by others' to the ffurther piudice (prejudice) theroff, Iff spedie
remodie, foresight, and redresse should not (in tyme) be had and pvided (provided)
therin —
THERFORE it is now Ordeyned & Constitutid by the Alderman & the xij° head
Burgesses off the same Boroughe at this tyme beinge, That no maner off person or
persons whatsoever drome hencfurthe shall or may Improve, Incroche, stopp, streytten,
or take vpp any ffruunt roweme or ground to buyld vpon in any parte, place, circuyte, or
precincte off the Markett place within this Boroughe off Kirkbiekendall withowte the
speciall apoyntem* & assignem* off the Alderman & Burgesses off the Same, or the more
p'te (part) off them ffrone tyme to tyme beinge, vpon payne to losse and fforfeitte to the
Chamber ofi the Boroughe. toe q°c xx.1' (yff it be done in any parte or place where any
m'keth (market) is kepte), And iff it be done in any other parte or place wthin this borugh
owte off the Markett places wher m'kethe (market) is not kepte Then toe q°c x1'.
8 December 1577. Provided Neverthelesse yff any suche buyldinge Incrochem1 or Noysaunce
hearafter be made & s-ett vpp or to be made & sett vpp in any parte or place wthin this
Boroughe, That then it shalbs at the pleasure off the Alderman and Burgesses, or the
more p'te of them ffor the tyme beinge, the Same to pull Dowen or stay at their Dis-
crecons (The fforfeytour off the payns aforesayd or either off them in anywise notw*
stand),
And soon after provision was made against persons having fires in their houses in
which no chimneys existed.

And yet for all this, and in despite of repeated enactment, each succeeding
house sprang up and jolted its neighbour, or trod on its corns, to such an extent that
it drew from the Poet Gray in 1769, when writing in his journal to Dr. Wharton,
the remark: — " Excepting the two principal streets, all the houses seem as if they
had been dancing a country dance, and were out ; there they stand, back to back,
corner to corner, some up hill, some down, without intent or meaning."
From Camden and Speed, the contemporary fathers of English antiquity and
topography, in the XVIth century, we can learn but little of our town's appearance
beyond what is shown upon the latter's plan of 1614. Twenty years later, August,
1634, some military tourists noticed the peculiar cross-like form of the principal
thoroughfares, and, in their journal, say : — " This towne is like a windmill saile."
George Baker, a secret correspondent with the Parliamentary party, in his
N ewes from the North, published in 1642, says :— On October 17th, we arrived in
Kendall, being a Maior town, and chiefest of the Barony, and not a little to be com
mended for its scituation, having a faire river surrounding part of it called Kent,
from whence the towne's denomination Kent-Dale, by contrashion Kendall."
Interesting as this Commonwealth period in Kendal is, I should knuckle — knock
the boundary fence of my subject too much to enter upon it here, but considering
the " Great Victory of Kendall Heath," upon the 13th of May, 1648, I subjoin as a
footnote the incidents that led up to it.:;:

* This secret informer in his Newes from the North, writes : — " On munday, being the 20th of October
(1642) the Commissioners of Array appointed for the County of Westmerland, had the attendance of the
whole Barony neer the town, by a fore-warning : the apperance was about a thousand, rudely aimed, with
quai ter- staves, pitch-forks, welch-hooks; some few with pikes and muskets, but there was no commission
read, onely Sir Philip Musgrave, a turn-coat Parliamentier, made a short speech unto them, wherein he
expressed a care of the counties good was their summoning together, and having read a Protestation of His
Majesties made at Chester, asked them if they would stand for defence of His Majesty and the true Protestant
Religion, which being unanimously assented to by a generall yea, the Assembly dispersed upon it." He
further writes of the preparations being made under Sir Philip, this great Royalist soldier of the North-West,
for an attack upon Hotham's Parliamentary forces at Hull by 10,000 of the "Malignant Party" in these
Northern Counties. The attack proved indecisive. After the Royalist defeat at Swarthmoor, near Ulverston,
and during the next four years our Kendal men seem to have still been under arms, not so much for offensive
but for defensive purposes, to protect their native soil from Colonel Rigby's invasion.
In the early pait of 164S, however, the Royalists in Cumberland began to join hands with the Duke of
Hamilton and the moderate Presbyterians in Scotland. Langdale and Sir Philip raised the forces of Cumber
land and Westmorland, seized Carlisle, and awaited their allies from across the Border. But on our southern
border General Lambert, who commanded the Parliamentary army in Lancashire, advanced northward to
suppress this Royalist demonstration.
The result I glean from a letter sold at the Royall Exchange in Cornhill, 164S, as follows: —
" Sir, — Here is great strugling, and much opposition by the adverse party, to the publike peace of these
Counties; for sir Philip Musgrave, Col. Stradling, (The Governor of Carlisle) and the rest of the Cavalry in
the parts adjacent, have had severall meetings in Westmereland for the arming and putting themselves in a
posture of defence, and have summoned in the Inhabitants to make their appearance ,at Kendall Heath; upon
the 13th. of this instant May, which accordingly they did, where Sir Philip Musgrave and Col. Stradling pro
pounded severall Propositions unto them, touching their designs and engagement tor their dread sovereign the
King; which done, the Malignant party with a shrill eccho, said they would live and dy with them, for the
restoring of his Majesty to his just rights, and setling the peace of the Kingdome ; and as they were drawing
off from the Randevouz, Major Sanderson and Major Cholmley, with a party of Horse fell upon them, and
after a short conflict, rescued divers honest men pf the country, whom they had apprehended for not obeying

13
That quaint old work, Blome's Britannia, written in 1673, speaks of '< Kirkby
Kendale as a Market town, which for largeness, neatness, good buildings and
trading, is the chief in the County . . . . It has deservedly purchased a good
name, and the great trade here droven makes it to be very populous, for the people
seem to be shapen out for trade .... whereby the poor are daily set on work
and the town much enriched. The town is most pleasantly scituated in a good air,
amongst hills, on the West side of the river Can .... and built in the form
of a cross, having two long streets, which overthwart one another, etc."
Again, the author of A Fortnight's Ramble to the Lakes, in the beginning of the
XVIIIth century, writes : — " The tenter-grounds on the sides of the little hills
resemble the growth of the vine orchards in Spain and from having much and many
coloured cloths upon them, I should hope that trade flourishes. I would wish to
say something in praise of the town, but it is too ill-paved to mind anything but
your feet." The author of The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton also refers to the
"quaint old town, which, perched on the steep slope of a hill, has sometimes those
curious juxta-positions of door-step and chimney-pot which are familiar to the
successive terraces of Dartmouth." The sketch on the following page of Fountain's
Brow is a good illustration of this.
The first law for making turnpike roads in England was enacted in 1662, and
the first toll gate was erected in 1679 on tne London and Harwich Road. But few
parts of England could have been so inaccessible as Westmorland prior to the
middle of the XVIIIth century. Roads were scarce, unless the dignity of the name
be given to the few rough tracks, less than six feet wide and deep in fluid sludge,
which served for the passage of the pack horses, of which 294 were employed in
carrying weekly the merchandize of Kendal alone. Between the years 1752 to
1760 several turnpike roads were opened, and the " halts "* or hampers of the pack
horses gave place to carts.
In the former year an Act was obtained for the south road from Keighley to
the summons, and took divers prisoners, routing the rest. They also disarmed divers, and admitted them
their liberty who promised not to ingage upon any such summons for the future — Col. Stradling was in danger
but escaped. In this conflict was taken about 300 prisoners, two Colours, which had this Motto in letters of
Gold For GOD
and
KING CHARLES."
After this affair, the Royalists were driven back to the shelter of Carlisle Castle, and Lambert held the
country till Hamilton advanced from the north. Lambeitthen retired before the advancing Royalists, who
marched through K. Kendal and K. Lonsdale to Preston, where on the 17th of August they were beaten and
driven back.
* The word is probably derived from halt or halle, an obsolete participle ofthe verb to hold.

H

Kendal, and another for the north road from Heron Syke (where it joined the
Lancaster road) to Eamont Bridge, on the confines of Cumberland. The com
pletion of these public works introduced post chaises in 1754, which were equivalent
in those days to first class travelling, and the first carrier's waggon on the road
between London and
Kendal was estab
lished in 1757, a seat
on the damp straw of
which represented the
third class. The
second class by stage
coach, was introduced
here after the com
pletion of the Seven
Years War and the
peace of Paris in 1763,
when the " Flying
Machine" made the
journey to London at
the marvellous pace of
six miles an hour.
This old clumsy
vehicle, with its bas
ket swung behind for
half-price passengers,
was drawn by six
horses, the coachman
having four-in-hand,
with a postilion in
charge of the two
leaders. Drawn up in
Fountain Brow, Kendal. the inn yard ready for
a start, the crowd gathered around it, and with a wild surmise and look of pity
they gazed at the intrepid travellers, each with his fourteen pounds of luggage
piled up on the roof, where none dare venture for fear of his neck. Brave men !
they had booked, but before doing so had made their wills and committed them
selves to Providence. Like passengers by the first railway train, they cursed the
curiosity which pines for new experience and longed to be on the fixed earth again,

when the huzzas ofthe crowd and a supernatural jolting told them that they were
off for 35 miles a day over roads only called so out of courtesy. What days of
journeying those were ! eating, drinking, quarrelling, delivering up of purses and
grumbling over bills, busy at those nothings which made a travelled life something
to be remembered. And be it not forgotten, that the roads were traversed by
others also of reckless buoyancy, who had the happy knack of enlightening the
monotony of the way by lightening the weight of the pocket. Legal enactments
proved totally ineffectual in suppressing these dangerous gangs and rapacious
knights, so that to guard against their assaults, great men travelled with armed
retinues and traders formed themselves into companies and large caravans for
mutual protection. What a history of adventure is enwrapt in that singular
epitaph which is placed on the tomb of Du Vail in Covent Garden Church : —
" Here lies Du Vail : Reader, if Male thou art,
Look to thy purse: if Female, to thy heart.
Much havoc has been made of both ; for all
Men he made stand, and women he made fall.
The second Conqueror of the Norman Race
Knights to his arms did yield, and ladies to his face.
Old Tyburn's glory, England's illustrious thief,
Du Vail the ladies' joy : Du Vail the ladies' grief."
Before this improvement in the public roads was adopted, the intercourse with
the southern counties was difficult, but with increased facilities for travel and with
the corresponding influx of wealth, arising from the extension of commerce, a
remarkable revolution manifested itself in the manners of Westmorland. The
singularities that characterized preceding ages were rapidly adjusted to the standard
of national fashion, and the inhabitants were enabled to purchase articles of con
venience and elegance, which were quite unknown to their forefathers. And it is
gratifying to know that Kendal was not behind other places in the North in this
matter. For in 1763, when our " Flying Machine " made its first arduous journey
to the Metropolis, we find that from Edinburgh there was only a coach once a
month, a clumsy vehicle that took from twelve to fourteen days to accomplish
its task. Our two main streets in those days were paved with large round cobbles, " so
very slippery that the inhabitants acquired a catch in their walk as if on the ice,"
and remained so till 1826, when our local authorities learnt of the fame of
McAdam,* and resolved to give his system of roadmaking a trial. Oh ! the trouble
* John McAdam published his system of road making in 1819, he received £10,000 from Parliament, was
appointed Surveyor General of the Metropolitan roads in 1827 and died in 1836.

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i8
of those times ! The farmers positively refused to take their horses over the small
sharp stones lest they might be " lamed beyond recovery." " It might do on the
roads," as a clever local newspaper said, " but it would never do on the streets ! "
The first mail coach began to run regularly from Manchester to Glasgow in
1786, stopping at Kendal to rest before plunging into the wild mountain country
beyond. And so quickly did the traffic increase that in 1823 we find that twelve
stage coaches left the town daily. To accommodate this vehicular traffic the
Market Cross was removed in 1765 and the May pole in 1792, Stramongate Bridge
was enlarged in 1794, the narrow Miller's Close Bridge, which had stood since
1743, was rebuilt in 181 8 on a wider scale, and Nether Bridge, already widened in
1772, had its approach eased in 1810, and was again enlarged in 1822.
John Todd's plan, here illustrated, was made in 1787, and when compared with
the earlier plan, it will be seen that the chief alterations are : — the Goose Holme
made by the mill race, which is first mentioned in 1713, the Workhouse, and
the House of Correction built in 1768, and Lowther Street which was opened out
in 1782. The next considerable improvement was effected by the removal of the several
antiquated buildings at the entrance into Highgate. The Old Shambles were
built in 1779 to do away with the Butcher's Rows, and in 1803 that monstrous
obstruction, the New Biggin, was demolished. The year following the new
Commercial Inn was erected, and the houses adjoining had very soon to be
refronted to make them look more worthy of what was considered at that time to
be a " princely hotel."
The use of female labour at this time was not so restricted as at present. At
the beginning of the XIXth century, and for more than ten years afterwards, all
the bricklayers' labourers were women. They boldly ascended the highest
ladders, carrying stones and mortar upon their heads. With greater propriety,
women also practised the lighter handicraft of the barber. Before the demolition
of the New Biggin, such an artist took up her position at one corner, with a
portable fire place, and the usual apparatus ; where, on a Saturday especially,
she was kept busily employed in denuding the chins that presented themselves,
of the stubble that had gathered during the week. But alas, the faces operated
upon went away, it is said, with the lower part fairly clean, but with the upper,
only too sadly besmeared with black and grimy finger marks.
The streets of Kendal must have been dark and dreary during the long nights

19
of winter. Until the introduction of street lamps, each passenger required to have
a " link " or a lanthorn, and the houses of the chief inhabitants were provided with
extinguishers beside the front door, for putting them out with. But oil lamps
were gradually introduced, and in 1814, no less than 140 wicks enlightened the
town when the moon was not expected to shine. From this illuminous period
alterations gradually but still slowly occurred until after the final banishment of
Napoleon to St. Helena, when the great spirit of building manifested itself, which
still continues to extend the limits of the town, and to improve its general
appearance and public accommodation.
The construction of the Canal to Lancaster, opened four years after (1819),
and the extension of the town to the pasture land upon the further side of
Stramongate Bridge, which had hitherto been its boundary, marked this
re-awakening in Kendal. The great election of 1818, however, had also much to
do with the extension. Both political parties vied with one another in erecting
numberless houses for the sake of Parliamentary votes, and at the north end
of the town the Blues, in 1820, encroached upon the ancient tenter fells to erect
what are still known as the Blue Buildings, comprising Caroline Street (named
after the unhappy queen whose cause the party championed), Union Street, Cross
Street, and Strickland Place.
In 1822, Stricklandgate, Wildman Street, and Longpool were widened, and in
the following year the bridge over the Blindbeck was rebuilt and widened to the
¦full width of the road. Then followed the erection of Thorny Hills in 1824 (so
named from the abundance of thorns uprooted), and Castle Crescent.
From this time, and by reason ofthe introduction of Railways into the North,
both the trade and the prosperity of the town went forward with leaps and bounds.
From the success which attended the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the
subsequent formation of the North Union line from Parkside to Preston, and the
extension to Lancaster in 1836, it became evident that the further extension
northward was only a matter of time — the necessity was obvious, but the
engineering difficulties over 70 miles of rough country were great. The scheme at
once became well supported by the gentry in the North and was backed by the
Lancaster and Preston Railway Company agreeing to pay a sum not exceeding
^65,000 towards the cost. Commenced on the 23rd December, 1844, the works
were pushed forward rapidly ; on the 21st September, 1846, the branch line was
opened to Kendal, and a few months afterwards the communication through to
Carlisle was complete.

20
Later on, when speaking-of the Railway Station, I shall have more to say
regarding this line, but for the immediate purpose it is sufficient to thus refer to it
as the next great epoch in the History of Kendal. Since then it is true that the
population has remained almost stationary, but the extension and public
improvements that have taken place are large and important, and speak well
for the public spirit and enterprise of the townspeople. Castle Street, Ann
Street, Gandy Street, and, later on, Cliffside Terrace, were built between the
years 1851 and 1853. Cemetery Lane was widened in 1861. The Allhallows
Lane improvements were made in 1862, and the baths and washhouses soon
afterwards built. Sunny Brow and Airethwaite were built in 1863, and the
cross road running up from the House of Correction was completed, and named
by the Kendal Fell Trustees on January nth, 1869, as "The Queen's Road."
It does not require a long knowledge of Kendal to remember the old Pump Inn
obstructing the passage into Finkle Street, and its removal in 1878 ; neither the
grassy slope down to the narrow and pleasant Aynam * path winding along
by the river side, that has since been built over by the scores of dwellings which
threaten the beauty and quietude of the Castle Hill ; and the same thing may
be said of the pasture whereon the colonies, that with mushroom growth, have
sprung up at Watchfield and beyond Far Cross Bank. Gillingate, and the heavy
four-footed Avenue constructed through Sande's Close, terminating in the
Victoria Jubilee Bridge, are later developments ofthe town's progress.
At one time a number of immense Lombardy poplars raised their heads
amongst the buildings, far above the housetops, the absence of which to-day
in our somewhat treeless streets we must greatly deplore — that a town so set in
one of nature's choicest valleys should be in itself so bereft of her beauty.
The two lots of poplars which survived all the others by several years were
on the east side of Highgate. Two stood in Greenhow's yard, No. 97, beside
Messrs. Braithwaites' Mill, and three reared their heads at the lower end of
the garden, behind No. 139, which adjoins the north side of Gelderd's yard.
However, when the great storm of 1857 split one of these latter from top to
bottom, and when the residents around began to feel frightened at such gigantic
neighbours, none too steady in the root, they were soon afterwards taken down.
In 1825 the streets were first lighted with gas; in 1852 the electric telegraph

* ' Ay-nam ' is a compound of two good old Saxon words. Ay means ever running- water, hence the old
English ' Aye ' = ever. Nam is Saxon, Danish and Icelandic. The proper pronunciation should be ' Yanam '
and not A-nam.

21
was brought to the town along the railway, and in the following year the wires
were laid through the streets.
On April ioth, 1862, the houses and yards commenced to be numbered by
order of the Local Board of Health, the yards being numbered in consecutive
order with the houses.
THE RIVER KENT.
We cannot pass from our survey of the streets without a word concerning
the rapid river which, in its course, flows through our midst. Rising away up
on the Kentmere Fells, with only the influx of the Sprint from Long Sleddale
and the Mint from Bannisdale, it falls just over 1000 feet in its comparatively
short length down, to the Milnthorpe Sands.
" Certes this riuer Ken is a pretie deepe riuer, yet not safe to be aduentured upon with
" botes and balingers, by reason of rowllyng stones and other huge substances that oft
" annoie and trouble the middest ofthe channell there."
So thought an ancient author, and we to-day who look back with a certain
sense of awe to the recent great storm can testify that the stream, which on
a summer's day seems but only a purling brooklet, rippling and sparkling in
the sunshine, can scarcely be recognised as, in quickly gathering flood, it
" Hastens along, conflicting and strong,
Now striking and raging, as if a war waging,
Its caverns and rocks among."
Several times has the river overflown its banks to an alarming extent,
causing considerable consternation and damage to the houses in the lower part
of the town.
1635 The earliest that we have record of is one that occurred on 18th October,
1635, which washed down the old wooden " Miller's Bridge."
1671 On September nth, 1671, we are told that the river rose 8 feet and swept
over the churchyard wall and " itt left much ffish." It seems also to have
raised up the oaken floor of the old vestry and to have put the wardens
to the expense of paying 1/6 for drink to certain men for removing the
old chest out of reach of the water.
1771 Another flood one hundred years later, on October 13th, 1771, seems to
have been very severe over the whole of the North of England, for we read

22
in the Newcastle Journal that it destroyed every bridge over the Tyne, with
one exception, and almost every bridge over the Wear. At Beetham
graves were washed open, and corpses and coffins were floating about
for some time. Here also it tore up the graves in the churchyard, and
was recorded by an inscription cut upon a cottage window pane at the
back of Miss Farrer's house in Stramongate, as follows : —
On the 13th Day of October, 1771, The Flood
rose To The Mark on The window Fraims
which was cut with a knife and was on The
Sabeth Day The Flood was in the Meting hous
So That They could not atend That Fornoon
which was niver knewn This 83 years. At that
Time The Meting hous was building (i588).
P.S. The Mark on the window Frames
is In This froont hous.
1772 P.S. On the 29th Day of October, 1772, The flood
rose within a Insh or There about as mentioned above
In Stramongate but on Kirkland it was 2 Insh or
more higher Than it was In 1771 and some other parts
It was Disputable.''
Nether Bridge had but three weeks previously been doubled in width, but
this flood completely washed away the new addition. The bridge was,
however, immediately widened again with stronger workmanship.
1831 On February 8th, 1831, the town was visited by another deluge, 2.56
inches falling within the day, which caused the river to rise several inches
higher than in 1772, i.e., up to the 77th railing from the south at the
bottom of Lowther Street, but even this was surpassed by the great flood of
1861 November 26th, 1861, when the wooden bridge across the foot-race below
Castle Mills was carried away bodily and had to be re-built.
1874 But to come to more recent years, most of us will remember the great flood
of 1874 when 3-21 inches fell within twenty-four hours. The waters were at
their height about midnight on the 6th of October, when the extreme dark
ness added to the terrible nature of the visitation. The lands at Aikrigg
End were covered by a vast expanse of water nearly a mile in breadth.
Sweeping along to Stramongate Bridge the flood made its way eastward to
the level of the Railway Inn floor, and westward it rose to the western
corner of the Nag's Head yard, covering the Goose Holme beneath several
feet of water. Coming to Gibson's yard the torrent rushed headlong down

to join the advancing waters on the New Road, where it reached up
to the ro2nd iron railing at the bottom of Lowther Street. At Colonel
walk the side wall was coloured a deep yellow by reason of the water first
entering Messrs. Wilkinson & Sons' dye works on the opposite bank, and
washing down with it a large quantity of their copperas. At Nether Bridge
the down sweep of the rushing flood was tremendous. It flowed arch full
and onwards down Netherfield road and Lound road in a deep swift volume
away towards the tollbar. Never had such a flood been known.
1898 And yet even the record of this catastrophe has but recently been broken.
This greatest of all inundations is too fresh in our minds, with all its
grandeur, but alas, destructive power, to need description here. The river
commenced to overflow its banks at 11 o'clock a.m. on November 2nd, 1898,
and continued to rise till 3 p.m., when it reached a total height of 15
inches above the flood of 1874 ! On Stramongate it rose up to the Western
corner of Black Hall Croft, and at the bottom of Lowther Street it reached
the 126th railing from the southern end.
It was along these banks, calm and placid at one time, yet now and again
swept by such turbulent and roaring torrents that the tanners had their tan pits,
and our manufacturers built their walk-mills.*
And yet, despite all this manufacture, there seems to have been plenty of fish
in the river, for we find a correspondent writing to the local papers complaining of
poaching, and saying that " it's no uncommon thing for the guards of the Leeds
coach to take a hundredweight of fish out of Kendal in a morning, which have been
taken by poachers through the preceding night. Salmon also was plentiful, and the
apprentices covenanted in their indentures that they should not dine upon this or
other kinds offish more than three times in a week. On the 24th October, 1862,
we have the extraordinary statement that a dead shark was taken out of the river
near Nether Bridge, which measured 5 feet from snout to tail. It would be
interesting to learn how this monster go so far up a fresh-water stream.
RAINFALL.
The rainfall possesses an abiding interest to us in rainy Kendal, and, thanks to
Mr. Richard Nelson's careful meteorological study, I am enabled to give from his
quite unique table, extending over a period of no years, the following rainfall
statistics : —
* As all the mills at their origin were small and of rude construction, and as the milling of cloth was, in
the infancy of the manufacture, most probably performed by the feet of men, these mills may have received
the peculiar name of walk-mills from that piimitive process.

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25
" The tables from 1788 to 1799 are compiled from Dr. Dalton's notes ; those from 1800 to
1S17 from readings kept by Dr. Harrison ; those from 1818 to 1822 were the work of Mr. John
Gough ; the observations from 1823 to 1868 were taken by Mr. Samuel Marshall, and my own
registers complete the series.
" It will be seen by the table that the Jubilee year, 1887, was the driest of which we have
any record in this district."
From this it will be seen that the average annual fall from 1788 to 1898 (both
inclusive) has been 51-88 inches, and that the average number of rainy days, when
100th part of an inch or more fell, has been 186. In round numbers, therefore, we
may say that one inch falls every week in the year, and that it rains every other
day. December has always been the wettest month, with an average of 5-52 inches
and 18 rainy days; January counts next. April and May are the driest months,
with an average of 2-73 inches and 12 rainy days.

THE POPULATION.
Year. Males. Females. Total.
1784  3.267 4.3°4 7.571
1793  3.533 4.556 8,089
1801  3-391 4,587 7,978
1811  3.861 4,898 8,759
1821  4.777 5.585 10,362
1831  5.258 6,043 II.3°i
1841  5.395 6,050 n,445
1851    1 '.83 1
1861  5.711 6>3i7 12,028
1871  6,405 7,037 13,442
18S1  6,499 7, '97 13.696
1891  6,875 7,555 !4,43o
Note.— This last figure includes the labourers temporarily resident here during the con
struction ofthe Manchester Waterworks.

We must now pass up into the town to examine in detail, as far as possible,
and step by step, each of the older houses which have stood throughout so many
changes— a silent witness to the townsfolk of bygone years.

II.
Soatepgate,

OR

The South ^oad.

" Quaint old town of toil and traffic,
Quaint old town of art and song ;
Memories haunt thy pointed gables,
Like the rocks that round them throng."

29

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD.

THE land by the river side, saturated with the constant overflow of the
rapid stream, was far too swampy to permit of the town's main road
— North and South — passing along it. So that those who passed too and
fro, being mindful of the ague, chose the higher and harder ground on the west
side, and thereon they built, filling in and solidifying a number of footpaths
down from this highway to their works on the river banks. In this we see at
once the origin and cause of our many yards — footways down to the stream or
up to the common land on the fells — which were by the gradual embankment
of the river and the enclosing of the fell made available, by degrees, for building
purposes. This Higherway, or Highgate, became known and designated in
the days of Good Queen Bess, and in the Boke off Recorde, as the South or
Soutergate. Until 1803, the entrance to this main thoroughfare was
New Biggin. divided by a building called the "New Biggin," which
commenced opposite the Town Hall, and extended northwards some 30 yards
in length, and was 9J yards broad. On the east side, the passage was just
wide enough for a wheeled conveyance to pass through ; but, on the west,
there was only space sufficient for foot passengers to walk along its cobbled
pavement. This curious erection, according to a document found at the
time of its removal, was built about the year 1500.
It was mostly a timber building, with the upper floor supported by 29
strong oak beams, projecting so as to form a gallery on the north and west
sides and a roof over the shops on the east side. In 1782, the shops were
tenanted as follows : —
Facing south, C. Askew, glazier, with a horsing stone at the south-west
corner ; next to which was Mary Hodgson's meat and pot shop; then William

3°

KIRKB1E KENDALL.

Kirkby, another butcher ; with a bacon dealer, whose name is lost, adjoining
— to all of which the fronts were set back beneath a pent roof, with the usual
unglazed, but wooden-shuttered windows. Adjoining was the house of Dr.
Kitchen, with a room on either side of the entrance,
brought forward to the front of the pent roof, with
glazed windows ; and lastly, Thomas Lonsdale's
ironmongery shop, which extended round the north
front to the stone steps that led upward to the
gallery. On the west side, above some small
dwellings, was a large room called the " Cord-
wainer's Hall," belonging to the last incorporated
body of tradesmen in the town.

It is not difficult to realise the abiding nuisance
that this obstruction must have been to the traffic
of the town ; and it becomes a pleasing duty to
record how that the good Lady Andover, ever
anxious to work for the welfare and interests of
Kendal, repeatedly declared that if Lord Lonsdale
would but take a torch and set fire to his end of the
building, she was quite ready to do the same to
her's. But it would seem that the Earl, having no
great love for the town, which he could never
politically subdue, was relentless in his opposition.
Accordingly it remained until his death in 1803,
when it was instantly given over to the Corporation
by his successor and the Hon. Mrs. Howard, in
order that its obstruction might be at once removed:
Unfortunately, Mr. Hogg and his camera were
not there at the time to take an accurate view of
the building, so that we must be forever indebted to
John Richardson for his drawing taken from memory
in 1845 at the age of 71 years. It will be seen that
his perspective is far from being good, in that he
makes the cramped western passage appear as if it

1. — White Hall.
2.— Wheat Sheaf.
3.— Angel Inn.
4.— Victory Inn.
5.— James Cocke.
6.— Jackson's Yard,
7.— Commercial Inn.
8.— Dolphin Inn.
9.— Black Horse and
Rainbow Inn.
io.— Kii.ner Hall.
11.— Rofbuck Inn.
12. — Golden Fleece Inn.
13. — Old Shambles.
14.— Exchange Inn.
15.— White Hart Coffee
House.

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 31
were a boulevard, and his shading lines on the east elevation are so scarce,
that the feehng of the lower story, retreating some four or five feet beneath
its pent roof, is lost altogether.

The New Biggin (East Side.)

Bi

Before, the street was just wide enough, so it is quaintly said, to keep
people straight as they went home in the dark; but by the removal of this
ancient budding the thoroughfare became, as the Newcastle papers at that
time said, one of the largest and most spacious streets of any town in the
North of England.
Commercial Hotel. lt is' however> necessary to retrace back a few steps
in order to notice the " Commercial Hotel," which
was built in 1804, when Mr. Maskew was " mine host." It stands upon the
site of the ancient "Royal Oak Inn," owned by John Fletcher in 1746
and which, like the " Golden Fleece " opposite, had the facade supported
on wooden posts. On the property being rebuilt, the sign of the "Royal
Oak " was transferred to what had previously been known as the " Butchers'
Arms," at the head of the Old Shambles. James Webster was the innkeeper
during the great election of 1818, and remained so until the inn was put up
for sale on the 27* day of August, 1824, together with the "two valuable
shops, a good dwelling house, and a news room adjoining the said inn on the
north and fronting on to Highgate, and now in the several occupations of
Alderman Dobson and Joseph Garnett as tenants."
As a sign the Inn has ever hung out in a most tempting way a bunch of

32

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

grapes, an emblem one would suppose of the good wine within ; but it has
always seemed to me that the grapes must have been peculiarly tantalizing
to the " Fox and Goose " across the way, unless indeed, their sagacity
recognised that " the grapes were sour." At that time, every inn, by Act of
Parliament, was obliged to hang out a sign, which now, through ages of
creaking and groaning, have mostly fallen into decay.

Kendal and Leeds Coacb.

In the prime era of coaching
— circa 1820 — the " Royal
Liverpool " coach started to
run from here, in opposition to
the " Good Intent," which had
for nine years held the road
from the " King's Arms " to
Whitehaven. And in 1826, the
" Independent," an express
coach, stopped here from Car
lisle to change horses and
replenish the inner man. But,
oh ! the hurry there must have
been over that replenishing,
so hastily performed to the
accompaniment of the guard's
post horn, relentlessly pro
claiming imminent departure.
Fac simile of Coaching Advertisement.
This coach likewise was in opposition to the " Robert Burns," which ran
from Glasgow or Edinburgh right through to Liverpool or Manchester,
putting up to change horses at the " Crown Inn." Great rivals, indeed, ofthe
first water, but even they for a short time had to face the deliberate opposition
ofthe " Defiance " and the " North Briton," which by the way they managed
to do with such good effect, as to bring the latter two coaches into amalga
mation with them soon afterwards.

MR. FISHER
BEGS to inform COMMERCIAL GENTLE-
MEN, his Friends, and the Public generally, that
he has made arrangements with the Proprietors of the
old original KENDAL and LEEDS UNION COACH,
which will on and after Wednesday next, the 15th inst.,
be Removed from the Kiso'a Abms tothe Commercial
Hotel, from whence it will start at a Quarter to Eight
a.m., at VERY REDUCED FARES.
Arrives at the Royal Hotel, Leeds, at Five P.M., in
connection with the Trains to York, Hull, &c. 8rc,
Performed by
Fisher, Outhwaite, Wood, Hall, BhaDley, &c.
Commercial Hotel, Kendal, 1
December tOtli, 1841. (

Westmorland House.

The large premises, now taken by the County
Club, were erected in 1854 upon the site of four
very small shops, which have been well depicted by the late Richard

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 33
Stirzaker, as a background to the famous election scene of 1818. This
picture, now at Dallam Tower, represents the entrance of Lord Lowther
into Kendal in one of Dunn's Lancaster and Kendal coaches. It is an
animated street scene, the coach having just drawn up, with its boisterous
band of drum and brass instrumentalists seated on the top, and with one or
two others none the less exubriant in the waving of their Lowther banners.
But to us, concerned here more with the old appearance ofthe town than with
such jovial company, the most interesting parts of the picture are the rough
cobbled-road paving and the old shop frontages behind. The first two shops
next the "Commercial" are occupied by Dowson, printer and bookseller,
with Stubbs, the painter and gilder's premises above. Then, on the southern
side of a narrow entry known as Brumwell's Yard and beneath a lottery
office, is Dowson's genuine tea and coffee shop. An epithet perhaps more
needed in these latter days than then.
Behind, on the sloping ground, where Thos. Head afterwards built his
residence, stood an old building of some 300 years, which had formerly been
of considerable splendour and importance, but subsequently fell into utter ruin.
In the old deeds it is first named " Holly Hill," but subsequently it became the
head hostelry ofthe town, and was'known as " Fox's Inn," being owned by a
certain William Fox, one of the principal inhabitants of Soutergate in 1575.
And so great was the fame of this house that a country fellow might as well
return from London without looking into the face of Royalty as for a traveller
to pass through Kendal without alighting here " to wet his whistle."
It was here that on the 3rd day of August, 1616, Sir Augustine Nicholls,
the "Just Judge," died. To his "renowned memorie " a monument is erected
in the Parish Church and another in Faxton Church, Northamptonshire,
where he was born, and where a traditional story still goes that he was
poisoned at his inn by four witches of Kendal. The figures of Justice,
Fortitude, Prudence, and Temperance placed on the cenotaph at Faxton are
accountable for this " pretty compliment " paid to the womankind of Kendal ;
for, if the witches among us were represented by the four cardinal virtues,
how good our good have been.
However, the inn that witnessed this traditional scene has since then
passed through many vicissitudes, the history of which is almost entirely lost.

34 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Before the coaches enlivened the road its doors were closed, and vast empty-
ness reigned alone. About the year 1780, one, Jonathan Robinson, gathered
around him a somewhat famous school in a few of the rooms, which he kept
until his death in 1816. History records him as being a man "skilled to rule
and stern to view." " But past is all his fame, the very spot,'
Where many a time he triumphed, is forgot."
Years after, one of the upper rooms was rented as an Independent Metho
dist Chapel, by George Robinson, a hosier and grocer in Kirkland, who died in
1845, and still later by another religious body — the Mormons, or " Latter-Day
Saints." An adjoining room, once most resplendant, was rented to a tailor
for a workshop, and on the ground floor John Fisher had his carpenter's
shop. But enough — " 'T were long to tell, 't were sad to trace,
Each step from splendour to disgrace.''
Down Brumwell's Yard were also the old-established works of a tallow
chandler conveniently adjacent to the Butchers' Rows, and from the
Cumberland Pacquet for September 16, 1794, I gather that they were to let
as a well-going concern by the owner, James Teasdale, the tallow from
upwards of thirty butchers being contracted for. When Parker & Head
bought the front premises in 1853, they also bought up this property.
Before passing on, I would wish to say a word or two concerning Richard
Stirzaker, to whom we owe so much for the faithfulness of his old Kendal
paintings. He was born at Lancaster in 1797. When twenty years of age he
came to Kendal, and for some time held a position in the office of George
Webster, architect. As this sedentary occupation did not suit his feeble
health, he left to open a drawing school in his house at Kirkland, and also
became the drawing master at the Friends' School. His pencil and brush
were ever busy, and it was during this period — say, 1820 to 1828 — that he
painted most of his best-known Kendal pictures. Subsequently he removed
to Manchester, and soon after died at the early age of 36 years. Amongst his
best-known pictures are : —

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 35
" Lowther's Entry into Kendal (1820)."
" King's Arms Hotel (1823)."
" Interior of Parish Church." (Two views.)
" The Conflagration of Dockwray Mills (1824)."
" Underley Hall." (Two views.)
" Old Shambles (1825)."
_. The present premises of the Kendal Bank stand upon
the site of one of the last remnants of the old Butchers'
Rows, which remained here in its primitive condition, with old-fashioned
windows and oaken front, until demolished for this very substantial
building erected in 1873. The open stalls or benches from which the
Rows took the name, were arranged beneath pent roofs on both sides
of Soutergate, those on the east extending from Finkle Street down to the
Whitehall, and those on the west almost down to the foot of All Hallows
Lane. They continued as such till 1779, when the Old Shambles were built
«
to accommodate the butchers, and Highgate was remodelled after the
demolition of the New Biggin.
So long, however, as these stalls continued, the barbarous custom of bull-
baiting prevailed, and the butchers seldom ventured to slay a bull unless it
had been publicly baited. If any did so, he had to hang a sign-board out, by
official order, with "bull-beef" inscribed upon it, or burn a lighted lamp so
long as any unbaited beef remained unsold, or in default be subject to a fine of
3s. 4d. However, in consequence of repeated accidents to those who ventured
too near the maddened animal, the custom was suppressed by the Corporation
in 1791. Here is an extract from the account book of Robert Dixon and Joseph
Symson, the Corporation Chamberlains : —
1756. Fines for Selling Bull Beef without Baiting. £ ¦• d.
Jany. 31 — Edward Williamson, butcher ...   034
Feby. 7 — Thomas Robinson, yeoman    034
,, 14 — Jonathan Ellworth, yeoman    034
,. 21 — Thomas Wilson, carrier    034
„ 28— William Crookson, butcher    034
March 6 — A stranger for a Sizergh bull    034
(j I3 — William Cookson, butcher    034
April 4— Thomas Ward, butcher .....  ...» 034

36 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
The bull ring was formerly placed in a stone block on the top ofthe Beast
Banks, to which the poor animal was fastened by a rope running through a
ring in its nose. In this fashion, amid its dreadful bellowing, it was baited
and bitten by savage dogs until exhausted. Large numbers assembled to
witness this "sport," their consciences relieved by the thought that the
beef was thereby improved, an aged bull being deemed especially tough unless
well baited before slaughtering. Taking hold of and shaking the bull ring was
tantamount to throwing down the gauntlet as a general challenge to a fight,
and not infrequently the fairs and market days were signalised in this way by
pugnacious fellows.
But to return from this digression to the site of the Bank. Next to the
County Club that now is, was a wide entry leading into a very steep lane
known as Jackson, the wire drawer's Yard, and against this came the butcher's
shop of Matthew Scarr, beneath its pent roof. As was usual, the windows
were unglazed ; each protected by two wooden shutters divided horizontally, so
that the lower half could fall downwards to act as a table for the meat, whilst
the upper half was hinged upwards against the ceiling, when not required to
close the window for the night. The rooms above the shop were of the lath-
and-plaster kind, so common in olden days — fortunately, not extinct yet — and
the woodwork, rough-cast, and glazing of the ancient-looking windows gave
the whole front a most picturesque appearance. Within, Miss Walker presided
over the largest and most noted circulating library in the town. The terms
for the use of the books were not so high as might have been expected at that
remote period, being only twopence per volume for the week's loan ; and there
is every reason to believe that the library exercised a very powerful influence
upon the reading portion of the inhabitants of Kendal for many years.
Adjoining was the shop of George Lyon, one ofthe most fashionable boot and
shoe makers of that day, over which Dolly Metcalf lived, but before her day it
was the tenement where the Rev. Thomas Carter, D.D., Dean of Tuam, was
born ; and next again to this was the shop of James Webster, a tailor and
draper, who, it is said, spoke with a voice reduced to the lowest whisper;
whilst above a certain Jackson had his abode. This dual kind of house was
far more common in the last century than one can well imagine, and frequently
it led to strange difficulties when any structural alterations were needed. A
sale could not be effected without the consent of both owners.

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD.

37

The two first banking establishments in the town were both founded
simultaneously on the ist day of January, 1788, viz. : — "Wakefield's Bank"
in Stricklandgate, and " Maude, Wilson, & Crewdson's Bank " in Stramon
gate. In 1840 they were amalgamated under the title of "The Kendal Bank,"
which has now become a branch of " The Bank of Liverpool, Limited."
For their earlier histories I must refer the reader to the old banking
premises in Stricklandgate and Stramongate.

KENDAL

BANKS.

WE, the Undersigned Inhabitants of the Town
of Kendal, having the most perfect confidence in
the Stability of the Bank of Messrs. Wilson,
Crewdson & Co., and also in that of Messrs.
J. Wakefield & Sons, in consequence of the
opulence and prudence of the Partners in the
said Firms, do voluntarily pledge ourselves not
only to take their Notes in Payment, but also
that we are willing to guarantee Money lodged
in either of the said Banks to any Amount. As
witness our hands this 13th Day of February,
1826.

The credit of these Banks
has from the first been of the
highest order, financial crises
have come and gone and left
them unshaken. One of these,
which occurred in 1826, it may
be of interest to refer to. It
was known as the " paper
panic," during which many
flourishing banks throughout
the country came to ruin. The
two Kendal Banks, however,
received the shock bravely ;
and I have in my possession
an interesting advertisement,
signed by the Mayor, Vicar,
Senior Aldermen, and some 150
inhabitants, declaring : — " our
entire confidence in the sta
bility of the two houses, and
trust that they will continue
the circulation of their notes
for the accommodation of the
public ; and we pledge our
selves to receive the same in
the regular course of business to any amount." Indeed, tradition says that
the farmers had a strong superstitious preference for a "Jacky Wakefield
note " over the sovereign gold itself.

Geo. Forrest, Mayor
John Pearson
Thos. Cookson & Son
Jos. Braithwaite
Robert Benson
Jos. & Jno. Atkinson
Thomas Reveley
Jas. Sinkinson
M. & R. Branthwaite
Isaac Rigge
Francis Webster
Zephaniah Banks
Thos. Harrison,. Sur.
J. Hudson, Vicar
Anthony Ycates
George Yeates
A. Shepherd, Shaw End
John Newby
R. Greenhow & Co.

Smith Wilson )
Simpson & Ireland I
T. Wilson & Sons
John Ireland
G. & M. Gibson
Thomas Greenhow
E. Tatham, Solicitor
T. H. Maude, Esq.
James Gandy & Sons
1. & W.Wilson
Isaac Whitwell
Daniel Harrison
William Geldard
I. Wilson, Solicitor
John Gaskarth
Tonathan Hodgson
j. Ireland & Co.
Richard Rawes

Printed by Tyras Redhead, Gazette Office, Kendal.

Reduced copy of Handbill.

38 KIRKB1E KENDALL.
The original premises on the site adjoining to the south was at one time
occupied by Alderman James Cocke's house and the " Victory Inn." The
former had a cock stained into the glass of one of the windows representing
the family arms. James Cocke was Mayor in 1653, and gave to the
Corporation the very curious old clock now in the Museum, which bears the
inscription : — " The guift of James Cocke, Maior in Kendall, 1654, to the
Maior of the same Sucksesiuely. Time Runneth — your work is before you."
His son James was likewise Mayor in 1681, and issued half-penny tokens in
1667. Messrs. Rhodes inform me that there still remains (now at the back),
an old entrance door with a label attached " licensed to sell pepper and
tobacco," which doubtless, is the original door of the " Victory Inn."
At the beginning of this century, William Fisher (the great uncle to
Alderman Fisher) owned the property, and lived here with his daughter, who
carried on her " mantua " and fancy dress business, advertised in the Carlisle
Journal to commence on the 24th June, 1801. William Fisher rebuilt the
premises of hewn limestone in 1812, and at that time it was considered to be
the first attempt in Kendal to erect an imposing shop front.
It is from here that the electric current fires the time gun at one o'clock
each day — a gun which is placed in the Serpentine Woods, and lent by the
War Office to the Corporation. It is an 18-pounder, measures nine feet long,
and weighs 42 cwts. The agreement between Her Majesty's Postmaster-
General and Messrs. Thomas and Edmund Rhodes for the provision and
maintenance of wires and apparatus for the transmission of the Time Current
is dated May 13th, 1873. But it did not come into operation before the
following 5th of September.
Before clocks and watches were as common as they are now, a bell,
being a survival of the old curfew, was the guide by which the inhabitants
knew the time of day. In summer, it was rung at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., and in
winter the hours were from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., except on Sundays. The sexton
rang about a quarter of^an hour each time, and as a conclusion, always tolled
the.day of the month by so many distinct sounds. Probably, when in 1582
James Leyburne, of Cunswick Hall, gave his clock to the town of Kendal,
the first blow against this ancient custom was given, although it prevailed at
more or less irregular intervals up to Easter of 1877.

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 39
x ,* 1 j Adjoining to the south is the " Angel Inn," still standing, with
all its records of ancient tale and gossip, although greatly
modernised. Tradition says that the earliest " Angel Inn " was situated in a
batch of old building somewhere behind the present "Commercial Inn," and
approached through a narrow entry long ago removed. It further says that
some 100 years ago it was managed by an old man named Bland, who, with
his daughters Grace and Prudence, carried on a prosperous business there.
After the death of the old man the daughters kept on the business till Prudence
died, when the sign was removed to its present situation. A wag, on the
closing down of the old house, wrote with chalk upon the fastened door, as
follows : — " Prudence and Grace dwelt in this place,
An angel kept the door ;
Prudence is dead, the Angel fled,
And Grace has turned a . . . ."
There is attached to this house a legend that when the rebels marched
through Kendal some of the followers of "Bonnie Prince Charlie" rushed
into the inn, and that the family, in their flight, left in one of the passages
a child, which was there found by the soldiers ; but standing over and
guarding it was an angel, in whose hand was a drawn sword. A pretty legend,
with its sequel, that the intruders, taking this as a sign that the house was
under Divine protection, left it without despoiling any of its contents. The
inn, which formerly had its entrance next Messrs. Rhodes' shop, was a
favourite resort for carriers and pack-horses, having extensive stabling, and
from here in 1829 the coach started for Newcastle.
Of the many odd characters connected with this inn, I can only stay to
mention old John Robinson. He kept a saddle-horse here for many years,
but never rode it, for if he went a journey his custom was to lead the animal
the whole way, with the oft-repeated answer that he would ride it " by-and-
bye." If asked by an acquaintance for the loan of his " Rosinante," his ready
answer came — " I have no time to go with thee to lead it." In like manner,
old Robinson kept several pointer dogs. He bought up every gun that had
the character of being a good one, and he annually took out a licence, but he
never went out shooting, although he was always going to "by-and-bye."
His plan of future operations as a sportsman had not left him at the age of 85,

40 KirKbie Kendall.
for a few weeks before he died he procured a number of new bags for bringing
home his game, "by-and-bye."
Away up in that innocent-looking, box-like erection on the roof, between
those flanking diamond chimneys, is an apartment entered only by way of a
trap-door in the garret, eight feet square, at one time lighted by four
windows, and with seats still existing around two sides.
There would seem to be no doubt that it was originally constructed as a
Columbier, or pigeon cote. For it must be remembered, that in the middle
ages fresh meat could only be procured during the summer ; turnips, mangel
wurzells, and other green crops were unknown ; hence the majority of the
oxen and sheep were slaughtered and salted down at the beginning of winter.
The old German name for November was Slagtmonat or slaughter-month, and
the Anglo-Saxon name was Blodmonath or blood-month. Anything, therefore,
that could vary or palliate the monotony of salted meat or fish, was a luxury
to be envied. Hence we have the fish ponds and stews, in which carp and
tench were assiduously fattened for the table ; and the warrens of conies and
large pigeon houses, in close proximity to the abodes of the great and wealthy,
of the castle, the convent, and the manor house. So likewise, the Angel Inn
would require such a Columbarium, if it desired to retain its customers, and
keep pace with the other principal places of entertainment.
In latter years when such a need existed no longer, the apartment became
a most suitable place, away from prying official notice, wherein our Corinthians
could congregate, with their game cocks trimmed for fighting. It is certain
that cock-fighting was a favourite pastime in Kendal from an early period.
Even during the Commonwealth, when all public amusements were rigorously
interdicted, if we are to credit tradition, Kendal owned its cock-pit. Shortly
after 1712 we find "covered cock-pits" attached to many ofthe principal inns;
the arena in those of earlier date being uncovered. At first, the sports were
carried on at very short intervals throughout the season, but by degrees the
principal attendance concentrated in the race week, when the fighting was
introduced under more imposing auspices. The " mains " were fought and
patronized by persons of the highest rank and station, at all events up to the
close of the XVIIIth century, without any impeachment of their refinement or
humanity.

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD.

41

Wheat Sheaf Inn. AdJoining to the south was Nat Tyson's grocery shop,
now occupied by Mr. Birkett, and further on the
"Wheat Sheaf," the site of which is now occupied by the Municipal Buildings.
In the last will of Edward Whitehead, dated 23rd day of July, 1732, we
find the bequest of " all that tenement lately purchased by James Ashburner,
and formerly known by the name of Scale Hall, and now by the name or sign
of the Wheat Sheaf."
Town Hall The Present Town Hall stands upon the site of the ancient
White Hall, a name which may have been taken from the
manufacture of a white cloth— White Cloth Hall— as in a poem of the
" Battle of Flodden Field," the brave men of Kendal seem to have been coated
with such stuff. " The left hand wing, with all his route,
The lusty Lord Dacres did lead ;
With him the bows of Kendal stout,
With milke-white coats and crosses red.

These are the bows of Kentdale bold,
Who fierce will fight and never flee."

Some accounts say that this hall also bore at one time, the name of the
Leaden or Leather Hall. The front projected with two wings, the windows
were stone mullioned, and the ample staircase was of stone. A Robinson of
Rokeby Hall, connected by marriage with the Tolsons of Tolson Hall, lived
here and carried on an extensive trade in London, exporting Kendal cottons
to Virginia and the West Indies. His relative, Thomas Tolson, would
probably charter the return ships, for he tells us that he built his residence out
of money made by dealing in tobacco, and caused painted and inscribed glass
to be put in the windows in 1638 to commemorate the fact.
How the Corporation became the possessors, the first time, and at what
date, I cannot find any note of. But in 1825, a joint-stock company purchased
the site from them for £"1,380 with shares of £"55 each, and built thereon a
news room and lecture hall, with ball, card, and billiard rooms attached,
at a total cost of £"6,000 completely finished. The foundation stone was laid
by the Mayor, Michael Branthwaite, and a copy of each of the local news-

42

KIRKBIE KENDALL,

<
X

f- S
5 h

Iz.'X

SOuTerOate or The south road. 43
papers and of the Corporation arms, printed on satin, were enclosed in a glass
bottle, and deposited under the corner stone. *
In 1853, Mr. Edmund Rhodes took a wonderful bird's eye view photo
graph from the top of the Beast Banks, through a camera made by himself
out of an old cigar box ! It is the earliest known photograph of Kendal, and is
chiefly valuable for its representation of the old cupola on the top of this
roof. I regret exceedingly, that my publishers find it impossible to get a
satisfactory reproduction of this excellent photograph for illustration.
These Assembly Rooms were repurchased by the Corporation for £2,250 in
1859, when they were converted into the Town Hall, and the basement fitted
with lock-up cells.
There being no tower to the White Hall to receive the new clock presented
by John Wakefield, it was decided to pull down the old cupola and erect one
for its accommodation. Concerning which, there seems to have been con
siderable discussion as to its right position — i.e., whether it should be central
or placed at the north-west corner, where it might have been seen down
Stricklandgate as far as the Museum. However, when it was ultimately built
in 1861, at a cost of nearly £"600, it seems to have been universally approved,
and described as a handsome structure ; about 13 feet by 10 feet, rising to a
height of 85 feet from the pavement. The clock had four plate-glass dials,
illuminated with gas, turned on and off by the movement of the clock itself.
The first hour was struck on Sir James Lowther's bell, at one o'clock on
Saturday, the 21st day of December, 1861. A new flag-pole was also erected,
standing go feet in height, and raised its flag on the ist of November to
celebrate the election of the new councillors.
Within the last few years the Corporation has acquired the adjoining
properties above mentioned, and on this enlarged site, it has almost entirely
rebuilt the Town Hall, at a total cost of £22,000. The tower now contains a
new clock and eleven bells. The large tenor weighs 2 ton 4 cwt. 1 qr., and
bears the following inscription : — " These bells were bequeathed to the inhabi-
tatST of Kendal by Alderman William Bindloss, Mayor, MDCCCXCV."
The following mottoes are inscribed on the other ten bells, which vary in
* This glass bottle and contents were recovered on digging out the foundation for the New Clock Tower.
f By some error this word has been cast without the "n."

44

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

THE OLD TOWN HALL.
THE WHITE HALL, REMODELLED IN 1859.

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 45
weight from 30 cwt. to 4 cwt., namely:— 2, Justitiam et Honorem Colant
Omnes ; 3, Deum laudo, Vivos voco, Mortuos plango ; 4, Honos alit Artes ;
5, Honos est praemium Virtutis; 6, Nihil semper Floret, Aetas Succedit
Aetatem ; 7, Omnia fert Aetas Animum quoque ; 8, Ring in the love of truth
and right ; 9, Ring in the common love of good ; 10, Omnia Jovan Laudant
Animantia; 11, Nobis Solamen det Deus.
The daily chimes ring out their five-finger exercises as follows : —

Sunday 

"Devotion."

Monday 

" Kelvin Grove."

Tuesday

" British Grenadiers."

Wednesday

"Poor Mary Anne."

Thursday 

" When the King enjoys his own again."

Friday

"Garry Owen."

Saturday 

"There is nae Luck about the house."

The bell on which the old town clock struck the hours now hangs outside
the Police Station, and is used as a fire bell, at whose clang the fire brigade
and engines turn out ; and, " woe betide the person a-bed whose house is on
fire — if not sleeping in a mackintosh." In olden days a bell used also to be
rung on a market day to signify that permission was then given to the farmers
to sell the produce of their dairies.
Kirkby Kendal as a Borough has received three Royal
The Corporation. y r ' . 5 /
Charters ot Incorporation. The first was granted by
Queen Elizabeth on the 28th November, 1575, the second by Charles I. on
the 4th of February, 1636, and the third by Charles II. on the 15th December,
1684 ; the originals of which are still preserved.
The inhabitants who, in the first instance, petitioned Elizabeth had
a fair claim upon her as being contributing tenants as well as liege subjects.
The Queen was the lady of the manor, holding in her own right that portion
of the barony formerly possessed by William Parr, Marquis of Northampton.
Moreover she pocketed all the fees for tollage, markets, fairs, stallage,
weights and measures, worth some £io a year. She also received the
yearly rent of the demesne of the Castle and Park, which was valued at
£64 14s. od., and from the tenants at will, in the New Biggin, she took
£4 3s. od. a year.

46

KIrKbIe KeMdalL.

The details of this charter for " the keeping of our peace and the ruling of
our people " can be found fully set forth in many local books, so that I need
not mention here more than that the main provisions enacted that there
should be "a body corporate and politick," consisting of an alderman
and twelve capital burgesses in perpetual succession. That beside these
there should be two officers of justice called
Sergeants-at-Mace, and a Recorder who, with
any three of the burgesses, shall hold a court
of record for the hearing of all manner of pleas,
actions, suits, and demands not exceeding £20.
Power was also given to make and maintain
bye-laws, and all " fynes and amercyments "
were to be truly sent to the Queen's Exchequer.
Many are the strange cases in which this
First Seal of the Corporation. power was exercised. Beside the bull baiting
fines already referred to, fines were imposed for any persons, he, she or they,
giving, preparing and providing suppers, feasts or drynkings in any private
house or houses on the occasion of weddings, kyrkings, nutcasts, applecasts,
or merry-nights if more than " three measses of ffolkes " (12 persons) were
assembled on such occasions. Another bye-law enacted in 1577, that no
inhabitant should suffer any person not free of the Borough to dwell and
remain in any " house, chamber, or lofte within the precincts of the town,"
under a penalty of 20s. Fortunately trayelling was at that time very difficult,
or else the distant relations would find this law forbidding them to come and
stay with their friends in Kendal very hard upon their peaceful intentions.

The alderman and burgesses appear to have had two official cloaks
each, one a " playne clothe gowen off black or off some other sad colour,"
which was worn with " a round black cap on his head, moost comonlye
on all Sondayes in the year and on all holye dayes, lykewise when the wether
is ffayr and uphold"; and another called "their best vyolet gowne," which
they were ordered to wear on " chief festival days, ffayres, and play days."
In certain " Orders made by the Mayor and Aldermen " about 1643
the following injunctions occur :
Item as often as any nobleman or stranger worthy shall come to the town then upon
warning from the Mayor and Aldermen all the Aldermen in decent apparel

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 47
shall attend and accompany the Mayor for the credit of the towne upon pain
of every one offending to forfeit 3s. 4d.
Item that they all attend the Mayor from his house the Sunday after the swearing
and on the usual feasts viz Christmas Easter Whit in their best violet gowns
and in clothes of black or sad colour and the 20 in their black gowns and like
clothes under the pain of 6s 8d for every default.
Item that every Alderman wear his black gown to the church every Sunday with
black or sad coloured apparel and that none wear any light coloured clothes
different from their gowns or any grayish stockings under penalty of 20s.
Between these two last entries the following has been interpolated,
and afterwards crossed out :
Ordered by the Maior and Alderman ye 4th of September 1654 that every one of the
Aldermen shall provide for themselves a Gowne against the first Sunday after
the next Maior shalbe sworne .... which gownes are to be all of one forme
and of Black stuffe to be faced with black plush or velvet.
A little later occurs :
23rd of September, 1655.
It is ordered that Mr George Archer shall provide a gown like the rest of
the Aldermen's gouns against Saturday come sennight if there be materials
for the same within the town upon pain to forfeit 40s.
The use of official gowns was discontinued by the " reformed " corpora-
in 1836. Another curious order from the Council, dated 1696, and made, I suppose,
for the purpose of keeping the luckless burgesses up to the required moral
scratch, was that they shall twice on every Sabbath day repaire to the Church
in their gownes on pain of forfeiting 3s. 4d.
In olden times, our ancestors believed that the religious uses of Sunday
were sufficiently important to justify their enforcement by the secular arm.
By the famous Act of Queen Elizabeth of the year 1559 —which, by the way,
still stands upon the Statute Book, and to-day is being invoked by the Arch
bishops as the foundation for their opinion upon incense and processional
candles — due provision was made for the attendance of all her lieges at the
means of grace. Every one who failed to attend Divine service in some

48 KIRKBIE KENDALL,
authorised place of worship each Sunday and holy day was to be fined twelve-
pence for each offence. On the Church Husband was imposed the duty of
levying the fine, and the Bishops were to see that it was fulfilled. With this
power, surely, the Vicar of Kendal should find no difficulty in raising the
required monies for his ancient church !
What were the operating causes which produced the revocation of this our
First Charter, whether it was a voluntary act of surrender or enforced, either
by reason of our abuse of its powers, or by the " naked exercise " of the Royal
perogative, there seems to be no record left to us to say. The Star Chamber
proceedings were at that time in rigorous operation, the National Treasury was
empty, Charles was at issue with his Parliament on the question of supplies,
and if taxes could not legally be imposed by the Legislature other means had
to be resorted to for replenishing the Exchequer of the Crown. By his own
mandate, the King had already exacted " tonnage and poundage " on manu
factures, and nothing would seem more likely than that, knowing how much
the people prized their Municipal privileges, he should demand the instant
surrender of them in order to grant new Charters on the payment of heavy
fines. However, this much is certain, that the Corporation had to sue, in forma
pauperis, for a new Charter, and that they were more than two years in
obtaining it. Among the State papers is preserved their petition, dated
November 24th, 1634, " most humbly shewing, that it pleased your Majesty to
give direction to your late Attornie-General (deceased) for drawing up their new
Charter, and forasmuch as the same was not finished .... maie it
please your sacred Majestie to renue your gracious order to your Majestie's
new Attornie for finishing their humble suite accordinglie." And at a Court at
Whitehall it was ordered that " Mr. Attornie-General do prepare such a
Charter as by the Certificate is here mentioned."
The principal difference in this Charter of
Charles I. over the former one, is that it provides
for a Mayor, 12 Aldermen, and 20 Capital Burgesses,
with a common seal containing a crowned portrait
of the King engraved upon it. The Mayor,
Recorder, and two senior Alderman to be Justices

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD.

49

ofthe Peace to adjudicate upon all cases not exceeding £20, and to appoint
a " searcher of cottons " to examine all woollen cloths exposed for sale,
" whether they are wrought and made as they ought to be for the proper use
of men wearing them."

PROCLAMATION OF HIS MAJESTY
KIJTG GEORGE
THE FOURTH.
JSwrgh of Kirl,bij-in-li'einlal.
TUB MAYOR respectfully requests the attendance or the CleROI. MINISTERS. GENTLE
MEN, and Inhabitants of this BURGH, and of the Neighbourhood, nt the TowvHalu oa
Thursday tbe 17th instant, at a quarter before twelve o'clock, 10 proceed with him abd the
Corporation lo Proclaim HIS ROYAL MAJESTY
KING GEORGE THE FOURTH.
February Win. IBSU.

IVill moot from Ihe Town- HaU. prteuety al Taelvc oClack. in the following Order .—

Two Tram pel
Foui Hnlben Men— t
Churchwardens and
Clergymen in (hen

Two Halbert H
Union Flag.
barn] of Mull

With regard to the circum
stances attending the grant of
our third Charter, there can be
no doubt, for what one abso
lute King had granted "during
good behaviour," another abso
lute and unscrupulous Monarch
could easily annul. In 1681,
the City of London was
stripped of its Charter, and
three years afterwards Corpora
tions generally were summoned
to surrender at mercy by writ
of " Quo Warranto," and pay
whatever fees and subsidies
were demanded for fresh civic
privileges. The new Charter
is substantially the same in
all its provisions as the one it
superseded, and this fact alone
furnishes an additional argu
ment for the allegation against
the King, that it was for his
own personal ends ; and that
without a political motive it
was a waste of Kingly power, and a needless disturbance of the Municipality.
But whatever may have been the cost to our town, there is record that the
Charter was welcomed by the people with great glee. Richard Rowlandson,
the Town Clerk, had been patiently waiting and watching about the offices
of the Crown for many days, and as soon as the precious document was
placed in his hands he set off with it " haste, post haste," not letting the

I Two Constables
Corporation Banner
Mayor and Corporation.
Two Halbert Men.
Gcnikmcn and Inhabitants — in abreast
Union Flog.
Constable.
I ¦..- Halbert Men
TA« Proclamation will be made at thefoUaintn^ placet:—
the Mayor's, jppoaite Captain French Lane, Wighgal& Bank. Head
le-ol Stramongate. and again at thp Cross.
The Mayor will te happy 10 meei the Gcnllcqien ai the Town, at the Kings Arms, at six
o clock in "he Evening, to drink Ihe Health or his present Majesty.

An a trilling tribute of respect io tht. age and virtuesof our late reared SOVEREIGN, HALF- A-
CHOWP a piece will be given, by ihe CORPORATION, fli the TOW-HALL, stlhrec o'clock in
the afternoon, lo all the poor Hen and Women, resident in Kcntftii-Snd Kirkland. who have com-
llmr effect, ligned bj an) respect

pleted IboirSEVENTIETIJ YEAR, on producing a Cei
able Inhabitant „f Kendal or Kirk Ij. ml

SAi Wirs, ml tkt ffW-P«l , ScmUud^iu Wiri, •
GOD SAVE THE KING.

Reduced copy of Poster.

50

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

grass grow under his horse's hoofs till he reached Kendal. He was met at
Burton, on the 26th day of December, by a triumphal procession of horsemen
and footmen to escort him hither. At the town's "liberty," the newly-
appointed Mayor, fully robed, greeted the procession and received the
Charter " kneeling and bare
headed," and then proceeded
amidst the general acclama
tion of the people, with bands
of music and the ringing of
bells, to the Moot Hall, where
it was read out aloud from
the Cauld Stean, and the
King's health drunk with
tumultuous rejoicing. The
prize must have been greatly
despaired of to be so jubi
lantly welcomed.

PROCLAMATION OF It IS MAJESTY,
WILLIAM THE FOURTH.

Burgh of Kirkby - in - Mfendal.
¦ ¦wi • - a a 0 • Wwsii —
The Ma vna respectfully requests the attendance of tlie Clergy, Ministbhs, Gsn-
TLBMBM, and Inhabitants of this BURGH and of the Neighbourhood, at ibe Town-
Ham., od (•'liiij.iv, tbe- Olh Instant, at a quarter before Twelve o'CIock, to proceed
with Him antl the Corporation lo Proclaim

HI9 ROYAL MAJESTY.
KING WILLIAM THE FOURTH.
JULY 3rd, 1830

8$r tyv
Will moctfrm At T<m:HaIl yrcrlaty n
Muibtl on 1 (Wind.
Fpui Hilben Mtn-wo vA 11™
Union Flag
Cburchwirdeai ind Uvfnvcrt
Qtrgi Id ir.cu C>..o.
Th Hilben Mm
Bud of Mum
Colitahh 1 (..—.-u™ n..n«r i C*l«tsM«

Brffggton TmelH e'Clvi m 'Ite/allar.Bg Ordr. ..
Mayor and CarporltlOD 1
T-n Hdbart Men.
GcnlltiUD ud Inhnhilnnti flunhiim
Union Flag.
ComUblc (rid Stan
Four Halbnt Mm

Chancellor Ferguson says
that the surrender of the
second Charter was never
enrolled and was therefore
void, so that the third
Charter could have no legal
standing as being granted
in consideration of a void
surrender. A precisely simi
lar transaction took place at
Carlisle, where the Charter
of Charles II. has always
been considered a nullity,
and where the earlier one is still reckoned to be the governing Charter.
The Corporation Reform Act of William IV., passed in the year 1835,
did not put an end to this second Charter of Charles I., but only modified
it by constituting a Municipal Corporation with governing powers on the
popular principle that taxation and representation should go together, and

Tht Proclamation mllbt made ol Ihefilloung Plant —
The Market Cron ; Sands Close Entry, Stricklandgate ; opposite Captain French [sue ;
HlgbgaW Bonk; Head of New-Street ; In (he middle of Strain ungate ;
•ud again at tbe Cron.
The Mayor will be happy to meet the Gentlemen of the Town and Neighbourhood,
at tbe King's Arms, at Seven o'CIock in the Evening, to drink tho
Health of Hit Present Majesty.
GOD SAVE THE KING!

HUNTED BV M. AND B. liHANTFI WAITE, HEHDAU

Reduced copy of Poster.

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD, 51
that the people who are to obey the laws should, through their representatives,
make the laws.
The following description of the Corporation plate and insignia I extract
from the late Llewellyn Jewitt's work, entitled The Corporation Plate and
Insignia of Office of England and Wales : —

CORONATION. THE' TRADES /.1TD SOCIETIES
BBlPJO .NXIOUS -O EVIfJre T1IEIE1 LOV iLH UN lilt OCCASION Ot 1 1.EIC
Majesties' Coronation,
Respectfully announce t° their Pcllo* Townsmen, Out the; *ili Wnlk In
|0t ®rrooion,

On Thursday next, the 8th of September l**31
In Ihr $ ollotUfttg 0r»cr :
npelcm

iF.igbtbr— Gnod Intent Saclelj— Two Plajj.
N imti — P,o»idcnlioL Sodetj— One Flag
1ci.Ui-- Tbe Pint Kendal Cu-operaWa Society— Ons
Flag
Conrl of MOBC
Eln.cn th— Indeprjudenl Order of Odd fellows—
' Four Flags, t.e
iTnClflh— Clergj and GenUamco of (Be Towi., In
Closo the ProcenioD
Usrshsl on Honebacb

Hanhsl i
Bind of Mum
Pirrt— Bejel Veteran Society— Two Flag*
Second J— Free Gardeners — I) tie flag
Third— .Tailors- Soclctj— Two Plsgs
Fourth— B I'll de'rs' Sociclj— blcven Flagr
Gand of Music
Fiflh— O srpol Wearers— four r'Ug>
Sulh— Butchcn—Une Flag
Serenlb— Amies bio Society— One Fine,
Each Society and Trade walking in the Procession, is particularly
requested to send a Person witb a Flag to lake his station according
to the number of his Society. Number One taking his place opposite
Sand's Close Gate-way, Stricklandgate, and «n no in rotation ap
Stricklandgate. leaving sufficient space for each Society. To be on
tbe Ground precisely at 12 o'clock noon. Kach Society Is requested
to take its place in the line -»f Procession ttt a Quarter-past 1 2 o clock,
and the Procession to move precisely at Half*past 12 o'clock, taking
the following route : —
Up Stricklandgate, down Highgate. to tho K ether-Bridge, Kirk
land : trom thence ap Highgaie, Jowl Lowther Street, along the New
Road, over Stramon gate-Bridge to opposite the New Crown, Long
Pool : from thence an Stramongate. Finkle Street, down Strickland-
gate. to opposite the Union Tavern ; from thence to the Market-place.
where tbe societies will form a Square, aod tbe whole body sing the
National ANTHEM. After which, the Societies will depart tn their
respective Club Houses.
N. B. Any Society, or other body of Persona, desirous of walking
Id tbe Procession, will have a place assigned them on application to
the Marshals.
GOD SAVE THK KING.

Reduced copy of Poster.

" The insignia consists of
two maces, a sword of state, a
jewel, a mayor's chain and
badge, a constable's staff, and
the common seals. The plate
comprises a loving cup, two
tankards, and a snuff-box."
"By the charter of Eliza
beth the aldermen and burgesses
were empowered to have two
sergeants-at-mace (servientes ad
clavas.) A like privilege was
accorded to the mayor ap
pointed under the charter of
Charles I., and is repeated in
the charter of Charles II."
" The present maces are of
silver, and form a pair, though
they vary slightly in size, one
being 26^ inches and the other
27 inches long. Each consists
of a plain shaft with hexagonal
medial knot and large pear-
shaped foot-knop, surmounted
by a crowned head. There
are no royal arms on the cups of the crowns ; probably they were removed
during the Commonwealth. The crosses have also been broken off the orbs.
Round the heads, divided by caryatides, are the usual royal badges. Hall
marks : London, 1647-8 ; maker's mark, T C or C T in monogram,"

52 KIRKBLE KENDALL.
" By the charter of Charles I. the mayor was empowered to have
a sword-bearer ff>ortator gladii). This privilege was confirmed by the
charter of Charles II."
" The sword is 3 feet 11 J inches long, and has the hilt, pommel, and
mountings of silver, with the royal arms of the Stuart sovereigns and the
arms of Kendal. The sheath is covered with black velvet. The present
sword is of the time of Charles II., if indeed it be not later."
"The jewel consists of a large gold Maltese cross set with diamonds
and pearls, bearing a medallion portrait of Queen Elizabeth circumscribed :
Elizabeth : D : G : ANG : fra : ET : hib : regina. On the back is engraved :
' This Jewel is presented by some friends of the late A Iderman John Fisher, who
died Oct. the 2nd, 1870, to the Mayor and Corporation of Kendal, on the Three
Hundredth Anniversary of the Grant of their First Charter of Incorporation, I575>
In remembrance of his life-long interest in the service of the Town of Kendal.' The
jewel is worn by the mayor on state occasions as well as the chain and badge."
" The chain or collar is composed of a number
of angular shields, with the names, etc., of successive
mayors set on oblong frames which are coupled by
large rings. In the centre are the royal arms, etc.,
of Queen Elizabeth. The badge consists of a large
shield of the town arms ; quarterly : 1 and 4, three
wool-hooks ; 2 and 3, three teasels proper, with the
motto : p ANNUS mihi PANIS (Wool is my bread),
^/hnnus rniliiio.anis surmounted by the crest of England and accom
panied by civic emblems. The chain and badge
were subscribed for by the burgesses, and presented on November 28th, 1875,
being the 300th anniversary of Elizabeth's charter."
" The chief constable's staff is a black wooden pole, about 5 feet long,
with a lacquered brass head surmounted by a regal crown. The head can
also be fitted to a short staff."
" The original common seal is of silver, and circular, ii inch in diameter.
The device is a quaint view of the town of Kendal, with the church at
one side and the castle in the background ; in base are the letters K K
dividing the date 1576. There is no legend." (See p. 46),

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD.

53

INSIGNIA OF THE CORPORATION.

54. KIRKBIE KENDALL.
" The second seal, which probably dates from the charter of 1635-6, is
also circular, if inch in diameter, and of silver. The device is a half-length
figure of King Charles I., crowned, and holding the orb and sword. Legend :
THE • SEALE ¦ OF • THE • TOWNE • OF ¦ KIRKBY • KENDALL"
"The loving cup, of silver, is 8| inches high, and has a deep square-
bottomed bowl on a baluster stem with broad foot. It is inscribed : ' The gift
of Thomas Sleddall the first Maior of Kendal to the Maior of Kirkby Kendal
successively.' Hall-marks : London, 1667-8 ; maker's mark, in a shield a key
between two pellets (?). From the fashion of the cup it is clear that Mr.
Sleddall's gift was re-made at the end of the seventeenth century."
"The lesser of the tankards is ofthe usual 'drum' pattern with a flat lid.
On the side are engraved the town arms and the inscription : ' This Plate was
founded by the Alderman of Kendall and his brethren for a perpetuity 1629.'
There are no hall-marks."
" The larger tankard is also of the ' drum ' pattern, with a raised flat lid,
and is 6f inches high. On the side is inscribed : ' The legacy of Thomas
Braithwaite Esq the Recorder of Kendale to the Maior and Aldermen of the same
successively.' Hall-marks: London, 1681-2 ; maker's mark, AD."
" The following item occurs in Thomas Braithwaite's will, which is dated
November 9th, 1674 : ' I give and bequeath to the Mayor and Aldermen of
the borough of Kirkby Kendall the sum of £10 to be bestowed' on a piece of
plate for the use of the Corporation.' "
"There are two snuff-boxes belonging to the corporation of Kendal.
The older is kept in the mayor's chest with the tankards and other insignia,
and is transferred by each mayor to his successor on the 9th November,
when going out of office. It is made out of a block of ebony, and in shape
somewhat resembles a flattened hour glass. It is 5^ inches long, and has
two compartments and two lids, one at each end, to hold two sorts of
snuff. The lids are oval, and are attached to the box by plain silver
hinges of different patterns. The box has two flat silver hoops around it.
There are no hall-marks, dates, or letters on the silver mounts, and the
design of both box and mounts is very plain, and evidently the work of
some local workman. There is no evidence as to the date when this
box came into the possession of the Corporation, or by whom it was

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD.

55

given, but it is generally supposed to be of the same date as the tankards.
This box is only brought out at the installation of a new mayor into office,
when it is usually handed round, replenished at one end with the famous
' Kendal Brown,' and at the other with strong Brown Scotch snuff."

" The second box is made
of black horn, oblong in form,
3f inches long and if inch
wide. The workmanship is
modern and exceedingly good ;
and the outside of the lid, the
two sides, and the ends are
beautifully inlaid with enchased
silver of a richly ornamental
scroll pattern ; the bottom has
also a silver line inlaid along
its margin. On the inside of
the lid is a silver plate on which
is engraved : ' Presented to the
Corporation by Richard Nelson,
Mayor, Dec. ijth, 1885.' This
box is generally found on the
table at all meetings of the
Corporation, and is also in
great request by the magistrates
on court days. The lid of the
box has been slightly damaged
at the corners."

PROCLAMATION
OF THE
QUEE1
W OF
ENGLAND.
Pofice-Officr. June 2/, I H37
Present, John V bates, Esq., <_ luiintmn, Messrs. Wm. Geli>eri>, Wh.Baindfiiiwu
E. Gibson, J. Robinson, J. Mallinson, S- €ompston, J. Parker. T. Bimdmhh.
J. Kidd, T. Thexton. W Richardson. I. Edmondbon, G. Hind. J. t . Wood,
and Richard Wilson-
Resolved, That the Queen Ik- Proclaimed 00 Monday next, nnd that the fullm*
mg be the . ....
Programme oj the Proctiggion.
That Captain Wilson lie respectfully requested to summon the Kendal Troop ot*
the Westmorland Yeomanry Cavalry 10 head the Procession, to he followed by
The Chief Constable on Horseback ;
The Staff of the Recruiting District and Men ,
The Police Officers in tbeir Uniform, with Staves :
Sheriff' d Representative on Horseback ;
Two Mace Bearers ;
Sword Bearer ;
The Mayor and the Vicar of Kendal -.
The Coroner ;
Magistrates and Aldermen on Horseback ,
The Town Clerk, Auditors nnd Assessors, and the Borough Treasurer :
A BAND;
Councillors un Horseback ;
Churchwardens and Overseers, Two ond Two ;
Gentlemen, Three a-lirenst, on Horseback or on Font ;
The Benevolent Societies and Clubs of the Town.

id at H alf-pa.1 T
Stsen," after wbich tht Procession shall proceed down Highgatr and halt on the Crrsi-bapk. where tbe Procla
mation shall be sgain read The Procession ahull then proceed 10 opposite the Church, where the ProcIsBiaiiorj
thall be again read ; thence (a the Lound. and return through open rile, thence proceeding up Highgate, dawn
New Street, along ihe New Road, over Stramongate Bridge, to tht Duke at Cumberland, when the Proclamation
shall be sgaiu read ; thence returning up Stramongate (reading the Proclamation opposite the Quakers' Meeting
Honte) 1 thence proceeding forward up Finkle Street, down StrickUndgoie (reading (he Proclamation opposite
the Nnt Church), ihcncr proceed) ruj.Bjong' the Bumeside Road, up Croat Street, down Union Street, and to tbe
Town Hall Corner, where " GOD SATP, THE QUEEN ' thai) be -uRg . after wfaicfa three times three Cheers
¦hall be given. End then dupersc-
7s> Committee wiUmret/ai ikt purpurea/ im&aW 'Ar farther imnfrmmt n fttmdsf Eomne. er &m
0 doct. ol lie PvRce bffire HUIKON AND NirHOISON, PRINTRK3, ¥EHD1L

Reduced copy of Poster.

" The insignia, etc., are
kept in an elaborately carved
box, given by John Hudson, Esq., mayor, 1852-3. The Corporation also
possesses two state chairs, the gift of Lord Bective in 1875."
The first Municipal Election, which took place on Boxing Day, Saturday,
the 26th of December 1835, proved a triumphant success to the new Reform
party, every one of its nominees being returned, as follows : —

56

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

West Ward

John Wakefield.
William Bainbridge.
Samuel Compston.
Isaac Braithwaite.
Samuel Whinerey.
William Richardson.

East Ward

John Richards.
Thompson Bindloss.
Edw. W. Wakefield.
Isaac Wilson.
Allan Simpson.
Thomas Harrison.

North Ward -\

I

William Geiderd.
John Banks.
Richard Wilson.
Isaac Edmondson.
Edward Gibson.
Joseph Gunson.

I have before me a few of the earlier election addresses and posters, from
which it may be of interest to extract some amusing particulars.
The electors of 1841 are begged to support no " Bread-taxing Tories," but
to vote for the "Corn-law Repealers." In every instance the "Repealers"
won the day, and were returned amid boisterous jubilation. In the election of
1842, Joseph Banks beat Isaac Edmondson by eight votes, and secured the
second Tory seat in the Council. The following year the Reform party
carried every seat, and in 1844 they carried all but one. A few days later, in
consequence of the resignation of Reginald Remington, a bye-election took
place in which the Tory candidate, Rowland Postlethwaite, a " No Borough
Rate " man, was defeated by John Harrison, a Reformer.
" Come, Rowley, to the Council go ;
Heigho ! bold Rowley,
The North Ward wants one in, you know,
And we'll strike those Blues a terrible blow
With our Rowley, Poll-ey — canvass and schemage —
Heigho ! dear Rowley !

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 57
" There's Captain C. in the Council room ;
Heigho! sigh'd Rowley,
' Alone in his glory ' — a pitiful doom :
He's in want of a mate to cheer his gloom :
Send poor Rowley, Poll-ey — canvass and schemage —
Heigho ! sigh'd Rowley !
" I fear the Electors won't aid our cause ;
Heigho I sad Rowley;
O woeful suspense — they're backing our foes —
We loose in all quarters ! a sad fight must close
My Rowley, Poll-ey — canvass and schemage —
Heigho! RUN Rowley!"
In the 1845 election we find that the epithet of " Reformers " gave place
to the now more usual term of " Liberals," who again carried five of the six
seats. But in the following year they only secured four. Nothing of any
moment seems to have happened during the next few years. Nominations
were scarcely contested; until the passing of the " Health of Town's Act," when
the election of 1850 greatly turned upon the question of the lighting, cleansing,
and draining of the town. To the Tories the subject was one of " Draining
the pocket and such like foolish underground works," against which they raised
the rallying cry of " Economy, Retrenchment, and BURTON." In the
following year, however, party politics gave way to town politics. The
candidates arranged themselves under the two headings of " Drainers " or
" Anti-Drainers," and in each case the " Drainers," including two Tories and
four Liberals, were successful.
Again, for a period of some ten years, nothing seems to have disturbed
the electors from their apathy, until a certain little trouble arose concerning
a supposition that the Goose Holme was being enclosed for private purposes.
John Ireland, the "Washerwoman's Friend," was the new candidate. The
placards say that " he will, no doubt, be placed at the head of the Poll
(clothes-pole) by the united array of the Feminine Electors, who have been so
kindly accommodated on the Goose Holme Drying Ground for many years
past." Here is another sample of an 1863 election poster: — "Don't we know
the havoc which Scarlatina, Typhus and Small Pox have made in our

58

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

West Ward? Don't we know that nine-tenths of it arises from Malaria
generated from the Maude's Meadow Swamp ? Vote, then, for the Man that
will drain Maude's Meadow! PLUMP FOR BUSHER AND DRAINAGE,
and wipe out with your Votes the plague spot of the West Ward." Busher
was elected.

EAST WARD
ELECTION.

The electors of 1865 are
appealed to, to vote for " BUR
TON the Champion Econ-
omiser of Rates, the ONLY
Checkmate of Extravagance and
Frittering away public money,
being ' Hoggarth the Second.' "
From this time forward the
Council must have behaved
pretty well, or the Ratepayers'
Association gone to sleep, for
little transpires beyond the
usual terms issued by both par
ties, each and all proclaiming
that they alone can be trusted
to watch over the interests
of the poor and their fellow-
townsmen. For a moment,
truly, a little warmth blazed up
in 1873, over such questions as
the purchase of the Watchfield
Estate for the town sewage, the
reduction of the police force,
and the Pump Inn and Finkle
Street improvements. But in the end even these subsided, the town once
more became indifferent, the Council well satisfied with themselves, settled
down and did much good work, indeed all went well until the recent outburst
which manifested itself over the amount of money sunk, no one knows where,
in the newly-erected Municipal buildings, and in the excessive expenditure
incurred in making the new reservoir at Fisher Tarn.

To the Washerwomen of
Stramongate.
LADIES,
You are respectfully requested to take part in a demon
stration -to be made on Saturday Afternoon next, for the
purpose of celebrating the return ot your OLD FRIEND,
MR. JOHN IRELAND AS YOUR REPRESENTATIVE
IN THE COUNCIL OF YOUR TOWN.
The procession will be formed upon GOOSE HOLME at
Three o'CIock in the Afternoon precisely, and will proceed
over the Wooden Bridge, through your Representative's
Dyehouse, &c, by way of the New Road to the Site of the
Proposed "NEW BATHS AND WASHHOUSES."
At the Head of the Procession will walk the Newly-
fledged Councillor, to be followed, two and two abreast, by
yourselves with your Washing Tubs in your hands. Several
small Boys have been engaged to carry the remaining Insignia
of your laudable Profession ; Dollylegs, Pegs, and Props will
stump along themselves, and bring up the rear.
On arriving at the destination a Circle will be formed
round an inverted DollyTub, upon which your Representative
will Address you. At the conclusion of his Speech "Three
Cheers will be given for the FREEDOM of GOOSE
HOLME," and the Small Boys will Sing in Chorus that
touching and appropriate Melody —
"HAS YOUR MOTHER SOLO HER MANGLE?"
Oct. 31st, 1861.

Reduced copy of Poster.

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 59
Lowther Street ^*"S street was °Pened out m l7&2, causing the demolition
of the " Black Bull," besides cutting through the famous
Whitehall Gardens, once kept by Alderman Francis Drinkell, who was three
times Mayor of Kendal.
" The ground for building a new street in Kendal," says the Cumberland
Pacquet for February 27th, 1781, " is let off, and a great part of it will be done
in the course of the summer. From the regulations to be observed, it is
probable this will be a great ornament to that town. The Society of
Independents have purchased one of the lots, containing 28 yards in front and
14 yards in rear, on which an elegant chapel is to be built." It seems that
the intention of the authorities was to build upon the north side only, and
that the south side should remain an open garden ; but the eagerness to
obtain possession of the first five building plots proved too great a temptation
for them to withstand. The ideal gave place to the material, and what might
have been an open sunny thoroughfare, became a narrow path of gloom.
How the street was paved I cannot tell. From the following curious
extract it would seem that it was evidently not with the old uncomfortable
cobbles, and yet it was too early for McAdam. " The new street lately
opened in Kendal, called Lowther Street, is almost built up and is found of
great convenience, not only by opening a way to the river, but by taking
carriages, &c, by the outside ofthe town and thereby avoiding a great part of
the pavement in passing through the place." — Cumberland Pacquet, October
12th, 1784."
One of the best things which resulted from this undertaking was the
formation of a large culvert from the foot of All Hallows Lane to the river. It
was designed to take away the excessive water which in flood-time used' to
flow down and swamp this part of Highgate, before the open channel could
convey it to the cross gutter further down the street. A curious circum
stance in connection with this culvert, or " Nannie hole," is reported
in the papers concerning a cow, which, being driven along the New Road,
took fright at some cavalry and galloped down to the river side. There it
passed under Miller Bridge, and entered the culvert as the first place of refuge
that presented itself. The poor beast once in, finding it impossible to turn,
was compelled to advance, and it accordingly followed the course of the drain,

60 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
to the alarm and dismay of the owner. Attempts were made to ascertain its
whereabouts, and a hole was dug at the top of Lowther street, but the calcu
lations had been badly made. Other measurements were then taken, when it
was found that the cow was in a line with the ironmonger's shop of Mr. Parkin
(now Mrs. Rudd's), and eventually the wall of his cellar had to be taken down
as the shortest and most convenient way of giving liberty to the poor prisoner.
This thoroughfare was called New Street at a time when the name of
" Lowther " was offensive to the majority ofthe inhabitants.
We must now retrace our steps and follow down the
White" Hart Inn. ,
narrow passage on the west side of the New Biggin,
across which, it is said, opposite neighbours could easily shake hands
from their respective windows. The first building to notice is one of those
inns for which England at one time was so famous, with their snug bars, and
four-posted beds hung with silk and covered with lavender-smelling sheets.
The White Hart Inn was one of the principal hotels in Kendal during the
coaching days, and known first, for the purpose of respectability, as Robbin's
Coffee House. Its history can be traced back as far as 1702, when a chair
before the fire blazing half-way up the chimney, was considered a throne of
human felicity — an inn attracting the elite of public-house frequenters, and a
time when even the clergy did not think it derogatory to their calling to
smoke their long churchwardens, drink the home-brewed beer, and discuss the
topics of the day with their parishioners over a paper just arrived from London
two or three days old.
In 1774, a conveyance deed refers to " an old chapel in Butcher's Row,"
and states that it was used as part of Robbin's Coffee House. It was probably
a Dissenting Chapel, but of what denomination cannot be ascertained.
On March 25th, 1779, during the occupancy of John Atkinson, a news
room was opened here, which is supposed to have been the first in Kendal. It
was frequented by the Rev. Dr. Symonds, the Rev. Caleb Rotherham, and the
Rev. G. Crackenthorpe, master of the Grammar School, and others. It must .
be remembered that this was a time of extreme national activity, when the
development of iron and steam increased the prosperity of trade, and Dr.
Priestley was deep in experiment and scientific research ; and, moreover, a time

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD.

61

6"2 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
when the great Chatham had just died, and when the whole political horizon
was gathered in storm. Rodney had defeated the Spanish fleet, Warren Hastings
was victorious in India, but Lord Cornwallis had surrendered at Virginia, and
Lord North had retired from the Government at home. A time which saw the
independence of the United States and Home Rule in Ireland, the French
Revolution with the Anglo-French Wars, the naval successes of Nelson, and
the final Union of Ireland with England. It was at this period of excitement,
when a constant knowledge of passing events was as necessary to the traveller
as to the resident, and when the price of newspapers was such that many
persons could not afford to purchase them, that the news room was originated.
In March, 1804, the club removed to the new " Commercial Hotel," but, alas !
to say, during the Brougham Elections of 1818 politics divided the camp, two
Blues were black-balled, and the seceders removed to a " New Coffee Room."
First of all they met at the " King's Arms Inn," from which they issued their
rules on August 15th, 1820, and subsequently to the " Caledonian Room " in
the Market Place, where the Board of Guardians have recently been sitting.
In 1827, the original club removed to the White Hall, and, we are glad to
note, shook hands once more and amalgamated with the seceders in 1855.
But to return from this digression to the inn, whose sign was a favourite
badge of Richard II., and whose character was famous in the coaching days for
post-horses, victuals, rum and milk, and general accommodation of the best old
English quality for man and beast. During the tenancies of John Atkinson
(1781), and William Maskew (1786), the coaches stopped here for Manchester,
Liverpool, and London every day at three o'clock in the morning and at five
in the afternoon, and a special one to Carlisle ran every Sunday, Wednesday,
and Friday morning at five o'clock. James Webster, formerly butler at
Casterton Hall, afterwards sword bearer to the Corporation, became innkeeper
here in June 1803, and had the satisfaction of seeing one of his daughters
married to Alderman William Longmire, twice Mayor of Kendal.
1813 saw Richard Smith as landlord, and in 1815 the " North Star" was
advertised at greatly reduced rates, viz. : — Inside, to Manchester, for 20s. and
outside for 12s., leaving at half-past five o'clock, and travelling via Chorleyand
Bolton, to the " Talbot Inn," Manchester, and via Lancaster (8.30), Garstang,
Preston, Ormskirk, to the " Talbot Inn," Liverpool, and arriving at both places
in time to catch the Saxe-Coburg coaches to London. In 1819, we have the

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD.

63

EXPEDITIOUS TRAVELLING.
Liverpool, Manohefter, Prefton, Lancaf-
ter, Kendal, Penrith, Whitehaven,
C&rlifle, Dumfries, Kilmarnock, Glaf-
gow, and Edinburgh
Coaches and Diligences.
A DILIGENCE fets "out from Mr, Cap/tick^
the New-Inn, Lancairer, every Tuefday, Wednesday,
Friday, and Saturday Morning, at 6 o'CIock, and arrives in
Penrith at 4 o'CIock in the Afr.er.noor).
Alfo a Diligence few out from lira. Buchanan's, the
Ctown Inn, Penrith, every Tuefday, Wedoefday, Friday, and
Saturday Morning, at 4 o'CIock, and arrives in Lancafter ai
three o'OfocIc in tne. Afternoon.
A Coach whictr is connected with the above fees out every
Morning (Sundays excepted) at 5' o'CIock, from Mr. Cap-
ftick's, the New" Inn, Lancafter, for Prefton and Liverpool,
where PafTengers coming in this Diligence will be accomo
dated with Seats.
The Manchester and Prefton Stage Coach meets and dine*
with the Liverpool Machine at Prefton, every Monday,
Tuefday, Thursday and Friday, by which Paffengers are con
veyed to Manohefter, &c.
Each Paflenger from Lancafter to Penrith 14s. Children
on the Lap Half Price. Short Paffengers taken up on the
Road to pay Three-pence-half-penny per Mile. • Each Paf-
fenger allowed 141b. Weight of Luggage, all above to pay One
Penny per Pound, and (9 in Proportion to any Part of the
Road. A Coach fets out every Day-from Penrith to Carliflo it
5 o'Cldck in the Afternoon, where 5eat» will be referred for
PafTengers, coming in the above Dijigeaoes, goiny North
ward. A Diligence which is connected with the above Carriages
fets out every Sunday, Tuefday, and Thurfday Evening,
from Beck's Coffee- Haute, Carli lie, for Edinburgh.
A Diligence fets out every Monday, Wedrrcfday, and Fri
day Morning at 6 o'CIock from Mr. Hariierty's, the King's
Arms Inn, Carlifle, fur Dumfries, rCilmarnock, and Gjafgow.
A Diligence fets out four Day* a Week from Penrith to
Whitehaven, by Way of fCefwkk and Ccckermouth.
Performed by the Union Company.
CAPSTICK., New-Inn, Laneairer.
BUCHANAN, Crown- Inn, Penrith.
( ThePrqprietora will not be iccouaiable for any Parcels a.
hove Five P.mnds Value, unlcfs entered and paid for
accordingly. Tf. £. For Entry of PafTengers and Parcels apply tt-Mri
Capltick, New-Inn, Lancafter j Mr. Arkinfon, Cofiet-houef.
K-nua! i and Mrs. Buchanan; Ciows-Inn, Penrith. 20

announcement of the "Lord Exmouth" coach, starting from here every
Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 7 a.m. to the " Sun Inn," Ulverston, from
whence it returned on the following mornings.
In 182 1 the inn was
kept by Robert Brooks,
and in 1824 by his widow
Mrs. Brooks (afterwards
Mrs. Sirr), as buxom and
cheery a landlady, we are
told, as one could meet
with in a day's march. I
find that she still reigned
in 1840, a bustling, active,
important personage, with
a lofty cap of antique
architecture, a large bunch
of keys, a very clean apron,
and possessed with that
indispensable cheery salu
tation which so captivates
a traveller as he alights
from a journey. And
many a jovial evening in
the bar we have tradition
of, with the Rev. John
Sampson acting as " Mas
ter of the Ceremonies "
and Lancelot Shepherd,
surgeon, as his second,
supporting his arguments
and sometimes giving
points to his jokes.
Amongst others who
joined the throng were
Thomas Sirr, guard of the
Leeds and Kendal coach,

Copy of Coaching Advertisement.

64 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
and the ubiquitous Jimmy Wiggins of Wildman Street, who always came to
the fore in support of Harry Brougham. Sampson would maintain that
Brougham was no lawyer, but merely a play-actor, with a gift of the gab ; and
Tom Sirr would adduce, as an instance of it, that he once drove " Harry " on
his coach and got sixpence for the driver. " Shabby beggar," said Tom,
" d'ye make him out a good lawyer after that ? " The argument would have
been deemed a clincher if it had not been for the faithful Jimmy, who cried —
" Houd thy tongue, thou great goose; has ta got neither sense nor manners,
houd thy tongue, or I'll make a song about thee, and send thee down to the
end of the world, just like what thou is." Such a dreadful threat, as to be
put into one of the rhymester's songs, was too awful a thing to be lightly
thought of, so that poor Tom, in his wisdom, meekly withdrew.
Jimmy was an odd character, deformed on one side, and always carried
about with him a long alpenstock from which hung his favourite " blue "
ribbons and upon which he leaned for support. This he grasped by the
middle in such a way as to give him a very laughable appearance. But
he seems to have been well aware of his singular look, for in reply to a
gentleman whom he had insulted by asking a question, and who wanted to
know from the crowd who the fellow was, Jimmy himself instantly replied,
" I'm a note of interrogation and that just means a little crooked thing that
asks questions." " I am a little crooked thing, interrogation like,
For want of being sent to school I scarce can read or write ;
But I can chant a stave or crack a joke, or both if you should need 'em,
So now, my lads, I'll give a toast, — Here's Westmorland and freedom."
In 1711 the property was purchased by Robert Wilson, stuff weaver,
for £248 in * public sale. In 1833 it was sold by William Petty to Thomas
Sirr for £1015, and in later days it was sold for £1750 to a brewer of
Ulverston. The building where Messrs. Arnold and Greenwood now have their
offices was formerly a celebrated inn. At first it was known as the "Crown
* Public sale is a term applied to sales before the aid of a licensed auctioneer was called in, the vendor
being his own salesman.

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 65
and Mitre," representing thus both State and Church. The earliest note
that I have concerning it, is that it was kept by Alderman Henry Cort
(Mayor of Kendal in 1700 and again in 1713), until he removed to Lancaster
in the year 1715.

ADVERTISEMENT. November 29th. 17 $B.
This is to give NOTICE, to all
Gentlemen, Tradefmen, Travellers,
Carriers and others that.
JOHN PETTY Innkeeper, is re-
** moved from the Roe Buck to the Crown
and Mitre in Kendal, a very commodi
ous well built Inn, fituated near the
Centre of the Town, has exceeding good
Stables, Warehoufes and a fpacious Yard.
All Perfons minded to oblige him with
their Favours, may "be aflured of meet
ing with good Entertainment and civil
Ufage.

Kendal Printed by Tho. Aftiburner.

Reduced facsimile of Advertisement.
Extract from the Boke off Recorde : —
1715 — Whereas Mr. Henry Cort one of the Aldermen above named, having sometime
before Whitsuntide last sett to farme his dwelling house within ye said Burgh called or
knowne by ye name or syne of ye Crowne and Mitre for a terme of yeares and made severall
publick sales of his household goods etc., and about Whitsuntide last did remove himselfe
and his family from ye said Burgh to Lancaster in ye County of Lancaster where they have
ever since dwell'd the said Mr. Cort having farmed a hou&e there for that purpose, and

66 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
whereas Joseph Dawson Esq., Mayor of ye said Burgh finding that ye said Mr. Cort coii'd
not rightly execute and Pforme the office of an Alderman of this Burgh at that distance soe
that in effect his place of Alderman was become vacant."
In the Newcastle Journal for June 6th, 1752, I find that "this well
accustomed inn, formerly kept by Mrs. Agnes Wilson, is now kept by
Christopher Fenton." In April, 1757, there is an announcement that
Edward Empson will sell " All that his burgage house or inn commonly
called and known by the name of ' The Crown and Mitre,' and now in the
possession of Matthew Shaw, as farmer thereof, and also all that his brazier's
shop adjoining." Then again in the Newcastle Journal for April 19, 1760, is
the following : "To the public. 'The Crown and Mitre Inn,' formerly kept by
one Blackstock and afterwards by Mrs. Harrison, is now entered upon by
William Petty, late a servant in the Hon. and Right Rev. the Lord Bishop
of Durham's family, where Nobility, Gentry and others may depend upon
meeting with neat four-wheeled post-chaises and able horses. Those who
please to favour me with their custom may depend upon having the best of
liquors and my utmost endeavours to make their entertainment in every respect
agreeable to them. William Petty."
About the year 1778, Petty pulled down the old inn and built on
the site the present dressed limestone building, which then became known
as "The Fox and Goose," with its sign representing a fox purloining
a goose. Under this name it was known, both in the years 1801 and 1813,
under John Robinson, and in 1830, but as teetotal lecturers made such
laughter over the name, calling the landlord the fox and the customer
the goose, it was again altered to the " Exchange Inn."
It was from here that Lord Brougham made one of his best electioneering
speeches during the 1818 contest, and as a sample of the different glasses
through which the two different local papers viewed such political events,
it is interesting to read in the Chronicle that "Mr. Harry Brougham entered
the town escorted from the residence of Mr. Wakefield by a numerous
gathering of the friends of independence, accompanied by music playing
and colours flying. He was greeted with volleys of cheers from the
surrounding thousands." Whilst the Gazette has it that the " disconsolate
Mr. Brougham, arriving in a shabby gig, was met and accompanied by
a rabble chiefly women and children of the most beggarly description,

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 67
engaged for the purpose," and that " Mr. Brougham was so much ashamed
of his followers that he gave them the slip and entered the ' Fox and Goose,'
from a window of which he made a speech, accompanied by a man with a
black eye. We observed the famous ballad-monger and peace breaker, Jimmy
Wiggins, very attentive to his great patron."
Political rivalry at this time ran exceedingly strong and found its
echo, as is so often the case, in many a street disturbance and riot. The
following episode will I hope be considered sufficiently interesting to gain an
excuscfor such a lengthy digression.
On the 3rd day of February, Lord and Colonel Lowther announced their
intention of visiting the electors on Wednesday the nth, to canvass for their
support at the coming election. The Lowther committee, being anxious to
receive them with every mark of respect, immediately issued notices to the
freeholders in the country, requesting their attendance to usher the members
into the town.
Arrangements were made for a procession ; a yellow flag (as an emblem
ofthe house of Lowther), was prepared, musicians engaged, and the members
were to be received with ringing of bells, and every demonstration of attach
ment and joy. Dinners were ordered for eighty freeholders, by the committee,
at the "Commercial Inn" and "King's Arms," and likewise for the Yeomanry
at other inns in the town.
On the evening of the 10th, however, bread, cheese and ale had been
distributed by some of the Yellows to the public indiscriminately, so that in
consequence, by nine o'clock, the streets in the middle of the town became
thronged with people in a state of semi-intoxication, calling out, " Brougham
for ever," " Lowther 's ale, but Brougham for ever " ; and this scene continued
until midnight. A number of Irish navvies, who were employed in cutting the
canal at the time, took full advantage of this free ale and moreover obtained a
cask on the following morning for themselves.
On the other hand, Brougham's committee issued the following," " The
Kendal Committee for Mr. Brougham's election, request that the Friends of
that Gentlemen will behave with the utmost propriety upon the arrival of
Lord Lowther and Colonel Lowther to-morrow, that not a shadow of blame

68 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
may be cast upon so good a cause, as the glorious emancipation of Westmor
land from its long thraldom to their opponents."
But a poster such as this could have no power to restrain the influence of
free ale and the presence of so many navvies intent upon a spree. On the
morning of the nth, a little before noon, the mounted supporters of Lord
Lowther issued from the " Commercial Inn " to go and meet the advancing
procession from Dallam Tower. The scene which immediately followed was
frightful ; the mob threw dirt, stones, and other missiles at the horsemen
as they made their appearance in the street, and set up a loud yell, which
was echoed throughout the whole town. Many of the horses took fright,
became ungovernable, galloped off and ran the gauntlet until they reached
Nether Bridge ; and so successful had the aim of the mob been, that scarcely
one horseman could recognize his neighbour, so bespattered were their faces
and so bruised were they by the effect of the stones.
However, nothing daunted, they bravely proceeded on the road towards
Milnthorpe, without further interruption for about three miles, where they met
the Members, and I fear told a sad tale. The combined procession now con
sisted of 131 horsemen, n carriages, an.l a great number of yeomanry on foot.
At Nether Bridge, about 500 of the mob had barricaded the entrance into
the town with Gritstone slabs, taken from off the top of a parapet wall. Here,
the scene became truly terrific ; for as the horsemen, arranged five abreast,
approached within 80 yards they were greeted with every sign of antagonism.
To this succeeded a momentary silence, but on advancing nearer they were
again mercilessly assailed. The horses made a stand for a few seconds, some
turned and ran off, whilst others in the front rank rallied and dashed forward.
Scores of the rioters were knocked down, and through this gap the cavalcade
in front of the carriages followed at full speed. The mob, having recovered
from the panic made by the onslaught, now rushed forward from the bridge in
an immense crowd, attacked the carriages of Colonel Wilson and Mr. Bolton,
beat back the horses with the utmost fury, and at the same time almost over
whelmed them with stones. Two carriages became entangled with each other
across the road, and the mob mixing pell-mell amongst all those in the rear, so
completely blocked up the entrance of the town that the remainder of the
carriages, together with about 70 horsemen, were obliged finally to turn and
make their way back out of harm's way.

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 69
During this scene the cavalcade, galloping at full speed through Kirkland,
were assailed on every side ; but, after passing over Blindbeck they were for
a time allowed to proceed up Highgate without further annoyance. How
ever, on Cross Bank, they were met by a counter-Blue demonstration marching
with a band of music, a blue flag, and a white flag belonging to the journeymen
printers of the Kendal Chronicle Office, which bore in large characters " No
Corn Bill," " No Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act," " No Restriction on
Trade," " Brougham for Ever," and " Liberty of the Press."
The Blues seem to have divided their ranks so as to make a central passage
for Lord Lowther, and with a jovial inspiration they stretched across the way
their two banners, so as to make a triumphal arch for their opponents to pass
beneath. But how could a Lowther bend his head to a " No Corn Bill " flag ! The
very idea was preposterous. At the critical moment, however, the situation
was saved by the standard-bearer of the yellow flag. With a sturdy grasp he
seized the opposing flags, and that so firmly that the former was stripped from
its pole, whilst the pole ofthe latter was broken. With a shout he galloped
up the street with the three flags in his hand, to the great dismay and chagrin
of the opposite party, who now, along with the rest of the people, began to
retaliate. The horses again became unmanageable, and charged forward at
full speed ; some followed down Stricklandgate, Lord Lowther and others ran
up the gateway into the " King's Arms," whilst the more fortunate, with the
Hon. Colonel Lowther, were enabled to enter the " Commercial Inn."
As Lord Lowther's battered carriage, in which the populace expected the
hon. member to be seated, arrived at the " Commercial Inn," the riots
recommenced. The navvies seized on the carriage wheels, forced open its
doors, and rudely assaulted both the carriage and all who endeavoured to
protect it. Meanwhile the standard-bearer with his trophies, had been followed
to the " King's Arms." Here the mob assembled, and threatened to pull the
old inn down ; but the flags were restored, and all trouble for the present
seemed somewhat appeased.
But not for long ; the navvies entered the kitchen of the " Commercial
Inn " and seized on a round and a fore-crop of beef, which they swallowed in
a few minutes. The innkeeper, apprehensive that they would eat all that was

70

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

prepared for the dinner of the freeholders, promised the party a pint of ale
each if they would go the " White Hart." How kind ! Accordingly they went,
and their comrades, seeing that something was going forward likely to be
advantageous to themselves, followed them. There they consumed two
Cheshire cheeses, and after drinking their allowance of ale, threatened
destruction to the landlady if she refused to serve out more. They became
intoxicated, quarrelled amongst themselves, whilst others attracted by the

FEBRUARY 10. 181a

BURGH
OP
Kirkby in Kendal,
IN THE
COUNTY OF WESTMORLAND.

WHEREAS, a number of malicious Persona were
seen throwing' Mud or Stones, during the Riotous
Proceedings which, took place in this Town, on Wed
nesday last.
That any Person who will give to the Magistrates.
such information as will convict any Person or Per
sons, guilty of cither of the aforesaid offences, or" of
any other offence amounting- to a breach of the Peace,
coi ii mi tied on that day, will receive a handsome Re
ward. 
AND
Fifty Guineas
REWARD,
Will be given to any Person, who will give such in-
foriuation uh will convict the Person who threw a
Stone, from the head of New-street, which injured
the Rev. J. Fleming.
BY ORDER OF THE CORPORATION* W. BERRY, Jon.
 TOWN-CLERK.
tntsr Ana bj- tirmruti. pmvters, v£sdal.

20 GUINEAS
Reward.

Wtfyremg
Several disorderly persons continue to disturb the peace
of 'his Town.
At a Court of tl.f Mayor, Aldermen, and Burg-esses,
tf this Bury)), hoMen (lii- day in the Moot Hall,
IT « \S UWMMOISl.T RF.SOl.VCU
That the abote RK«'AllD of
20 Guineas,
Will be paid to the m form or or informers, on the convic
tion of the person or persons who broke the Windows of
Mr. TATHAM, Surgeon, on tin Nights of Monday
and Tuesday last.
And for tbe better protection of the Persons ami
Property of the Inhabitants of this Town, any one shall
be HANDSOMELY REWARDED who may here
after detect, and cause to be convicted, tbe Author* of
such lawless Outrages. "T ORDER OP THE COURT
W BERRY, Jon.

Kendal, February 25 1816

TOWN CLERK.

t'ratitri bf Ajmry emd tltHmaAam Kendal

Copies of Reward Bills.

uproar, broke in through the windows and door. The canal men pulled in
pieces two pairs of tongs and nineteen chairs, they seized on every article
within reach, and a terrible conflict ensued, which terminated in driving the
Irishmen out of the house, after the first floor of the inn had been almost
completely gutted.

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 71
After a little time Lord Lowther returned to the " Commercial Inn,"
where the party washed themselves down, dined together, and made a number
of short speeches. But here, in like manner, the windows and doors were
broken in, and the tumult continued ; until at last the night closed down upon
this — Kendal's most disgraceful scene — amid the shouts and huzzas of the
exultant mob.
I illustrate here just two of the many official notices of reward issued,
which I think with the foregoing, will be sufficient to record its history.
There must have been, two and a half centuries ago, an inn in Kendal
with this same sign, for we find in the Parish Church Register the following
notice of burial : " April 16, 1622, Henry Bremer, of the sign of the ' Fox
and Goose,' in Kendal." And again, George Baker, the author of " Newes
from the North," directs that his letters from November 21st, 1642, be
sent to him, care of Mr. Phillipson, at the sign of the " Fox and Goose,"
Kendal. But where this old inn was I cannot find out.
But now the inn has gone, and here, at least, the teetotallers have won
the day. The gaiety of the bar and the long shooting gallery have given place
to the sealing wax and red tape of the Clerk to the Magistrates. It seems to
have been closed as a public house about May, 1868, when it was converted
into offices for Messrs. Moser, Arnold & Moser, Solicitors. Mr. Greenwood
says that whilst certain workmen were making excavations 'in the yard they
came upon some tan pits for which Kendal was, at one time, so noted.
The large projecting window to the saddler's shop beneath was thought,
in 1780, " a very grand contrivance for the display of Alderman Thomas
Dobson's straw and Tuscan bonnets," but it has since been greatly modernized.
The Old, Shambles were built in 1779 by Alderman
Old Sham es. willianl petty_ Tt contained forty shops with every
necessary convenience, it being, according to the newspapers, " more
complete and elegant than most places of the kind." At the head of
this lane was the "Butcher's Arms," which had for its sign a picture of
sheep and oxen lying in repose, with the appropriate motto " Oves et Boves."
The sign of the " Royal Oak " was transferred to this house, when the
old inn of that name styled itself " The Commercial." Mrs. Turner, of

72

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

Windermere, has a large water colour drawing of this inn, painted by the
late Richard Stirzaker in 1825 ; the peculiar old pump, with its enormous
trough and gigantic handle, forming an odd looking object in the centre.
The trough was intended for cattle, but the mischievous urchins of the
neighbourhood used it more often as a miniature ocean in which to sail their
paper boats and wet their pinafores. The figures introduced, in their quaint
old costumes, give the whole a grotesque appearance admirably in keeping
with the place. Up this lane also J. Hutchinson opened a day and evening
school on May 13th, 1815.

The Golden Fleece.

Of Inns we seem to have had no end, and for
quality of good ale we have earned renown.

The " Golden Fleece,"
as this inn was named, so
as to invite to its shelter,
one would suppose, the
woolcombers of Kendal, is
about the most perfect
example left of what the
old Butcher's Row was
like. The projecting upper
story of lath and plaster
is supported on wooden
posts, which were renewed
some fifty years ago with
others of a more finished
type. At this time most
of the crooks on which the
butchers hung their meat
disappeared, although a
few still remain, and iron
railings were fixed in front
of the bar windows.

The first mention that we can find of this most cosy inn ofthe old stamp,
romantic in every corner, and possessed at one time by a host having a

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 73
cellar of sound liquor, a ready wit, and a pretty daughter, is in 1723 ; when,
by will, Christopher Woodburn, a cordwainer, charged it and other premises
with the annual payment of 40s. a-piece towards putting out four boys to be
apprentices, and 40s. a-piece for finding them shirts and cravats at the
commencement of their service. Then again, in 1761, Sir James Lowther
and Mr. Upton, " presenting their compliments to the electors, propose
themselves to have the pleasure of waiting upon them, etc., at the ' Golden
Fleece.' " Again, in consequence of the bankruptcy of John Petty, the
inn was sold on September 4th, 1816, by public auction, the annual rental
being placed at £96.
An old painted sign against the north corner has disappeared within
the last sixty years, representing a warrior driving a chariot, and which
bore the name of Jonathan Harker, coach builder, who in September 1821,
removed from Colin Croft to a large workshop up the Old Shambles yard.
Adjoining is the " Fleece Inn " yard, or, as it was known in Speed's time,
" Cock Lane." The illustration gives a good idea of its picturesque exit.
Alderman William Cock, mercer, when mayor in 1692, lived on the
southern side of the entry, where a seedsman's shop now is. And here
too, Christopher Woodburn also lived in 1723. Subsequently this quaint old
shop temporarily formed part of the " Golden Fleece " and was used for
accommodating the humbler guests that arrived by coach, whilst "your
honour" went to the higher-board in the inn itself. Then followed the
Rigg family, who were established here from 1779 to nearly 1870, as hatters
and hosiers. The best of everything was sold over their counter, and
moreover handed, it is said, with that old world courtesy which, costing
so little, is yet so pleasant to receive. Old Robert Rigg was justly proud, and
we are told how he used to perambulate up and down in front of the shop and
draw the attention of passers-by with the exclamation " Here's a property,
what a fine property!" alluding probably as much lo the zinc and gold-
edged cocked hat which did duty as his sign, as to the building itself. And
this is the legend of the sign. Being anxious to have a most comely and
suitable inscription, the following was, after anxious thought, finally decided.
upon : " Rigg, hatter, makes and sells hats for ready money." Yet, still
being anxious, the good man decided to seek the advice of his friends,

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

and the first to whom
he showed it thought
the word hatter
superfluous, because
followed by the
words "makes hats,"
which shewed that
he was a hatter. It
was struck out. The
next observed that
the word makes might
as well be omitted,
because his cus
tomers would not
care who made the
hats ; if good and
fitted well they would
buy them by whom
soever made. It was
struck out also. A
third friend to whom
the inscription was
shewn said that he
thought the words
for ready money were
useless, as it was not
the custom of the
place to sell on credit.
These too were
parted with, and the
original fine inscrip
tion then stood,
" Rigg sells hats."
" Sells hats," said
the next friend, "why
who expects you to
give them away ? "

75
to the
by his

¦ |i

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD.
so sells was struck out and "hats" was all that remained attached
name. And, brief as the inscription thus was, it was finally reduced
most trusted friend
to that all important
name of RIGG, with
the addition of that
odd looking zinc
erection with its gold
edged rim. In later
years I fear that an
other friend thought
fit to interfere and
make a further re
duction, for upon
one fine autumnal
morning this poor
hat was found float
ing away down the
river and was only
rescued by chance
when passing down
beyond the Watch
Field.

On the property Rigg's Shop and Fleece Inn.
being sold this quaint old corner underwent the usual modernizing revolution,
the pent roof resting on its wooden pillars was taken away, the shop front
extended forward and the last of an old landmark was erased.

No. 22.

The sign of "The Roebuck" once swung across the street from
the premises adjoining, until Alderman Berry purchased the inn
and re-built on its vaulted cellars the present building. Here he resided and
carried on an extensive ironmonger's business, until his happy windfall
of some £20^000, enabled him to retire to Ash Meadow, Beetham. On the
21st of October, 1817, when the premises were occupied by a linen draper of
the name of Dent, a serious fire broke out which did considerable damage to
the property. And again another fire occurred in 1828.

76

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

The most picturesque buildings still left to us ofthe olden time are the
shops now owned by Alderman Titus Wilson. Like the " Fleece Inn " they
had their pent roofs, projecting some five or six feet further on to the
footway, supported by rude wooden posts and which were removed in
1828. Here were the business premises of Thomas Hudson, who nailed to

Picturesque bit of Kendal.
a beam for "good luck," the first penny he earned, which, by the way,
proved such a good omen that he was enabled before his death," in 1811, to
purchase the whole of the property. His son John, together with Cornelius
Nicholson, who were fellow apprentices in the office of the Kendal Chronicle,
went into partnership on November 12th, 1825, and succeeded to the printing

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 77
and stationery business of Benjamin Dowson, which had been carried on in
one ofthe four small shops already described on page 33.
Success still following that nailed penny, the partners removed across the
way to Hudson's premises, and here in 1832 Cornelius Nicholson undertook the
compilation of the A nnals of Kendal, a work which was received with so much
marked and deserved favour by the inhabitants. The following year the
Burneside paper mills were commenced by them for the purpose of making
paper by machinery ; they likewise took over the old hand-made paper works
at Cowan Head, and worked away till Nicholson left Kendal about 1845,
when the mills were sold to Mr. James Cropper. Twelve years later John
Hudson retired to a well earned rest, and the business, after a few more
years, passed into the possession of Alderman Titus Wilson, who has
so praiseworthily maintained its good name. From the illustration it will be
seen that the author is fortunate enough to have his offices situated above the
luck-penny in this romantic old bit of Kirkby Kendal.
The next shop is built upon the site of the old Kilner Hall,
probably named after the family of Robert Kilner, attorney-
at-law, thrice Mayor of Kendal, about 1644. Robert Kilner lived for some
time at a farmhouse known as Berry Holme, Helsington — an antique looking
place with round Westmorland chimneys and seats on either side of its porch.
Over the door to one of the bedrooms there still remains carved in the
wainscot the initials and date — R. K. E. 1644 — which doubtless stands for
Robert and his wife Ellen. His son, John, is described in several entries in
the Church Registers, as of Highgate. It was here that Mrs. James Imrie
for many years carried on a drapery and tea dealing business. It may be
mentioned that this shop, together with the " Black Horse and Rainbow "
were left to the Roman Catholic Church by Robert Stephenson in 1716, the
rents to be devoted to the relief of the poor in Kendal. This charity,
which now amounts to about £100 per annum, is distributed by the priest
in charge. Robert Stephenson was buried at the Parish Church on April
23rd, 1723, and is described as of Dodding Green.
Celebrated in 1785 for its good cheer,
Black Horse and Rainbow Inn. . , . .
and, being without a sign, this inn went
by the name of " William and Elinor Lawn's," to whose honour it is recorded

78 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
that in 1798 Elinor, with other of the townsfolk, gave a guinea subscription
for the defence of her country, which was then threatened with invasion.
Earlier than this the inn was owned in 1638 by Oliver Plat, of Summer
How, and an oak table and panel, bearing the inscription " O.P., E.P., 1638 "
were discovered when the house was re-built two hundred years later in 1836.
In 1 813 we find the inn was owned by one John Birkett, and during the
occupancy of James Harker, who followed, the inn had a pictorial signboard
representing a rainbow spanning over a fine black horse in a crouching
position. David Lipsett followed Harker about 1857, and Alderman John
Robinson about 1875.
On the site of the tall narrow building adjoining, there used
anciently to be a butcher's shop, a continuation indeed of the
Butcher's Rows ; but after the erection of the Old Shambles, the house
became, together with a warehouse at the back, Benjamin Ion's horn comb
manufactory. He it was who added the third storey and refronted the old
house with dressed limestone. The warehouse had previously been used by
Alderman Jackson Harrison, wine merchant and wholesale grocer.
The little shop on the south side of the narrow entry was, in 1795,
a pawnbroker's establishment, kept at first by Thomas Robinson,
who advertised in October of that year to sell by auction at the Market Cross
all his unredeemed pledges. He was succeeded by a Mr. Long and then by
a Mr. Gaskill.
N __ On the site of Mrs. Court's shop — whose window still displays those
luscious tarts wherein the jam coyly hides itself, as such a precious
substance should, behind a lattice work of pastry and whose sign has borne
the inscription of court, confectioner, for a period of some sixty years —
stood the " Three Tuns," with its sign derived from the Vintners' or the
Brewers' Arms. A former landlord of this house, Robert Hind, met Jiis
death through the bursting of a cannon on July 4th, 1820. This was the
anniversary of the election of 1818, to celebrate which the supporters of Lord
Brougham assembled in a field near the- Serpentine Walks, and fired a cannon
as a royal salute with such a fatal result to one of their number, that he
survived the accident only two days.

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 79
_, _ , , . This house is probably an old inn, which happily has
The Dolphin. v J ft- j
now become an excellent coffee house. My first note is to
the effect that it was managed about the year 1790 by a Mrs. Rae. After
her day it was kept by Wm. Hallhead in 1812, and afterwards by Mrs.
Bateman in 1856.
In connection with this and other neighbouring " publics," we have
handed down to us an illustration of the ways and means adopted for
procuring votes in the municipal elections, at a time when the town's drainage
was under vehement discussion. After a hunter-up and a voter have each
taken a horn full at the " Black Bull " the voter says :
V. " Your party's arguments are strong I feel,
In one sense must serve the public's weal ;
I think I'll shortly to conviction come.
Suppose you stand a glass of rum."
(Scene shifts to the interior of the '• Dolphin," after which they proceed up the street, and, having
tried sundry taps, the voter, who has begun to take the angles, makes another dead point for
Highgate. H. U. "Well, well, one more, but here's too many markers
Of our proceedings. Let's go into Harker's."
(They vanish under the arch of the "Rainbow" and a period of twenty minutes elapses).
H. U. (aside) " I'm half ashamed, I am, upon my soul,
Of these proceedings, but we're near the goal.
My plot is ripe, if he's not got too mellow ;
(aloud) There's the Town Hall, now go and vote old fellow."
(Enter another hunter-up of the party).
H. TJ. 2. " Why, Mr. B., who's this you've got in tow ?
This man has polled for Hoggarth hours ago ! "
* H.U.i. "Thed — 1 he has ! You rascal, ah, he's off !
And left me here, the butt of gibe and scoff.
The vagabond, whose cheek all bound surpasses,
Cost me two hours, and twice as many glasses.
To think I should have treated the wrong man !
Why Job himself would almost curse and ban.
And now some wag, hearing my labour's vain,
Will say at once his " drains were wrong again ! "
(Exeunt severally. Scent closes).

8o KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Prior to the year 1862, the All Hallows Lane
Baths and Washhouses. was exceedingly narrow and cramped, notwith
standing that it was the main thoroughfare westward to Ulverston — a
thoroughfare of almost greater importance in the days of pack-horses, waggons,
and coaches than it can be considered to-day. However, in September of that
year, the long-talked-of improvements were commenced. The tall buildings on
the south side, which had known better days in the time of the Shearmen
Dyers, but had since been converted into poor tenements, were demolished,
and the street almost doubled in width. I have particularly refrained from
seeking out the reasons why this improvement was not carried forward to the
entrance into Highgate. It would not be either pleasant to know, or much
less to record, the sentiments which dictated them ; but there the awkward
corner stands — a striking comment to all who can read.
The baths and washhouses were built by a public-spirited body of gentlemen
for £2,500, and were opened on October, the 14th, 1864 ; the " luck-penny "
(half-a-crown) being presented by William Wakefield to the woman who first
turned a tap for actual work.
_ . , Mr. R. H. Greenwood informs me that in an old deed the
Cripplegate. houses immediately westward, and as far up as the exit from
Colin Croft, are described as being situated in " Cripplegate." Here we have
the only known mention of Kendal's fourth or western gate, with a distinctive
name suggesting broken limbs — whether by reason of its steep descent, or by
the mad rush of bulls from off the Beast Bank, I dare not say. Rife specula
tion, but worthy of a close research.
« , •. », ,, , On the opposite side of the way is the " Golden Ball,"
Golden Ball Inn. ....
which had for its sign in 1820 the silk mercer's trade
emblem of a gilded ball. A little further up the hill, and hidden away in
that queer spot known as William Gillbanks the twine spinner's yard (No.
23), was the "Sun Inn," a public-house that I can find little history about,
excepting that it existed in 1864, and hung out for its sign a board with a sun
dial painted upon it. Higher up still, was the " Forester's Arms," situated
in that old-looking beer shop, with small, quaint, flanking chimney windows
in its eastern gable. An inn of some considerable sporting notoriety,
especially in the days of one Shepherd Wales, the champion encourager of
sport.

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 81
_, , _ _ At the bend of the Lane stands one of Kendal's oldest
Black Swan Inn. inns, known as the " Black Swan," and kept in 1775 by
one George Wilson. Its sign was said to have had considerable artistic
merit, and refers us back to the time when the Australians startled the
world with its discoveries of new and strange animals and plants, a time
when it was said that —
" Swans were not white, but black as soot,
And stones were outside the cherries put."
On the 24th of April, 1797, a new Female Benefit Society was started at this
house with a membership of 57 members. Surely, to our modern notions, this
was a queer meeting ground for the young ladies, but it would seem from the
following list of Female Societies that it was a common practise for them to
meet at such houses of entertainment : —
Benefit Societies. Established. Where Held. No. of Members in
1797. 1798. 1806.
Female Society  1791  Seven Stars  80 100 99
Female Union Society  1791  King's Head  71 75 66
Young Women's Club .... 1796  Pump Inn  30 27 —
New Female Society  1797  Black Swan  57 85 —
Female Unanimous Society  1797  New Ship  — 34 —
The last-named must, indeed, have been an ideal Society, but we find that
their unanimity could not have lasted long, for in 1806 only two Societies
remained, and they were not among the numbered.
The males also had their own Benefit Societies, and, in like manner with
the ladies, found it most convenient to meet at the various houses of refresh
ment. At any rate, so far as the object of this book is concerned, we must
thank them for the lengthy list of inns, thus handed down to us, as then
existing : —
Benefit Societies. Established. Where Held. No. of Members in
1797. 1798. 1806.
Friendly Society  1755  White Hart  157 154 95
Free Society  1771  Golden Lion  157 158 160
Builders' Society  1773  Rose and Crown  50 51 56
Friendly Society  1779  New Inn  148 150 140

82

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

Benefit Societies.
Established.
Where Held.
No. OF
Members in
1797.
1798.
1806.
Amicable Society
¦•- 1783 
Fox and Goose
.... 124
134
139
Friendly Society
 1785 
Football
 40
46
52
Providential Society
 1788 
Crown
150
150
Most Honourable Society
.... 1788 
Golden Fleece
106
no
New Friendly Society
 i789 
Globe
 71
69
5i
Union Society
 1794 
White Lion
105
no
Unanimous Society
•¦• 1794 
Dolphin
 90
78
53
New Union Society
 1795 
Elinor Lawn's
go
95
—
Good Intent Society
 1796 ..-
Dog and Duck
 43
57
101
Loyal Brotherly Society
•••• 1797 
Royal Oak
 32
5°
57
Antient Sociey
 1797 
Lowther Arms
—
55
38
I have before me " An Order of Procession " for the year 1797, as
follows : —
"The Benefit Societies in Kendal will assemble in Stricklandgate on Monday, the 5th of June,
1797, at a quarter past 10 o'clock in the Morning and proceed according to the following
Order, four in a Breast to Church, their Colours flying, a Band of Music playing and the
Bells ringing, when a Discourse suitable to the Occasion, will be delivered by the Rev.
Peter Strickland, Curate of Windermere; after the Service they will return in the same
manner to Stricklandgate, and after remaining there a short time, they will file off and march
to their respective Inns to dine ; after which it is hoped that all who partake of this Social
Festival will spend the Day in convivial Harmony and Brotherly Love."
Then follow the names in order of the four Female Societies.
Band of Instrumental Music.
Gentlemen of the Corporation.
Clergymen in their Gowns.
Then follow the names in order of the fourteen Male Societies.
The Number of Females 238, and Males 1310. — Total 1548.
_, , . , _ , , The Boys' school, standing on an eminence in Chapel
National School. J b
Close half-way up the hill, is a somewhat striking
building, erected by subscription in 1818 " as a district school on Bell's
principle." Over the porch is a large blue-stone tablet bearing the following
inscriptions ; — -
SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 83
NATIONAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS.
Built by public subscription and munificently endowed
By Matthew Pyper, of Whitehaven, Esquire.
A.D. 1818.
" Hear counsel, and receive instruction,
That thou mayest be wise in the latter end." — Proverbs xix, 20.
Pyper bequeathed a sum of £2,000, and, agreeably to his own request, he was
buried beneath the schoolroom floor in 182 1. The school for Girls was added
in the year 1823, and the school for Infants in 1874.
„_. , _, In earlier days this house was call " Hill House," and
Monument House. ,
it was here that the Presbyterian congregation, after
seceding from the Market Place Chapel, built for themselves a place of
meeting. The ground adjoining they appropriated for the burial of their
departed relatives who desired not to have the service of the Church of
England read over their graves. To this congregation the Rev. James
Mc Quhae was ordained in 1764.
For the history of the Presbyterian movement I must refer the reader to
the account given later on under the heading of the Woolpack Yard Chapel.
Suffice it to say, that in consequence of dissension and a split, the remnant
finding their inability to pay the stipend of a regular pastor, and suffering from
defection and death with no increase in their numbers, were forced to sell the
property in 1806 and wall off the sacred enclosure of the dead. The following
inscription is cut in freestone over the door into the graveyard : —

SCOTCH
BURIAL GROUND
1760— 1855

The property was sold to Benjamin Herd, who re-sold it to John
Broadbent of Kirkland, to be converted into a spinning mill.
At this crisis Abraham Williamson of Keswick visited the town and,
hearing of the straits that the Presbyterians were in, and believing that if

84 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
relieved from their debt the good cause could be resuscitated, he generously
gave £100, with which, and £20 of a premium subsequently raised, the chapel
and garden were re-purchased from Broadbent ; alas ! only to be sold again in
1812 to John Bell, for the sum of £100.
When Edward Burton, auctioneer, purchased the house, he made many
considerable alterations, adding the verandah in front, the two false wings,
one on either side, and by building a coach house and summer house at each
end of the pallisading. Moreover, at this time, he changed the name from
" Hill House " to " Monument Place."
At a meeting of the Kendal Burial Board held on the 4th of November,
1863, the following memorial regarding the Scotch Burial Ground on the
Beast Banks was presented : —
" To the Burial Board of Kendal, Kirkland, &c, the memorial of the undersigned showeth—
That the Scotch Burial Ground, situated on the Beast Banks, at the head of Allhallows'
Lane, was opened in 1763 and continued to be used till 1855, when it was closed by order of
the Secretary of State. That it never had any trustees for itself alone, being only meered or
walled off and excluded from the title made in 1804, when the adjoining chapel and ground
westward, now the property of Mr. Burton, were sold to Mr. John Broadbent of Kirkland.
That there are several tombstones and the remains of at least one hundred bodies within its
walls, and as the memorialists have been the only persons who, for the last twenty years,
have cared for the protection of these sacred ashes by preventing, as far as possible,
encroachments, repairing the walls and erecting a new doorway, they now beg to hand over
the care ofthe ground to the Burial Board, as the body appointed by the law to protecc such
places from being used for improper purposes. There are no funds available for repairs, nor
any person or society to look after the ground, so that the Burial Board is the only body
to whose care it can be committed. (Signed) John Inglis, minister of U. P. Church; Joseph
Smith, Stricklandgate, Yard No. 80."
The matter was then handed to a committee, who at the next meeting,
reported that, " having advised with the solicitor, they found that the care and
protection of the Scotch Burial Ground, now closed by order of the Secretary
of State, necessarily by Act of Parliament, devolved upon the Burial Board."
About six months after the Board had taken possession of this sacred inclosure
it was desecrated by some one removing and burying the monuments, but
they have since all been restored at the expense of the town, without enquiry
being made who did the mischief.

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 85
i» i- .» r, m This tavern, built by John Bell, maltster, of
Bowling Green TaYern. J
Hill House, and the " Rifleman's Arms "
(recently called the "New Inn ") are both comparatively modern houses, so
little need be said about them. Indeed 80 years ago not a stone of the north
side of the Beast Banks was erected, and but a few isolated buildings on the
southern side.
_ . . p] In March, 1864, some land was sold at the top of Captain
French Lane on the north side, and the title deeds of 1767
and 1796 described it as "all that close, &c, commonly called Catcastle, situated
under a certain place called Battle Place," &c, &c. Likewise an older deed
dated 1667 describes a different property, as "adjoining and butting upon
a piece or parcel of ground called ye Battell Place," &c. There is only one
place to which both descriptions will apply, and therefore we can have no
doubt but that the original site of Battle Place was where the Bowling Fell
now is. As to why it received this name, if it be not the Kendal Heath
referred to in the note on page 12, I am afraid that none can tell.
„ ., ™ „.„ At tne nead °f AH Hallow's Lane is Castle How Hill,
Castle How Hill. or as it is sometimes written, " Castle Law Hill." Dr.
Burn thinks from its name that it must have been intended for a fort. It is
within sight of the Roman station at Water Crook, and is very like the
exploratory mounts met with near military ways ; but whether it is Roman or
Norman cannot be determined. In an old guide to the Lakes, I find the hill
described as "A mount of gravel and earth thrown up, of an exact circular
form, arising from the plane on the top of the rock, near thirty feet. It is
defended by a deep ditch. The crown is fiat, of 16 paces in diameter, and has
been defended by a breast-work of earth and a narrow ditch, and from east to
west a ditch is struck through the centre."
The obelisk is of hewn limestone, 36 feet high, or about half the height of
the old church tower. It was erected by the inhabitants and executed by the
benevolent William Holme from the design of his architectural partner,
Francis Webster. It is grievous that we cannot find any record of the names
of those who subscribed to the work or even of any opening ceremony, for
such an account would have been most interesting. The author of " A Fort
night's Ramble to the Lakes" (1792), visited the monument a few years after

86 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
its erection, and thought that from the shortness of the column there must
have been a great lack of funds. Other critics indeed felt this so keenly that
for a considerable time it went by the name of " Bill Holme's Bodkin."
Upon an oval tablet incised in the stone there is the following inscription : —
" sacred to liberty, this obelisk was erected in the year 1788, in memory of
the revolution in 1688." The base has been sadly broken and oftimes
filled in and mended with cement, so that the following remarkable words,
which are said to have been engraved on a corner stone, are now entirely
lost to us. "That no foreign prince or potentate has, or ought to have, any
power, civil or ecclesiastical, within these realms."
_. ., «.. . Benjamin Ingham, the founder of this sect, was born
Inghamite Chapel. . ,
in 1712 ; he entered Queen's College, Oxford, 1730,
and received holy orders in 1735 from Dr. John Potter, Bishop of Oxford.
At John Wesley's request he went to America to preach, but after a year he
returned to Ossett, Yorks, his native place, and preached everywhere in
" fields, barns, and houses." In 1741 he married Lady Margaret Hastings,
sister to the Earl of Huntingdon. By 1752 his parish extended over the four
counties of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, and Westmorland, and in the
year 1756 this meeting house in Kendal was opened. The first baptism
recorded, in March of that year, was solemnized by himself. In 1762 Thomas
Rowlandson of Grayrigg was chosen Elder, and he continued to officiate
as preacher till 1769. After an interval of five years the office was again filled,
in 1774, by Christopher Batty and William Wilson of Kendal. The former
died in 1797 and the latter in 1804. Then John Huck was ordained and
continued in office till his death in 1845.
Why these devoted worshippers met with such abuse and persecution it
is indeed difficult to say. All round the district they were not only assaulted,
but their meeting houses were, in some instances, wrecked and their bodies
refused burial. Even the Rev. John Sampson, master of our Grammar
School, in a modified sense, could not refrain from teasing the boys who went
to this chapel. Harshly interrogating a boy one day as to why he did not
come to class with his church catechism, the excuse came, " Please sir I gang
to t' Pear Tree!" to which Sampson retorted "To t' Pear Tree? Mair
likely up somebody's apple tree."

SOUTERGATE OR THE SOUTH ROAD. 87
At first the society used to worship in the open air, until the original
Pear Tree barn, belonging to William Wilson, was converted into a chapel for
them in 1756. The present building was erected on the same site and opened
on September the 7th, 1845, at a cost of £641. Fortunately the old appelation
of " The Pear Tree " was still retained, although the aged tree itself, after
which the early barn was named, was blown down during a severe storm
in November, 1821. The Westmorland Advertiser records the curious fact that
when the men were cutting up the timber they found the wood quite sound,
and embedded in the heart ofthe tree a large round stone.
In consequence of the society allowing anybody to bring their dead to
their burial ground, we learn that it became so full that an extension had
to be made on the north side, by leave of the lord of the manor, and that to
this day a sum of 2s. 6d. a year is paid as an acknowledgment for the same.
. , „ . „ The foundation stone of this excellent institution
Memorial Hospital. ,.,,„, T ^ T 1 r ,
was laid by Mr. James Cropper on January the 10th,
1869, and the building was opened to receive patients in 1870. There is, just
within the entrance, a marble tablet bearing the following beautiful inscription:
" This hospital for the sick and poor was erected in loving remembrance of
Fanny Alison Cropper, the wife of James Cropper of Ellergreen. It was built
in the year of our Lord 1869 by her husband and her family, who desired to
perpetuate her memory by thus carrying out her own wish." A bright and
sunny children's ward was added a few years later, and on a brass plate within
the room is this inscription : — " This ward was built in 1873 by public sub
scription and dedicated to the treatment of infirm children."
Of the beginning of the Kendal races I have but little to
Race Course. ,_,„,,,.,,,. . . ,
record. The first handbill before me is tor some races to be
held on the 29th and 30th days of August, 1792, on the " Old Course near
Kendal." This was on the heights on the west side of Helsfell Nab. And oh
the mixture ! It is advertised to be run " during the Oratorio," the first
musical festival that was then being held at the Parish Church. My next
note is that the races were " revived " on September 12th, 13th, and 14th,
1820, in a field at Ladyford, near Burneside Hall. This meet seems to have
been in every way a very great success, and one is not surprised to learn that
immediately after a committee was formed to arrange for the races being held
annually in the future,

88 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Away up on the border of Scouts' Scaur, on Fisher's plain, the " New
Race Course," was formed in 1821; concerning which I extract two interesting
cuttings from the Westmorland Advertiser.
April 28th, 1821. — " We have the satisfaction to inform the friends to our
annual races that full consent has been obtained from the proprietors of the
fell land on Fisher's plain, for making the new race ground. From the time
of the year on which they are fixed there is little doubt of a full attendance ;
and it is with much pleasure we state that many who were enemies to
the races last year are now the most forward in promoting them."

Kendal Racecourse.
August 4th, 1821. — "During the present week, every evening the new
race ground has attracted numerous visitants, and indeed such is the extent
and beauty of the prospect from that part of the ground where the stands and
booths are erected that it is impossible to conceive a finer promenade.
The theatre, we understand, opens on Monday, the receipts of which night
are very handsomely assigned by Mr. Howard to the racing fund."
A peculiar ringing, almost musical, sound may be observed by the
pedestrian who should chance to tread upon the loose stones or shingle, and it
may be interesting to state that some of them have been tuned to play upon,
and are now in the Museum.
Of the races themselves I have before me, as I write, most of the
programmes for the years 1821 to 1833, and curious reading they make.
Lough's correct list for 1821 gives the names of Lord Viscount Lowther
and Thomas Upton as stewards. It was calculated that not less than six
thousand people were upon the ground each day. For 1823 tne names

8g

KENDAL RACES, 1821.
CORRECT LIST.

First Day, Tuesday, August 7th, 1821.
A SWEEPSTAKES of TWENTY GUINEAS each, h. ft. Three years old to carry
6st. rolb. ; Four, 8st.; Five, 8st. iolb.; Six and Aged, 8st. i2lb.; Mares and Geldings allowed
3lb.— One Three Mile Heat.

Mr. Robinson's b f by Marmion, 3 yrs. walked over
Mr. Wm Hutchinson's b fjulietta, 4 yrs. . dr.
Mr. Hutchinson's b. f. Miss Wilks, 3 yrs. . dr.
Same Day, A MAIDEN PLATE OF FIFTY POUNDS. Three years old to carry
6st. rolb.; Four, 8st. ; Five, 8st. 81b. ; Six and Aged, 8st i2lb. ; Mares and Geldings allowed
3lb. Two Mile Heats.

Strickland, Esq., c. h. the Duke, by
Comus ....... dr.
Charles Neville, Esq., did not name . . dr.

Mr. Robinson's b f by Marmion, 3 yrs. .131
Mr. McMinnie's br. h. the Palmer, by
Marmion, 5 years old . . .213

Mr. Field's gr. c. by Marmion, 3 yrs. .322
Mr. Blizard's b m. Creeping Kate, aged dr.

Second Day, Wednesday, August 8th, 1821.
A GOLD CUP, by Subscription of TEN GUINEAS each, p. p. Five Subscribers or no
Race. Three years old to carry 6st. 61b.; Four, 8st.; Five, 8st. 81b.; Six and Aged, 8st. i2lb.;
Mares and Geldings allowed 31b. One Three Mile Heat.
Mr. W. Hutchinson's b. f. Julietta, 4 yrs.
Mr. T. Hutchinson's b. f. Miss Wilks, 3 yrs
Mr. Lonsdale's gr. c. by Marmion, 3 yrs

Marquis of Queensberry's b. m. Miss Syntax, aged
Mr. Read's blk. g. Black Rock, 5 yrs.

Same Day, SWEEPSTAKES of SEVEN GUINEAS each, p. p., with TWENTY
GUINEAS added. Three years old to carry 6st. iolb. ; Four, 8st. ; Five, 8st 81b. ; Six and
Aged, 8st. I2lb. Mares and Geldings allowed 31b. Two Mile Heats.
Mr. T. Hutchinson's b. f. Miss Wilks, 3 yrs. ! Mr. Robinson's b. f. by Marmion, 3 yrs.
Mr. Blizard's b. m. Creeping Kate, aged. | Mr. Simpson's b. f. by Corrector, 3 yrs.
Same Day, TOWN'S PLATE, value FIFTY POUNDS. Three years old to carry
6st. iolb. ; Four, 8st. ; Five, 8st. 81b. ; Six and Aged, 8st i2lb. ; Mares and Geldings allowed
3lb. Two Mile Heats.
Mr. Mc. Minnie's br. h. The Palmer, by Marmion,
5 yrs.
Mr. Robinson's b. f. by Marmion, 3 yrs.

Mr. Blizard's b. m. Creeping Kate, aged
Marquis of Queensberry's b. m. Miss Syntax, aged
Mr. T. Hutchinson's b. f. Miss Wilks, 3 yrs.
Mr. W. Hutchinson's b. f. Julietta, 4 yrs.

Mr. Field's gr. c. by Marmion, 3 yrs.
Mr. Simpson's b. f. by Corrector, 3 yrs
Third Day, Thursday, August 9th, 1821.
The HUNTER'S STAKES, TEN GUINEAS each, p. p. Gentlemen Riders, i2st.
each. For Horses that never won FIFTY POUNDS in any Stake or Match before the Day
of naming. A certificate to be produced if required, before starting, of each Horse having
been regularly hunted the preceding Season. One Two Mile Heat.

Mr. T. Parkinson's b. g. Fearnought
T. Strickland, Esq. did not name.
C. Neville, Esq. did not name.

Mr. W. Hutchinson's b. g. by young Benin-
borough
Mr. Read's blk. g. Black Rock, yrs.
to be rode by J. Ward, Esq.
Same Day, A HANDICAP SWEEPSTAKES, SEVEN GUINEAS each, for all beaten
Horses, Two Guineas forfeit, with TWENTY GUINEAS added. To be named immediately
after the Races on Wednesday.
All disputes to be settled by the Stewards, or whom they shall appoint. — All Dogs found on the course
will be destroyed.
ORDINARIES at the King's Arms on Tuesday and Thursday, and at the Commercial Inn, on Wednes
day, each day immediately after the Races. — RACE BALL, at the King's Arms, on Wednesday Evening, to
commence at half-past eight o'clock. — Tickets to be had at the Bar ofthe Inn.
Lord Viscouht Lowther, M.P.) c. ,
Thomas Upton, Esq. \ Stewards.
J. Goulden, Clerk of the Course.
Printed by R. Lough, Finkle-street, Kendal.

Reduced copy of Race Programme.

go KIRKBIE KENDALL.
of Colonel Smyth and Captain Wilson, R.N., for 1825 those of Major Hasell
and Major Atkinson ; for 1826 Lord F. Bentinck and Bolton King; for 1828
Thomas Williamson and William Sleddall ; and for 1829 those of R. F.
Bradshaw and E. R. G. Braddyl are mentioned as stewards. The winners of
the Gold Cup have been : —
1821. — Marquis of Queensberry's b.m. Miss Syntax, aged.
1822. — Mr. Hutchinson's b.c. Wanton — by Woeful, 3 years old.
1823. — Mr. Ferguson's b.c. Wanton — -by Woeful, 4 years old.
1824. — Mr. Simpson's b.h. Young Corrector, 4 years old.
1825. — Mr. Smith's ch.f. Sophy — by Comus, 3 years old.
1826. — Mr. Whittaker's ch.f. Sophy — by Comus, 4 years old.
1827. — Lord Lowther's br.c. by Grey Walton, 3 years old.
1828. — Lord Lowther's br.c. by Grey Walton, 4 years old.
1829. — Hon. H. C. Lowther's br.h. Brunswick, 5 years old.
1830. — Mr. Nowell's b.h. by Walton, 5 years old.
1833. — Hon. H. C. Lowther's Vyvyan — by Canteen, 4 years old.
Short was the life, however, of these meetings ; for a sport, noble in itself, was
quickly doomed by those concomitant abuses which seem to be so inseparably
connected with it. Lying before me is a poster announcing the sale by public
auction on the 26th day of August, 1839, of the whole of the materials forming
the grand stand, erected only ten years before — viz.. June 23rd, 1829. And
yet, I have another poster to the effect that the Kendal Annual Steeplechase
will take place on Tuesday, the 25th of March, 1845, a run over a circuit
of three and a quarter miles, and which I find thus described in the papers : —
" Starting near Mint House, over the first fence about a hundred yards distant,
into a grass field, descending to a brook and fence on the opposite side, into a
meadow, and thence to a thorn hedge, awkwardly slanting across a steep hill,
which awaited the leapers. The course then followed over a field of rising
ground, across a road leading to the River Sprint, and then a drop leap into a
meadow. Skirting the river for about 200 yards the horses came to the old
water course, where they had to jump a fenced bank and land into the old race
ground, with two sets of hurdles five feet high. Thence across a ploughed
field, rendered terribly heavy by the rains, to another hurdle, and from this
along the River Kent to a rather formidable fence into a wheat field, which led
to perhaps the most difficult leap on the line — a wide brook dropping on the
off side — and sweeping to the right down the holm to a water fenced in front
with thorns, and so on to the end — over 34 fence walls and 14 water courses in
all."

KENDAL ANNUAL STEEPLECHASE-THE START.
By the kind permission of the Editor of the " Westmorland Gazette.'

III.
Soatergate, continued.

My desire is,
To unlock the treasures of each ancient place,
Its newer humbler mate ;
And revere the spirit of each life I trace,
In higher Souter-gate.

95

SOUTERGATE— THE EAST SIDE.

ON returning again into Highgate to take up our examination of the
houses upon the east side, we notice the corner shop of Lowther
Street, where Isaac Hadwen, maltster and corn factor, resided until his death
in 1822. In my illustration of the White Hall, there is a good view of this old
shop, then tenanted by one Jackson, a tobacconist, with the trade sign of a
Red Indian and his pipe, over the doorway. In America the pipe, as we
know, has its native place, and the Red Indian is the great forbear or foster-
father of all who smoke. " We may get on without America," said a witty
Frenchman, from whose opinion, of course, we must plainly differ, " but we
cannot get on without M. Nicott " — the French prototype of our Sir Walter
Raleigh. Here also the well-known firm of Messrs. Carr commenced their career of
biscuit manufacturers. Jonathan, son of Henry Carr, a weaver on Far Cross
Bank, first started for himself as a wholesale grocer in that ancient old
building on Highgate Bank, which had formerly been the " Royal Oak " Inn,
and shortly afterwards married a daughter of Jonathan Dodgson, another
wholesale grocer in Stricklandgate. Their son, the worthy Jonathan Dodgson
Carr, removed up to this house, but finding little scope, he ultimately removed
to Carlisle, where the business has ever since grown to be of world wide fame.
However, his brother Henry remained here, and I have before me a circular
dated, Kendal 10th Month, nth, 1833, in which " Henry Carr respectfully
announces that he has entered upon these premises, where he purposes
carrying on the wholesale and retail tea and coffee trade." It is said that he
also had thoughts of combining the tobacco trade, but the Society of Friends
advised him better, saying that they "could not see that tobacco was a
necessary of life but rather a bad habit of turning the money that would be
useful to the poor into thin air " ; so the project was abandoned. Henry at

96 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
last removed also to Carlisle, and in 1837, Thomas Woof, tea dealer, carried
on his business. In an upper front room the Plymouth Brethren first held
their meetings. The next shop to the south has recently been rebuilt and fronted in
No. 37.
red bricks ; a welcome bit of bright colour amid the sombre lime
stone grey. Here formerly stood (1737) the " Castle and Griffin Inn," which
was occupied by Robert Chamley in 1742 until his death in 1746. When,
however, the inn closed its doors as a public house, a large hosiery business
was carried on here by Leonard Cooper, whose daughter Margaret, was
married in 1751 to John Crewdson, hosier. Cooper had his warehouse down
the yard, in the building now occupied by Wm. Jackson, painter. He was
succeeded by his son Joseph, on whose retirement the premises were occupied
by a Mrs. Sleddall, who carried on a fashionable milliner's business behind the
quaint old bay windows. Her daughter Hannah, in 1794, married Edmund
Tatham, a worthy doctor who had his surgery in the warehouse behind,
and here was born their benevolent son Dr. Tatham of Stramongate, in 1797.
In the year 1835 Samuel Rhodes moved across the way to this building,
to carry on his fast increasing drapery business, to which was added that of
dealing in cheeses. As a trade sign Rhodes hung out a large wooden cheese
until the year 1844, when the development of other departments in his drapery
trade compelled him to devote the whole of his time to them. All can
remember the curious low ceilinged shop and the first rate establishment of
his two kindly sons, John and William, and many there are ofthe present day
who greatly miss it, and bear the highest respect for the life and trade of these
partners. Y rt 3Q *n ^e ^arc^ a<ijoining is tne old established cooperage of Adam
Hodgson, now conducted by his grandson. Previous to the year
1825, Adam had his business premises on the site of the present Town Hall
behind Miles and John Smithson's grocery shop. Adjoining the present works
was an ancient building in which the Schools of Industry were begun. The
founder, ^George Braithwaite, in conjunction with Dr. Briggs, established
these excellent schools, described later on when dealing with the Science and
Art Schools, and the rules which appear in the Cumberland Pacquet are most
interesting reading.

SOUTERGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 97
The curious narrow passages called " The Gulfs," commenced at the foot
of this lane and extended southwards as far as the Oddfellows' Yard. Many of
the older inhabitants will remember them, some even will blush at the thought
of many a scamper through or oft repeated wooing, but to us of the younger .
generation their early existence is scarcely even known. Considering the
lowness of the river's banks south of Miller Bridge and their aptitude to become
flooded, prior to the time when the stream was widened and the embankment
made in 1853, these gulfs were of the utmost importance to allow of passengers
passing along in single file on a somewhat higher and drier ground. But no
sooner had the above improvements being effected than these dirty passages,
which had become a considerable nuisance, were very naturally walled up.
Commencing, as I have said, at the bottom of the yard, the passage turned
in behind the corner of Kent Place. Here it passed under ground below
Cookson's garden. About half way along a flight of steps led upwards
to Cookson's Yard (No. 43), which afforded a little welcome light into the
humid gloom. Out from here the way led through an entry, which has
now become the entrance hall of No. n, Gawith's Place, into what is
popularly known as Poddy Shaw's Yard (at the bottom of Yards 49 and 57).
The gap from here passing at the back of Anthony Garnett's dye house still
exists. Over the little beck, which in olden days, was open to the street and
has its source somewhere up behind the " Shakespeare tavern," was a flag
stone that led across to Roger Carter's timber yard and thence to Messrs.
Braithwaite's dye house. From here there was a cross way down to the river,
and the upper portion of an archway can still be seen on the water side, the
lower part being covered by the raised up embankment. The passage then
went along between two garden walls, at the end of which a number of steps
led down to a narrow way, in some parts covered in, below Greenhow's
property; and lastly entering a style where the wall suddenly bends, it
terminated at the Odd Fellows' Yard.
This house and shop was occupied at one time by the Post Office,
°' ' and then by Joseph Wilson, chemist and registrar of births and
deaths. He was great grandson of the wealthy Joseph Gough of Sandes
Close. In the year 1826, Edmund Atkinson, the grandfather of the present
owner, greatly modernized the property. He rebuilt the front with hewn
limestone, and, in clearing away for the foundation, came upon a small brass

98

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

token in a good state of preservation. On the obverse, a pair of shears with
a star on either side ; Super : " Company of Shearmen." Reverse : the
shearman's tassel and two stars ; Super : " in Kendal, 1666."
Tokens* are pieces issued by merchants and others to do duty as
temporary money, or tokens of such and such a monetary value. Probably the
shearmen, 160 years ago, were a wealthy body of men, and being in want of
a greater quantity of the smaller circulating medium, they caused these small
brass coins to be struck, which would pass current in the town and
neighbourhood.

Yard 43.

In early days
this passage
went by the name of Cook
son's Yard, at the foot of
which, overlooking the
river, the Rev. Henry
Wilkinson Cookson, D.D.,
late master of St. Peter's
College, Cambridge, was
born in 1810. From our
Grammar School he went
to Sedbergh, and from
thence to Cambridge,
where he graduated as B.A.
in 1832. Soon after he was
elected to a Fellowship,
and in 1847 was chosen
Master of the College. In
the year following he be
came Vice-Chancellor of
the University, having received the degree of D.D. by royal mandate.

* " The practice of issuing tokens first began to find favour in the time of Henry VIII. Under
Elizabeth, Bristol, oxford, and Worcester were allowed to have their own city tokens. But James I.
considered that all these pieces were " made in derogation of the King's prerogative royall," and royal
tokens for a farthing were issued hy Lord Harrington under licence from the Crown, and commonly went by
the name of " Harringtons." In 1635 Charles I. issued similar farthings by his own direct authority, which
bear a rose in place of the harp distinguishing the " Harringtons." The name of Token-house Yard, London,
still serves to remind us of the site of the office whence these farthings were issued. But the number
of private tokens did not in any way diminish until about 1P72, when their issue was strictly forbidden, and
the first English copper coins, consisting of halfpennies and farthings, were struck by Charles 11." Story of
British Coinage.

SOUTERGATE—THE EAST SIDE.

99

N _5 The adjoining building of hewn limestone, rebuilt by Robert Hind,
of the " Three Tuns," was, about the beginning of the XIXth
century, the residence of James and Thomas Braithwaite and their sister,
Peggy- They carried on their ironmonger's business here until they removed
down into Kirkland. It would seem that they were Quakers, but James, who
died in 1806, lost his membership by marrying Miss Cookson, a near
neighbour and Unitarian. Another brother, named Richard, mayor in 1791,
carried on the same kind of business at a shop in front of the " White Hart,"
and he likewise lost his membership by marrying a Miss Coupland. A fourth
brother, John Airey Braithwaite, surgeon at Lancaster, claimed to be
the discoverer ofthe famous medicine known as " Black Drop," when at his
death in 1810 the much coveted receipt passed by will to his sister Peggy.
I shall have, when dealing with the shop in Kirkland, a great deal more to say
about this wonderful cure-all.
Miles and John Smithson, grocers, removed from the White Hall here in
1825, and upon their retirement the business was transferred to James
Pennington, who had for years kept a respectable shop at the head of
Jenning's Yard. This building is doubtless of an ancient date, but I have
Nos. 47 and 51. ° .
no clue as to the time or by whom it was built. William
Kitching, a manufacturer of horse cloths, twine spinner and draper, had his
business in No. 47. It is said that he was the first to erect tenters on the fell
lands, near the lime kilns, and in the yard behind he had a rope walk, as well
as Camm's walk in Stricklandgate.
The shop on the other side of the entry was, at one time, occupied
by William Williamson, clog and patten maker, whilst the rooms above were
occupied by Jonathan Younghusband, tailor and draper.
Adjoining to the south there used to be a little low entry,
OS- ° ' the lowest in Kendal, over which a sign board hung
bearing the name of Joseph Shaw, twine spinner. The little old shop beyond,
whose eaves scarcely reached higher than the shop cornice of the preceding
house, was tenanted by William Atkinson, a bread baker. The floor was
considerably below the level of the street ; the window, full of toffee sticks,

IOO

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

being not more than a foot from off the ground. Behind was a whole nest of
tiny tenements, and when the cholera raged in 1832 sad havoc was committed
here. The next house of the same height had been modernized by the introduc
tion of sash windows. Here dwelt John Harrison in his blue dress coat with
gilt buttons ; an odd looking costume which occasioned the remark that his
coat " was made in the days of Adam the First."

On the other side of an entry was the
"Bird in Hand Inn" and another shop with
low windows, where Richard Robinson, tailor,
and father of John, the eminent civil engineer,
had his business. About half down the yard
was a sack manufactory carried on by Jonathan
Savage. What a lot of Jonathans Kendal
boasted of in those days ! Further down on
the river side we come to the dye house of
Anthony Harrison, shearman dyer, and of his
son John. He retired in favour of William
Garnett and his son Anthony, who were both
drysalters. Sometime in the XVIIIth century Samuel
Milton from Ireland, and James Barrow father
of John, deputy recorder, entered into partner
ship as dealers in Irish linens. Here they
55, Highgate. started printing cottons, and their dye house
and printing room was opposite to Harrison's.
Now, however, the whole block of buildings has been converted into a row of
cottages known by the name of Gawith's Place. In the Carlisle papers for
May 4th, 1811, I find an advertisement by James Barrow, for the sale of his
valuable stock-in-trade, consisting of brown, half bleached, full white, and
blue Irish linens and blue printed calicoes. Also to be let, a large and
convenient dye house, containing thirteen copperas vats, a store room,
printing room with three tables and a stove above the same.

SOUTERGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 101
But to return to the front buildings. Upon the site of the ancient inn and
these small delapidated shops, Samuel Gawith erected in 1861, the present
handsome premises. The newspapers of that day describe the building as
being one of the greatest improvements to street architecture that Kendal
ever experienced. And when we consider what the tenements used to be
which were thus transformed with such enterprise, I cannot^ but think that
Samuel Gawith has deserved well of his townsmen in doing so much to
improve the appearance of this main thoroughfare. The inn must have
ceased to exist long before this time, as a handbill in my possession announces
the sale by auction on October, 1852, of " all that property called the ' Old
Bird-in-hand Yard,' consisting of a front house and shop now used as a
bakehouse, and ten cottages, rope and twine walk and garden, &c," makes
no mention of its existence.
The next building of three stories was the birthplace, in 1737
of a benevolent lawyer, Thomas Harrison son of Edward Harrison
of Crook, a cordwainer.* Thomas served his apprenticeship to James Dowker,
and was appointed by the Lord High Chancellor in 1764 to be a master
extraordinary of the High Court of Chancery. In 1771 he married Jane
Lawson. The Cumberland Pacquet for December 24th, 1782, thus speaks
about the generosity of these benevolent people : — " On Saturday last Mr.
Thomas Harrison, attorney-at-law, gave at his house in Kendal a sixpenny
loaf each to one hundred and twenty poor families in that town and the
adjoining village of Kirkland." Only think of Kirkland as a rustic village ! !
Again the same paper records, on January 8th, 1799, that "on Friday last
Thomas Harrison, Esq., of Kendal, distributed 210 sixpenny loaves in the
like charitable manner." In 1794 the office of coroner for this county was
unanimously conferred upon him, and in 1800 he was appointed steward to
the Earl of Lonsdale. Thomas died in October, 1809, and left the property
as a dower house to his widow, where she lived until her death in 1820.
Their daughter, Mrs. Jane Grant, soon after came to reside here with her
family, until about the year 1836, when the premises were let to Henry
Bulmer Home, a cabinet maker. To Home is due the credit of re-pewing
the Parish Church, carving the old pulpit, and the gift of one of the clerestory
windows, which bears upon a shield the initials H. B. H.
* A worker in cordwain or cordovan leather, a shoemaker.

102 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
After passing over the cross gutter we come to the house where
No. 63. . .
William Dillworth Crewdson lived from 1797 till he removed
in 1 801 to Bank House. In subsequent years the postal authorities found
here, for a short time, a convenient office.
Windmill or Post Office Yard is so named after the windmill that
Yard 65. used to be situated at the bottom of the lane to grind bark
for the tanners. It was a good sized round building, and it seems to
have been the cause of an accident thus recorded in the Lancaster Parish
Church Register : — " 1775, July 12, William Jackson, kild by the Windmill,
Kendal." Lancaster was noted for the manufacture of windmill sails, and it
may be that Jackson met with his fatal accident when engaged upon the work
of repairing these sails.
What a number of tan-yards there used to be in Kendal in those days !
Well might old Kendalians believe that there was " nowt like leather," seeing
that it was one of the staple industries of the town. An item in the Local
Chronology reads : — " The Company of Tanners and Tawers have at this day
so great a share of trade as enables them to pay to the Crown by way of duty
between £"1600 and £2000 per annum." In 1787 there were no fewer than
seventeen tan-yards in Kendal, the exact sites of which can be discovered by
an inspection of Todd's plan, but now, I believe, there are not more than four.
The Glasites and Sandemanians, so named after the founders — John Glas
and Robert Sandeman — worshipped in the little meeting house, built for them
in 1824, at the foot of this yard; Benjamin Pearson being for many years the
presiding elder. By degrees the Society dwindled away, some members joined
the Inghamites and I believe about the year 1846 the property was sold to the
Rev. Robert Braithwaite. On the waterside where Messrs. Butterwith and
The Jolly Anglers. .
Hunter s warehouse now is, stood, in days gone by,
" The Jolly Anglers," a name common in the neighbourhood of trout streams,
having a triangular sign board, representing a follower of Izaak Walton,
plying the " gentle art." Afterwards the house took the name of the " Albion
Tavern," and in March, 1848, it went by the name of " The Moulders' Arms."

SOUTERGATE-THE EAST SIDE. 103
mj 6„ There was, in the olden days, upon the site of this shop an inn
known by the sign of the " Tanners' Arms," whose convivial
entertainment was especially laid out to attract the tanners who had their
yards down at the bottom of the lane along the waterside. The inn was
standing as such in 1730, for we find an entry in the Churchwardens' Books,
dated October 19th, 1730 :— " Pd. att ye Tanners Arms ye Churchwardens
Charges this Peremptory Day ns." In the year 1821 we find the house
mentioned as the residence of James Towers, a surgeon.
„ eo The next building, now converted into offices, was built on the site
of a plumber's workshop about the year 1792, on purpose for the
Maude, Wilson, and Crewdson Bank, who at that date removed their business
from Stramongate. The senior partner, Joseph Maude, died at Stricklandgate
House in 1803, and some years after his eldest son, Colonel Maude, retired.
The Wilsons of Abbot Hall withdrew at the time of the paper panic referred
to on page 37, and the bank then became known under the name of W. D.
Crewdson & Sons. In 1840 Wakefield's bank in Stricklandgate amalgamated
with this one under the combined title of Wakefield, Crewdson, & Co., or
" The Kendal Bank."
The large house adjoining, which has a splendid example of the old
leaden rain-water-pipe heads for which Kendal was at one time
so justly proud, was, in the XVIIIth century occupied by a branch of
the Matson family of Tytup Hall in Furness. In 1791 the widow of William
Matson died here, and their daughter, Mrs. Dorothy Matson, left £100 in 1827
to the Blue Coat School. In 1803 their niece, the kind hearted Mrs. Joseph
Maude, came to reside here after the death of her husband. Her whole life
seems to have been spent in the practice of benevolence and charity, and the
records of the public institutions in this town will bear a lasting testimony to
her liberality. At the beginning ofthe year 1814, John Barnabas Maude her seventh son,
returned to Kendal from France after an absence of twelve years, nearly eleven
of which he was prisoner of war on parole at Verdun. After the defeat
of Soult by Wellington the town was most beautifully illuminated on the 17th
of May, 1814, and perhaps one of the most touching devices exhibited was
a transparency inscription in Mrs. Maude's window saying : " I rejoice for my

104 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
country and the liberation of my son." Subsequently the house became the
residence of George Forrest, a surgeon who married Miss Thompson of
Underley Hall, and was twice elected mayor of this Borough.
— , __ The next building stands upon the site of what was
Nos. 73 and 75. . .
formerly a woollen manufactory, carried on by John
Whitwell, who was born in 1735, married to Dorothy, eldest daughter of Isaac
and Rachael Wilson, in 1765, and who died in 1782. The premises were then
used for cardmaking by Bayliffe and Rigge, until they removed to Captain
French Lane in 1825.
On the property being rebuilt and made into two dwellings they
were tenanted respectively by Dr. Thomas Atkinson, who married Mary, the
eldest daughter of the " Blind Philosopher," and by Miss Harrison the
daughter of Alderman Robert Harrison. They are now converted into two
shops. „ , __ Down this yard was the old Mechanics' Institute after they
removed from behind the Conservative Club and before they
entered upon the Oddfellows' premises in 1857. Upon the spout head are the
W
initials and date I D a date too early to signify the above named
I73L
John and Dorothy Whitwell.
N 79 t 85 ^e next range °f buildings which somewhat resemble the
form of the manor houses of old, with its central portion and
two projecting side gables, is the property of Messrs. Braithwaite. In the
northern gable there has been a shoemaker's shop for some time. In the
central portion is a bakehouse which is very probably the one in which
" Black Jack," or John Wilson, the eminent botanist, lived and carried on the
trade of bakehouse keeper. Being somewhat of a sceptic he was visited on his
death bed, so says the Kendal Chronicle for August 8th, 1818, by a near
neighbour, a member of the Society of Friends, who tried to make an
impression on his unbelief.
Down the yard there used, to be a rope walk, now covered over with
woollen warehouses, and the dye house next the old windmill used to be

SOUTERGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 105
tenanted by Thomas Wilson and Sons, before they built their large fancy
waistcoating works at Netherfield. The wooden gates at the entry into the
yard were regularly closed at ten o'clock of the evening. It is a pity that poor
" Winifred Pryce " did not live down that yard ! For had she done so her life
might yet have been spared.
The southern gable was the residence of good old George Braithwaite,
a drysalter, who died in 1812, and it is very probable that his father and
grandfather lived here before him. His eldest son George was as I have
already said, one of the founders of the Schools of Industry, and to him
we also owe the establishment ofthe excellent soup kitchen. During the wars
with France, when provisions were almost at famine prices, it is said that he
personally experimented upon how little it was necessary to eat, at the least
cost, in order to recommend his diet to his poorer neighbours. And it was
probably this benevolent Quaker who attended John Wilson above referred to.
He died in this house in 1853. In the front sitting-room there is still left a
very fine specimen of renaissance oak panelling.
The next house receding back with iron railings in front was, in the
XVIIIth century, inhabited by Francis Drinkell, hosier, who married
Frances, daughter of Richard Wilson of Black Hall. Alderman Drinkell had
his hosiery warehouse in what was known as Drinkell's Croft, and his famous
White Hall gardens were just below. These gardens have since been
cut through by the formation of Lowther Street (see page 59) ; but a part
of the warehouse still remains and is now used as Harrison's wine store.
On the southern side of the two narrow entries, which evidently
have been in former days as one, stands the good house now
occupied by our worthy townsman Mr. W. B. Armstrong. Here, about
the commencement of the XIXth century, resided Joseph Swainson, who was
twice mayor of Kendal. At another time Joseph Allen sold brushes, mops,
mats and hosiery here, and displayed his goods in the sash windows. There
is another old leaden spout-head on the front worthy of particular notice.
What is now a butcher's shop used formerly to be, until
Nos. 95 and 99. „ , ., r ... . „,... , .,
1852, the residence of Miss Agnes Wilson, and the
house on the other side of the entry was, for a long time, the town house

1 06 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
of the wealthy and influential family of Greenhows of Stainton ; a family who
were mainly instrumental in having the New Street Chapel re-fronted
with hewn limestone, who beautified the centre of Highgate by rebuilding in
the same manner three good houses, and who were the founders of a well
known charity now enjoyed by the poor of Kendal and Stainton.
Their yard has always been considered one of the nicest in Kendal, the
houses not being too rank, and by reason of the tall poplars that used
to flourish there. The large woollen warehouse is now occupied for other
purposes as well as the dye house which projects forward on to the river's
bank, and the long narrow building over an entry at the foot of Dean Carter's
yard, which the Greenhows made use of for tentering cloth, is now converted
into dwellings. It would seem that the constant robberies of cloth that took
place on the tenter fells at the beginning of the XIXth century induced some
of the manufacturers to tenter within doors.
Before passing on, it may be of some interest to note further that
the trustees of Zion Chapel, after the secession from the Wool Pack Chapel in
1843, endeavoured to find a building site here, instead of tucking themselves
away under Garth Heads. Also that Miss Isabella Lickbarrow, the poetess,
resided here. ,__ This building was the property and residence of the
Nos. 101 to 105. r ., , „
Gawthorpe family, who were woollen and cotton twist
manufacturers. Their warehouse behind is now converted into dwellings, and
the place where the hoist would lift up and let down the goods may still
be seen under its gablet, although now walled up.
The following advertisement appears in the Carlisle Journal for October -
29th, 1808 : — " Notice is hereby given that the partnership carried on by
Christopher Wilson (Abbot Hall), Robert Gawthorpe, and James Waite,
as cotton dealers and cotton twist manufacturers in Kendal, and at Barley
Bridge in Overstaveley, under the firm of Robert Gawthorpe and Co.,
was dissolved this day by mutual consent," etc., etc.
Robert Gawthorpe, born in July, 1754, and who died in August, 1844. was
a large shareholder in the Whitehall buildings. Being short of stature,
it is amusing to read that the window tills of the news roorri were not carried

SOUTERGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 107
to the proper height in a line with the string course, because this worthy said
that he could not read his newspaper if the lights were made too high.
After his death Edward Brown, a draper opposite to the " King's Arms,"
bought the property and came to live in the large house down the yard, on the
west side of the warehouse, and it would seem that he was so enchanted with
his possession, that he caused to be painted up over the entry the name of
" Belle Vue Place."
For a great many years Edward Wilson Scott, a solicitor, had his office
here also, employing as his clerk the poet Thomas Miller, a prolific writer in
the pages of the Kendal Chronicle.
_ ,,. The next house, named by a recent owner " Cross View," was
Cross View. . .
the property and residence of Roger Carter, shearman in the
employ of R. Gawthorpe. He was the father of the very Rev. Thomas Carter,
Dean of Tuam in Ireland, and ofthe Rev. M. I. Carter, incumbent of Torver,
near Coniston.
Roger had a granddaughter, Miss Carter, who also lived here, and to
her credit may it be recorded that out of her scanty savings she left the
interest of £50 to be spent in coals for the poor. There being no parsonage
at Torver, her uncle lived with her, and used to walk all the way through
Bowness and Sawrey to fulfil his duties and then return again in like manner.
We now come to the top of Highgate Bank, where the Cross
Yard 109. House stood upon the western side of the street, a house which
will be referred to later on ; but, as a memento, there is in the pavement of
this yard a cross formed by light coloured lime-stones ; the four arms of
which have each been about 18 inches long. The greater part of the north
arm, however, is now missing.
On the other side of the entry lived Joseph Boak, the tailor who
No 111,
made the fustian jackets for the boys attending the Jennings' Yard
Sunday School, referred to under the heading of the Church Schools. They
were given for regular attendance, and it is said that Joseph had a kind word
and smile for every boy who went to, get measured. Good old Joseph !

108 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Down the lane behind lives Kendal's present antiquary, Thomas
Jennings, a man whose simple hearted goodness it is a privilege
and pleasure to be associated with. Born in 1836, scantily taught at the Blue
Coat School, the proud winner of one of the fustian jackets for regular
attendance just referred to, apprenticed to be a tailor, he subsequently became
a postman. Every scrap of paper relating to Kendal has a peculiar interest
for him, and he would rather spend his little earnings than " waste them " on
anything but the barest necessities of life. Alone amid his books, — piled
up on every spare portion of the floor, up the staircase treads, and
heaped away in the attic — he sits to read and think of his one great heart's
love, the history and folk lore of Kendal. And it is to his great retentive
memory and accumulated store of books that I owe so much for a goodly
portion of my facts.
Further down the lane, where there is now a garden, there used
to be a small tan-yard, and the two cottages built about the year 1852
stand upon the site of the tan building.
„ . . , ,, ,, Upon the site of the Mechanics' Hall once stood a low
Mechanics Hall. . .
old two storied inn, known by the name of "The
Unicorn." Its sign, depicting the formidable monster, has, from the fabulous
nature of the animal, always been a favourite. The horn is supposed to be an
antidote to all poison, and is emblematical of the destruction of sin by
the Messiah. At one time it was believed, so the legend runs, that the only
way to capture this animal was to leave a pretty maid seated in its habitual
resort ; when, as soon as the unicorn perceived her, he would come and lie
quietly down, resting his head in her lap and fall asleep. This laying of the
unicorn's head in the lap of a virgin, made the first Christians choose the
animal as the type of Christ, born of the Virgin Mary.
The inn, which at that time projected on to the pavement as far as its
southern neighbour, was kept at various times by Betty Burrow, Richard
Derome, and William Chipchase. In 1833 the house was rebuilt, set back to
its present frontage, and opened on October 21st as an Oddfellows' Hall; but
whilst occupied by them the ground floor was still let off as a beerhouse, under
the sign of " The Nelson Tavern." After the battle of Trafalgar, Nelson's
picture, like that of many another famous man, as, e.g., the Duke of

SOUTERGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 109
Cumberland, became very common on public house signboards. In 1857 the
building was taken over by the Mechanics' Institute, and re-opened by Lord
Brougham on the 10th of November. It bears on the front, in limestone,
the inscription : — " Oddfellows' Hall," — and in 1857 were added below, in
wooden gilt letters, the name, — " Mechanics' Institute."
The Institute, however, dates back to a meeting convened to be held at
the " The White Lion " on the 2nd of March, 1824, with Cornelius Nicholson
in the chair. At this first meeting it was resolved " That a Mechanics' and
Apprentices' Library and Institute should be established " on the basis of
Dr. Birkbeck's plan, who, by the way, had been a student under our John
Gough. By the following July over a hundred mechanics had entered their
names on the books, and occupied, at a rental of £2 10s. per annum,
including all taxes, some comfortable though humble rooms at the head of a
narrow croft in Stramongate. The library was opened with a selection of
about a dozen volumes, and by the end of the first year they numbered some
four hundred. Harrison, a schoolmaster, who formerly occupied the house,
became the first librarian.
A subscription " Book Club " was established in Kendal by the principal
inhabitants as early as 1761 ; but as admission was made somewhat difficult,
and as it was certainly not intended for craftsmen, an " Economical Library"
sprung up in 1797 with an admission fee of sixpence for the first month and
threepence for each succeeding one. This good library was incorporated by
the Mechanics' Institute in 1825.
John Richardson had his cabinet workshop, and carried out some
of his most successful pieces of work here. Like the " Unicorn
Inn," the building projected out some considerable way on to the pavement,
indeed as far as the front ofthe " Royal Oak Inn " projects to-day. To show
how economical people were in the purchase of glass, even at this late period,
it may be stated that some of Richardson's windows were fitted up with paper
steeped in oil.
The following advertisement is from the Cumberland Pacquet for June 2nd,
zyyS : — " Cabinet making, &c. Simon Fothergill begs leave to acquaint
Gentlemen Tradesmen and the Public in general, that he has taken the Shop

no

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

and intends to con
tinue the Business of
the late John
Richardson, Cabinet
Maker, on the Cross
Bank, where all Per
sons employing him
may depend upon
being well and punc
tually served."
The premises were
rebuilt and set back
about the year 1811
by Samuel Green
how, and the Carlisle
papers for April 20th,
record that whilst
some workmen were
excavating the cellar,
a passer-by noticed
that the chimneys of
the inn were separat
ing and warned the
inmates only just in
time, before the
whole stack collapsed
and fell with a tre
mendous crash. The
ostler being asleep,
was only just
snatched from his
bed before his entire
room also fell.
Miraculously no life
was lost.

SOUTERGATE— THE EAST SIDE. in
_T ._. Further towards the south stands a very ancient house with
No. 121. casement windows and those four delightful diamond chimneys on
the ridge. For some time it was a well known public house under the sign of
"The Royal Oak," a sign frequently met with, in memory of the famous
escape made by Charles II. by hiding in the lopped branches of an oak
at Boscobel. At one time it was the property of Alderman Edward
Whitehead, mayor in 1720, and here he resided and carried on his cabinet-
making business down the yard. Lately it has been owned by Mr. Charles
Wilkinson ; and at the end of the row of cottages down the yard is the
warehouse where his father, James Wilkinson, carried on his woollen business.
The two heights of doors opening to the crane hoist are still remaining.
The warehouse has also been tenanted by Josaph Allen, who, according to the
History of Ravenstonedale, " alone brought into this valley £50 a fortnight as
the wages for knitting." Before we come to the biscuit manufactory of
J. Carr, we notice the old woollen manufactory of Wilson and Cartmell.
They were shearmen dyers who bought the webs woven by the country people
and dyed and finished them off here.
This house, which recedes back behind the iron railings, was,
No. 125. , . . , . .
the property and residence of one 01 our most wealthy manufac
turers, Richard Winfield, who died in 1820. One of his daughters married
Josias Lambert of Watch Field, and another Dean Carter. But it would
seem that the old father was so annoyed with the latter for running away up
to Gretna Green with the Dean, that he cut her dowry short and only
allowed her £10,000. A great pity indeed ! but to some of us it seems good
enough. When Winfield's successors, George and Michael Gibson, came to live
here, and when they built their new warehouse on the river side, paying
by the way, the handsome sum of two guineas as architectural fee to John
Richardson, the greater part of the old premises were either converted into
weaving sheds or cottages. On the death of Michael, George Gibson disposed
of his business in 1834 to Charles Lloyd and George Foster Braithwaite.
On the south side of Gibson's warehouse was the dye house of Thomas
Brinnan, a check manufacturer. It is still standing, the upper part a
dwelling and the lower part a washhouse.

112

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

No. 129.

The old building that forrnerly stood upon this site was for a long
time the bakehouse of Richard Holme, a waiter who was much in
request at the Venison Feasts and private parties. The story goes that when
George Gibson rebuilt the house about the year 1840 he most considerately
kept the building as low as possible, in order that Mrs. Isaac Braithwaite,
who lived across the way, might not have her favourite view of Hayfell and
Kendal Castle altogether shut out. The lot of the baker in bygone times
was a very hard one. He could not sell
where he liked, and the price of his bread
was regulated by those in authority.
Should the price of grain go up, the
authority for decreasing the weight or
increasing the price very rarely followed
as quickly. And yet if the hapless baker
should venture to make his business pay
under such circumstances by giving short
weight, he was liable to have a loaf hung
round his neck and be jeered at and
pelted in the pillory. Even so late as
July 8th, 1795, when the price of grain
was rapidly rising, the Times reports that
" at the public office, Whitechapel, a
baker was convicted yesterday of making
bread to the amount of 307 ounces
deficient in weight and fined a penalty
£64 7s. od." Moreover, it was the
custom for the bakers to deliver to those
who retailed the bread thirteen loaves
instead of twelve by way of legitimate
profit : a circumstance which gave rise to the expression of calling thirteen
articles a baker's dozen.

Nos. 139 and 141.

To the former house came George Foster Braithwaite,
several times mayor of Kendal, and his bride in 1846,
where they resided until their removal to Hawesmead. In the latter house

SOUTERGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 113
another noted Kendalian resided, John Shaw, the son of Alderman James
Shaw, mercer, in Mercers' Lane. Both houses had good gardens behind,
indeed it is a little astonishing to note how much open space there is down the
several yards we have just been examining, situated as they are in the
very thick of the principal tan-yards and manufacturers' warehouses.
An amusing tale is told of the father, Alderman James Shaw, who was
mayor at the time that the Scotch rebels passed through Kendal in 1745. To
show his loyalty, it is said that he incited the market people and others to fall
upon the small band with whatever weapons they could lay their hands upon,
with the result that a frightful skirmish ensued in the steets, during the heat
of which our hero rode away on a white horse up Entry Lane and made the
best of his way out of the town.
In the year 1852 Shaw's house was occupied by the Misses Harrison, and
on the Christmas night of that year, during an awful wind storm, a tall
chimney stack fell in and killed one of the ladies as she lay in her bed. The
violence of the wind had not been equalled since the days of the great storm of
January the 7th, 1839.
Within the gates of this steep entry was the residence, at
one time, of the widow of Thomas Symonds Scott, of whom it
has been said that " if she had been a man she would have been a barrister."
A clever woman who trained her son, Edward W. Scott, to be a clever
solicitor. After passing through the entry the observer will notice two
of those very long casement windows which are so essentially characteristic of
Westmorland. The first note that I have about this house is that it was owned
°* ' and occupied by William Mackreth, a tanner, and mayor of
Kendal in 1737. He married Sarah Inman of the Butchers' Rows, in 1720,
and died as senior alderman in 1761. Since his day another tanner, John
Gelderd, resided here, and had his tan-yard at the foot of the lane. The last
to make use of the pits was the late Alderman Samuel Whinerey, currier,
who had previously had his yard in Stramongate.
For why these ancient tanneries, that thronged one another on the
water-side, were discontinued I cannot say; but one cannot help feeling

n4

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

that had our river only been navigable, what a flourishing wharf there would
have been between Miller Bridge and the Old Church, in the vicinity of all
these warehouses and tan-yards. The yards and pits are now quite gone, and
the quiet cottages that are reared upon them know of their prosperous activity
no more. Thomas Benson had a wood yard and chair maker's shop here also, and
we are told that he carried on a thriving business; but his works have likewise
gone, for there has been, and always will be, a great trek heavenward.
. _„ Here George Robinson announced on his sign that he was a
No. 151. leather cutter and sold shoes, and subsequently to him William
Machell, a preacher among the Inghamites, had his furniture store here.
Formerly the house had been an inn under the sign of "The Star," and
it is said to have been the first house in which the modern sash window was
S
introduced. On the leaden rain water spout head are cast the initials w F
Behind are two or three houses which have seen better days. For
instance, here resided Walter Simondson, a skinner and glover, whose
skin yard on the river side has now been built over. At the last Kendal Guild,
held in 1759, seventy skinners and glovers walked in the procession.
„. , _, . , Long after the commencement of the XIXth century
Bishop Blaize Inn. this was a genteel residence, the property and in the
occupation of the Docker family. They were woolcombers, and the last of the
line, a Mary Docker, married James Hogarth, a market toll collector. The
old " Bishop Blaize Inn," which, by the way, has no relation to " Blazes " so
frequently associated with cockney maledictions, was at first in the low roofed
building on the other side of the way, and kept by a Mrs. Golden in 1817.
After her day Agnes Bellingham took it, until she removed to the " Bridge
Inn " in Stramongate. The license then lapsed and shortly afterwards the
above named James Hogarth renewed the sign here at his own house.
Bishop Blasius, the patron saint of the wool-combers in England, was
the supposed inventor of their comb. His pictorial saintship is common in
the cloth-making districts of the North, and he is generally represented with a
sharpened steel wire comb in his hand and a mitre upon his head. Besides

SOUTERGATE— THE EAST SIDE. n5
being the true patron of wool-combing, the saint who died in the fourth
century, was famous, it is said, for curing sore throats. He lived in a cave,
being often visited, according to the Golden Legend, " by wild beasts
whenever a bone stuck in their throats. If it happened that they came while
he was at prayer they did not interrupt him, but, waiting until he had ended,
never departed without his benediction." A most exemplary man was the
bishop, and so holy that Father Ribadaneira relates that when he was
scourged by his prosecutors, " seven holy women annointed themselves with
his blood," and for which attention they were martyred out of cruel compli
ment to the woolcomber, by having their flesh " combed with iron combs,"
when, strange to say, "their wounds ran milk, their flesh became whiter than
snow, and angels came visibly and healed their wounds as fast as they were
made." Having thus failed, their cruel persecutors threw them into the fire,
which would not, however, consume them, so that as a last resource, they
were ordered to be beheaded, and beheaded they were accordingly. St. Blaize
was then ordered to be drowned in the lake, but he, walking upon the water,
sat down and invited his tormentors to meet him in the middle. Seventy of
them tried to do this and were drowned ; when the Saint, having seen them
sink no doubt with great satisfaction, got up and walked to the land very
devoutly, and was then and there beheaded without more ado.
Bishop Blaize's day used annually to be kept on the 3rd of February and
celebrated with great feastings and processions. At the last Kendal Guild
the woolcombers who walked first in the procession numbered some hundred
men. It is said that Mrs. Robert Braithwaite, who lived across the way,
very much disliked the sign and tried hard to have it altered, saying that
"a bishop was. an angel of the Church and not the sign of the drunkard."
On the leaden rain water spout head are the initials g .
„ Outside the windows in the olden days, there used, to
Night Watch. , , r , . , ,
be one ofthe sentry boxes tor the night watchmen to retire
into in case of storm or rain, but in which he usually snored away the night.
These worthy men, the prototype of our Chief Constable's stalwart force,
walked their respective beats, armed with a dark lantern and formidable rattle,
and as they went along would every now and then call out, to the discomfort

n6 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
of light sleepers, the precise hour of the night and the state of the weather as
well. " Pa-a-ast ten o'clock, and a rai-ny night ! " " Past two o'clock, and a
cloudy mo-orning ! "
The old watchmen were known as " Charlies," and poor men ! they
afforded much sport to the " bloods " of the period. It seems that it was a
favourite form of diversion for youths to endeavour to catch a watchman asleep,
which was by no means infrequent, and then to either overturn his box or to
turn it right about face with the door to the wall, leaving the sleepy occupant
to get out the best way he could when he awoke.
On January 12th, 1575, the mayor and burgesses made the following
order with reference to the watching of the borough : — " It is ordered find
constitulid . . . That ffrome hencfurthe nyghtly . . . thar shalbe
kepte and contynewid one sufficiente watche the same to begyn at ix° off the
Clock in the nyghte and contenewe vntill iiijor off the Clock in the mornynge
in wch watche alwayes ther shalbe Six persons, vizr ij° for Sowterg1 ij° Mket-
stead and Striklandg1 and ij° for Stramagt to be taken and goinge by Cowrse
in every Constabulwik one after the other and takinge their charge and watche
worde nyghtlye off the Constabulls or ther deputies severally as in old
tymes hathe bene accustomyd Whiche vi° psonns so apoyntid watchmen
nyghtlye shall be tall manlike men havinge and bearinge wth them in the same
Watche every one a halbard ravyn bill ax or some other good and sufficiente
Iron bound staffe or weapon sallett or scull vpon everie one his head wherby
the better made able to lay hannds vpon and apprehend the disordered
nyghtwalkers malefactours and suspicious psonns and to prevent and stay
other Inconvenyencs and shall contynually vse to go. and walke from place to
place and through streit and streit wthin the Boroughe aforesayd duringe all
the tyme before apoyntyd for their sayd watche vpon payne to fforfeit and
lesse to the Chamber of the boroughe for every default dewlye provid theis
pains ensewinge," &c, &c. " Ho, watchman, ho !
Twelve is the clock !
God keep our town
From fire and brand,
And hostile hand ;
Twelve is the clock \ "

SOUTERGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 117
In March 1776 an association was formed by a great number of the
inhabitants, in order to bear a proportionate part ofthe expense of prosecuting
highwaymen, housebreakers, and other offenders against the law, who had for
some time past infested the town and neighbourhood. The local chronology
records the fact that on the 13th of March, 1817, "a patrol of 150 respect
able inhabitants has been appointed to guard the property of the town. Six
of them, each night, will watch from eleven o'clock at night till daybreak."
Again in September, 1821, a public meeting was held at the Moot Hall,
convened by John Harrison, mayor, " for the purpose of considering the
propriety of establishing a nightly watch, owing to the daring burglaries,
misdemeanours, and other disorderly conduct which have recently alarmed
the inhabitants." W. D. Crewdson was elected president of the committee
appointed to supervise the scheme.
The first police officer, James Fawcett, was appointed on November 2nd,
1821, and James Carradus, who succeeded him in August, 1823, was, for some
years, the only one the town could boast of. When James Braithwaite, or
" Jimmy Blackdrop," was mayor he once struck out at his officer, which
brought forth the following doggerel from Jimmy Wiggins : —
" His worship the mayor got drunk one day and struck at Carradus Jimmy,
A better man there's not in town I'll wager half-a-guinea ;
For he and all his family they are honest and they are true,
The only fault his worship has, 'twas because he was a Blue."
But however well meaning our police officer was, his old watchmen
appear to have gone from bad to worse, until watch and ward were little
better than a farce. But the introduction of Sir Robert Peel's " peelers " or
" bobbies " for London, in 1829, did much to remedy this. Acts quickly
followed to facilitate lighting and watching throughout the country towns of
England and Wales, and at last in 1835 the regulations for municipal
corporations included full power to appoint by a watch committee, constables
paid by a watch rate. On the south side of the inn there is a very narrow
Golden C air ar . ^^ which> from {ts sunless aspect, is more generally
known as " The Dark Yard." So dark and dismal is it that the real name of

II?

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

:/fonp

") ffrvtn. L O.A *DOWj Cl^)
ia Cabinet, Chair Maker, and Upholsterer;

(..

^s/taAaf ?/*y?//*t a//.tJr>rt/h rf,SlrHo*//r?/r/' L/UrruJu-rc'? $.
//^.^n£,/u'u^idtyrrj^t^fr£/ne- *mr>,?r- < yf?a.tr>narr/f &%a/e<i.;ai/
Il/^ ¦/v^^Tgtfy tvamn^/j/hr-.' //stir/no, t/fr/r-X&^r AJrrtwtemtff ,
i ft&oatvjzS /artery o/./a///>v,/r/7.fif//.?/*kj£ne '//wri**
v C!^- — and mofr Fashionable Patterns r^_N —

Facsimile of Business Card.

" The Golden Chair
Yard " strikes one
as a curiously pic
turesque misnomer.
My illustration of
Railton's business
card, issued about
the year 1780, is, I
think, a sufficient
clue to the origin of
the name.
In the front house
John Carter, the
plumber and tempe
rance advocate, had
his office and work
shop, which are now
tenanted by his suc
cessor, William Jack
son. To whom the
T
initials I I on the
1760.
spouthead refer to I
cannot ascertain.

Foot Bridge Lane

Or Jennings' Yard is named after William Jennings,

a preacher among the Unitarian Baptists, and perhaps
the stoutest and heaviest man that the town has ever contained; circumstances
which led to his sobriquet of " Bishop Jennings." He was a corn merchant,
grocer, cheese monger, and oh horrors ! an architect as well. At least he
was so to the Blue Buildings ; surely, as the Scotch would say, he must
have been a man of pairts. At the time of the Lancaster cheese fair many
hundreds of cheeses might be seen piled up in front of his shop at the head of
the yard, so as to entirely block the parapet, and in a similar way, whilst
engaged in stock-taking, the path was so filled with barrels of sugar and

SOUTERGATE— THE EAST SIDE. no
treacle as to preclude the possibility of getting past them without soiling your
clothes. A prosperous man who gained for himself, so it is said, no great love
from his neighbours by reason of his cornering and controlling, with " Bull
Andrews," the corn market, before the repeal of the corn laws. However, he
was a Blue, and that was quite sufficient to induce Jimmy Wiggins to write a
poem on his death in 1823, of which the following are a few lines extracted : —
" The Term allotted for us Mortals here
Is but a span, a few short fleeting years ;
When William Jennings closed a life of care
He left this world a better world to share.
' Tis friendship prompts these lines, for he was true
To Independence and the cause of Blue,
Industrious, temperate, in his dealings fair ;
Of knowledge he had got an equal share.
His talents as an orator were good,
He spoke the truth, as every patriot should.
The Union Buildings will an emblem be
And hand his name down to posterity." — (Jimmy Wiggins).
Just past the narrow gap which led to the Baptist Chapel there is a flight
of steps which led up to Miss Duncan's girls' school. Further down in
the croft there is a large building that projects out, formerly a cordwainer's
factory, carried on by William Ferguson and George Brown, and which has
now been converted into dwelling houses. The next building is the old
Jenning's Yard Sunday School, established in 1785, and kept in 1845 by the
worthy master, Thomas Atkin. The building was originally erected as a card
school, where the boys were taught to set cards for the use of the woollen
manufacturers. Beyond is a playground which, at one time, was part of the
Abbot Hall Grounds.
The why and the wherefore of the different lines of frontages that
No. 163. ,, TT. , , . ,. ,
we notice so repeatedly in Highgate, but more especially on the
western side of the Butchers' Rows, would form in itself a most interesting
study. Surely it must lead us back to the early days when the roads were
very different from what they now are. Days when there would be just the
central horse track, bordered perhaps by grass or earthen side wastes. Each
proprietor then would set up his thatched house without any thought for his
neighbour or any line to dictate its bearing. Slight encroachments, bit by

120 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
bit, but who was there to say him nay. A street view up Highgate must have
been a great temptation, both for business and idle pleasure. The most
audacious built out, as we know, right into the road as far as the track would
allow them. But such houses have long since been swept away to accommo
date vehicular traffic. The less bold, but wiser, pushed out just sufficient to
gain their coveted side window, and I should think that these are they, or at
least some of them, which so delightfully break the monotony of our street
lines of to-day.
So here in this projecting shop we find not only the side window, but a
doorway cunningly placed so as to afford the greatest temptation to the passer
by to notice and step in at. And over it there used to be, supported on the
cornice, a pestle and mortar, an emblem erected when Edward Greaves had
the premises for a druggist's shop. When he removed to Stricklandgate,
James Pennington entered in and carried on a grocery business, until he
removed up into Highgate ; and then Wildman, the predecessor of James
.Gibson, the present owner, converted the place into a butcher's shop.
I have but scanty notes about these two shops. When
No. 167 and 169. , ^ , ., ,. ,
the good old Inghamite, James Cookson, a tailor, lived
in the former, and George Robinson, a cordwainer, lived in the latter, the
doors were in the centre, with small and shabby windows on either side, but
when John the son of James Cookson became owner about forty-five years
ago, he rebuilt the fronts and placed the doorways where they are now. My
only other note is that when Leonard Marr succeeded Robinson, he sold
cakes and spices upstair and small quantities of coal from his cellar below, the
doorway to which is partly visible to-day.
, -.,., Everyone in passing should notice the fine old cellar door iust
Yard 171. . .
inside the entry. A door studded with iron nails and fastened
with a quaint old padlock. Down the yard there used to be a most successful
school carried on by old Mrs. Knipe at the beginning of the XIXth century.
She had both boys and girls under her care, and many of the former made
their mark in the world in after days. Such for instance were William
Bowness the portrait painter, William Garside the engraver and sculptor, and
James Whitaker for many years the esteemed master of the Blue Coat
School.

SOUTERGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 121
Beyond a gateway led out into the "long lonning," another of those
curious narrow gulfs, much frequented in days gone by, by those who lived
about here and in the Dowker Hospital, for gaining access to the river side.
No 173 ^e next k°use was once a tavern under the sign of " The Sun."
Here Edward Greaves the druggist first had his shop, and when
he removed to No. 163 it was transformed into a private house of hewn
limestone, where Edward Brown the coach builder resided for many years.
It has now become a sub post office.
No 177 T*"S °*d tumble down house which was once the " Seven Stars "
tavern, is justly famed for being the first museum of William
Todhunter. Started in the year 1796, it remained here until after 1800, in
which year the Carlisle papers publish an advertisement respecting admission
to it as follows : — " Wm. Todhunter returns his most grateful thanks to the
ladies and gentlemen who have patronized his museum, and generously
contributed to it, and informs them that he has now been able to add many
valuable specimens, and has re-arranged the whole systematically in two
rooms, fitted up for the purpose and ornamented with shellwork, etc. He has
now collected together Minerals, Shells, Petrifactions, Incrustations, Crystali-
zations, Spars, Maries, and many curious fossils, Mosses, Lichens, and plants
of spontaneous growth, a variety of Birds, Quadrupeds, Fishes and Coins,
Medals, Antiques and curiosities originally belonging to Kendal Castle,
• sculptures from Furness Abbey, Basaltes from the Giant's Causeway, Musical
stones from Kendal fell, and some curious specimens of mechanism, &c, &c.
Admittance, ladies and gentlemen 1/- each ; children, working people and
servants 6d. each. Open from 7 a.m. till 10 p.m., Sundays excepted."
Up the yard, No. 175, there is a second narrow entry, which is common
in places of any antiquity, and I can only regret that I have not had the time
to illustrate this most romantic and picturesque corner.
_ , . ww ... It is not certain whether the museum or the modern
Dowker s Hospital. gateway which leads to Abbot Hall was the site where
George Wilson had his warehouse. Alderman Joseph Dawson, who was
elected mayor in 1702, I find devised in the year 1722 to the mayor, &c, a field
in Natland called Round Dale, containing one acre three roods and six.

122

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

perches, and also his "dwelling house and warehouse adjoining Mr. George
Wilson's, upon trust to dispose of the rents thereof towards the advancement
ofthe charity and maintenance ofthe Blue Coat boys in Kendal, and in case
that charity should at any time be discontinued, amongst twelve aged
housekeepers.

RULES, ORDERS,
AND
Regulations

n

B'

5»

HOSPITAL

SPINSTERS.

Dorothy Dowker,
daughter of James Dow
ker the deputy recorder,
who died May 15th, 1831,
bequeathed £3242 to the
mayor, &c, that they
should " nominate six fe
males of good and chaste
character, born in Kendal,
having attained the age of
fifty years, without having
been married and whose
situation in life should
require some assistance
and that they should hire
or provide a home or
building in the said town
for their reception." In
the year 1832, the trustees
agreed with the treasurer
of the Blue Coat School
for the hire of Dawson's
house, upon which was
laid out a sum of £450
from the funds of the Blue
Coat Charity, and the
rent payable was fixed at
£35 Per annum. Both
charities had the same trustees and so this easy arrangement was come to
as being beneficial to both. Miss Maria Wilson augmented the fund by £1000
in 1839 and by another £1097 at ner death in 1863. On a freestone tablet

1. Every Spinster who shall be admitted into this Charitable Institu
tion, shall regularly reside in the House allotted to her, and shall not be
absent without obtaining leave from two or more of the Trustees.
2. The Spinsters shall regularly attend Divine Service at the Parish
Church, on Sundays ; also on Christmas Day, Good Friday, Ascension
Day, Ash Wednesday, New Year's Day, the Epiphany, and such other
occasions as the Trustees may direct.
3. The Spinsters shall live quietly and peaceably together, and be as
sistant to each other both in health and sickness.
4. The Spinsters shall weekly cleanse the fronts of their allotted
Houses, and carry the sweepings or rubbish to the place appointed.
5. No Spinster shall have any Lodger in her house, unless in case of
sickness, infirmity, or some other cause, to be approved of by the Trus
tees ; nor shall any Spinster have more than one lodger, and that <*.
female, in any case whatsoever.
6. The Iron Gate leading to the Front Door of the House adjoining
the Street, as also the Iron Gate leading through the Passage to the
other Houses in the said Premises, and the Dour leading to the River
Side, shall not be opened before Six o'clock in the Morning, nor stand
open after Nine o'clock in the Evening, from Lady-day to Michaelmas,
yearly ; nor shall they be opened before Day-break, nor stand open after
Day-close, for the remaining part of the Year.

(Signed)

JOSEPH SWAINSON, Mayor.
THOS. HOLME MAUDE, Senior Alderman.
JOHN HARRISON, Senior Alderman.
J. HUDSON, Vicar.

January ist, 1835

HUDSON AND NICHOLSON, PRINTERS, KENDAL.

REDUCED COPY OF THE RULES. ETC.

SOUTERGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 123
are the Dowker arms, being Argent a fess wavy between three ducks Sable,
or as it is commonly put " Six ducks but never a drake," and the date 1833.
In a large upper room in the yard behind, a school master bearing the
not uncommon name of Wilson formed an educational establishment, the boys
of which, it is said, found their chief delight and recreation in periodical fights
with Sampson's boys from the Church Yard School. " Lord Harrowby " was
generally the cause of these conflicts, Wilson's boys defending and Sampson's
boys persecuting his lordship. Who Harrowby was and for why he was
persecuted I shall have cause to enter into when speaking about his house in
Kirkland. From here also " John Lough respectfully informs his friends, the public
generally, and the mechanics especially of Kendal and Kirkland that he
has taken and intends, on the 4th day of February, 1833, to enter upon
and open the schoolroom recently occupied by Thomas Skaife, where he
intends to resume the arduous avocations of a schoolmaster. The terms
of tuition will be, per week : — reading, 3d. ; reading and writing, 6d. ; reading,
writing, and arithmetic, 8d. ; —
' Who would not weep
To see, for want of skill, the youthful eye
Vacant and dead, flounder from word to word,
From page to page, nor cull one single thought
In all its route ? ' "
John Lough seems also to have added to his labour by undertaking
the gentle art of writing epistles and love messages for his clients at a
moderate charge. He takes care, therefore, to add as a footnote to his
prospectus that " persons may place the utmost confidence in his not revealing
the contents either of those letters that he may write, or of those that he may
peruse for the purpose of being answered." The Schoolhouse is now the
residence of two out of the six inmates of Miss Dowker 's Charity.
So named after the old house built on the church lands where
the stables now are, granted to St. Mary's Abbey, York, and
which was probably the abbot's residence or place where he held his court.
How the site became private property is not known, but the present hall was
built in 1759, at the cost of £8,ooo, by Colonel George Wilson of Dallam

124

kirkbie Kendall.

SOUTERGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 125
Tower. John Carr, Lord Mayor of York, was the architect. It is said that
the somewhat modern carriage way was made on account of an accident
happening to a Duke's carriage in the narrow Peppercorn Lane, which was
at first the only entrance to the Hall.
Colonel Walk is supposed to have taken its name from the Colonel's habit
of walking there. He also widened the river on the east side, so as to prevent,
if possible, the overflowing of the stream on to his beautiful grounds. The hall
was put up tor sale in the year 1768, when the eminent English judge,
Sir Alan Chambre, purchased the property. He resided here till 1801,
at which date it was again sold to Christopher Wilson, banker. Sir Alan died
at the Crown Inn, Harrogate, September 20th, 1823, aged 83, and was
buried in the Chambre chapel of our parish church.
There are about six acres of beautiful grounds adjoining the hall,
the whole of which were purchased by the Corporation in 1896 for the sum of
£3>75°> towards which cost the directors of the Kendal Bank for Savings
contributed £2,500, in consideration of the pleasure grounds being dedicated
and thrown open to the use of the public. The Bank Directors also caused
to be erected a freestone monolith fountain in commemoration of this, upon
the four sides of which are representations of the intricate knots and bands to
be met with on the best known runic columns in the district.
The house of two stories, which has recently given way to Mr.
Richmond's new erection, was at one time the residence of Dr.
Wood, connected with the clever though savage practitioners known as the
" Old Field Lane Doctors " of Manchester. Once upon a time a little boy
was taken to him by his father, with a dreadfully broken and bruised finger,
whereupon the doctor, without saying a word, took up a large pair of
common scissors lying beside him and ruthlessly clipped off the finger, to the
consternation of the poor father and the horror of many onlookers. As a
veterinary he dealt with horses and other animals in the same strange manner,
which often proved most offensive to the public feeling of the town.
_ , , _ This square croft with houses on every side was formed in
Colonel Square. the year 1759, when Colonel George Wilson rebuilt his
Hall. In the Cumberland Pacquet for July 25th, 1788, John Taylor, Esq.,

126 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
advertises an estate in Westmorland in lots ; with lot 4, the Abbot Hall
" Square between the street and Wilson's Field, consisting of ten Dwelling
Houses, a Cow House and Hay Loft at the yearly rental of £55," &c.
Blindbeck runs behind the southern houses, and on the front pavement
there used to be, until 1822, steps down to the stream, where water could be
got or yarn washed.
In the last shop in Highgate, No. 187, there is a good oak staircase and
some plaster work of considerable note.

127

SOUTERGATE— THE WEST SIDE.

WE must now return back again opposite to the Town Hall bells,
which, for want of more and larger apertures, throw out, straight
from the teeth, as it were, their clang across the way. Tintinnabulations
distracting all thought, defying all study, and which, in envying the deaf,
make you to exclaim with the Frenchman : —
" Disturbers ofthe human race,
Whose charms are always ringing,
I wish the ropes were round your necks,
And you about them swinging."
N -_ The block of buildings at the foot of All Hallows Lane has
been termed not inaptly, " the New Biggin ofthe present day," for
this unsightly corner is almost as great an obstruction in passing down
the lane as the ancient original was in Highgate.
The first draper residing here of whom we have any record was
Joseph Clarke, one of the capital burgesses of the Corporation. He seems to
have been a useful member of that august body, and on more than one
occasion, in company with Edward Busher, collected all the town rates free of
cost. In his day the shop became a rendezvous where gentlemen met
to chat over the news that arrived by coach ; a pleasant place and jovial
tradesmen, but a custom detrimental to his business. George Barrow
succeeded and caused a sign board to be erected by which he announced the
shop as the " Manchester and Bradford House," and when Roland Parke took
over the business he altered the name to the " Manchester and Luton House."
It is still a drapery establishment, and can boast of being the first shop to
introduce bow windows for the display of the season's goods.
w At the beginning of the XIXth century, a well known grocery
and wine store business was carried on here by Simpson and
Harrison. John Simpson is described upon his altar tomb in Sedbergh
parish churchyard as a " merchant of Kendal, died 1818."

128 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
The junior partner, Daniel Harrison, had been a neighbour and compeer
with the well known naturalist, William Pearson, of Crosthwaite, who spent
a year of his life with this firm in order to learn the business. The path in life
of these two friends, however, soon diverged. The one became a prosperous
wine merchant in Kendal, the other a banker's clerk in Manchester.
The next occupants in the same line of business were John and R.
Thompson. At this time the shop windows were long and oblong in shape,
with a cellar door beneath each. I then find the shop to be let in 1828,
after which time John Parkin set up his ironmonger's business here. Parkin
was a keen politician and a strong protectionist, of whom it is recorded that
when the repeal of the corn laws was celebrated in Kendal by a grand
procession on the 7th day of July, 1846, his was the only shop in the
town that kept open.
In October, 1863, Joseph Richardson started the first penny paper in
this shop, the Kendal Times, Westmorland Reporter, and Lake District
Advertiser, in opposition to the two old established papers costing at that
time 4$d. The first issue on January 2nd, 1864, appears to have caused
considerable excitement. Highgate was crowded by hundreds of people
waiting for its publication, and no fewer than 2,064 papers were sold over the
counter between the hours of six and ten o'clock in the evening. For the
further history of this paper see under the heading of " The Mercury Office,"
Finkle Street. High up near the ceiling at the back of this shop there is to be seen
a remarkably fine piece of plaster fresco surrounding the date and
initials I. D.D. 1683, but to whom they refer I cannot ascertain. The ceiling
is enriched by several embossed plaster flowers and a rich cornice. The first
note that I can find of the old house is that in bygone days it was the " Queen
Catherine Inn," probably so named as a tribute to the good lady born in our
castle. It was occupied by Agnes Tate until she removed to the " Blue
Bell," in Stramongate, and then by a Miss Brown. At the end of her
tenancy it was sold by auction, a fate which again happened to it in the year
1844, when William Wilkinson changed the sign to that of the " Queen
Victoria." " The Queen some day, may pass this way, and see our Tom and Jerry ;
Perhaps she'll stop, and stand a drop, to make her subjects merry,"

SOUTERGATE— THE WEST SIDE. i2g
When Henry Mackreth bought the property the inn was converted into
a grocer's shop. However, he kept the licence, and what is still known as the
" Roebuck Inn," up the yard, was opened by him.
Where the fruiterer's shop now is, Alderman William Petty formerly
No. 52. lived until his death in 1792. Not only was he twice elected mayor
of the borough, but he successively kept the " Crown and Mitre," " White
Lion," and " King's Arms " Inns. After his day the house was converted into
a druggist's shop for Thomas Webster, and subsequently into Benjamin
Broadbent's grocery establishment. Broadbent played the bass fiddle at the
New Street Chapel, and carried on a painter and glazier's business in
the Woolpack yard.
To this house came Alderman Samuel Rhodes about the year 1830,
No. 58. where he remained till his removal across the way in 1835.
Elizabeth Winder followed Rhodes in the same line of business ; and
then Sarah Astley commenced a confectionery shop, who was followed by Mr.
William Jenkinson. The next shop was the grocery and tallow chandlery establishment
of William Kidd. He refronted the building with hewn limestone.
But at the beginning of the XIXth century I find that one Jackson kept
a grocer's shop here, and concerning which the following extract from
the Carlisle Journal is somewhat amusing. February 7th, 1801 : — " A few
days ago a woman went into the shop of Mr. Jackson in Kendal and purchased
a quantity of fine wheat flour, which she ordered to be put into a bag she had
brought for that purpose. She then bought some of an inferior quality,
but not having a bag to put it in she went home for another, without paying
for either, but leaving what was thought to be the first bag on the counter.
Not returning, Mr. Jackson was led to open the bag, when, to his great
surprise, he found that his flour was converted into ashes."
This bank was started in New Street, July, 1833,
Westmorland Bank. . , . , . _ , , .iL
with a capital of £230,000 in 2,500 shares, and with
John Gandy as chairman. The Gazette described the notes as being "very
beautiful and quite out of the reach of forgers." The present building,
erected by the shareholders in the year 1834, is surmounted with a life-size

i jo KIRKBIE KENDALL.
bronze lion couchant, painted in imitation of the stone. How much
handsomer it would have been without the paint ! It displaced some very old
property, amongst which was the shop of Barbara Gray, who seems to
be almost as historical, in this district at least, as Bessie Bell and Mary Gray
of the nursery rhyme. But Barbara Gray's popularity with the lads and lasses
of some 70 years ago seems to have been through the sale of her chief articles
of commerce, the never-to-be-forgotten "ho-porth of aw macks," her toffee
"pigginbottoms," mint cake, and liquorice sticks that surrounded her, as she
stood clad in clean bedgown and white cap.
It may not be generally known that a gill of ale is locally called a "Kitty"
in this town, and it is to the husband of Barbara that Kendal is indebted for
this designation of one of its measures. At the beer shops, whilst others
called for their pints or quarts, Kitty Gray contented himself with his gill; and
indeed it became so noticeable that, when only the smaller measure was
wanted, the common call in future became for a " kitty-o-yal." Barbara died
in 1830 at the ripe old age of 88 years.
- ,.. ~ -. The names of Collin Croft and Collin Field are probably
Collin Croft. r J
imported from Scotland by persons of that name, and seem
to indicate a common origin. The late Alderman Fisher inclined to the belief
that the business carried on at the Croft may have provided the funds for the
building of the suburban dwelling. However, at best, this can only be
considered a conjecture. I find it first mentioned in 1727, when there was
" paid gd. to John Thornburrow for bringing wood to the Church from Collin
Croft." On a building up the Croft was a freestone sculptured lintel, now in my
possession, depicting a hare closely persued by two hounds, and whether
or not there has been a public house known as the " Hare and Hounds " here,
or whether it has, at one time, been a stone inserted for ornament's sake must
also be left for future discovery to determine.
Opposite to this stone was a malt kiln, which had two freestones acting
as side jambs to a doorway, now in my possession, each being engraved with
verses from the Psalms, and bearing the date 1699. Can it be possible that
these once belonged to the ancient All Hallows Chapel ?

SOUTERGATE— THE WEST SIDE. 131
At the beginning of the XIXth century, all the coal came to Kendal
in sacks from either Whitehaven or Ingleton, and was sold in open market
beside the New Biggin. The first coal yard was commenced in 1811 by
Joseph Robinson up this lane.
Malt Shovel " The Malt Shovel>" with its signboard of a wooden shovel,
such as is used by maltsters, was at first in the house at the
head ofthe lane, and was then kept by John Nicholson, who removed the sign
to its present site. It was put up for sale by auction in September, 1853.
Hadwin's ironsmith's shop was once used by Thomas Cornthwaite, and
in the Cumberland Pacquet for August 23rd, 1796, I find the following notice of
his death : — " On the 17th inst. at Kendal, aged 56 years, after a long and
tedious illness which he bore with Christian fortitude and resignation, Mr.
Thomas Cornthwaite iron-founder and whitesmith. Within these few years
he obtained two premiums and one medal from the Society of Arts. He also
procured a patent for one lock, which was attended with eminent success, and
he was the inventor of several brass cased gate locks, acting upon principles
entirely new and which are now universally approved of and generally used in
most parts of the Kingdom. The Royal Society allowed him to be one of the
greatest mechanics in the North of England." His tombstone in the church
yard says : — " The fame of this truly ingenious mechanic need not be sounded
here, he hath raised to himself a more durable monument in the many useful
inventions by which he hath contributed to the good of mankind."
_ „ This stream which now flows beneath Highgate just at this
Cross Gutter. • & J
point and into the Kent, used formerly to be an open channel,
and, like a similar one at the foot of Capper Lane, was only covered
over about the year 1810.
The portion of this house which now projects outward is of modern
date, but on its site projecting out further as far as the curb-stones,
there used to be the smith and farrier's shop of Cuddy Coupland, until his
death in 1776. A person of the name of Salkeld also had a cordwainer's shop
here, but at what date I do not know.
At the close of the XVIIth century the site upon which this snug
house now stands was pasture land belonging to one Nicholas

132 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Atkinson. But it must have been soon after built upon, as I find that in the
year 171 1 Joseph Dawson sold his messuage and tenement to George
Longmire. From this period up to the year 185 1 when John Grayson
bought the freehold, the property has changed hands no fewer than 13 times.
_, , , , Six years elapsed after the closing of the
Shakespeare Theatre and Inn. Woolpack Yard play house, before the
New Theatre was built and named after the immortal Shakespeare. It
was opened on June 22nd, 1829, and I have in my possession the first
programme bill, announcing that the theatre will be opened with " a Powerful
and Efficient Company, from the Principal Provincial Theatres in the
Kingdom, under the management of Mr. Stevens, from the Theatre Royal,
Manchester. Previous to the play of ' Rob Roy,' an appropriate Address,
written expressly for the occasion, will be delivered by Mr. Stevens in
character, after which the celebrated National Anthem of god save the king,
will be sung by the entire of the Corps Dramatique. At the end of the Play a
New Popular Farce, entitled ' the Green Eyed Monster ' will be performed.
Leader of the Band — Mr. Cuthbert, from the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh.
Admission — Boxes 3s., Pit 2s., and Gallery is." Here the celebrated actor,
Vandenhoff, played in " Hamlet," " Othello," and " King Lear," and here,
too, Kemble and Keen have worked their art; but Kendal would have none of
it, and so for five short years it lived, doomed before its birth to close its
doors again. In the year 1834 the theatre was converted into a ball room and
billiard room, and here a public ball was held in March, 1863, to celebrate the
Prince of Wales' marriage.
The year following the erection of the stage, the " Shakespeare Inn " was
built by Thomas Simpson of Watch Field ; partly, it is said, to supply
refreshment to those attending the theatre, and partly as a counterblast to the
earnest endeavours of the Temperance Society, which at that time was making
strenuous efforts in the town. The keystone of the entrance arch bears the
T S
date jg " This new inn, now set back in a line with its neighbours, stands
upon the site of some old galleried houses, one of which projected a
considerable way into the street, causing the old gateway into the Sands
Hospital to feel right in a corner. Here Dolly Jackson lived and kept a shop
wherein she sold her sweets, being almost as great a favourite with the boys
and lassies as Barbara Gray.

SOUTERGATE— THE WEST SIDE.

133

A***,," Sandes Coat of Arms.

Sandes Hospital. This interesting old building for poor widows still presents
its front to the street, and probably but little changed in
appearance, although the wide wings were raised when the almshouses were
rebuilt in 1852. The gateway bears the inscription in freestone, gilt,
S.
T. K., for Thomas and Katherine
1659
Sandes, the founders ; whilst an assumed
coat of arms, combining the family
arms with those connected with the
shearman dyers, discloses the source
of his property. The shearman dyers'
arms appear to be — Argent, two hande —
cards vert, and a pair of shears chevron
wise proper ; and the arms of Sandes —
Or, a fess dancette Gules, between three cross crosslets fitchy. In the front
windows over the entry are three diamond shaped panes with stained figures
of implements of trade used by the shearman dyers. Sandes was a dealer in
Kendal cottons, mayor in 1647-8, and founded the hospital and school on the
6th of September, 1670, eleven years after the erection of the front building,
supporting the charity himself in the meantime.
The indenture says, " whereas the said Thomas
Sandes hath saved a considerable share of his temporal
estate by buying and selling of woollen cottons com
monly called Kendal cottons, and being mindful to set
apart one convenient dwelling house within Kirkby
Kendal for the use of eight poor widows, to exercise
carding, spinning of wool, and weaving of raw pieces of
cloth for cottons called Kendal cottons ; and for the use
of a schoolmaster to read prayers to the said widows
twice a day, and to teach poor children (Blue Coat) till
prepared for the free school of Kendal or elsewhere. He,
therefore, the said Thomas Sandes, grants to the said
Corporation certain messuages and land for the purpose
aforesaid. The widows to be of the age of 50 years or
upwards ; three of them to be chosen out of Strickland
gate, three out of Stramongate and Highgate, one out of

Blue Coat Bov.

J34

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

SOUTERGATE— THE WEST SIDE. 135
Stricklandgate Roger and Ketel, and one out of Skelsmergh and Patton.
Further, that if at any time upon a vacancy there should be no widow in the
said Stricklands, Skelsmergh, and Patton, it should be lawful for the trustees
to choose a single woman of good reputation, and a worker of wool, but who
should not be allowed to marry."
By deed dated 10th September, 1670, the mayor, aldermen, and
burgesses of Kendal appointed Robert Kilner and Anthony Beck, their
attorneys, to accept seisin from the hands of Thomas Sandes of and in
the premises called Eidge Bank, Baxton Holme, and Kettle Croft, omitting
the burgage house in Highgate (which appears to have been then occupied by
the widows), and also omitting the premises at Wasdale Head.
In the same year I find that this burgage house and tenement, with two
gardens and a croft in Highgate, were of the ancient yearly rent of sixteen
shillings. Concerning the moiety of the property at Wasdale Head, I find it
was held by Christopher Crackenthorpe under the yearly rent in the whole of
9s. nd. It was purchased by Thomas Sandes from Thomas Gilpin of Barker
Garth in Yorkshire. But when the Charity Commissioners visited this part in
1815, they reported that the moiety had not been in the possession of the
trustees for a great number of years. It was stated that an action was
brought by a Mr. Brown, the owner of the other moiety, against the trustees,
and that he recovered the property. The Commissioners, however, could
learn no particulars of this transaction, excepting that in consequence of the
law suit the widows' houses were for a time shut up and not re-opened again
till the time ofthe Rev. Thomas Symond's incumbency (1744 — 1789).
The founder also bequeathed a library which, by subsequent contributions,
has been increased to upwards of 400 volumes. Amongst these are several
works of the fathers of the third, fourth, and fifth centuries, with volumes of
the Greek and Latin authors. Any person is allowed to read the books in
the library, but no one is suffered to take them out, and such care was used
for their safety that those left by the founder were, for a length of time,
fastened to the shelves with chains just long enough to enable the reader
to take them to the table ; but this insulting and suspicious precaution
has been long since discontinued, nor are the poor aged widows any longer
expected to carry on a manufactory of " Kendal Cottons."

136 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
In the entry is an iron drop box recessed back in a niche with the initials
T.S. raised upon the lid. Over the niche there is a large stone bearing the
inscription " Remember the poore," to which at some later period has been
added in modern letters the words " Remember the poor widows."
The following extract is from the Cumberland Pacquet for June 7th,
1785 : — " The following convictions and penalties were inflicted last week at
Kendal on different offenders, viz., Sarah Bradley, wife of Samuel Bradley,
weaver, convicted of selling cotton and worsted materials intrusted to the care
of her husband, to be imprisoned 14 days and publicly whipt. Jane Procter of
Stainton, on turning informer against her accomplices and giving up four
gowns, the materials of which were bought of the said Sarah Bradley.
The gowns were given to four widows of the hospital in Kendal." From this
and from the following extracts it would seem that between the years 1784 to
1792 the widows were considered paupers : — ¦
1784, March 9, Frances Bellingham of Sandy's Hospital, pauper, aged 37.
1785, December 7, Agnes Ellerton of Sandy's Hospital, pauper, aged 87.
1786, January 31, Mary Farrer of Sandy's Hospital, pauper, aged 73.
1792, February 9, Elizabeth Pennington of Sandy's Hospital, pauper, aged 85.
Amongst the orders set down to be kept by the widows and schoolmaster,
there are several for the internal management of the establishment. Amongst
others it is ordered that every widow shall remain a widow upon pain of
deprivation if she marry ; that the schoolmaster shall pay the widow's
allowances and deduct therefrom 6d, every quarter for each widow, so as to
raise in every three years six shillings a piece towards the buying for them
new gowns, and that he shall make up the deficiency ; that he shall take care
of the library and shall not suffer any books to be removed therefrom, but
shall keep a catalogue and shall suffer men of quality and learning to have
free access thereto ; that he shall inform of every offence done by the said
widows, and shall be careful to keep the house of manufacture and so much of
the premises as the under tenants are not bound to do, in good repair.
Beyond the round arched entry was a square court with low roofed
cottages for the widows, four on either side and a large building at the end,
almost similar in design to the front house. On either side of the square
entry leading through to the gardens beyond were receptacles for firing stuff,

SOUTERGATE— THE WEST SIDE. 137
reminding us of a clause in the founder's will that each widow should have
brought her in the week before Christmas a good horse load of wood by the
tenants of the bequeathed premises in Skelsmergh and Strickland Roger.
On the north side of the same entry an oak staircase led upward to the
" Great Room," where was collected the library. But as I have said, all
these old buildings have now disappeared, and in the year 1852 they were
rebuilt on the north side only, with the library in the centre of the row. On a
S
tablet are the initials and date T K 1659, rebuilt 1852. Outside the iron
gates which have taken the place of the original wooden doors, whose heavy
locks were always pushed to and bolted at ten o'clock in the evening,
formerly stood a public weighing machine under the window at the right
hand of the entrance. Within, a pump stood in the square near to the
master's kitchen, which doubtless would be put up when most of the other
wells in Kendal were sunk, about the middle of the XVIIIth century. Previous
to this time it is probable that all the required water was fetched down from
the horse spout and fountain which stood just outside the gateway leading on
to the Garth Heads from the master's garden.
Mr. Sandes died on the 22nd day of August, 1681, aged 75, and there is a
beautiful white veined marble monument to his memory in the church. It con
tains a highly eulogistic Latin epitaph whichr as translated concludes thus :—
" He departed, he did not die, for he cannot die,
Whilst virtue is in men, or history records its praise.
Alas ! Alas !
Perishable marble may be silent ;
But, than all marble more lasting,
And than even the Egyptian pyramid more enduring,
He built for himself a monument.
An almshouse for Poor Old People."
In the Boke of Recorde there is an entry of an order
ue Coat Sc 00 . ^^ at a Court of thg Mayor and Aldermen, on the
25th day of March, 1641, " Whereby on consideration of the great number of
children resorting to the free school, which doubtless did hinder the perfecting
of many and that the Usher was much burdened and surcharged, it was
ordered that the Usher should not teach or admit any child not capable to

138 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
read the psalter, or that could not read some English, but should disallow
such as learnt in the Horn Book, A. B.C. and Primer."
It would seem therefore that it was in consequence of this order that our
worthy Thomas Sandes founded this school to teach and instruct poor
children gratis that should come to the master to be taught, at such times
as other schoolmasters did teach, until they should be fitted for the Free
School or elsewhere. Soon after the school was thus commenced in 1670,
there is an item in the churchwardens' books of money being spent " for
formes whereon to seat the sixteen charity children." No doubt at first the
school would meet in one of the front rooms, but as time went on and the
numbers increased, it was removed to the " Great Room " where was the
library. The instruction seems also to have been extended to girls, for in a
memorandum it is stated that " nine poor girls were taught there in 1714 by
Isabel Fisher."
It was in this year that Vicar Crosby and a highly public spirited body of
subscribers commenced to clothe the scholars in blue, and by the year 1723,
the donation list was so extended as to enable the number of children to be
greatly increased.
We have no information as to who filled the post of first schoolmaster,
but the Newcastle Journal for January 10th, 1747, gives a most eulogistic
reference to Enoch Le Tousey, master of the Charity School at Kendal, who
had suddenly died during the previous week. His successor was Thomas
Mackreth, of whom it is recorded on his gravestone in the churchyard, that he
was 40 years master of the Hospital and Charity School and that he died in
1787. The next master was the Rev. Thomas Airey, who was here only for a
short period, prior to his incumbency of Selside, and he was followed by a
little deformed man named John Briggs, who died in early life. In the year
1795, a slip of ground was taken off the master's garden and a building erected
thereon at a cost of some £200, for the boys to learn weaving and card
setting in. The work was done for the boys own benefit, some of them
earning thereby from 2s. 6d. to 3s. a week. The Rev. John Hudson, however,
being treasurer to the school, put a stop to the custom, and one can only
suppose, for some financial reason. John Taylor followed as schoolmaster, a
yseful man, who continued Wharton and Pennington's Table of Chronological

SOUTERGATE— THE WEST SIDE. 139
Events from 1802 to 1823. His gravestone records that he died in 1827, aged
54 years. His successor, William Lewthwaite, held the mastership for ten years,
and then James Whitaker followed for a period of more than forty years.
When the Commissioners made their report in 1815, there .were 40 boys
and 30 girls all clothed in blue, at an expense of £150 a year. After the year
1838, by reason of a bequest of 500 guineas from Edward BurreU, a poor
Fellside lad, who became a partner in a Liverpool bank, the trustees were
enabled to increase the number of boys to 45. In the year 1849, the school
was once again taught in the " Great Room," when the building higher up
the court was greatly improved by the removal of the weaving shop floor, the
introduction of new lancet windows and an entrance porch.
In the year 1886, under a scheme of the Charity commissioners, this
school and the Grammar School (founded in 1525) were merged into one
trust, and a number of free scholarships established in lieu of the clothing and
former education. At the north corner of New Inn Yard, Tames McNaught, a master
No. 92. . .
coach builder, had his show rooms. The front walling having been
removed so as to cause the space wherein he kept his handsome coaches to be
open to the street. McNaught carried on a most prosperous business, so
much so, that the old folk used to say that, " although his name was McNaught
he macks a good deal." Edward Brown succeeded to him.
The Cumberland Pacquet for August 4th, 1795, gives an
New Inn Yard. r . , , , . , ,
account of a corn not that took place in the yard, when
the carrier's warehouses were broken into and two cart-loads of oatmeal
stolen therefrom. These old warehouses marked on Todd's plan, formed a
large square, and were only removed with a disused malt kiln in order to make
a building site for the Zion Chapel.
«.. , ~. ~. . This chapel was built upon the site just above referred to,
Old Zion Chapel. F v \ ,
in 1844, at a cost of about £1250, and opened on the 10th
of October for the Rev. Dr. Guthrie, who seceded from the Presbyterian
Church upon Morisonian views. In May, 1849, the Rev. William Taylor of
Glasgow became minister, and the church so prospered under his care that the

r4o KIRKBIE KENDALL.
building very soon became too small for the congregation. New galleries
were erected, and later on in 1862-3 the building was doubled in width
to accommodate some 800 people.
The Sunday school was first held in the Oddfellows' Hall in 1843, the old
chapel then being in process of building, and, on its completion, the school
was moved into the low room underneath.
The next house is the " New Inn," now no longer new but
New Inn. °
outwardly little altered, if we except the removal of the old
latticed panes and the substitution of the modern sheet glass. Internally it is
low, but has had, at some time, many good rooms, the black oak floors
of which are pegged. In the kitchen is an old oaken cupboard carved with the
F
initials and date I A ; and there is also some decorated cornice work worthy
1658
of being scraped free from its innumerable coatings of lime-wash. Here was
born the eminent English judge, Sir Alan Chambre, in 1739 ; and here, too,
his grandfather, Alan, died in 1744, and his father, Walter, in 1753. Sub
sequently in 1766 Sir Alan purchased Abbot Hall, and abandoned this family
house with its " spacious entrance hall, transome windows, and fine garden
extending to the Garth Heads."
The house must have, very soon after Sir Alan's day, become a public inn,
for we find in the year 1796 that the Friendly Society held its meetings here, and
in October, 1802, the inn advertised to be let by ticket as " all that large
and convenient traveller's and carrier's inn, containing in front 22 yards and
in depth 10 yards. On the ground floor is a large kitchen, three parlours,
a pantry, and other conveniences ; on Ihe upper floor is a good dining
room and bedchambers that will contain fifteen to sixteen beds ; with
a brewhouse, cellars, pump, and back yard, two stables containing forty stalls
and hay lofts above them. At the same time will be let by ticket a large entire
yard with a good pump and eight new built stables to contain fifty horses
occupied by carriers, and two warehouses close adjoining, occupied by London,
Leeds, Wigan, Liverpool, and Carlisle carriers ; also a coach house and
granary." In 1811 George Chamley, proprietor, advertises a light post wagon from
Manchester to Glasgow and Edinburgh, arriving at Kendal every day. Both

HIGHGATE, KENDAL.

SOUTERGATE— THE WEST SIDE. 141
of which advertisements serve to shew that in the days of pack horses
and stage coaches the " New Inn " must have been a not unimportant house.
My last note is that it was put up for sale on the 25th day of September, 1819,
when it was in the possession of Mrs. Burton, together with the extensive
premises behind in the occupation of William Bousfield, Francis Webster,
and others. " Mr. James McNaught, the owner, upon the premises, will
show the same," &c, &c.
,~~ In the old house that stood upon this site, Hugh Holme, Deputy
No. 100. . b • f j
Recorder, of Highgate, Attorney-at-law and Postmaster, resided.
His portrait, by Romney, is in the possession of the Corporation. He died on
December 28th, 1765, and in the Newcastle Journal for January 18th, 1766,
Mrs. Holme advertises to be sold to the highest bidder, " One of the largest
houses in Town, fit for a family in genteel life. The Parlor, the Lobby, the
Dining Room, and the other rooms on the Ground Floor are spacious and
handsome, the Kitchen is large and full of conveniences, with a Pantry and
three Cellars, the apartments on the second floor are perfectly neat and
elegant, the rooms over them are well lighted and fit bedchambers for
Domestics. The House is situated in the best part ofthe town, the front has
a striking appearance and the whole is in complete order. There is a brew-
house, wash-house and other offices with convenient rooms over them, four
Stables and other stabling with a Granary and an exceeding good pump in the
yard. The Garden is walled round, planted with a variety of fruit trees, and
terminates with a pleasant Summer House on an eminence that commands an
extensive view of the Town and Country adjacent."
It is said to have been rebuilt about the year 1770 by a Quaker gentleman
named Prixley Smith, who died on the 22nd of March, 1817. Subsequently
it was occupied by Justice James Wilson, whose daughter was married to
Christopher Wilson of Bank House, afterwards of Abbot Hall and Rigmaden
Park. The next occupant was Isaac Braithwaite, drysalter, following whom
came Alderman Samuel Whinerey, who resided here during his mayoralty in
1843 and 1849. When the Borough Surveyor, Crayston Webster, purchased
the property, he again improved the frontage and converted the old square
entry into the present rounded arch (said to be lath and plaster) beneath
which the wooden doors have ever kept out intruders from time immemorial.

142 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
A little further south is the two storied building with iron railings in front.
It was formerly the residence of Samuel Milton, a linen draper who had
extensive warehouseing in the rear. Close to was Benjamin Newton's, the
Kirkby carrier, and Betty Wilson's, a confectioner, while at No. 68 was
Cuthbert Coupland's smithy. The consecutive situations of these several
shops and places of business suggested to some wit to string the names
together into the following popular rhyme : —
" Cuddy Coupland, smith and farrier ;
Benjamin Newton, Kirkby carrier;
Barrow and Milton, linen drapers;
Jossey Lockey, periwig maker;
Betty Wilson, bread (Kendal wigs) baker."
, *~* It was up this yard that Gascoigne Barker, a girth manufacturer,
Yard 104. ,
had his warehouse, which was subsequently turned to good
account by Edward Wakefield as a meeting-house for the Plymouth Brethren
to meet in on week days, the Whitehall Lecture Room only being used by
them for their Sunday services.
u-.,!.., j. •«!•• Here> in x7l6> hved the Deputy Recorder. Thomas
Highgate View. r j .
Shepherd of Natland Abbey.
,n_ On the bank stands an ancient house of two stories in striking
contrast to the two lofty buildings on either side. It projects
further on to the parapet than the Conservative Club, but it is in a line with
the iron railing, and also with the end wall of the last house. It was formerly
covered with thatch, and to this day can be seen the weathered tabling to a
chimney-stack on the Club gable, which was also the flashing line for the
steep-thatched roof.
Formerly this was the residence of John Richardson, cabinet maker, who
erected the old church pulpit, reading-desk, and clerk's pew in 1757. And here
was born his gifted son John in 1774, who, as an architect-joiner, designed
amongst other things the Methodist Chapel in 1808, the Shakespeare Theatre
in 1829, the Castle Street Infant School in 1830 — for which, by the way, he
received the handsome sum of £1 as architectural commission — and Town
View in 1832.

SOUTERGATE-THE WEST SIDE.

H3

From all accounts, he seems to have been a remarkable man, possessing a
great memory, astute at mathematics, and fond of his profession. The
following characteristic lines, written before death by a friend for his epitaph,
so pleased him, that, at his wish, it was placed over his remains :—

" My earthly house has
fallen to decay,
The base was shaken, and
the walls gave way ;
The pillars that had borne
its weight for more
Than fourscore years,
were mouldered at the
core ;
The rafters crumbled,
and the light was faint
That crept in at the win
dows old and quaint ;
While seam and crevice
in the tottering shell
For years let in the wind,
when down it fell;
The roof-tree, strong and
sound, being last
To topple beneath the
resistless blast.
Then, past repairs, I
looked for no new plan
Whereby to have rebuilt
the outward man ;
But calmly waited, with
the world at peace,
Nor would, when death
approached, renew the
lease ;

Mr. and Mrs. John Richardson.*

Yard 110.

But humbly sought for my departing soul,
Beyond the grave, eternally a place,
Where it might still the grand creations trace
Of God, the first great Architect of all."
Through the entry is a building, approached by steps, which was
at one time the Mechanics' Institute.

Bank House,

This building, which is now the Conservative Club, was
formerly occupied by John Whitwell. It stands upon the

* The above interesting illustration was taken May 13th, 1864, by J. H. Hogg, Mr. Richardson being on
that day go years old, having been born at Kendal, May 13th, 1774. His wife was born at Lancaster,
February gth, 1776. They were married at Kendal Church, August 23rd, 1806.

144

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

site of an ancient house occupied in the upper storeys by what used to be the
" Dyers' Arms," beneath which was Joseph Whitelock's periwig shop and
Asbridge's shoemaker's shop. This " Jossey " was father to the celebrated
pastor of St. George's Church — the Rev. William Whitelock, who, without
doubt, was the most popular and zealous preacher that Kendal had in those
days. At the present time, when the wig is no longer worn by the leaders of
fashion, we cannot fully realise the important place it held in bygone times.
Professional, as well as fashionable people, did not dare to appear in public
without their wigs, and they vied with each other in size and style. These
curious erections were introduced into this country about the time of the
" Massacre of Paris," but they are not often alluded to until the reign of
Queen Elizabeth. Some twenty years later they became popular.
Charles II. forbade, we are told, " the members ofthe Universities to wear
periwigs, smoke tobacco, or read their sermons." The members did all three,
and Charles soon found himself doing the first two. Women, as well as men,
called the periwig-maker into requisition to add to their charms, the hair being
curled and frizzed with considerable care, and false curls added under the
name of " heart-breakers."
In the palmy days of wigs, the price of a full wig of an English gentleman
was from thirty to forty guineas. On the 5th of May, 1795, an Act of Parlia
ment was passed taxing all persons a guinea for using powder to their hair.
Pitt was in power, and, being sorely in need of money, hit upon this splendid
plan, which in the first year produced no less than £210,136. A number of
persons were exempt from paying the tax, including the Royal Family and
their servants, the clergy with an income of under £100 per annum, and many
military non-commissioned officers and privates in the army and navy.
Fortunately the custom did not long continue in use, for in 1779 it was almost
entirely abolished on account of the high price of flour, caused through the bad
harvests. " Their hoarded grain contractors spare,
And starve the poor to beautify the hair."
Indeed, it is wonderful how the custom lived at all, for when we consider that
at least a couple of hours were required for the arrangement of a single toupee
or tower — that a head so dressed was rarely disturbed for ten days or a

SOUTERGATE— THE WEST SIDE. 145
fortnight, and that it was impossible to lie down without disarranging the
structure the hairdresser had raised on a framework of wire, plastering with
pomatum and disguising with powder, it needs no stretch of imagination to
realise what great discomfort the fine ladies of the last century were willing to
put up with. In 1869, the tax on hair-powder was repealed, when only 600
persons paid it, producing about £1,000 per year.
" Jossey " was sore distressed at being turned out of his old shop, where
he had been for more than a quarter of a century, and reluctantly removed to
a small house (since rebuilt) at the foot of the New Inn Yard, next door to a
celebrated character — Keggy Pearson, a clock dresser, who also kept a mangle !
He died October 4th, 1789, but what became of his neighbour — the pious and
exemplary man — Joseph Asbridge, shoemaker, we are not told beyond that he
died on March 16th, 1795, aged 48. But to return to the present building
raised upon these antiquated shops, I find that it was built in the year 1787 by
the Rev. John Wilson, of Helsington, who was Prebendary of Durham and
Bursar of Trinity College, Cambridge, and who died January 12th, 1791.
It is said that he got his plans from Cambridge, that he was his own
architect, that there were no builders' contracts, and that in consequence the
house took so long to erect that the reverend gentleman declared Kendal
building to be even " dreer than college work, and college work dreer than
church work." The ceilings of the drawing and dining rooms are both painted,
one subject representing Anthony and Cleopatra and the other a Scripture
subject. The Club, which was founded in 1877, when the fortunes of the party had
sunk to a very low ebb, at first met in some rooms on the opposite side of
Highgate. The two elections of 1880, so quickly succeeding one another, lent
a fresh impetus to its growth, and very soon their rooms proved too small,
whereupon the present building was leased, converted into suitable premises at
a cost of £1,500, and opened in November, 1881.
The Bank Cross stood in the middle of the road on
Bank Cross House. , . . TT. , TT.„ . iU , , , ,
the top of Highgate Hill in the days of pack horses,
and when vehicular traffic was unknown. But when at last it had to be
removed, it was walled into an old house which formerly stood on the site of

146

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

this building. Here Christopher Fenton kept his post office, and when he
rebuilt the premises in 1812 Fenton seems to have given strict orders to have
the cross preserved. But, alas ! out of ignorance or contempt, it was broken
to pieces, and the stone used for walling purposes. (See Kendal Mercury, May
26th and June 9th, 1877.) The ancient Roman Catholic custom of halting
funerals at wayside crosses to pray for the souls of the faithful departed still
survives opposite this house to the present time.

No. 116.

Vintnors' Coat of Arms.

At the back of this house, which is
set back a little from the road,
there is a stone carved with the Vintnors' coat
of arms, viz. : — A chevron between three barrels,
two and one, surrounded with the inscription P
" The Vintnors' Armes," and above W A
1677.
The letters have been originally gilt, and
partially remain so still. Whether or not this
has at one time been a public-house cannot be
ascertained, or to whom the initials belong.
The modern sash windows replaced the small diamond panes about 1862.
The house was built by a member of the Dallam Tower family,
probably as a town or dower house. The arms of Wilson,
impaled with those of Crowle, are still on the leaden spout-head in front of the
property. The arms of Wilson are : — Argent, three wolves' heads couped
Sable, vulned in the neck. The crest, which is to be seen at each joint of
the pipe, is a hand grenade ; but this is not the crest of the Wilson family,
although it somewhat resembles it. The same error of a hand grenade is
noticeable over the entrance to Casterton Old Hall. The Wilson crest is a
Crescent Or, therefrom flames issuant proper.
Here resided at different periods, William Whitwell and William Mark.
But in the year 1853, the gardens were built over for the new ale brewery ; in
1864 the beautiful renaissance panelled dining room was converted into an
office, and the kitchens became a cooper's shop. The British wine business
of Messrs. Whitwell, Mark & Co. was established in 1757, and they have
cellarage accommodation here now for 40,000 gallons of wine,

Brewery.

SOUTERGATE— THE WEST SIDE.

H7

No. 122. This fine °ld house> with a flight of freestone steps mounting
northwards to the front door, was were John Whitwell lived, the
grandfather to the late member of Parliament of that same name.

No. 124.

Here the bene
volent William
Holme lived, and with his
ever-present kindness he
caused two seats to be
erected, one on either side
of the entry, in order that
travellers might stop
awhile and take a rest. I
have found pleasure,
therefore, in illustrating
this bit, not so much for

YPKTD t^e-

its architectural beauty as for the beauty of his kindly thought.

No. 126.

Here was born, in the year 1823, the eminent engineer, William
Johnson. Having early displayed a taste for mechanical
pursuits, a situation was obtained for him at the cotton manufactory of
Messrs. Ainsworth, of Preston. There he remained studying the structure
of the various machines within his reach, improving his knowledge of
practical engineering, until the year 1843, when he entered the office of a
civil engineer and devoted his life to that profession. Contributing articles to
the mechanical papers of the day, he soon attracted the attention of the editor
of the Glasgow Practical Mechanic's and Engineer's Magazine, who offered him
the sub-editorship of that journal in 1845. That periodical having been given
up in 1848, Johnson, young as he was, had the enterprise to start the Practical
Mechanic's Journal entirely on his own responsibility, which he carried on with
very marked success for many years. Soon after he undertook the business of
a Patent Agent, and as this rapidly increased and required more attention than
he could possibly give to it, he took into partnership his younger brother, John
Henry Johnson, who opened a branch office in London. William died at
Glasgow on the 10th day of June, 1864 ; and his brother, who for the last
forty years had carried on and increased the business, has only just passed
away in the month of March, 1900.

148

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

No. 128.

Here is the house where Dr. Ainslie lived
with the remark that the " inhabitants
require physic." His feelings on this matter are well

% His M A J E S T Y \ Royal A u T H o R r T Yi
TO tmSji**.ACE IS COM1*
Doftrefs WOOD,
(From 1, O, N D 0 N)
Pra&itioftfc? in "Phyfic and Midwifery*
WHO, hy many y^ats experience, bas Attained the art and Vpowledgc of cu
ring moft curable diftempets incident to the human body. She gives pa
tients her advtci at firft- fight, by informing them Whether their cliforders are cura
ble or not, and will not take them in hand if incurable, on any confideratiori what
ever ii^being known to every one who is acquainted wilh ?^r, that her fole aim is
to do gOod to her fellow creatures,' particularly in that charitable work of giv
ing fight to thofe who are almoft Wind, in which her practice has, by GOD's
Helling, been attended witn very great fuccefs. She cures wounds in any parr of
the body, ulcers, cancers, king's-evil, or old running fores. She has a fpeedy and
never-failing cure for the blopdy flux, and convullion fitf. She cures the gravel
and ftotie, artd All manner of deafriefs, provided the drum of the ear is not broken j.
preat numbers of people wKo have been deaf many yeats have been hrought to their
perfect hearing by her. She cures the ague, though of a long continuance, in a
fhort time. She cures the fcUrvy, jhfiumalifm, yellow jaundice, hylteric fits, or fits
of the mOtliet andipleen, and can cute the nerves ; and thofe who have loft the life
of their limbs, by colds or otherwife, ihe reftorefe to their former ufe in a fhort time.
She cures coughs, Conuimprjons, inward decays, rickets in children, ruptures, or
broken bellies in young or old. 'She cures fiftulas and piles, alfo hard or foft corns
in any part of the feet or toes. Bh& cures hair-lips, fcald heads, and wens. She
has alfo a fpeedy and never-failirig cute fot the Venereal difeafe, and cures it though
of ever fo long a Continuance, in a very fhort time. She has alfo a famous medi-
tine for the tonth-ach, which cures all diforders in the mouth and guins, and in a few
times ufing will he fcnfibly perceived ; and with a little continuance will perfeaiy
core the fcurvy in the gums, and take off all difagreeable fmell from the brcathj'Sha
.llfo prepares the true Scots pills, and difpofes of them, wholefalfi or retail, at a rea
fonable price. She has alfo a famous medicine for deftroying worms in young
or old, and cures other many grievous diforders, too tedious here to enumerate ; ha
ving had great praaice, attended with great fuccefs in many defperate cafes ; taking
hone in hand but whom fhe can perfectly cure. — Pray apply foon, that I may have
time to prepare for the operation, juid fee the cure performed.
N". K Yon may have any of the above medicines when the bill is called for.—"
Pray keep it clean. — Advice givtn lo the poor Gravis, by*
OOOTRESS WOOD,

Reduced copy of Handbill.

until he left Kendal,
were too healthy to
told in the following
story, which ap
peared in the Cum
berland Pacquet for
September 6th,
1785 : — " An emi
nent physician in
the neighbourhood
of Keswick once
paid a visit to a
foreign physician *
then residing in
Kendal. In the
course of conversa
tion, Ainslie, for it
was he, was asked
how he liked his
situation, to which
he replied that, * as
a gentleman, I am
very well suited.
It is a social, cheer
ful neighbourhood,
the country is not
deficient in natural
beauties, there are
fish in its waters
and game on its
plains ; but, as a
physician, it ap
pears to me no
ways alluring. The

* Everyone whose grandfather was not born in Kendal is considered a foreigner, uitlander, or off-comer,
' nobbut a stranger ' even to this day. Such is the inherent conservative nature of a dalesman.

SOUTERGATE— THE WEST SIDE. i49
natives have got the art of prolonging life without the aid of botusstusses or
electuaries. By a plaster taken inwardly called thick poddish, they preserve
themselves from the various diseases which shake the human fabric, and
slide into the grave by the gradual decays of nature.' "
Nevertheless, it would seem that after Dr. Ainslie's time — i.e., about 1790
— a certain Doctress Wood did not possess such a faith in our porridge, for
she came down from London to settle amongst us as a most marvellous
practitioner in physic and midwifery. I have before me her handbill, sur
mounted with a gorgeous display of King George's arms, which I here
illustrate. ...»»» The house next but one to the north corner of Captain French
No. 130. v
Lane is built upon the site of an old inn, which stood 150 years
ago, known as the " Bear and Ragged Staff," with stables and brewhouses
behind, where Messrs. Hayes and Parkinson's workshops now are.
This, at one time popular sign is the crest of the Warwick family,
and originated in King Arthur's reign, when Arthgal, first Earl of Warwick,
was called by the ancient British " The Bear," for having strangled such an
animal in his arms ; and Morvidius, another ancestor, slew a giant with a club
made out of a young tree, hence the family bore the name " Bear and Ragged
Staff." Thus in Shakespeare's play of " Henry VI. " Warwick says : —
" Now, by my father's badge, old Nevil's crest,
The rampant bear chained to the ragged staff,
This day I'll wear aloft my burgonet."
In Speed's plan of 1614 this lane is called Rotten
Captain French Lane „ _ _ , , .
Row, or Routine Row, so named because the
procession of " The Host " was taken by that route in burials from Soutergate
to the old cemetery at Kirkbarrow.
Subsequently it took its present name from a Captain John French who
lived here, and was churchwarden in 1660, and who, perhaps, rebuilt most of
the houses in the lane. Up this lane is the " Rock Tavern," which has an
oak dado made out of the Parish Church bench ends.
Before this house became a tavern it was occupied by " Aggie Pepper "
and her brother, whose employment seems to have consisted in manufacturing

i5o KIRKBIE KENDALL.
a strong kind of linen thread, commonly called " Noggey wife," an excellent
production, which supplied most of the looms in the neighbourhood. After
this it became the woollen and cloth manufactory of Caleb Metcalfe and Sons,
a business which rapidly spread out into large warehouses in the centre of the
town, dyehouses by the riverside above Stramongate Bridge, and spinning
mills at the Low Mills and Old Hutton.
In Edward Whitehead's will, dated 23rd July, 1732, he bequeaths " my
burgage house, messuage, or tenement formerly called and known by the
name of Captain French House, and now by the name ofthe " Golden Lion,"
standing and being in Highgate," but whether this was the same inn as the
" Rock Tavern " I cannot determine.
This stream was first known as Well Syke and then as
Buttery Well. „
Buttery Well.
The two houses at the south corner of the lane were
Nos. 134 and 136. built by John Davidson of Hill Top on the site of some
old weaving shops. He bought the property in 1797 from Archibald Elliot, of
the " High Front," in Kirkland. He married the sister of Mrs. Masterson,
who kept the " King's Arms " hotel for many years.
 This new street was opened out in the year 1888, and displaced
Gillingate. F , ' r , ,
some interesting property. One was a large house occupied by
Thomas Brocklebank and his sister, which had previously been the " White
Swan Inn," an appropriate sign, as Mr. John Watson happily remarks,
expressive in the thought of how fond this bird is of liquid and how" all her
food is procured from it. Another house was occupied by Edward Metcalfe
and Archibald Elliot.
The house recently vacated by Dr. Illiffe was formerly the town residence
or dower house of the Leyburnes of Cunswick Hall, probably after the
old Abbot Hall had become uninhabitable. It seems that many of the
neighbouring gentry required such a town house to which they could remove
when the wintry roads became irksome for frequent communication with the
town, or to which, when a son inherited a country seat, the widow could retire.
James Wilson, attorney, subsequently resided here, and after him his daughter,
Miss Maria Wilson, who, loving and beloved, full of years and great goodness,

SOUTERGATE— THE WEST SIDE. iSl
gently passed away in December, 1863, aged 91. The Kendal Chronicle for
April 4th, 1818, reports that "The Quarter Sessions for the Burgh of
Kirkby-in-Kendal were held on the 2nd instant, at the house of James Wilson,
Esq., Deputy Recorder. There was no business of importance." Or was it
hurried through in order not to interfere too much with the host's hopitality !
There are several anecdotes of an eccentric nature extant concerning
"Turney Jimmy," as the wealthy solicitor was popularly called, especially
relating to his strong Tory principles, which led him to glorify his party and
amuse the Liberal Blues by promenading every fine afternoon up and down in
front of his house dressed in a bright yellow dressing gown, and further
adorned with slippers and cap to match. His stately funeral is rendered
historical as being, I believe, the last occasion upon which door mutes were
employed in Kendal, for, during the days that the body lay within, two such
stood upon the pavement, one on each side of the doorway, in black robes
and crape hanging from their hats and staves, as motionless and silent as
statues. An emblem of grief indeed, but, thank heaven, a custom now gone
for ever ; forerunning that happier day when all such pagan thoughts and
senseless pharasaical mourning will be laid aside. Over the doorway is a
splendid specimen of a carved fanshell hood, probably of oak, but it is now,
and has been for many decades, covered with increasing coats or paint. Oh
that the landlord would realise the elegance of its beauty, and, by removing
the paint, disclose to view the handiwork of some painstaking artist.
_ _ Adjoining is a substantially built house, facing north,
Blindbeck House. . , . , , , , , , , ', .
with its back to the beck, erected by Christopher
Wilson, hosier, and bearing upon a spout head the initials ~ V, Here the
late Roger Moser resided, with the offices of Messrs. Moser, Son, and Arnold
up the yard.

IV.

" Far from God, but near His Temple."

" Wherever God erects a house of prayer,
The devil is sure to build a chapel there."

155

KIRKLAND.

CROSSING Blindbeck, we leave the old Borough of Kendal and enter
into Kirkland, which, being out of the Mayor's liberty, was much
resorted to by the poorer tradesmen, not free of the Corporation, because they
could not afford to pay the necessary £10 for the privilege of setting up
business in the Burgh. The Hon. Fulke Greville Howard, as Lord of the
Manor of Kirkland (being part of the Lumley Fee) held a Customary Court
twice in each year.
Blindbeck Dr" Burn descrirjes tne origin of this little brook as one which,
having but a small current and, as it were, seeking for a passage,
is called " Blind." Cornelius Nicholson prefers to derive its name from the
obscurity of its source, its feeders being lost in the fissures of the limestone
rocks of Gilling Grove, "unless it be derived," he says, "from the British word
Blaen," signifying a point or extremity — i.e., " the town-end beck." At one
time — see Todd's plan — the beck flowed openly across the road, with but a
narrow bridge wide enough for one cart to pass over, and with a parapet wall
on either side only about a foot high. The bridge was rebuilt and widened to
the full width of the road in 1823.
The first house in Kirkland on the east side was where Matthew Case
lived with his protegy — poor " Lord Harrowby." Harrowby was always
dressed in spotless attire, hence his title ; and spent his time either in flicking
off the dust from his black cloth suit and hat, or in rushing up and down the
pavement in front of his house in pursuit of some imaginary foe, returning with
the full pride of a conquering hero.
„ _ Two doors lower down, to the south of the yard still called by the
Mo. 5.
name, was the " Old Ship " standing recessed back, bearing the sign
of a ship with full sails set. It seems difficult to account for this name, which
is more commonly met with on a quay side ; and one can only imagine some

156

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

seafaring captain settling down here with hard-earned savings — probably from
the neighbouring port at Milnthorpe — and setting up "just one more house "
for the thirsty souls of Kirkland.
Unfortunately, there is no date attached to a will in which Abraham
Garnett, of Beethwaite Green, devises to his son William, of Kendal, "all that
messuage and tenement situated in Kirkland, and known by the name of the
* Old Ship Inn.' "
The questionable glory of this last-named inn departed when the " Black
Bull " opposition house — kept at different times by Kit Ion, Ben Hurd, and
old Adamson — was
¦f^mjgL opened immediately
across the way, with
its pictorial sign of a
life-sized head and
neck of the ferocious
animal. The old in
convenient premises
could not compete
IS 'SI RRSllEfWl ^ N*r4< with the more respec
-1— rH-1 r^iHIISi-1^-- Kirnund table-looking build
ing which had risen
up against it, and
thus the " Old Ship " fell to pieces, and in its place " Betty Shaver," the
female barber of Kirkland, set up her business. Using the vaulted cellar at
the back of the shop as a warehouse for coal, she retailed out to her
neighbours baskets full of this commodity, and cleansed her hands upon the
lathered features of her " next-turn " chin.

No.

The triumph of the " Black Bull," however, was not of long
duration, for next door to Betty Shaver's establishment was soon
opened another estaminet, and apparently a popular one in that day, which
sported upon its sign the hand and arm of a man holding a bird, whilst
opposite was a bush containing two other birds, with the couplet beneath :—
" One bird in hand is better far,
Than two that in the bushes are."

KIRKLAND.

157

On William Braithwaite leaving the " Ring o' Bells " for this house, the
name was changed to that of the " Royal Oak," and when Joseph Steele
bought the property the license was taken away. For some years after it was
known as " The Home," by reason of the late Mrs. W. D. Crewdson partly
supporting and allowing to live rent free several aged females here.

Capper Lane.

Capper, Cappel, or Chapel Lane is one of the oldest bye-
ways of Kendal. Record seems to point to all the cottages
as having been at first thatched, two of which, covered with four feet of straw,
probably the accumulation of some 150 years, were still existing in the year
1815. Two others were also standing at this time, one in Wildman Street and
the other on Far Cross Bank.
In the early church registers the
name of Thomas Capper, of Kirkland,
frequently appears, and it is very pro
bable that he either built or purchased
the property, and thereby gave to it its
name. The spacious building within iron
gates, still standing on the south side
of Capper in a field called " Bogey
Field" — so .called from a favourite
horse named "Bogey Rattler" — used
formerly to be a foundry kept by Miss
"Polly" Cornlhwaite, of Collin Croft.
There were formerly two or three
public-houses up the Lane, such as the
" Fat Lamb," the " Rule and Square,"
and the " Blue Anchor" (1732); whilst
another, standing in 1763, was called
the " Boot and Shoe," with a sign
representing an old cobbler stooping for his last with many waxed ends hanging
down, under which were the following lines : —

forth m Cross Lone

; I'm stooping for my last,
And looking for my end ;

He that spends a penny wi' me,
I'll take him for my friend."

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

Kirkbarroi*/ Square

I illustrate here and on the
previous page two curious
bits of cottage architecture,
one at the gable end of Cross
Lane and the other imme
diately behind. At the head
of the Lane near to the Well
Sike stood a chapel, how
dedicated or by whom
founded cannot be ascer
tained. The Little Roods,
evidently so called from a
cross standing there, is re
puted to have been a burial
ground to the chapel ; and,
when making the foundation
for a house built by John
Swainson at the corner of it,
a quantity of human bones
forming an entire skeleton
were dug up.

Anchorite House and Well.

Speed, in his map of 1614, engraves the
name as " The Ankeriche," which seems to
have been a walled inclosure with rows of trees, and the Parish Clerk in his
burial registers variously spells the name thus : —
1770, Richard, son of John and Ruth Nelson of the Anchorage.
1771, Edward, son of John and Ruth Nelson of Anchoress.
1772, Ruth, daughter of John and Ruth Nelson ofthe Anchor House.
1805, the wife of John Nelson of Anchor Hous.
I833, James Birkett, spinner, Anchorite House.
Ages have passed away since the death of the recluse, whose abode by the
well side first gave a distinctive name to this placid pool ; yet the spring still
bubbles up, fresh and pure as when its waters were deemed holy, and pilgrims
came hither to drink to be cleansed from their sin.

KIRKLAND. 1$
Spencer's beautiful poem of a " Hermitage " is truly descriptive of this
place ; — ¦ " A little, lowly hermitage it was,
Down in a dale; .... a little wide
There was a holy chapel edified,
Wherein the Hermit dewly went to say
His holy things each morn and eventide;
Thereby a crystall streame did gently play,
Which from a sacred fountaine welled forth alway."
There is a pleasant legend about this place well worth repeating here. It
was towards the end of the reign of King Edward III. that an Anchorite
appeared in Kendal in the habit of a palmer, with the crossed staff, the robe,
and the broad flat hat decorated with a cockle shell upon his tanned and
withered forehead, which denoted that he had been in the Holy Land. Nobody
enquired who or what the pilgrim was, for the class were as common as
commercial travellers are to-day ; but, although he lived on the humblest fare,
he bestowed much money in alms on the lepers and licensed beggars who
infested the highways, sat before the cross houses, or hung around the church
doorways. After a time he busied himself in collecting stones from the fellside,
and having purchased a small piece of land from the Abbey of St. Mary's
at York, he constructed for himself a hovel, furnished with the rudest and
simplest materials, and took up his abode by this spring. But gossip and
curiosity soon began to be aroused concerning the stranger, who had laid aside
his staff and changed his pilgrim's weeds to assume a coarse white cassock of
Kendal cloth, and who was always busy cultivating the ground attached to his
cell by the well side. The anchorite was deemed a holy man, and the spring
became the resort of the afflicted, who fondly thought that its pure waters and
the prayers ofthe hermit, versed in the healing arts ofthe East, were capable
of performing miracles. At last he fell sick unto death, and confessed to Father
Ralf the story of his only love. Long years gone by, his Blanche was all to
him, smiling upon and sharing his every dream of happiness, embroidered his
scarf, and wrought the blazon of his knightly pennon when he won his spurs
by capturing a Scottish chief. They never spoke of love ; theirs was no lip
worship. The two souls intermingled, as it were, by instinct, and both were
blessed ; until one day, whilst staying at Kendal Castle, an usurping brother's
love marred all. His Blanche was lost to him, fear succeeded to frenzy, and

jfo KIRKBIE KENDALL.
that same night he concealed their bodies beside this well. Selling his patri
mony he assumed the cross, hoping to lose his burden by warfare against the
infidels ; but on his return he was again attracted hither, and built his
hermitage over the relics of his only love. So did Father Ralf confess him,
and by means of the hoard he left behind, masses for the soul of Julien de
Clifford continued to be said in Kendal Church till the period of the
reformation. Tradition says that the bee-hive hut was built in the year 1176, and that
the narrow road which led up to it made two spiral circles around it, the
fences of which concealed the dwelling from the gaze of passers-by. The
present house was built in 1771 by Alderman John Shaw, who let it to
various tenants ; W. Carradus, a soldier in the 79th Highlanders at Waterloo,
was born here in 1784. Shaw married Elizabeth Greenhow, and latterly it
has been the property and residence of John Greenhow.
Near by is a small mill, which John Eccles of Kirkbarrow House used in
1798 as a spinning mill. He was the first in this neighbourhood to spin yarn
by water power, all the spinning previously having been done at the spinster's
own house, the mills being only employed for the fulling of cloth and rasping
of dye woods. Subsequently the mill was used by Isaac Rigge & Co., card
makers in Captain French Lane, for a wire mill. It has since been used for
grinding bones.
The stream from this interesting Well could be more easily traced before
being covered up than now, so that it is well here to record its passage. At
first flowing down that part of Capper Lane called Cop Beck, along one side
of Anthony Yeates' garden, and passing through his entry, it takes a sharp
bend to the right, along a two-foot square culvert covered with heavy flag
stones, till it reaches the spot where the old smithy stands, opposite to the
Church Schools. Here it crosses the road, running along the Glebe House
garden, around the corner of the porter's lodge, and down into the river.
Leading from off this main waterway were two other, but artificial, branch
culverts, one crossing the street in front of and down the Lane beside the
" Ring o' Bells Inn," and the other, leaving it at the acute elbow, crossed into
Hogg's Yard, and down into the Abbot Hall grounds.

KIRKLAND.

161

In bygone times these brooks formed an important part in the street life
of the day, for as they passed along Kirkland there used to be some four or five
iron lids, through which the women could pass down their buckets to fill them
with the pure water. Oh ! the frolic and youthful pranks that gathered around
these spots, and the chattering of women as they gathered in their canfuls of
necessary water. And oh ! should a lid at night time be left displaced, the
danger to the unwary and the chill to the backbone when a bruised limb found
itself knee deep in the cooling waters !

Nos. 15 and 16.

At No. 15 there is an old black stone let in over a parlour

firegrate, bearing the date 1668. No. 16 was formerly the
"Woodman Inn," whose sign seems to have been one of peculiar merit,
representing a venerable woodman bent with age going to labour with his axe
beneath his arm and followed by his faithful dog across the snow.

May Pole.

Here about
was the
town's maypole, around
which the boys and girls of
Kendal have laughed and
sung throughout many
gladsome- days. When
cutting the gas main
trenches in 1825 the
workmen came upon the
stonework which had se
cured the foot of the pole,
just a little to the north
of the door leading to the
old " Wheat Sheaf Inn."
The ancient ceremony
of maying and morris-
dancing was celebrated
here by processions parad

ing the streets immediately after sunrise, the boys with their " May gads"
(willow wands twined with cowslips), and the lasses with their " brats " full of
flowers, young and old singing in chorus "We have brought the summer home."

1 62

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

The origin ofthe chief customs and superstitions connected with the
holiday may be traced back to an annual gathering held in honour of Maia,
the mother of Mercury, at Ostia, a town situated some sixteen miles from
Rome. This festival in later days was incorporated with the feast of
Flora, which commenced on April 27th, and lasted several days. Both men
and women participated in the sports, and all who attended were decorated
with garlands. Over the doors of dwellings were branches bearing fruits and
flowers, and the gallants of Rome cut down young trees and brought and set
them up before the
houses of their mis
tresses. By degrees,
however, the forests
became denuded of
young growth, so
that to prevent this
destruction it was
ordered that a tall
shaft or pole, orna
mented with gar
lands, should be sub
stituted, and from
this practice comes
our English May
pole. But when the
Puritan power be
came dominant in
1589, the local au
thorities were called
upon to suppress " May-games, bull-baits, and other enormities." When
James I passed through the country in 1617 he issued the famous document
known as the " Book of Sports." This was re-issued, with a new preface, by
Charles I. in 1633, by which His Majesty came to the assistance of his pleasure
loving subjects, and declared that " after the end of divine service his good
people be not disturbed, letted, or discouraged from any lawful recreations ;
nor from having May-games, Whitsun-ales, and Morris-dances, and the setting
up of May poles." A few years later Parliament again showed its disapproval,

V- Vi

KIRKLAND.

163

and* in 1644 issued an order in which it is stated " because the profanation of
the Lord's day hath been heretofore greatly occasioned by May poles
(a heathenish vanity, generally abused to superstition and wickedness),
the Lords and Commons do further order and ordain that all and singular May
poles that are or
shall be erected
shall be taken down
and removed by the
constables and
churchwardens of
the parishes, where
the same shall be ;
and that no May
pole shall be here
after set up, erected,
or suffered to be
within this kingdom
of England or do
minion of Wales.
The said officers to
be fined five shill
ings weekly till the
said May pole be
taken down." May Pole.
After the Restoration the May pole was once more raised in the land, and
remained with us in Kendal until the year 1792, when it had to be removed to
accommodate the vehicular traffic. The festival, however, still lingered for
very many years, the young people assembling in the Vicar's fields on Easter
Tuesday, and after spending the afternoon there they returned through the
streets " threading grandy needles."

" Come, lasses and lads, take leave of your dads,
And away to the May pole hie;
For every he has got him a she,
And the minstrel's standing by.

164

KIRKBIE KENDALL.
For Willie has gotten his Jill,
And Johnny has got his Joan,
To jig it, jig it, jig it,
Jig it up and down.
' Strike up,' says Wat, ' Agreed,' says Kate,
' And I prithee, fiddler, play ' ;
'Content,' says Hodge, and so says Madge,
For this is holiday.
Then every man did put
His hat o.T to his lass,
And every girl did curchy,
Curchy, curchy on the grass.

Morris Dancers.

' Let's kiss,' says Jane, ' Content,' says Nan,
And so says every she;
' How many ? ' says Batt, ' Why three,' says Matt
' For that's a maiden's fee.'
But they, instead of three,
Did give them half a score,
And they in kindness gave 'em, gave 'em,
Gave 'em as many more.

¦«5

<§H> •---

" ±>zzm>

KIRKLAND,
Then after an hour they went to a bower,
And played for ale and cakes ;
And kisses, too, — until they were due
The lasses kept the stakes.
The girls did then begin
To quarrel with the men ;
And bid 'em take their kisses back,
And give them their own again.
Yet there they sate, until it was late,
And tired the fiddler quite,
With singing and playing, without any paying,
From morning unto night.
They told the fiddler then,
They'd pay him for his play;
And each a two-pence, two-pence
Gave him and went away.
'Good-night,' says Harry, 'Good-night,' says Mary,
' Good-night,' says Dolly to John :
' Good-night,' says Sue, ' Good-night,' says Hugh,
' Good-night,' says every one.
Some walked and some did run,
Some loitered on the way ;
And bound themselves with love-knots, love-knots,
To meet the next holiday."
__ , __ After passing Yard No.
Nos. 25 and 27. .
23, in the illustration
of which will be noticed an iron bracket
hook for supporting one of the ancient
oil lamps, you come to an old house, on
the three leaden spout heads of which are cast the arms of the Lamberts of
Watch Field, viz. : — Argent, a chevron Gules between three lambs Sable, a
chief cheque Azure and Argent. In the middle of last century, one William
and Charlotte Lambert lived here.
The late T. Bindloss, twice mayor, occupied these premises and resided
over the shop, until he built his residence at Castle Green in 1848. Here, in
former days, Thomas Braithwaite carried on the business of ironmonger until
his death in 1822, and with him lived his sister, Margaret, " dispensing
blessings unnumbered by her genuine Black Drop." Thomas' brother, John
Airey Braithwaite, a surgeon at Lancaster, claimed to be the original inventor
of this Westmorland and North Lancashire drug and " specific for all

!66 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
ills," and after his death the secret receipe and manufacture passed into
his sister Margaret's hands; and after her decease it became the property
of her niece, Hannah, whose will caused so much commotion.
One curious circumstance attaching to this great cure-all. capable
of allaying all pain and of stimulating the drooping energies, as well as
the reverse process of reducing excessive activity when unduly excited, is the
fact that it was manufactured solely by Quakers, whose chief characteristic is
quiet placidness.
Ann Todd, a Quakeress rival, residing in an old house up some steps in a
yard behind the " Commercial Inn," advertised in 1811 that she "has long
been in possession of the original receipe, and continues to prepare and sell
' The Genuine Quaker's Black Drop ' at Kendal at is 6d a bottle, being about
one-tenth the price and superior in quality to the article advertised by a
member of the Royal College of Surgeons."
Poor Ann Todd died in 1820 at the age of 72 years, and in the following
year another rival turns up in Hannah Backhouse — also a Quakeress— who
advertises " The Original Black Drop," prepared by her from a receipe of a
medical practitioner — a Friend — who resided at Bishop Auckland a hundred
years ago, and which has been in the family for over 60 years.
It seems to have been a very concentrated drug, one drop being equal to
four of laudanum, and generally consisted of opium, 4 ounces ; juice of quinces,
4 pints, digested with gentle heat for three weeks ; then with the addition of
saffron, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon (an ounce each), it was allowed to digest
a week longer, be strained, and the liquor evaporated to the consistence of
syrup. This simmering process must have been very uncongenial work, for
the fair women had to wear masks to prevent the fumes impairing their
complexion ; and, in order to preserve the secret, it had mostly to be done at
nights, when servants had gone to rest and neighbours did not call to interrupt.
Weird and witch-like in the gloom, these masked figures in grimy gowns flitted
about and tended for four weeks their, as Macbeth hath it, slowly boiling
" hell-broth " charm. No wonder, then, that the " original Original and
genuine Genuine Quakeress' Drop " was sold at 10s. for a small phial of about
fpur ounces, with an additional is. for duty.

KIRKLAND.

167

Pembroke House A narrow entry used to exist between here and its
southern neighbour, which accounts for the now
blocked-up side windows on the ground floor.

The central house in this charming block of three was partially
rebuilt by Anthony Yeates early in the XIXth Century, and from the
fact of Pembroke House having had at one time south attic windows, it would
seem that the upper storey of this house, which so mars the continuity and
beauty ofthe block, was added then.
John Richards (afterwards Yeates) lived here when he was appointed
Mayor in 1836 by the Reformed Corporation. He died at Park Head,
December 23rd, 1847, aged 51, and was buried in Heversham Churchyard.
There is a stained-glass window in the Kendal Church, erected by his son in
1865 to the memory of his parents.

1 68

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

It is said that the iron railings in front of the house came from Dallam
Tower, having been given by Mr. Wilson, at whose house Mr. Yeates was a
constant visitor.

No. 32.

Tucked away behind the
corner of the last house is
to be seen " the glory of Kirkland."
It is true that the place has been
terribly modernised, but the old front
parlour — denuded, alas ! of its ancient
furniture — is little altered. And, if
my strong epithet is still taken in
question, I would ask the reader to
seek permission and enter up the
entry to behind the house, and whilst
there gainsay me if they can. Through
the garden and beneath the entry runs
the clear brook from the Anchorite's
Well.

Nos. 34 and 36.

A somewhat mod
ern house adjoins
to the south, which was built on the
site of an ancient dwelling projecting
out considerably further on to the
road, and which is said to have been
the toll-bar for collecting the manorial
tolls. In to the gable of this modern
building has been built in a date-stone
Y
I5°3. which probably came out of the
earlier erection, as it seems that the
family of Yeates owned this house also.
On April 21st, 1772, it was ordered
and agreed by a great majority of the
churchwardens at their public meeting
in Kendal Church that the house

No. 33, Kirkland.

KIRKLAND. 169
belonging to Thomas Harrison, attorney-at-law, situated at the churchyard
side, be forthwith bought at the expense of the parish, and pulled down and
laid to the churchyard. The following items appear in the accounts : —
1771, paid to Mr. Joseph Swainson towards the purchase of the house, £42 ;
1773, paid to Richard Wilson for lease on the house, 10s. ; paid to Joseph
Swainson for lent money, £10 and 5s. interest.
_ . . This ancient school was founded by Adam Penvngton,
Grammar School. , _ _...,. , „T.„ , , ,
ot Boston, Lincolnshire, who by Will, dated 20th
March, 1525, devised £xo for the term of ninety-eight years, to be paid as a
stipend or wage for the finding of a priest, being an able schoolmaster, to
teach a Free School in the town of Kendal, to be paid out of certain lands in
the County of Lincolnshire.
King Edward VI., in the year 1548, appointed some Commissioners to
take order for the maintenance and continuance of the schools and other
foundations, whose revenues were vested in the Crown. They "ordained that
the Grammar School which long before had been kept in Kirkbie Kendall,
should there be continued, assuring the master there to have for his wages,
yearly, the said £10." Upon a complaint being made by the schoolmaster in
1557 that his stipend had been withheld, a decree was made by the Barons of
the Exchequer that the same should be paid by the Receiver of the County of
Westmorland, with all arrears. The revenue of the school was further
augmented by a decree of the Court of Exchequer, made 12th of May, 1582,
reciting that two several stipends of £4 12s. iod. each, hitherto paid for the
maintenance of two curates now no longer needed by the Vicar, should be
allowed in augmentation of the schoolmaster's wages.
Miles Philipson, of Crook, by indenture dated the 26th of January, 1588,
gave and granted unto James Wilson, Alderman, a parcel of ground, being
part of the grounds belonging to Abbot Hall, together with one house standing
on the said ground for a Free School, " for godly and virtuous education,
instruction, and institution of youth of the said town and parish of Kendal, in
grammar and other good learning." The school was built by public
subscription, and the Boke off Recorde gives a list of donations towards the
fund between the years 1582-8. Besides these, Earl Ambrose and the
Countess of Warwick gave towards the building " six fair oke tymber trees,"

170

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

I'J'yii.

/ ab eb ib o^i $
I ao, f4 ii> oft «,

U be b?

bo lni|

» £? ft K fit

and the inhabitants gave balks of timber and planks ; whilst others gave
by leading stones.
The famous Bernard Gilpin most willingly in "godlie zeale," as he himself
says, bore'his part in raising the school, as appears from the following letter,
which can never be too often quoted : — " To his verie lovinge freindes in Christe,
master Alderman of Kendall and his breth
ren geve these in Kendall. Moste due
commendacouns premised I am righte glade
to heare that your godlie suite for a grammer
schoole is like to come to a good ende and
so soone as I shal be certified yt it is well
established I shall moste willinglie per-
fourme my promisse with suche spede as I
may convenientlie. But I am so over
charged with manye paymentes as this
bearer can certifie you that I staunde nede
to have a quarters warninge to provide
for ary payment. And although your
schoole shoulde not come to a perfectioun
accordinge to your firste determinatioun
yete for ye godlie zeale you all beare to
learninge and for ye great charges wch I
thinke you have alredye sustayned I will
beare a parte with you as shal be thought
convenient. And thus trustinge bothe to
heare from you and to write to you againe
shortlie at better Leysure I praye god pre
serve you all and prosper your good and
godlie worke to his honour. At Houghton
this XXVIII* of June Ao. 1582. Youres
alwaye in Christe to his power.
Bernard Gilpin."

®t frtoVotm DW poft . sfmr
jtett.])aU<roe& betbyizatue
jMtn^Ootttf f ome, gftp \xi\\\ M
aom to @att() a* iti*fnfcw6etn[
prfljtoe tp^w tbattr^paffe&g^faf
w^nMeeibu^tiot'into tempts

Illustration of Horn Book.

Three hundred years have passed away since the erection of this interesting
building, and from the solidity and thickness of the walls (in which three
ancient coins have been found) it may yet outlive many generations. Adam
Shephard, who had been incumbent of St. Mary's Chantry in the Parish
Church, and who was paid a pension of £3 6s 8d in 1553 as a displaced priest,
was the schoolmaster in 1548, but where his pupils first met is not definitely

KIRKLAtib:

iii

known. Most probably, as was the case in many country towns, they learnt
their lessons in the church itself. In 1641 I find Robert Vicars mentioned as
Usher, and as Masters, J. Myriell in 1653, — • Jackson in 1680, and John
Towers in 1733.
Here is an interesting extract from the Cumberland Pacquet for May 28th,
1774 : — " The free Grammar School of Kendal being vacant by the Resignation
of the Rev. Mr. Gilbert Crackenthorpe, the Trustees give Notice that they
intend to choose a Master on Monday, the 2nd day of July next ; any Person
that is properly qualified and desirous of offering himself a Candidate for the
same may send a Testimonial for his Character to Thomas Strickland, Esq.,
Mayor of Kendal. The Salary is £35 per Annum, with a neat and commodious
Dwelling House, and from the situation, Trade, and Populousness of the Place
and adjacent Country, the supposed other Emoluments to a diligent Man
would be very considerable ; together with a fair and promising Prospect of a
well-endowed Chapel on the first Vacancy being annexed." What a delightful
enticement ! Thirty-five pounds, popttlousness of the place, extra work for
spare minutes, and a prospective curacy. I wonder how many applied !
In the year 1801, I find the
Rev. George Kendall mentioned
as the Master, which post he held
until 1804, when the Rev. John
Sampson was appointed. He died
on the 27th of March, 1843,
having been Master for nearly
forty years. His course of instruction was confined to the Greek and Latin
languages, excepting upon two afternoons in the week, when scholars were
exercised in English, reading, and arithmetic. The Corporation then elected
as his successor the Rev. Francis Danby, B.A., who re-opened the school in
April, 1844 ; the interval being occupied in repairing and improving the
school-house and premises. Danby resigned the office of Master in 1845, and
the Rev. James Frederick Black was appointed by the Council in his room,
on the gth of December. In the year 1868 the colour was changed, Mr.
Joseph Brown being then appointed.
I would gladly linger to give a fuller account of this school and of the
eminent scholars formerly educated here such as Ephraim Chambers, Dr.

¦ • Tiu. TU.ti»v* Asaisfcttt'—- >
By George Cruikshank.

i72 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Shaw, Edmund Law, D.D., Bishop of Carlisle (1702-1787) ; Peter Barwick,
and in later years ofthe famous seven contemporary lads of Sampson's time,
viz. : —
(1) J. Hubbersty, Wrangler and Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge.
(2) Job Rawlinson, Wrangler and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
" (3) Dr. Audland, Feliow of Queen's College, Oxon.
(4) Dr. Wilson, Wrangler and Fellow of John's College, Cambridge.
(5) W. A. Fletcher, Fellow of Magdalen College, Cambridge.
(6j K. Thompson, of Trinity College, Cambridge.
(7) Dr. Cookson, Wrangler, Fellow and Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University.
But as the scope of these pages is more with the building than with the
scholars, it must suffice to record the ancient ceremony of "barring out," in
which the boys used to take possession ofthe school early on the morning of
breaking-up days, strongly barricade the doors from within, arm themselves
with elder pop-guns, and defy admittance to the master, saying : —
" Liberty, liberty, under a pin,
Six weeks' holiday, or nivver come in."
Many were the stratagems employed by the luckless master in order to gain
possession again of his lost authority. One says he remembers the master
entering by creeping down the chimney ; another tells of the boys hiding
themselves in the chimney when the master did happen to force the door. If
he succeeded heavy tasks were imposed, and the business of the school went
on as usual ; but, if the boys triumphed, terms of capitulation were proposed,
stipulating the length of the holiday and what hours and times should be
allotted to study for the ensuing term. Securities seem to have been given by
both sides for the due performance of these stipulations, and the paper passing
to and fro beneath the door was duly signed by both master and pupils.
Apparently the custom was killed at the beginning of the XVIIIth Century by
a master of the name of Towers having his eye accidentally destroyed whilst
contending for the mastery.
One of the regulations of the school was that it should be "free to all
boys resident in the parish of Kendal for classics alone, excepting a voluntary
payment of a cockpenny as aforetime at Shrovetide." The Charity Com
missioners reported in 1844 that " no demand is made for any payment ; but

KIRKLAND.

i*3

it is a general practice to make a present at entrance, and another at Shrove
tide, under the name of a Cockpenny. The usual sum is a guinea, but some
boys pay more and some less. Sometimes nothing is paid, but the children
are none the less attended to on that account." The "Literary Rambler,"
who contributed a series of articles to the Kendal Chronicle in 1812, at the time
when the custom of cock-fighting was still in vogue, remarks that " the boys of
each school were divided into parties every Shrovetide, headed by their
respective captains, whom the master chose from amongst his pupils. These
juvenile competitors contended in a match at football, and fought a cock-battle
— called a captain's battle — in both of which contests the youthful rivals were
not more interested than their parents."
The master, providing the cocks,
levied this pence and thereby added con
siderably to his income, as also by the
sale of entrance tickets to visitors to
witness the "sports." At Sedbergh
Grammar School the master received on
Shrove Tuesday 4^d. from each pupil, and
at Grange, at the commencement of this
century, the pence varied in amount
according to the social standing of the
parents, ranging from 2s. 6d. to £5. The
cock-pit at Heversham was in existence
down to recent times.
But such happy days have long passed
away, the school itself has migrated to
new premises outside the town, and the
whole building has been turned into cot
tage property. The ancient porch has
now become a Sunday parlour, and over it Sampson's den for study is
now a place for sleep. A new scheme for the management of the school was
approved in April, 1869, by which it was arranged that the head master
should not necessarily be a University graduate or in holy orders ; and in
1886 the Charity Commissioners approved a further scheme by which the
funds of this school were amalgamated with those of Sandes' Hospital and

m

KirkbIe Kendall.

the Blue Coat School, and placed under one governing body called
Governors ofthe United School and Hospital Foundation of Kendal."

The

The new school buildings were erected in 1888, capable of accommodating
about 150 boys, and they were opened on the 10th day of January, 1889, by
James Whitehead, Lord Mayor of London, and the Lord Bishop of Carlisle.
The master's house was added in 1893 for 40 borders.

Kirkland Stocks.

Half way between the church gates and the " Ring o'
Bells," formerly stood against the wall a pair of stocks.
In the Kendal Chronicle for
October 26th, 1816, there
is notice of a " Nathan
Sandwich, an inhabitant
of Kirkland, who was
confined six hours in the
stocks for appearing pub
licly in this borough
several Sundays in a state
of inebriation." When
they were removed I
In the Stocks, by Nrsbit. cannot say, but the seat
remained for some considerable time after, indeed many old inhabitants
say that they can well remember it.
From a translation of a survey made in 1563, we find the
Vicarage described thus: — "The Vicar of Kirkby-Kendal
holds these in right of his Vicarage, the principal mansion belonging to the
said Vicarage, consisting of a hall, parlour, bed-chamber, kitchen, pantry, with
apartments for servants, built of stone and covered with slates, with one barn,
one stable, one court, one flower garden, orchard, and kitchen garden, with a
field adjoining, containing by estimation one acre, situated between the Church
Yard of Kendal aforesaid on the north side and Nether Bridge on the south
side, the common street called Kirk-Lane on the west side, and the River Kent
on the east side."
This was during the incumbency of Dr. Ambrose Hetherington (1562-
1591). Rather more than 100 years later the Glebe House appears to have

Glebe House.

KIRKLAND. 175
been rebuilt by Vicar Crosby (1699-1733), for we are told that " his behaviour
as a good Pastor and Christian did not extend only in Spirituals, but even in
many respects in Temporals, as the Vicarage is a visible instance of; which,
with much labour and expense, he rebuilt from a poor mean place to what it
now is, and all for the good of his successors, together with a fine library."
The " Crosby Library " still exists in the house, with reference to which
the following occurs in the Vicar's will : — " I give to the Vicar of the said
Parish Church for the time being all my Library and all my bookes therein, he
before entering upon the same giving security to the Mayor, Recorder, two
senr. aldermen and Schoolmr. for ye preservation of the same and that the
same shall go down to his next succr  and I desire the Vicar for
the time being to lend to the Curate there, such books to read as he may have
occasion for, he returning the same in such reasonable time as he may have
read the same over."
During several years of the Rev. Thomas Murgatroyd's incumbency, as
well as in Vicar Crosby's time, one Francis Gray, doctor of " physick," resided
at the Vicarage. In 1700 " William Potter dyed at the Vichariege," and from
1703-1705 Thomas Shepherd, deputy recorder of the town, resided here.
Directly after the induction of Dr. Symonds, circ. 1745, the barn and
stable described in the above survey, and lying at the back or east side of the
house, were adapted to the purpose of a kitchen and wine cellars, and above
the Vicar erected his drawing-room as it now exists, only that it was lighted
exclusively from the east end by the present large window, or possibly at that
time by two smaller windows. The north end of the house also underwent
alterations. The Rev. Henry Robinson, upon his accepting the living in 1789,
enlarged the dining-room, and, with other improvements, altered the hall and
staircase. About 1815, Vicar Hudson added the library on the south side of
the house — -the first attempt to gain a southern aspect — the room adjoining the
hall probably again became a kitchen, and the windows in this and the other
wing, which had been contracted, were opened to their former size.
The late Venerable Archdeacon Cooper took down the north wing about
the year i860, when he built his new Vicarage in the " Vicar's Fields," the
foundation stone of which was laid on March 5th, 1859. This alteration
decreased the building considerably, and made it more suitable to the

176 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
habitation of his curates. The rooms that were demolished were the dining-
room, parlour, and servants' apartments, leaving only the hall (in which a
smaller apartment or business room had been previously partitioned off), with
bed-room above; the front kitchen and the pantry, with bed-room and dressing-
room above ; and the back kitchen and wine cellars, with the drawing-room
above and the library annexe.
The last alterations (recently made in 1898) comprised the restoration of
the hall to its former size by the removal of the lath and plaster partition ;
second, the addition of an entrance porch ; third, the restoration of the back
kitchen as the kitchen and the front kitchen as a sitting-room, together with
the transformation ofthe two wine cellars (by the opening of new windows in
the east wall) into a larder and pantry ; fourth, the transfer of the out offices
and yard from the south to the north of the house, leaving the south free for
pleasure grounds, with a garden entrance to the house at its south side.
Vicar Crosby in 1700, in order to increase the revenue of his office, let off
the field at the back of his house, between the Church Yard and Nether
Bridge, into tan yards. The offices and sheds stood close up to the street, and
extended from where the Lodge now is to near the present entrance gates to
the school, and truly unsightly things they were, with their rusty and red-
coloured doors, windows, and ventilating boards. The tan pits were in the
rear approached through a large covered entry, a little above the present
entrance to the grounds. But in 1826, Vicar Hudson, being annoyed by the
disagreeable sight and evil smell of these works, set himself to gain possession
and convert the place into a suitable approach to the Vicarage. And no
wonder, considering that the only carriage entrance at that time was through
the " Ring o' Bells " Yard, a way by no means pleasant to his many visitors.
A carriage road was made, the present entrance lodge erected, and many trees
and shrubs were planted. About this time also a "colony of rooks," we are
told, " established themselves in the lofty and venerable lime trees on Ihe west
side ofthe mansion."
Ring o' Bells Inn Thomas Barker> the church sexton, was a favourite
with the churchwardens in the year 1741, and he built
for them this inn as a snug retreat, wherein they could sit beside a good fire of
peats and wood and have somewhat to drink at the parish charges. A con-

KIRKLAND. 177
venierit door was made to open into the churchyard through which his friends
could easily pass after viewing the needful repairs to the sacred edifice or after
auditing the accounts. It would seem that the building was erected on
consecrated ground, but under the circumstances that did not become a very
great obstacle. No doubt, to all parties concerned, it was a most convenient
house and lucrative as well, especially on " peremptory days," better known as
"parish pudding days," when us. was the customary parish expense to be
spent on drink — a sum which was afterwards increased to 33s. In 1789 John
Fisher, a Roman Catholic, succeeded Barker, and christened the inn by the
name of the " Ring o' Bells." He died in 1814, and was followed by John
Reade, of Heversham, who caused the pictorial sign representing the church
clock tower and the bellringers in white stockings and knickerbockers busily
engaged in ringing with a jug of foaming ale beside them, to be painted by
Jack Fothergill, a man of considerable merit in sign painting. But in 1830
Reade left Kendal, and at the auction of his effects the sign was sold to
Obadiah Burrow, ofthe "Eagle and Child," Heversham, and ultimately found
its way to Heversham Hall. It was here that our local antiquary, Thomas
Jennings, discovered it in 1862, used as a screen to prevent draughts from
coming down a disused chimney ; and, to his honour be it recorded, that he at
once purchased the interesting relic and brought it back to Kendal to restore
it to its original position.
During the visit of the rebels to the town in November, 1715, some of the
soldiers came down to Tom Barker's (he being the sexton) to make arrange
ments for the Sunday services, especially for the bellringing, and to enquire for
" Watty Burn," the player of the " muckle pipes." Several of the ringers
happened to be present at the time, and among them was John Wilson, who
loudly protested that he would not ring for such a beggarly crew. Upon this
tbe soldiers drew their swords, and poor " Slape " would have slipped into
another world in honour of Bonnie Prince Charlie, had it not been for Tom
Barker who whispered to them — " O, gentlemen, nivver mind him ; hees net
a' thear, an' we nivver taick onny notice o' him," whereupon the generous
Highlanders sheathed their swords, and ended the matter in glasses all round
and a few drams of snuff.
 This block of hewn limestone buildings was erected by a
Nos. 41 to 47. ,.<-,, ~ T l u
very thrifty shopkeeper — Betty Scott. In the centre house

178 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
lived Thomas Scott, a celebrated bellringer in connection with our church,
and in the ringing loft it is recorded that he now and then was the composer
as well as the conductor of the peal. His son George was a remarkable young
man, who gathered together a considerable library, which was disposed of
after his father's death in 1849. Some of the early files ofthe Kendal Chronicle
now in the Free Library bear his name.
At the foot of Kirkbarrow Lane is the " Wheat Sheaf,"
Wheat Sheaf Inn. , . , ,., , „ ._ _, ,„
a sign which was at one time, like the (Jat Sheat,
commonly used by bakers. The house was advertised to be let in 1843 when
John Redhead left it, and for sale when George Walker was tenant in July,
1854. Opposite was the " Pack Horse," which has now disappeared.
Kirkland here about, rendered famous by the exploits of Poor Barnabee,
contained in his time two centuries ago, some score of public houses, and for
the quality of good ale it had earned renown.
" What toper does not know thy name ?
What clime resounds not with thy Came ?
South or North Pole, 'tis ail the same,
Thou cans't not fail —
All join in chorus to proclaim
Brave Kendal ale !
Such ale-houses had commonly a pole or stake projecting from the front
ofthe house, to which a garland or bush was attached. This was known as
the ale-stake. But beside these, the more progressive houses hung out
pictorial signs by which the house was named. Gay says that they formed
also an indicator of the weather —
" For when the swinging signs your ears offend
With creaking noise, the rainy floods impend."
The general aspect of the narrow street with these signs hung across the
way must truly have been somewhat quaint and picturesque, but I can well
imagine a certain sense of danger connected with them to the pedestrian
passing along beneath. In these smaller houses outside the jurisdiction of the
ancient borough limits, the iron fastenings may not have been altogether of
the firmest description. However, this much is certain, that for one reason or

KIRKLAND.

179

another, the Court of Kendal ordered in the year 1778 all signs projecting
from the buildings to be taken down. (Vide Cumberland Pacquet for December
15th, 1778.)
Richard Brathwait was born about 1588, flourished from 1611 to 1665,
and died March 4th, 1673. A portrait of Richard Brathwait is at Dodding
Green parsonage.

Morris Dancers before an Inn, showing the Ale-stake.
His great grandfather, Richard, lived at and was owner of Ambleside.
He married Anne, daughter of William Sandys, of East Thwaites and had
issue one son, Robert, who possessed Burneshead (Burneside) and married
Alice Williamson. They had issue Anne Bradley, Thomas, Elizabeth Benson,
Isabel Briggs, and Gawen. Thomas; the elder son, at his father's death,
possessed Burnshead and was afterwards knighted. He married Dorothy,
daughter of Robert Bindloss, and had issue Lady Agnes Lamplew, Sir Thomas
who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Dalston, the author Richard,
and four other daughters.

i8o KIRKBIE KENDALL.
After leaving school, our Richard, the author, was sent to the University
and became a commoner of Oriel College in 1604 at the age of 16. From his
profession of law and the Inns of Court, he appears to have adventured awhile
among the merchants, and finally on the death of his father to have left court
and city to turn honest countryman. A well read scholar, loving horses,
journeying occasionally and — perhaps for courtesy — -a spendthrift. In younger
days better known as " Dapper Dick " or " Drunken Barnaby," he only too
fully realized with his natural weakness the enticements of this old bit of
Kirkland, for we find him saying at the return of one of his excursions : —
"Thence to Kirkland, thence to Kendal,
I did that which men call spend-all ;
Night and day with Sociates many
Drank I ale both thick and clammy.
Shroud thy head, Boy, stretch thy hand too ;
Hand has done what head can't stand to."
He first married, in 1617, Frances, daughter of James Lawson, and had
issue nine children. After remaining a widower for six years, in 1639 ne
married his second wife Mary Crofts, and had issue the gallant Sir Strafford
Brathwait. Some time after this second marriage he quitted Burneshead,
probably to occupy the Manor House at Catterick, where he died, and being a
stout Royalist under the reigns of James I. and Charles I. his lavish expendi
ture in the cause ruined his fortunes.
" My ruined fortunes, I shall nere bemone
Though I have felt as much as any one
Of the delinquent's whip : I'm still the man
I was before the Civill warrs began."
He was a moral writer and satirical poet of pre-eminence. The pranks of
his youth were afterwards bitter reflections to him, as for instance the waste
of the Sabbath days he spent at a wake, Morrice dance, or alehouse sociable
he eloquently laments in his " Penitent Pilgrim " and leaves behind him the
following lines as his bequest to us : —
"Within that native place where I was born
It lies in you deere townesmen to reforme."
And concerning tobacco smoking he leaves the following : —

kirkland. i8i
" In great men's kitchens where I suppose
Lesse smoake comes from their chimneys than their nose
Thus have I proved tobacco good or ill,
Good, if rare taken ; bad, if taken still."
Then again in the 4th part of Barnabee's Journall he says : — ¦
" Now to Kirkland, truly by it
May that say be verified,
' Far from God, but neare the Temple '
Though their Pastor give exemple
They are such a kind of vermin,
Pipe they'd rather heare than sermon."
Now all these early frolics of Barnabee are very bad and mad and sad,
and for the present generation it is very fortunate that most of the old inns
have gone and are forgotten, whilst some still exist in name only, such as the
" Lamb and Flag," now converted into a couple of private houses, the
" Queen's Head," the " Bear," and the " Black Cock," at which latter place
Mr. J. Lowther in 1763 wished to " offer Mr. Robinson to your favour."
The " Hammer-in-Hand " had over its door the couplet : —
" By Hammer-in-Hand
All hearts do stand."
On the west side was the " Dog and Badger," evidently referring to the
common practice then of badger baiting, and we doubt not that this inn was
the scene of many of these brutal sports, especially as we read that the
landlord was a " famous sportsman ! " Nearly opposite on the east side was
the " Hammer and Pincers," a beerhouse that displayed its sign to entrap the
smiths, joiners, nail makers and other artizans in contradistinction to the
nobility across the way. A few doors further to the south and on the same
side was the " Ewe and Lamb," being a common inn sign throughout the
country, representing a lamb sucking. Would this sign be hung out to allure
the more sheepish ones, those who were afraid of the sporting tipster and too
proud to associate with the mechanics, that they might enter and suck too.
Mr. John Watson tells us that Larwood and Hollen give the following lines
as having been written on a window pane by a traveller who was staying at
the sign of the " Ewe and Lamb " at Worcester. In this instance the lamb
was not sucking : —

18a KIRKBIE KENDALL.
" If the people suck your ale no more
Than the poor lamb th' ewe at the door,
You in some other place may dwell,
Or hang yourself for all you'll sell."
A few yards further south, but on the west side, was the " Rising Sun,"
one ofthe badges of Edward III. and which displayed for its sign, Sol rising
from behind what were supposed to be clouds and doubtless intended to
spread its benign influence over all who entered, be it day or night, wet or fine.
But it would seem that these houses of entertainment were not to
No. 53.
pass entirely without a temperance rival, for right here in the very
midst of them, and, although it is almost incredible to believe, there is a
veritable farm yard for milking-cows. I wonder how many of the residents of
Kendal know that here in Kirkland — Kirkland, of all places — it is possible to
turn aside and obtain a glass of fresh warm milk ! But so it is.
In this house Isaac Wilson, who was Mayor in 1831-2, was born
im o. fty* in 1788. He was educated at Sandes Hospital and eventually
became a thriving solicitor, and took into partnership Thomas Harrison,
who was afterwards appointed Town Clerk.
Running steeply down by the side, there still remains an old dyehouse,
at one time used by Martin Park, a silk dyer. The house and malt kiln
adjoining was once occupied by a Mr. Hading, and his granary still projects
out a little on to the road — sufficient to form a corner — where a seat used to
be, wide enough to seat three people, over which there was the luxury of a
pent roof to protect the sitters from inclement rains.
__. , , The narrow gap which leads up to the old cemetery at Kirk-
barrow and on to the Vicar's fields would exist, no doubt, at
the time when the Parish Church belonged to the Roman Catholic faith. A
convenient passage for the inhabitants of Underbarrow and Bradley Field,
aye ! and for those in Helsington coming to mass at the mother church.
Kirkbarrow House appears to be an ancient dwelling, but concerning its
history I can find but little information. Here resided John Broadbent, who
had the whole row of houses in Cock-beck for his woollen manufactory. He
died in 1792, and was succeeded by John Eccles. In 1832, Cornelius Nicholson
resided and compiled his Annals of Kendal from this house.

KIRKLAND.

183

Nos. 52 and 54. year
son being the architect.
and from either side
the two front doors
give entrance to the
dwellings. In the
first house (No. 52)
the Rev. Joseph
Irving, M.A., a
curate at the
church, lived for
some time; but,
after the death of
James Pennington in
1845, his widow and
family came here to
reside. Subsequently
the property was
sold to John Parkin,
who lived here till he
bought Tobias Atkin-
son's house, and
latterly it has been
occupied by our
worthy parish clerk,
George Rushforth.
At No. 54, Betsy
Dennison, fourth
daughter of Alder
man Robert Harri
son, died in 1854,
aged 83; and, since her
some time.

very good hewn limestone building was erected in the
1837 by James Pennington, a solicitor, John Richard-
Within the wide arched entry is a handsome court,

time, the gifted Miss Jane Cowherd lived here for

But, historically, the chief interest about this place is that the present
building stands upon the site of some very old property, where Peter

184 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Whitehead and Robert Wharton once lived. It was this Whitehead who, by
will dated 3rd October, 1712, gave a burgage house in Kendal, this house in
Kirkland, and a bit of land called Little Roods in Kirkland to his sister for
life. After her death he gave this house to Bryan Lancaster, Elizabeth
Walker, Thomas Crosby, and Robert Wharton in trust to sell the same, and
out of the proceeds he gave £45 to be laid out at five per cent. Out of the
interest, the trustees were to take 20s. annually wherewith to buy cloth or
kersey for coats for three poor men inhabitants of Kirkland, which coats
should have the initials " P. W." in red cloth upon the left arm ; to distribute
the further sum of 20s. amongst the poor inhabitants, and especially to the
ancient, the lame, and blind, widows, and orphans, in sums not less than is.
nor exceeding is. 6d. ; and the remaining 5s. to be divided amongst the
trustees. In 1752, coats ceased to be given away on account of the objection
to wearing the letters on the arm, and instead 7s. is given to each of the three
poor persons towards furnishing a coat.
Robert Wharton was a postmaster, who had his office near the church ;
but he is most justly famed for being the chronicler of Remarkable Events.
When few could write excepting the parson, the teacher, or the postmaster,
this duty was expected of him, and right well has he fulfilled it. His chronicle
was printed by one Roger Adams, of Manchester, in the month of November,
1724, a pretty good proof that there was no printing press in Kendal in those
days. The sheet measures 22 inches wide by 17J inches long, and was
published on two kinds of paper, the best being sold at 6d. and the other at 4d.
A number ofthe Newcastle Courant for 1721 informs us that Warton was their
correspondent at Kendal, and that he sold the paper at his office. As Kendal
had at this early period no paper of its own, the Courant served as the
principal advertising medium for this district, and contained most of the local
news. The Newcastle Journal for April 14th, 1744, contains this advertise
ment : — " Sold by Robert Wharton, and no other person in Kendal, Dr.
Bateman's Pectoral Drops."
In the Museum is an old Bible belonging to the Wharton family, in which
the following interesting entry occurs :— " My dear father Robert Wharton
departed this life at his own hous in Kirkland ye 21st of Jenry Ano 1745 In the
65th year of his Age, it being about the time of the Rebellion." He was
interred in the Friends' Burial Ground,

KIRKLAND. 185
_ _ , „ , . Mr. Frank Wilson in his interesting account of the
Grey Coat School. b
" Rise and Progress of Sunday Schools in Kendal,"
tells us of an early School Union, the needful funds of which were raised by a
general subscription among all classes and denominations. Rooms were
rented in various parts of the town, e.g. in Finkle Street, on the site where the
Science and Art Schools now stand (discontinued in 1844), near the bottom of
New Bank Yard, behind the Old Maids Hospital (removed in 1833 to Captain
French Lane), and on the premises where the "Shakespeare Inn" now is;
there were also three in Stricklandgate, one somewhere down the White
Horse Yard, another in "The Fold" (the old timber building recently
demolished), and the third in the Wool Pack Yard (afterwards removed to the
New Inn Yard. In these rooms reading and writing were taught. "The
masters received 2s. each Sunday and 6d. extra when there was a fire. The
superintendents were appointed monthly from amongst the subscribers. Each
scholar had to learn the Catechism and to attend Divine Service in the Parish
Church in the morning and afternoon. At one time as many as 800 children
were in attendance at these schools, and every boy who attended regularly
both "morning and afternoon for the 52 Sundays of the year, received a grey
swallow-tail coat, a circumstance which gave to the institution the name of
' The Grey Coat School.' This coat, however, became in time so peculiar
that it was judiciously changed in after years for a fustian jacket. The girls
probably received grey frocks on the same terms."
Some of the schools in this Union existed as early as 1785, i.e. some five
years only after the introduction of Raikes' system. The oldest collecting
book now known is for Stricklandgate and dates back to 1804, the oldest roll-
book extant is dated January, 1817, which is for fhe Finkle Street School, of
which James O'Neil was master, and the oldest minute book dates back to
April, 1830. On the 30th of June, 1845, the two remaining boys' schools were
concentrated into Jennings' Yard and the New Inn Yard Schools.
„ William Sleddall, by will dated nth of August, 1801,
Green Coat School. , r, , _, .
gave to the two Senior Aldermen and Burgesses ot
KendaL £525 upon trust that they and their successors should purchase four
per cent. Bank Annuities and apply the interest in establishing and for ever
supporting a Sunday School, for the instruction of thirty-five boys and twelve
girls} the children of the poor people of Kirkby Kendal; and for finding and

1 86 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
providing a new green coat for each of the boys every year, and new hats once
in two years ; also for each of the girls a green gown every year and green
bonnets once in two years. Also that the Trustees should yearly treat them
selves out of the dividends when they settled their accounts, with a crown
bowl of punch ! No dissenter from the Church of England was to be allowed
to partake of the punch or become one of the Trustees.
In 1843 the Trustees found the management of the school so exceedingly
defective that they determined upon removing the children from the old school
in Finkle Street to the schools connected with St. Thomas' Church. It would
seem, however, that by reason of the boys' great misbehaviour, the church was
not so well pleased with the scheme, so that very soon afterwards the Green
Coat School was once again removed and became amalgamated with the Grey
Coat School in Jennings' Yard.
Ch h S Vi 1 ^n tne year ^^ tne °^ Jennings' Yard school was
transferred to the Parish Church, and placed under
Government inspection. The present premises were built in the vicarage
grounds at a cost of £1200 raised by voluntary subscriptions, and were opened
on April 27th, 1861, as a Sunday School, and on the next day as an Infant
Day School. The Kirkland Girl's Sunday School originated in a small
gathering of girls collected by the elder Miss Cowherd in one of her cottages
in the year 1832, subsequently moving to a room in the " Ring o' Bell's Inn "
Yard. It was again transferred to a building erected for it on ground belonging
to the Abbot Hall estate, and from this building it moved to the old Grammar
School, where it remained until these new school premises were ready to
receive them.
Pillar Pump °n the 24th May' l861' this cast-iron pillar pump was
erected to supercede the iron trap-doors in the pavement
already referred to. The cost was defrayed partly by the Board of Health and
partly by public subscription.
No. 90 Kirkland is tne only Place in the town that retains to this day on
the road side the useful smithy. For in the days of pack-horses,
and later in the coaching days, the glowing fire and the musical anvil of the
smithy was a very common and happy sight to the traveller. Old Bob

KIRKLAND.

187

Graham, or " Bob Grime," swung his brawny arms here in the XVIIIth
century, and within living memory his grandson, Joseph Graham, handed the
work on to his successors.

No. 100.

Here is,

or at least
has been until re
cently, an old bake
shop. In the days of
the notorious Nell
Ray it did a thriving
business, although
Nell had the name of
being not too honest
— lifting the crust,
and taking out a
portion of her neigh
bour's pie.

High Front.

High

Front
is so named by reason
of the roadway at this
point being lowered
to give an easier gra
dient over Nether

SEp^^s?**

Bridge, and which resulted in the footpath being left up some three feet above
the surface, necessitating a little flight of steps between the two in the centre
of the row. The path was protected for some 50 or 60 yards by a breast wall
standing some three feet or more above the walk, and double that height above
the road, which gave to the houses the appearance of a high front from off
the road, This difference in the two levels was done away with in 1853, by
lowering the path, at the time when Job Bintley, the Borough Surveyor, built
the house with the bow window for his own residence Some papers
preserved at Levens Hall prove that at one time trees stood in front of this
parapet. Only think of it ! and of what Kirkland misses to-day by their
disappearance.

r88 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
We next come to the " Cock and Dolphin," being
Cock and Dolphin Inn. the last house of entertainment on leaving tne
town, since the "Cross Keys" and "Hie Coomber" have retired from the
scene. The chanticleer, with his formidable array of teeth, has proudly stood
on the back of the sea-green dolphin at Nether Bridge for over two hundred
years. Mr. John Watson thinks this sign to be a very rare one and questions
whether any other now exists, although one of the carriers' inns in London
was so named in 1681. Hollen, in his work on Inn Signs, refers to the " Cock
and Dolphin" once in London and to this one in Kendal. He attributes
the sign to the dolphin on the armorial shield of the Dauphin of France and
to the cock, connecting both with the heraldry of the French Royal Family.
*~~ , .__ Engraved over the brass knocker of the next house, which
122 and 124. & ........
projects forward in a line with this last inn, was for many
years the name of the Rev. D. Jones. He was a straightforward, sincere
speaker, and when minister at the New Street Chapel from 1826 to 1861,
report has it that the chapel was crowded morning and evening alike.
Indeed, so great was the anxiety of Ihe people to get seats, that for some
time before the doors were opened, numbers gathered together to await on the
door-step. The congregation overflowed into the schoolroom, and slits were
made in the dividing wall so that they also could hear his excellent discourse.
And what was it that drew together this anxious audience ? We are told that
he was a man full of the Spirit of God, and that he simply spoke to the
people of the things that had animated his spirit during the previous week.
No academical sermon, but the living message of his Master — such as the
Christian Church yearns for at the present time.
V rl i^a " PurnP Yard" is so named on account ofthe first pump in the
town being erected here about the year 1750. In 1764, at a
court ofthe Mayor and Aldermen, it was " agreed and ordered that Alderman
Francis Drinkel shall have paid him the sum of Forty Pounds out of the
Public Stock or Revenue of the Corporation to reimburse him the money by
him expended in making and putting down the Wells and Pumps in Highgate
within this Burgh. The same to be paid him by the Chamberlains of the
Corporation for the time being in manner following, to wit — Twenty Pounds
part thereof at the end of six months and the remaining Twenty Pounds at the

KIRKLAND. 189
end of twelve months from the day of the date of this Court or Assembly. By
order, Birkhead, Town Clerk."

. Poor House Lane.

This lane, leading to the " Vicar's Fields," has been

widened and built upon on the north side. The old
Kirkland Workhouse at the head of the lane is still standing, and occupied as a
private cottage. It was established in the year 1809, the paupers being
boarded out by contract at so much per head. Poor Oliver Twist !

No. 140.

" To be Sold, a very good Burgage
house, Stable, Cow House, Tan-yard,
Bark Mill and Garden late belonging to Stanley
Brockbank and situate in Kirkland, near Kendal,
particulars may be
had of Mr. Charles
Shepherd." This
tan-yard was on the
south of Poor House
Lane, where there
is now an extensive
garden and summer
house. Charles
Shepherd, a tanner,
was born at Nat-
land Abbey, and
was related to the
Stricklands of Sizergh. He died in 1789 at the advanced age of 98, and was
buried near the doorway into the Strickland Chapel in our Parish Church.
But since the above advertisement appeared in the Kendal Weekly Courant
for January 29th, 1731, the house has been much modernised. The family of
David Huddlestone, gunpowder maker, of Elterwater Hall, resided here for
some time.

Watchman, Temp. James I.
Referred to on page 115.

Watchman in his box.
Referred to on page 116.

No. 152.

On the same side of the street a little further south stands the

three-storied and rough-casted house wherein the celebrated
George Romney died on the 15th day of November, 1802, in his 68th year. I
shall have a good deal :to say about the life and. work of our artist when

190

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

describing his first abode in Redman's Yard, Stricklandgate, so that it will be
only necessary here to quote from the Newcastle Chronicle for November 27th,
1802, as follows : — " Died Monday se'nnight at his house in Kendal, where he
had resided for some time in a poor state of health, George Romney, Esqre.,
well known for his eminent abilities as a painter, of which he gave numerous
proofs in the course of several years' successful practice in the Metropolis."
In May of the previous year an old friend of the family, William Cockin,
died here at the age of 65 years. In the former part of his life he taught
writing and arithmetic at St. Bees, and afterwards for many years at this town
and at Nottingham. As a teacher he was universally allowed to be at the head
of his profession, nor was he more remarkable for the solidity, depth, and
vigour of his understanding than for a peculiarly happy and original method of
conveying instruction. He was the author of an " Essay on delivering
Written Language," " Ode to the Genius ofthe Lakes," " Fall of Scepticism
and Infidelity Predicted," the " Theory ofthe Syphon," and also of a revision
of " West's Guide to the Lakes."
N -ino Here was the " Cross Keys Inn " in days gone by, with the arms
of the Papal See as its sign. The late Rev. James Gibson said
that the next house, the " Hie Coomber," was one of the houses used in secret
by the Roman Catholics when first venturing to perform mass in this
neighbourhood, being obliged to move from house to house to avoid detection
and punishment. But one would be rather more disposed to think that he
meant this house.
Hie Coombe ^n<^ n0W We come to tne town-end house, with iron rails in
front, built upon the site of the once famous and thatched
public house named the " Hie Coomber." On its sign board was painted a
fine water spaniel named Coomber pursuing a duck in the water, with the
encouraging exclamation " hie (away) Coomber." From an inventory taken
July 10th, 1579, in a " taverne at Kirkefield howse " in Kendal, we find such a
large quantity of wines and flagons as to lead us to think that the " Hie
Coomber " in those cheerful days had pretentions to the favours of Kendalians,
and perhaps to temptations also.
The last of the family of John Lambert, of Watch Field, came to reside
in this house, and as they were lessees of the tithes for Trinity College,

KIRKLAND. i9i
Cambridge, the Tithe Barn stood on the opposite side of the road. From
Todd's plan it will be seen that it ran east and west, and projected out
considerably on to the road. The end nearest the river was a nail manufactory
carried on by Messrs. Bindloss, ironmongers, in Kirkland, over which was a
dwelling. A narrow rural-looking lane led down to this factory, and at the
bottom corner there was a stile which opened on to the cool and pleasing walk
along the river side to Watch Field.
g. « Continuing along the Milnthorpe Road, or what in Speed's
plan (1614) is named " Hersoms Lane," we come to the
ancient stone cross at which the wayfarer stopped for prayer on his leaving
or entering the town. It was erected on the brow of the hill near to where the
Orphan Home now stands. And there was need for such intercession before
going out into, or for such thanksgiving after passing in from, the wild district
to the south in the lawless days. There is still to be seen on the fence wall a
rudely engraved cross for the purpose of marking the exact locality where the
cross once stood. It is mentioned as being in existence in the steward's
accounts of William Parr, of Kendal Castle — Temp. Elizabeth.
« ,,. ,-. , -. From hence, passing southward to the extreme limits of
Collin Field. Nethergraveship, one cannot but help noticing the two
XVIth Century manor houses of Collin Field to the right, which had a park
like approach before the days of the Hawesmead and the neighbouring walls,
and Watch Field to the left, at one time half buried in lofty trees. In a
dilapidated condition the historic Collin Field still retains many of its ancient
features, occupying three sides of a quadrangle paved with small pebbles, and
enclosed on the fourth side by a strong wall and gate, which when shut
secured the inhabitants a fairly safe retreat from attack.
In 1612 there was married at Kendal Church Jefferey Sedgwicke and Anne
Briggs of Helsington. There is an ancient house not far from the chapel there
known as " Bridge House," which was originally " Brigg's House,"* and
where the initials " R. B." are still preserved in stained glass, doubtless for
Robert Briggs, the first Recorder of Kendal. Mr. and Mrs. Sedgwick had four
daughters and three sons. When the eldest daughter was christened in 1615,
* Some future ignorant owner must have thought the name of Briggs was a corruption of brig, and in his
wisdom modernised the name to Bridge.

ig2 KIRKBIE KEtfDALL.
the parents were described as of " ye field." In 1627 the parents are described
as of "ye ffield in HeLsington called Collin Field," and in January of the
following year Jefferey died.
George Sedgwick, born at Killington in 1618, doubtless some relation, and
whose mother was a Miss Benson, of Ings, was for eighteen years in the
service of that powerful and gifted woman Anne Countess of Pembroke, who,
by the way, was one of the two known ladies who have held the office of
Sheriffess. And it was through her generous gift of £200, "being mindful of
the wellbeing of her favourite secretary," that George was enabled to purchase
this house in 1668, but from whom I cannot ascertain.
Mr. Sedgwick, in a letter entitled " A summary or memorial of my own
life, written by me to the honour and glory of God and in thankful commemo
ration of His manifold goodness and mercies to me, in the whole course
thereof," says : — " Within a while God directed me to Collin Field, a small
estate held under Queen Catharine as part of her jointure, by a moderate rate
and fine, convenient for the church and market, freed from all assizes and
sessions, where by God's blessing I enjoy a quiet and retired life to my con
tentment, having oftentimes the society of several of my worthy friends and
neighbours from the town of Kendal, having lived here for above fourteen years
at the writing hereof in 1682," &c, &c. George died in June, 1685, aged 67
years, and was buried at the east end of the nave to the Parish Church
beneath the pew which he originally occupied. After his death Collin Field
became the residence ofthe Chambre family ; and then in 1747 George Sedg
wick, nephew to the above George Sedgwick, sold it to John Yeates, a tanner,
father of Anthony Yeates, of Kirkland, for £680, subject to a customary
rent of £1 18s. 4d. to Nethergraveship, in whose family the building still
remains. Over the door is an inscription :—

NVNC MEA MOX
HVIVS, SED POSTEA
NESCIO CVIVS
1663 §<*„

which may be interpreted thus : — " Now mine, soon his, afterwards I know
not whose." The initials " I. M. G." refer probably to the owners at that

KIRKLAND.

i93

time, for there seems to be no reason for Cornelius Nicholson's theory that the
stone was brought from Brougham Castle. This stone, before the new porch
was erected, was inserted in the wall over the old front door where the
sculptured stone now is. On the oaken entrance door, so amply studded
with pegs, is a large wooden lock bearing the initials " A. P.," sent as a gift
from the Countess, and with her portrait it seems to have been a favourite
kind of present with her, claiming as she did a master key and the free right of
entrance as a refuge during the Protectorate of Cromwell, in order to elude
the pursuit and persecution of her political enemies. The original key is still
hanging on the door, and one can only pity the Countess's pocket to have to
carry a duplicate key such as this.
Passing through the " hallan," one is immediately struck with the
bygone beauty of this place ; but, oh ! how sad it is to see its present damp
and ruinous condition for the lack of some rain-water spouts and drains. Here
are still to be seen in the two dampest of all the rooms (now disused) the
remarkable plaster overmantel and friezes buried thick beneath repeated
whitewashings and fragments of stained glass in the lattice windows, which
bespeak their former elegance. Paved with pebbles, as was usual, is the
kitchen (also now deserted), with its large open fireplace, spacious chimney and
rannel-bouk, from which would be suspended the seething pot.
By the help of peats these kitchen fires were never allowed to burn quite
out. Not only was it considered unlucky for the hearth to grow cold, but it
was also necessary in former
times to keep some light burn- (
ing, as to strike a light afresh
was a long and tedious opera
tion. The tinder-box employed
commonly, consisted of a cir
cular tin (fig. 3) four inches in
diameter and one-and-a-half in
height. It had a lid (fig. 1)
which fitted over it canister-
wise and in the centre was
soldered a tin tube used as a candle-stick. The black tinder of charred
linen rags, the manufacture of which was one of the accomplishments of our

194

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

foremothers, lay flat at the bottom of the box, and a disk of tin (fig. 2) called
the damper, was used to extinguish the sparks when they had served their.
purpose. The steel
or striker (fig. 4)
usually made out of
an old file, a piece of
flint and some home
made strips of wood
dipped in sulphur
(figs. 5 and 6) com
pleted the outfit.
Should by ill chance
the last glow of fire
have died away, then
the first sound ofthe
early morning was
the click, click, click
of the kitchen maid,
striking with her
right hand the steel
forcibly downwards
Staking a Light- against the flint held
firmly in the left hand over the tinder. With each blow adroitly directed the
sparks would fall, until a sensitive portion of the tinder became alighted, and
then all that remained to do was to gently blow the glowing carbon, apply the
sulphur match end, which would burst into a blue blaze, light the candle, and
the thing was done.
But to return from this mild digression to the dining hall, we notice
the ingle beam, now spanning across a modern range, still adorned with
three pair of stag horns, and to the left of it (recessed back) is the " locker,"
bearing the initials " G. S., 1674," cut deep into the carved oak door. On the
opposite side is a fine screen dividing off the larders and pantry, wherein is the
only ancient fitting left — a handsome carved oaken cupboard, bearing date
1675 and the initials " G. S." At the top of the staircase, with its curiously-
cut balusters, is the " wishing gate " and several bedrooms, of which one large
one, with its black oak polished floor and oaken mullions, is especially worthy

KIRKLAND. ig5
of notice, having been furnished until only recently with antique furniture and
portraits by Romney and others. And so the good old house still stands
bereft indeed of its glory — a pitiful wreck, falling quickly to decay, yet still
audible enough with the tale of graceful lives spent beneath its roof.
w The principal place for fording the river on entering the
town from the south, and before Nether Bridge was built,
may have been near the picturesque dwelling of Watts or Watch Field, as the
name " Wath " given to it in olden times seems to imply ; and it is very
probable that when the Roman Station at Water Crook was in- its glory, this
ford would be the site of extensive fortifications to defend the crossing of the
river. In the grant to the church made by Gilbert about the year 1190,
mention is made of " Wath Slack " in tracing the boundaries from Stainbank
Green, and there is at the present time a public way from the Helsington
Road, by Helsington Laithes, and a ford across the river at Watch Field.
The late George Foster Braithwaite possessed an ancient seal, which was found
at this ford in October, 1886, and which he subsequently gave to the late
Archdeacon Cooper. It was the seal of Sir Joseph Cradock, Chief Commis
sioner of Richmond, who is depicted seated in a chair of state and clothed in
the robe and velvet cap of a Doctor of Laws. Below is his coat of arms, with
the crescent for difference impaling the arms of his wife. On either side is the
date 1674, and around the margin the inscription : — " Sigill Joseph Cradock
Militis Comissa Arch. Richmondioe."
The house was formerly known by the name of " Cayrus House," it being
exchanged in 1363 from John del Chambre to Richard Carus. Later it
became the residence of the great Lambert family, but it is also justly
honoured as being the home of Thomas Simpson, a native, who acquired a
considerable fortune as a coach builder in London. It seems that he attracted
the notice of George III., who in his accustomary walks in the park, observed
Simpson going to his work punctually at six o'clock every morning. At last
the King, asking where he was employed, visited the manufactory and
requested that Simpson should be employed to make the wheels for a coach,
which His Majesty then and there ordered. Under such a favourable
patronage, Simpson quickly started business on his own account and became
exceedingly popular in his trade, amassing a large fortune, and then returned
to Watch Field, where he died in 1830, aged 61 years.

1 96 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Just before reaching Nether Bridge at the north corner, there was in the
year 1700, {i.e. when a plan of the Vicarage grounds was made in order to shew
the proposed new tanyards), a wide ford left open as a watering place for
cattle. A part of this was afterwards seized and the site occupied by a malt
kiln, which must have rendered the entrance to the town very narrow and
inconvenient. It was used by a Quaker gentleman, Simon Crossfield, for some
time, and after his death by Isaac Hadwen, who fell heir to his property.
Kendal Chronicle, March 9th, 1822 : — " To be sold all the materials of the Malt Kiln, at
the end of Nether Bridge, in Kirkland, late in the possession of Isaac Hadwen."
Kendal Chronicle, June 15th, 1822 : — " A statement ofthe accounts of the Treasurer and
Surveyors of the Heronsike and Eamont Bridge turnpike road, for the year ending
on the 12th day of May, 1822. To Isaac Hadwen, consideration money for purchase
of part premises near Nether Bridge £510."
Kendal Chronicle, August 3rd. 1822 :— " To be Sold by Auction at the ' Commercial Inn'
in Kendal, on Tuesday, the 27th day of August, the remainder of the old Malt Kiln."
James Webster of the " Commercial " seems to have been the purchaser, with
such a title as could be given, and he thereupon converted the place into the
present lobsided row of cottages.
Nether Bridge In I3^6 there waS a £rant of Pontage made for five years
for repairing this bridge, and on 21st December, 1582 :—
" Itm it is ordained and constitutyd by the Alderman and Head Burgesses aforesayd wth the
full advise & assent aswell of the xxiiijti sworn assistaunts as off most pte off the honest
Inhabitant.es heare that no maner of pson or psons from hencfurthe shall or may, either
drawe or traile any tymber or other draughte whatsoever either by strengthe of horses or
other catall or by the power of men (above one only beast draught, at any one tyme) Over
either of the Brydges called stramangt or Nether brydge Sup pen for fact toe quoc xijd thone
halff thereof to the Chamber & the other halff to the Brigtolers."
At first the bridge was only wide enough for one cart to pass over it at
the same time, but in the year 1772 it was doubled in width, only to be washed
away some three weeks after by the high flood on the 29th of October. How
ever it would seem that the addition was quickly rebuilt again on the northern
side. It will be noticed that the lower or southern half is double arched and
of much older workmanship. Those who have not noticed the way in which
the pack horse bridges of Westmorland have been made available for wheeled
carriages by the rude and simple plan of doubling them, will find worthy of

NETHER BRIDGE, KENDAL.

KIRKLAND.

197

observation the skilful manner in which the common stone of the country has
been effectually adapted for this purpose in this bridge. The toll gate was let
in 1812 for £377, in 1819 for £700, and in 1822 for £626.

Netherfield Works.
Crossing the bridge,
we come to the fac
tory commenced by
" Tommy " Wilson
in 1825. Prior to
this date, Wilson
carried on his busi
ness of weaving cali
coes in what is called
the Old Barracks,
and also in a large
building opposite the
Buttery Well stile,
but on moving to
these premises he
branched out into
the fancy waistcoat
ing trade, which was
for many years so
successfully carried
on here.
I have before me a
large poster announc
ing the sale of the
place by order of the
assignees of Thomas
Wilson and Sons, on
June 16th, 1843, in which the works are described as containing an area
of 2756 square yards, also two genteel dwelling houses and two cottages
adjoining. The works have now passed to Messr-s. Somervell Bros., and

HW1 mwM/I/
wm: : . ffe

Nether Bridge.
From Lake Country Romances. Rev. H. V. Mills.

ig8

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

in their ever increasing sheds are made " uppers " by machinery, and the
celebrated " K " boot. Formerly called " Cook Lane," was widened in the year
1861, when two houses were built at the western end for
Henry Whitehead.
„„ . Coal gas was known in England for more than two hundred
Gas IfiTorks. years before the knowledge was put to practical use. As early
as 1659, at a coal mine at Wigan, attention was attracted by its property of
catching fire. Boyle, the chemist, made experiments, distilled coal in a
retort, collecting the gas in bladders, and provided amusement for his friends
by burning it as it escaped through tiny holes. Well nigh eighty years passed
before the discovery was heard of again, when in 1733 Sir James Lowther
brought the subject under the notice of the Royal Society. A coal mine at
Whitehaven became surcharged with gas, and to prevent dangerous conse
quences, a tube was laid to the mouth of the pit, where it was ignited, and
went on burning for nearly three years without any apparent decrease.
Another generation passed away before Mr. Murdoch, of Redruth, in Cornwall,
made coal gas in a small retort, and used it for domestic purposes. In 1797
he removed to Scotland. From Ayrshire the use of the new illuminant passed
to Birmingham, where Messrs. Boulton and Watt had their premises lighted
with it, and from them it spread to other Birmingham houses, and thence to
Manchester and other northern manufacturing towns. Yet people did not use
coal gas much in their houses ; they complained of the smoke injuring the
furniture, and that its use caused headache. In those days we were happy and content
with the lanthorn and the friendly help of the
link-boy, who with his torch of pitch and tow,
revealed the way until the year 1814, when no
less than 140 oil lamps enlightened or rather
made the more visible the darkness of our
town. Of the delightful character of these
link-boys, who followed the calling as a cloak
for theft, Gay in his " Trivia " says : —
" Though thou art tempted by the linkman's call,
Yet trust him not along a lonely wall :
Link Boy *n tne m'dway he'll quench the flaming brand,
And share the booty with his pilfering band."

KIRKLAND. io9
"On September 3rd, 1814, William Pennyngton, clerk to the Kendal
Fell Trustees, advertizes for a contract for lighting, attending to and dressing
about 140 lamps, finding all materials, etc. They must have the ' best whale
oil and 24 threads of the best cotton wick to each burner, and burn with a full
clear light from sunset till daybreak.' "
However, Kendal was not destined to remain long after this in the odour
of the burning wicks, for I find a notice of a public meeting convened on
October 16th, 1824, at the Town Hall, to form a Company for the purpose of
lighting the town with gas. The expense of the undertaking was estimated at
£6,000 ; and so great was the delight of the meeting, that before a subscription
list, handed round, arrived at the end of its journey, the requisite number of
shares of £20 each were filled. Many left the meeting disappointed, so great
was the desire to become shareholders. In the following year the gas works
were built, but many additions have been made to them since. On the frieze,
facing the front gates, is the appropriate motto : — " ex fumo dare lucem."
The operation of laying the pipes throughout the streets proved a source
of great diversion to the townsfolk by day, and of serious trouble to the
frequenters of the many inns after nightfall. The first great difficulty was
experienced in crossing over the Nether Bridge, the space between the road
surface and the arch stones being too small for the burying of a nine inch pipe.
Moreover, Joe Gas, as he was locally nicknamed, the foreman from London,
became frightened of disturbing the solidity of the old bridge. However, the
pipe at last found rest upon the south side, and taking a wide bend, took its
course up the western side of Kirkland, only to encounter heavy rock excava
tion in the already lowered road before High Front.
Another prolonged difficulty occurred near the entrance to the Kirkland
smithy, for, as we have said, the outlet from the Anchorite's Well passed down
a large square culvert and crossed the road at this point. It was a perplexing
affair to the workmen, as long before they reached it, and until they had
passed up alongside for some considerable way, the water forced its way into
the trench and interfered sadly with the comfort of the men.
The town was first lighted up on Monday, July 25th, 1825, when the
brilliant novelty caused great excitement and rejoicing. The Gas Company
invited the authorities to a glass of wine at the Town Hall, after which they

200 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
formed into procession, and preceded by a band, paraded through the principal
streets, accompanied by thousands of spectators. But I gather from the
Gossip of Kendal's old friend, " Sally Alick," that the illuminating qualities of
the gas were not very brilliant. " Gas forsooth ! " she says and laughs again,
" Why Mr. Per Pro, I have sometimes to light a candle to see whether my gas
is burning or not." The undertaking was purchased by the Corporation in
1894 at a cost of £80,000.
The chapels and lodges were erected in 1854 upon a plot of
Cemetery. .
ground which consists of two portions separated by a township
road. That on the north side being six acres, was consecrated in August,
1855, by the Bishop of Chester, for members of the Established Church, and
the Roman Catholic Church. That on the south for the use of Dissenters.
At the same time the road was widened ; and yet for all that, I am led to
wonder if the road is still wide and impervious enough to prevent contamina
tion to the land on the north side ! Oh ! the sin of it, which is ours to-day and
will continue to be as long as we allow either the road to divide or the creed
to separate God's people in God's own acre. An additional plot of ground
was added and consecrated on Wednesday, April 15th, 1868, by the Right
Rev. Samuel Waldegrave. Another large plot was added three years ago and
a part consecrated by Bishop Bardsley.

V.
Holy Trinity Church.

" The very majesty and holiness of the place where God is
worshipped, hath, in respect of us, great virtue, force and
efficacy, for that it serveth to stir up devotion, and in
that respect, no doubt, bettereth even our holiest and best
actions in this kind." — Hooker. Eccles. Polity, Book V.

203

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH.

MANY a year has passed away, since first amidst a wilderness of wood
and mountain, a Church of God was raised on forked timbers with
mud wattle-woven sides and roof of thatch — since holy men went forth to
spread the faith, and good men, devoting of their substance, endowed and
built this fabric.
The Parish Church of Kendal in its early history, growth, restorations,
and present condition, is a record and architectural monument of the early
history, growth, change and present condition of the inhabitants of this
ancient town. The two are inseparably connected. What our forefathers
were in their piety or commercial status, such they made their Church ; what
we are to-day, such will the record of our Church become.
In trying therefore to trace the history of this most interesting edifice, we
find also lying beneath it another history of its congregation, at times zealous,
and then mean and cold, only to be re-awakened by a surprising ardour of
loyalty and self-sacrifice. It was the altar of this town, when Hearth and
Altar stood against the Crown, and when Crown and Altar stood against the
people. It has stood during all the border raids, seen the monasteries
suppressed, Popes defied, and it has survived the healthy sifting time of the
Reformation and Commonwealth. It has been in good hands and in bad
hands ; but in all positions the Church has ever been a stone in the history of
our forefathers.
_ No information can be got from drawings contained in the •
Saxon Church. ,...,_
old manuscripts and sagas, from descriptions in the Saxon
chronicles, or from metrical romances, of who first planted the Cross of Christ
here ; but that there was upon the site of the present Nave an ancient Saxon
Church, as well as at Kirkby Lonsdale, is gathered from the " Domesday
Booke" (the Book of Judgment, because from that, as from the Day of

204 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Judgment, " there lyes noe appeale,") in which the distinguishing name of
" Cherchebi " is there given to them both. Doubtless many of the other
villages mentioned had buildings for worship, but if so they were all dependent
upon the two great Saxon Mother Churches of Kendal and Lonsdale.
_ The conquest of England by the Duke of Normandy, had
Norman Period. H b . . J
a vast influence on our ecclesiastical architecture. Con
tinental art advanced at a pace entirely unknown in this island, so tha,J the
religious houses which met the eyes of the prelates who came in the victor's
train, must have appeared to them both plain and rude. Scarcely, however,
had the Conqueror's throne been secured, than his countrymen, who had
received from him places in the Abbeys and Sees of England, began to rebuild
on new and grander plans, the Churches under their charge. In all parts of
the land, east and west, north and south, builders were at work. The chink of
the chisel and the blow of the hammer rang everywhere in the ears of the XIIth
Century of England. Surely never was an age so enthusiastic in building !
Here in Kendal the fortunes of both Castle and Church were shaped by
the doughty first Baron of Kendal, Ivo de Talbois, but unfortunately there is
no record of the extent to which he caused the Church to be remodelled from
the Saxon plan. So far as I can see, no Norman work now remains to tell its
tale. He it was who presented wholesale the tithes of his Westmorland
estates to St. Mary's Abbey at York (founded 1056), subject to the duty of
providing for the service of the Churches therein. It appears from an
inquisition of Ad quo damnum taken at Appleby before the Sheriff, on. Thurs
day next after the Epiphany in the year 1302, that it was found to be " of no
damage to the King or any other to appropriate the Church of Kirkby-in-
Kendal to the Abbot and Convent of St. Mary's York." In the meantime,
however, William de Lancaster II. the 6th Baron of Kendal had made a
munificent grant of land to the Church, the Glebe and Vicar's fields, reciting
the dedication as " To the Holy Trinity."
Early English Church. Gilbert the SOn °f Roger Fitz Reinfred> who als0
procured a grant for a weekly market and in
other ways exerted himself in the interest of the town, seems to have been the
Baron who undertook the principal rebuilding, for the oldest part now
remaining coincides with that transitional period during Henry Ill's reign,

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 205
when the Early English Gothic architecture gradually swept northward to
supersede the Norman. There is an entry in the Records of York to the effect
that an indulgence was granted for some radical repairs in the year 1232 as
follows : — " May 16th, 1232, Indulgentia pro ecclesia de Kendall miserabili
ruina deformata."
The Church had originally two Rectors, but in the year 1252 the
medieties were consolidated with consent of the Abbey.
The Early English Church consisted only of the present chancel, nave,
tower, and two inner aisles, to which were soon added the Chapels of St.
Catherine V.M. (Strickland) and St. Thomas-a-Becket, (now occupied by the
organ), on either side of the chancel. The legend of St. Catharine is not
earlier than the VIIIth Century, and was not introduced into Western Christ
endom till after the Crusade in the XIth Century. Her cultus then became
rapidly popular. We have some fifty Churches in England bearing her name,
and a vast number of Chantry Chapels and altars.
At this time the porch was on the south side, the foundations of which
are still existing below the pavement near to the second arch from the west.
The south porch was formerly something more than an ornament or even a
shelter, for it was a recognised portion of the sacred building and had its
appointed place in the services of the Church. For instance, baptism was
frequently administered here to symbolize that by that sacrament the infant
entered into Holy Church, and at the time of the celebration the northern
door was opened wide, that the Devil, formally renounced in the rite, might
by that way flee " to his own place."
Of this early building there now only remains the pointed arches of the
nave and perhaps of the chancel, the freestone columns of the nave, certainly
the bases, and the very thick plinthless west wall with the arches and lower
part of the present tower. The high altar probably stood a little forward from
the east wall, and had a passage behind it, as is shewn from the position of
the niche in the first pillar on the south side, similarly placed in the other
-Church at Kirkby-in-Lonsdale. This niche was discovered in 1829, filled up
with loose round stones, and plastered over, the Gothic arch of which rejected
from its place in the restoration of 1850, is still to be seen in the Bellingham
Chapel.

3o6 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Judging from the few remaining details, the edifice must have possessed
considerable dignity and beauty, perhaps exceeding the present one in archi
tectural merit, if not in grandeur, and thus did it exist for many years, until
the rage for erecting chantries, which reached a culminating point in the XVth
Century. . The Parr Chapel was added early in the XIVth Century,
but to whom it was dedicated is not known. Like the
chantries of St. Catharine and Thomas-a-Becket, it originally extended
another bay further westward. As a small proof of this, it is interesting to
notice the family badge, that uncouth maiden's head couped, still existing
near the capital of the second column from the east end, and likewise over the
arch stones of the three windows. The corbel, from which the first arch
springs, bears rudely carved the arms of Strickland, Brus, and Parr. A manu
script in the Herald's College Library refers to these curious maiden heads as
follows : — " The badge of the Lady Katherine Parre, and last wife of Kinge H.
8. This badge was also given by Kinge H. 8 to the forsayd lady, being his
Queen, and standeth in the walks about the preaching-place of Whitehall,
under the tarras. This badge does not appear to have been an entire new
fancy, but to have been composed from the rose badge of King Henry VIII.,
and from one previously used by this Queen's family. The house of Parr had
before this time assumed as one of their devices a maiden's head, couped
below the breasts, vested in ermine and gold, her hair of the last, and her
temples encircled with a wreath of red and white roses, and this badge they
had derived from the family of Ros, of Kendal."
St 1W Ch Then in the year 1321, St. Mary's Chantry, situated
to the west of the Parr Chapel, was founded. The
Abbot and Convent of the Monastery at York " bound themselves and
their successors to find and maintain a chantry in the Church of Kendal, at
the altar of St. Mary, for one secular priest, and to allow him £5 for the
purpose of celebrating mass for the soul of the then Vicar, Roger de Kirkeby."
The Flemish Aisle. In I331' J°hn Kempe' a manufacturer from
Flanders, received a " letter of protection " to
establish himself, men, servants, and apprentices in England for the purpose
of practising his craft of woollen manufacture. He settled in Kendal. In

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 207
1335, the famous " Brewer of Ghent," Jacques Van Artevelde, became an ally
of Edward III. in the war between England and France, and the Flemish
merchants at once realised vast profits by such an advantageous connection —
a circumstance which induced the citizens of Ghent to submit as long as they
did to the despotic rule of Jacques. But when in 1345, the " King's dear
gossip " of a brewer proposed that Edward's son should be elected Count of
Flanders, an insurrection broke out, Jacques was slain, and his followers —
mostly weavers — flocked over to Kendal in great numbers to escape the wrath
of their fellow-countrymen. Kendal thus became the centre of a large Flemish
manufacture, and it would seem evident that the south outer aisle was
completed with its millstone grit columns, to accommodate this additional
population, the porch being removed to the west end of the new south aisle.
t» j- i «i_ i Passing over the XVth Century, during which
Perpendicular Church. J b
long period I can gather but little information
about the fabric, except that it fell into a very neglected state, I come to the
time of that wonderful zeal for the glory of the sanctuary, which manifested
itself by remodelling the Early English Gothic into the prevailing, but
immeasurably inferior style of the XVIth Century — alterations which ultimately
led to an extensive enlargement and reconstruction of portions of the fabric.
The outer walls were first attacked and made to assume a Perpendicular dress,
a clerestory was raised on the nave arcade, and several other chapels were
added. An Indulgence, granted August 10th, 1511, and limited to 100 days,
procured means to complete a " beautiful chapel," dedicated to St. Anna, and
founded by Thomas Birkhede, of Hugill. William Shepherd, of Helsington,
chapman, and William Herreyson, founded and built a quire to St. Anthony,
in which " quere " the former directed, in his will dated January 17th, 1542,
his body to be buried, having endowed the chantry with estates sufficient for
its support and that of the priest attached to it. In like manner, Thomas
Wilson, on June 8th, 1559, directs his body to be buried in the "pariche
churche, under Saynte Christopher's loft."
In Henry VIII.'s ecclesiastical survey the living is valued at £99' 5s., and
the Deaneries of Kendal and Lonsdale are united to form part of the
Archdeaconry of Richmond and Diocese of York. But upon the consecration
of the See of Chester in 1541, these Deaneries were separated and made part
of that Bishopric. In 1856 they were annexed to the Diocese of Carlisle and

2o8 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
formed the Archdeaconry of Westmorland, with Cartmel and Furness in the
county of Lancashire.
After the dissolution of the Monasteries in 1553, Queen Mary, conceiving
the condition of her father's soul to be so desperate, was persuaded, after
consultation with her spiritual advisers, to bestow as an act of private
affection to his memory, propitiation being out of the question, the Kendal,
Kirkby Lonsdale, and other advowsons upon Trinity College, Cambridge,
together with an annual sum of £376 10s. 3d. The priests assured her that it
would be useless for them to petition His Holiness to allow public prayer to be
made for her father, as they were sure the successor of St. Peter would never
allow such an honour to be done to one who had died " so notorious a
schismatic." The gift, however, did not apparently pass to the College until
the latter end ofthe reign of James I.
The inscription on the chest tomb of Sir Roger Bellingham
in the stately Lady Chapel fixes the building at a date
anterior to 1553, as it is there stated that of " his own proper costs and
charges he builded the chapell of Our Lady within this Church of Kendall."
The practice of dedicating chapels to the Blessed Virgin was introduced into
this country during the twelfth century, shortly after the monastic orders had
gained the supremacy over the parochial clergy. These buildings were
generally founded not only to satisfy the spirit of the age, which demanded the
veneration of the Mother of our Lord, but also to afford the necessary accom
modation at the east end for the increased number of clergy. Moreover,
the desire to rest in a chapel so dedicated was closely associated with the
idea which chiefly moved our forefathers to erect these buildings. They
had been taught to believe in the invocation of saints, and were anxious to
secure for themselves and their dear ones the mediation and intercession ofthe
Mother of our Lord, whose influence with her Divine Son, they supposed, was
all prevailing. So they founded these chapels in her honour, and solicited her
good offices by frequent services and prostrations before her image, which
occupied the place of honour above the altar. They believed, moreover,
that as she could succour the living, so she would prevail with her Son on
behalf of the dead.
It will be noticed that the easterly arch of this chapel is much narrower
than any of the others in the Church, and that the capital of the first column

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 209
is formed of two halves different in size, the westerly half having been inserted.
Would this point originally to a side wall, where the second bay now is, with
or without another narrow and similar arch connecting the Bellingham and
Chambre Chapels ? By reason of the lofty ceiling, it has been conjectured
that the chapel might possibly have been divided originally into two storeys,
and that the clerestory windows lighted a chamber for the chantry priest ; but
I can see no trace of any floor joist hole, fireplace, or access to it. It is just
possible of course that when the old south porch, which no doubt contained
a parvise, was taken down, the loss of the muniment room or library would
be found to be so inconvenient as to compel the construction of a substitute in
some other part of the Church ; but if so, why construct a room difficult of
access, over the Bellingham Chapel rather than in the new west porch ? We
certainly know that the west porch was constructed without a parvise, and,
therefore, the inference is that no such accommodation was needed.
Before the outer northern aisle was completed the chapel,
Northern Aisle. 1,
situated at its eastern end, would have an exterior gable
wall with windows facing west. But when building this spacious addition,
which measures 140 by 27 feet, it would seem that the builders, instead of
breaking an archway through, pulled down the entire gable, filling in the space
between the two levels of the roofs with woodwork, and divided off the
chapel by oaken screens that had originally formed the front and sides of
St. Thomas-a-Becket's chantry. A piece of timber, found at the restoration
of this aisle roof in 1868, bore in raised figures the date of 1580, which fixes,
no doubt, the time of the erection. Whether or not the circular-headed door
ways at the west end and at the entrance to the spiral stair are of still older
date it is difficult to say.
In 1661, " ye High Steeple " was in ruins, and doubtless repaired ;
Tower if, indeed, it was not at this time, when the XIIIth Century tower
was raised to its present height. In doing so it is very evident that the old
stone was used in again as far as possible— as, for instance, the mouldings
in the belfry windows at the back ofthe tower, and other fragments that can
best be seen from the roof. These bear the ornament of the early period, the
local limestone being only used to make up the deficiency. The arched belfry
openings of the lower tower, which are now blocked up, can still be seen on a
level with the present clock ; especially clear is the one on the south side,

o

ft)CO>-l
t-

SOUTH-EAST VIEW, SHEWING THE OLD VESTRY.

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. tu
seen from the Glebe House Garden. The present tower, 80 feet high by 25
feet wide, stands on four arches, the height from the floor to the point of the
eastern arch, which is now considerably bulged out, being 33 feet; to the
western arch, 35 feet ; and to the northern and southern arches, 24 feet. The
eight pinnacles, prior to 1763, were two to three times taller ; but, being often
blown down, were then reduced in height.
Old V t There is no record of when the little old vestry was added
outside the east-end wall between the two buttresses, but
there is a record of the river Kent overflowing the floor on October 18th, 1635,
and an item for repairing the roof, owing to the lead being stolen, in 1663. In
1726 a fireplace was put in, at first with a low chimney, and afterwards raised
to a height above the main gable. It had no exterior door, but only one com
municating with the chancel, first opening from the south and afterwards from
the north side. There was also another outbuilding against the east wall
near to the vestry, which some have termed the " scullery ; " but whether it
was for keeping disinterred bones in, or merely a sexton's shed, cannot be
ascertained.

THUS did this striking building grow, step by step, until it finally reached
its present proportions. As seen to-day, the Church presents the
remarkable features of four aisles co-extensive with the nave and chancel,
an engaged western tower, and a porch situated at the west end of the outer
south aisle. Internally it measures 140 feet by 103 feet, with sitting accommo
dation for 1,400, and ample space for almost double that number. Moreover,
it boasts of being the fifth widest church in the kingdom.*
The plan illustrated on the next page, will convey a fairly good idea of the
development of the fabric, if it is noted that the solid black represents what
remains of the Early English Period, the hatched portions the work of the
Middle Ages, and the dotted portions the Modern work. I have also shewn
the original extent of the chapels, and have dotted on the shape of the old
communion rails. The pillars of the eastern half dividing the two aisles are
very poor in character, out of the perpendicular, and have a different style of
base to those further west. Six of the eight pillars are of an irregular
octagon form, and one is round.
* St. Michael's, Coventry, measures 120 feet; Manchester Cathedral, 112 feet; St. Nicholas, Yarmouth,
no feet; and York Cathedral, 106 feet wide.

212

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

Kendal P/ir&h Church

flofrw ex>

John r?ur«en. rTHM-

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 213
Lectureships. Jt WaS anciently the custom in the North of England for the
Sunday afternoon to be spent in the reading of prayers only,
the sermon having been preached in the morning. But in the year 1627,
George Fleming, one of the benefactors to the Free Grammar School,
bequeathed £10 towards the raising of a stock for an afternoon lecturer, to be
preserved and disposed of by the Aldermen. Henry Wilson, of Underiey Hall
(the founder of the Farleton tithes), by his will dated 1639, bequeathed unto
the Mayor and Aldermen the sum of £50 for a like purpose upon this trust and
confidence that " they do procure a godly, learned, and sober divine to preach
unto them at Kendal Church the word of God, and instruct and catechise
them also in the principal and fundamental points of the Christian religion
every Sabbath for ever." Likewise, Hugh Barrow, by will in 1641, devised
out of his lands at Skelsmergh £100 for procuring a lecturer in the afternoon
on every or every other Sunday. Edward Fisher bequeathed the further sum
of £20. In 1670 Foard left a legacy of £10, and John Hay left 6s. 8d. yearly
out of lands in Kendal Parks towards the self same object. For many years
back now these lectureships have been paid by the Corporation to the Vicar.
On coming to one of these lectures, the famous Bernard Gilpin observed
a glove hanging up in a prominent place. Upon asking the reason, the
sexton informed him that it was there as a challenge to any one that should
take it down. Bernard ordered the sexton to reach it to him, but upon his
utterly refusing, Gilpin took it down himself, and put it in his breast. When
the people were assembled he went into the pulpit, and before he concluded
his sermon took occasion to rebuke them severely for those inhuman
challenges. " I hear," saith he, " that one among you hath hanged up a glove
even in this sacred place threatening to fight any one who taketh it down.
See ! I have taken it down," and pulling out the glove, he held it up to the
congregation, and then showed them how unsuitable such stupid practices
were to the profession of Christianity.
„ In 1658 there is record of re-
XVIIth Century Chronological Notes. . .
pairs being done to the rough
cast, mending of the " fformes," of providing a new " dyall to ye clocke " with
a new pointer to " itt," and for mending of the " chyme " and two hammers.
In these days the Church glass was kept in repair by contract, the annual sum
being "three pounds lawfull English money," reduced in 1666 to 30s.

2i4 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Between the years 1663-5 we have record of rushes being brought to
"strawe the High Quire " with, on the occasion ofthe visit ofthe Archdeacon
of Richmond, and of washing and sweeping the Church against Sir Joseph's
(Cradock) coming to "sitt his Court of Correction, and sentence offenders
from his chair of state." Also, in 1664, of a man being paid for varnishing a
new censer for Church use. Only think of it ! a censer — yet one must often
wish for a waft of incense now to purify the overloaded atmosphere within the
Church of to-day. Again, in 1670, of a deep hole being dug within the Church
for " burying ye bones." On September nth, 1671, the river swept over the
Churchyard wall, where " itt left much ffish." It seems also to have raised up
the old flooring of the Vestry, and to have put the wardens to the expense of
paying is. 6d. for drink to certain men for removing the oak chest out of
reach of the water.
In 1675-6 the Communion Table was enlarged and- railed in with close
rails and gates for the exclusion of dogs, and there were bought " 15 yeards and
a quarter of fine-green-cloth, eleaven yeards offline Hollan, and silk-ffringe for
the green table cloth." The table frame and the communion " rayles " were
also painted green, and the Lord's Prayer and Creed were painted on a
green-framed canvas. During the years 1676 and 1678, 52 cwt. of lead was
bought from Sir Philip Musgrave to repair the roof with. This lead came
from Hartley Castle, then being dismantled. In 1679, the masonry of the
" Lord-Parr-quier " window was repaired.
The year following the induction of the Rev. Thomas Murgatroyd as
Vicar — 1684 — the Church was " beautified " in every available space with texts
of Scripture, cherubim and seraphim, green hissing serpents and flying
dragons, and the whole garnished and embroidered with sundry quaint devices
and flourishes in green, yellow, and black painted upon the whitewash : the
text over the pulpit being — " Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a
trumpet, and shew my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their
sins ; " another, over the Alderman's pew, being — " For rulers are not a terror
to good works, but to the evil." The exterior walls were likewise decorated in
yellow and black margins some five inches wide on the roughcast, extending
round all the doors and windows, up the angles of the walls and buttresses,
and completely round the steeple. All this interior "decoration" lasted for 14J
years till the restoration of 1829, and the exterior till the removal ofthe rough-

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 215
casting in 1844. It is curious to read in the churchwarden's accounts how a
certain James Addison, painter, of Hornby, contracted to do this for the sum
of " thirty pounds of currant Inglish money," using "size, soe that it shall not
grime or spoil mens cloathes, well writeing of sentencs and flourishing them
decently and in good order, alsoe to make anew the Kings Armes and the Ten
Commandments and to do them soe well as they shall not peel or fail for the
space of twenty years next hereafter coming." It seems that he also contracted
for six pounds " to make green the font and pulpit and to beautifie the cornise
under the King's Arms." Doubtless the churchwardens could answer with a
good conscience the question put at the time of visitation — " Is your Church
well plastered within ? " In 1685 the middle alley was reflagged, and the
clock loft was refloored with 2-inch planks ; the two northern aisles were like
wise reflagged in 1686.
v^tt.^. « ,«, . », , On the 22nd day of Tune, 1699,
XYIIIth Century Chronological Notes. . . J yy
the Rev. William Crosby, who
was such a great blessing to the parish for 34 years, became Vicar. He found
the Church in a very neglected condition. We are told "many would choose
to tarry at home rather than go to the Church." However, he soon found that
he did not labour in vain, for through his ministrations and bright example the
Church became filled to overflowing. Through his advice, the old custom of
burying the dead without coffins was suppressed. He also struck a blow at
the drinking customs of that day, for "att a generall meeting of ye church
wardens held June 3rd, 1703, it was agreed on by a generall consent yt here
after there should be no money spent in eating and drinking upon the parish
charge upon any peremptory day, and that the churchwardens be allowed only
4d. a man out ofthe public stock for their refreshment." Some quaint entries
concerning the provision and cost of wine for sacred and other less sacred
purposes are to be met with prior to this time — for instance, the late Canon
Simpson produced a paper which showed that very heavy sums comparatively
had been annually spent at Kendal in procuring communion wine. One item
was for £6, another £9, and again £11 ; whilst opposite one ofthe entries was
the remark — " That is exclusive of wine used at Easter." It would seem that
it was customary for the Vicar to give the Easter wine, receiving in return
Easter dues. On another occasion, when the Bishop of Chester was about to
visit the Church, the wardens ordered a bottle of sack to be placed in the

216 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
vestry. Here also is a sidelight : — " Ordered that no wine be given to any
clergyman to carry home."
Likewise, it was Vicar Crosby who struck the last blow which separated
the sports, plays, and dancings of the village wakes, that had hitherto been so
closely connected with it, from the Church. On Sundays and holidays the
Churchyard used always to be a public playground, but on the great Church
festivals the desecration was far worse. Dealers in all kinds of goods appeared
on the scene, spread their wares on the tombstones, and could with difficulty
be kept out ofthe sacred edifice itself. It is not surprising that a multitude of
quaint customs had sprung up around the holy days. For these were the
holidays ofthe people in " Merrie England," when they gathered first in the
Church, then around the maypole, and lastly, at those feastings on special
viands dedicated to special occasions, which, to some extent, live on among us
even to this day, although the origin and meaning of them have mostly
become lost. From time immemorial, for instance, Christmas cheer was
incomplete without its mince-pies and plum pudding, the former emblematic
by their shape of the manger-bed and the latter by its rich ingredients of the
offerings of the Magi. The pan-cakes of Shrove Tuesday, the simnel cakes of
Mid-Lent, the figs of Palm Sunday, we are still attracted by. Even the great
fast ofthe year has its peculiar food in the hot cross bun, a survival of the
heathen practice of offering consecrated cakes to the gods — the stamp of the
cross probably marks the effort of the Church to give a Christian significance
to a practice that was found to be practically ineradicable. Whitsuntide used
to have its own special feast, known as Whitsun ales or Church ales — an
institution by which money was obtained for the repairing of the Church,
helping the poor, and various charitable purposes. The wardens brewed the
ale, and on the appointed day half the country side assembled to join in the
festivities — music and song, bowls and ball, dice and card-playing, dancing and
merry-making — but Crosby would have none of them. The burning of the
yule-log in sacrifice to Thor the Thunderer ; the use of the mistletoe, that
most sacred of all the Druidical plants; and the singing of carols as a
memorial of the angelic hymns are still adjuncts to the gaiety and brightness
of the Feast of the Nativity.
In 1705 the roof was taken off the middle alley, and the timbers renewed.
There is an entry of 3s. 3d. paid to Edward Gibbon for "trailing ye

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 217
great Beame for ye Middle Alley from Dr. Archer's, Oxenholme." In 1712
the altar piece was repaired, viz. :— Two pediments, two panels, and two
gilded flames. The altar rails and vestry door were repainted and the sun-dial
repaired in 1715. Between the years 1723-25 the Church was new glazed with
large square crown glass, and the best of the old painted glass carefully
preserved. Thirteen yards of new stone muliions were found necessary for
reparing the south-east Parr Chapel and the north-east Bellingham Chapel
windows. In 1724 Vicar Crosby caused neat gravel walks to be made in the
Churchyard. In 1725 a new brass vane, bearing the arms ofthe Corporation
of Kendal, was procured at a cost of £2 2s. 6d. — a vane which has now braved
the winters of more than 170 years. On December 2nd, 1733, Vicar Crosby
preached his last sermon: — "The night is far spent, the day is at hand."
Upon the following day he was seized with apoplexy, and on the Friday
passed away at eleven o'clock, the same hour that he daily used to go to
attend the prayers of the " Church Militant ; " he was called to the " Church
Triumphant " at the age of 70 years.
During the eleven years of the Rev. Richard Cuthbert's incumbency there
is little to record, but the succeeding reign of the Rev. Dr. Symonds is
notable as a chapter of accidents. One Sunday, February 21st, 1762, some
lead on the roof was thrown up with such violence during a storm, that it
broke one of the beams, and so terrified the congregation that they ran out of
Church in great confusion. The illustration on the next page shews how tall
the tower pinnacles were at this period; indeed, two-and-a-half times taller than
they now are. Great was the consternation therefore, when, in the following
month, one of them fell through the roof during divine service. The circum
stance is quaintly recorded, and concludes by saying that "it did no other
damage than break a poor woman's leg in her hurry to get out ofthe Church."
Needless to say, all the other pinnacles were immediately looked to, and at
once shortened to their present size. Upon another occasion, in May, 1767,
again during service, the congregation were terrified by an earthquake shock,
accompanied by a great rumbling noise. Thieves broke into the little vestry
by lifting the lead covering to the roof on September 23rd, 1775, and stole the
communion plate, which was never recovered. It consisted of three silver
flagons (one weighing 90 ounces), two silver gilt cups, two silver salvers, and
one or two smaller cups of silver. Again, five years later, the new set was
likewise stolen, but this time, the thieves were disappointed as they found it to

2l8

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

~> . -.%¦*££, . {.^.' <wm-r--:®m

fi

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 219
tie only plated; so that in disgust they threw it into a neighbouring field,
-and left it there in a battered and bruised condition. The plate was again
stolen in April, 1836.
It was in the year 1787 that the Rev. Dr. Symonds, then in his 78th year,
buried Alderman Francis Drinkell, a hosier and noted florist, owning a
vegetable garden where Lowther Street now is. The Vicar's friendship for
poor Drinkell was evidently collateral with his great love for peas, for while
reading the burial service, he suddenly stopped short and exclaimed to the
sexton, quite audibly enough for all to hear — " Aye, but Tom, where shall we
'set our peas next year ? "
The old "Bell House," situated in the north-west corner of the Church-.
¦yard, and which had been for many years rented to Zechariah Wright as a
plumber's shop, was removed in 1790, and the proceeds from the sale of its
materials paid for the erection of some new seats, filling the space of the " old
middle cross aisle " on either side of the nave.
_ . .. _ About this time the churchwardens made a habit of
Public Penance. leaving the Church, during the ante-communion service,
to visit the public-houses in search of non-attenders, whom they reported to
the Church authorities for prosecution. For it must be remembered that
-every one who failed to attend divine service in some authorised place of
worship, every Sabbath morning, was subjected to a fine of twelve pence if
thus detected. As further proof of their zeal, they seldom returned without
bringing with them some poor little urchins caught playing, whom they would
place in front of the pulpit with their spells and knurs, catsticks and balls,
held erect in their hands. It is said that the wardens found this visitation of
the public-houses a very refreshing duty.
This naturally leads me to write a word or two about the punishment
-called " public penance," which formed no uncommon portion of the Church
procedure during the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries. In its milder form,
those persons who were so unlucky as to be caught by the wardens wilfully
-disobeying their authority, or who were charged before the Ecclesiastical
Courts for defaming the character of a lady, or such like, were ordered to
appear and stand during service in a conspicuous part of the Parish Church on
-the following Sunday, arrayed in a white sheet. The ordeal was a most trying

22o KIRKBIE KENDALL.
one, and sometimes little deserved. But the more rigorous penance for
immorality prior to marriage, or adultery after, seems to me to have been of a
very salutary nature. On such occasions the brute of a man or the poor
women who bore unhusbanded a mother's name, were ordered to appear on
three successive Sundays before the whole congregation, being bare-headed,
bare-foot, and bare-legged, enwrapped in a white sheet, and holding a white
wand. Immediately after the reading of the Gospel they were publicly
ordered to stand upon a form before the pulpit, and repeat the following-
confession at the dictation of the clergyman: — "Whereas I, good people,
forgetting my duty to the Almighty God, have committed the detestable
sin, and have provoked the wrath of God against me to the great danger
of my soul, and evil example of others : I do earnestly repent, and am heartily
sorry for the same, desiring Almighty God, for the merits of Jesus Christ, to
forgive me both this and all other offences, and also ever hereafter to assist me
with His Holy Spirit that I may never fall into the like offence again ; and for
that end and that purpose, I desire you all here present to pray for me, saying,
' Our Father, which art in heaven,' " and ,so forth. There is an entry in the
Churchwarden's Book for 1672 as follows : — " Reed, from Lawrence Chambers
and Robert Bateman when yey pform'd penance 12s. towards buying ye Book
of Martyrs." The last person who did penance in the Church was Bella
Rennison about the year 1794, who was brought from the House of Correction
arrayed in a white sheet, and stood in front of the pulpit during the whole of
the morning service.
The Church improvements, inaugurated with the commencement of the
XIXth Century, followed very soon after that marked revolution in the
manners and customs of Westmorland, when our people insensibly lost the
singularities that characterised the preceding ages. The opening of the turn
pike roads, which introduced the customs of the capital into this remote and
then sequestered corner of the kingdom, and the consequent extension of
commerce, was the principal circumstance effecting this. Fortunately, the
Church possessed at the time a very able Vicar — the Rev. Henry Robinson —
who, by his dauntless energy, raised sufficient money between the years 1800
and 1806 to undertake the complete repair of all the main timbers in the roof.
_ „ As far back as the year 1702 a small gallery had been
Organ Gallery. J ' ,
erected at the west end of the nave, half way between the

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH.

22T

first and second columns, to accommodate the organ ; and I find that one
hundred years later, a vestry meeting was held on the fifth day of May, 1800,
at which it was resolved unanimously : — " That application be made to the
Ordinary for a faculty to extend the organ gallery in the said Church from the
north and south ends according to a plan then produced, to be vested in trust
in the Vicar of the said parish, and in the Mayor, Recorder, and two senior
Aldermen of the burgh of Kirkby Kendal and their successors for the time
being. That the said trustees be empowered to borrow money for the erection
of the said gallery on security of the seats to be placed in the same, which
seats must be let to farm for as much rent as may reasonably be had for them ;
and that the said trustees shall, after paying the interest of the money
borrowed, pay such part of the
rents and profits arising there
from, as the major part of them
shall think proper, towards the
augmentation of the organist's
salary, and the remainder of the
rents and profit to be by them
laid out in repairs and orna
ments of the Church, or in
paying off such part of the
principal money as they may
chuse." Signed by H. Robin
son (Vicar), Thomas Holme
Maude (Mayor), and the four
Williams— Pennington, Moore,
Berry, and Fisher. The faculty
was granted on the 10th of
July, and the gallery extended
at a cost of £193 6s. 3d., "for
the accommodation of the in
habitants," as if the space of the floor had been insufficient for the congrega
tion ! This was done by throwing out two curved wings across the inner
aisles, which finished at the third column, having intermediate supports of
oaken Corinthian pillars. The mortgage appears to have been paid off in
1817, after which time the rents were appropriated in augmenting the salary of

To be Let,
BY THE TRUSTEES,
For the Term of Seven Years,
IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF KEVDAL,
On TUESDAY, the Twenty-first Day of
OCTOBER, 1817,
AT ELEVEN O'CLOCK IN THE FORENOON,
The Seats in tlie Gallery,
Of the said Church.

AIREY AND BELLINGHAM, PRINTERS.

REDUCED COPY OF HANDBILL.

222 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
the organist, in paying a salary to a singing master, giving an annual treat to
the singers, in painting the rails of the Churchyard when required, or in
such other small matters as the trustees thought proper. This frightful
obstruction to the dignity of the arcades remained until the year 1847, when,
presumably owing to the building of the two new Churches in the town
dedicated to St. Thomas and St. George, it was demolished. New stones can
be seen inserted in the aisle columns to fill up the gaps formerly holding the
supports of the gallery.
Vicar Matthew Murfitt seems to have rested upon the labours of his pre
decessor, as we have no record of any structural alterations made in his time
beyond some slight improvement to the doors and entrances. However, in
December of 1813, we do find that a vestry meeting was held for the purpose
of considering the necessity of airing the church by stoves. At this time,
also, the "Sanctus Bell" was removed from the roof of the Bellingham Chapel
to the tower.
_, _ A _ ._„ At the beginning of the year 1815, the Rev.
The Restoration of 1829. 6 5 3 .
John Hudson, M.A.., became Vicar, and in
augurated that spirit of revival which resulted in what is known as the first
great restoration of 1829. His first act, however, was one of destruction.
That wondrous Gothic canopy, from 10 to 12 feet in height and painted blue,
which was suspended over the ancient font, was removed in 1818.
A proposal to enclose with railings the Churchyard at a cost of £387, at
first rejected in August, 1816, was by his indomitable energy adopted in 1822 ;
and when it is remembered that those beautiful wrought iron gates which
adorn the present entrance took the place of some rotten wooden fencing and
turnstiles, they must ever be regarded as a permanent tribute to his zeal for
the Church. The Kirkland stocks were likewise removed, and placed just out
side against the wall of the " Ring o' Bells." At this time, also, the Vicar
opened out a gateway from the Glebe House into the Churchyard, and railed
off a narrow path leading therefrom up to his new Church gates. This
improvement, however, greatly offended public opinion by reason of its
traversing ground that was full of graves. It is probable that the Church
yard formerly extended further westward than it does at present, for in
1862 the workmen employed in digging a trench for the new gas main in

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 223
Kirkland came upon a quantity of human bones and skulls, lying some four
feet below the surface of the street. A portion of a tombstone was also found,
bearing date 1630 clearly marked upon it. In all likelihood, fully one-half of
the width of the present street and the land on which the buildings south of
No. 27, Kirkland, now stand, formed part of the ancient Churchyard.
Hudson then seems to have turned his attention to the inside of the
sacred building, and it must be remembered that probably nothing had been
done to clean the walls since they were so fantastically decorated in 1684. In
October, 1828, he had the courage to clear the whitewash and paint from off
two ofthe columns, and then to invite the public to say whether or not they
would have the whole ofthe Church thus cleansed and restored by public sub
scription. Such an improvement, which revealed the ashlar work, was at once
obvious to all, so that the good man's heart rejoiced as he at length closed the
Church on February 22nd, 1829, and set about his restoration. Thus not only
was the ancient credence table discovered on the first column from the east
end, but it was also seen that the greater proportion of the columns were built
of freestone, with the notable exception of one of the large massive pillars
supporting the tower, which is of limestone, and that the next two had
courses of limestone also inserted. It is conjectured that the freestone was
brought from the ruins of the Roman station at Watercrook, and at first
formed part of the ancient Saxon Church on this site. The same kind of
freestone is found in the structure of the Castle.
It is not known when the old rood screen * was removed, but there are
corbels existing on the pillars ofthe chancel pointing to a time when a beam
rested upon them. Vicar Hudson erected an elaborate Gothic plaster chancel
arch across the nave, filled the spandrils with trefoils and quatrefoils, and
surmounted the whole with a battlemented top, from which hung down the old
colours presented to the Volunteers by the Hon. Mrs. Howard of Levens in
1803. Unfortunately, the old piscina at the altar ofthe Holy Trinity, which
was then in a mutilated state, instead of being restored, was ruthlessly taken
out and destroyed. The piscina at the altar of St. Thomas-a-Becket, then
known as the Chambre Chapel, was allowed to remain until the later restora
tion of 1850.
* The word rood or rod is of Saxon origin and signifies a cross or crucifix. When the Reformation came
all roods were swept away by order,

224

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

Interior looking East.
Outside the west wall of the inner north aisle will be seen the marks ot an
old doorway, shown on Todd's Elevation, illustrated on page 17, giving the
bellringers access by a steep wooden stair to the belfry floor, which was then
on a level with the sill of the great window. But as it was found to be as easy
an egress to the " Ring o' Bells," the doorway was blocked up, the staircase
removed, and another entrance to the loft made from off the spiral tower stair.
This new doorway can still be seen in the northern jamb of the west window.
The bell loft at first was only shut off from the nave by a balustrading
between the columns of the tower, and whilst the sexton was ringing the
" evening bell," boys made a habit of gathering in the loft to play around the
ropes. Upon one occasion, it is reported that a lad, swinging upon one of
them, hitched against this railing and, loosening his hold, fell over and broke
his thigh. A sad occurrence truly, but what was the consequence ? To
prevent similar accidents the enlightened wardens studded up partitions

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH.

225

Interior looking West.

between the arches, plastered around the loft, and entirely blocked the west
window from view. It would seem that this was both easier and more
consistent with their notions of decency than the alternative course of
preventing the boys from playing in the Church !
I have succeeded in finding in London two most interesting water-colour
paintings of the Church, made by Richard Stirzaker immediately after the resto
ration was completed, and by the kindness of the owner, I have been enabled
to photograph them for illustration in this book. The one taken from the west
end gives a very true impression of the beauty of the old flat wainscot ceiling
over the nave, with the clerestory windows and fine arches beneath. Beyond
is seen the "chancel beam," supporting the King's Arms and the Ten
Commandments, with the old Kendal and Lonsdale Volunteer colours hanging
on either side, whilst in the foreground John Jennings, the sexton, stands in
his knee-breeches and long swallow-tailed coat superintending the laying of a
flag over a vault beside one of the massive tower columns. The other, taken
from the east end, is perhaps even more interesting, as it shows the old square

226 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
communion rails, and Bishop Jewell's " Defence of his Apology for the Church
of England," fastened by a chain to a chancel column for public reading.
This interesting volume is now in the Glebe Library. Beyond is the " three-
decker " pulpit standing against a column one bay further west than at
present, and at the far end is seen the old gallery and organ with its crown
and mitres.
The Restoration of 1850. °n ^e IIth day °f ApH1' ^' the ReV"
Joseph Watkins Barnes, M.A., became Vicar.
He immediately caused the roughcast with its yellow and black decoration to
be removed from the exterior walls, and the joints neatly pointed in grey
mortar. The old cradle, so long used for hoisting up the whitewashers to the
steeple, remained in a corner of the Church for a few years longer as a relic of
those whitewashing days. Eighteen months later, attention was called to the
dampness of the fabric by reason of the Churchyard being mostly from four to
five feet above the level of the floor, whereupon, with characteristic energy,
Barnes set himself the unenviable and delicate business of gaining consent to
remove many grave stones in order to lower the yard to its present level.
As has been already said, the great cumbersome organ gallery at the
west end was removed in the year 1847, together with the hideous bell-loft.
The organ was placed on the floor against the main west doors, and the
bellringers were provided with a proper belfry chamber in the tower. Not
withstanding the unfortunate blocking of the doors, the opening up of the old
west window to the nave was of such a great advantage to the general aspect
of the interior, that it more than compensated for the loss. Truly this was a
good beginning and a happy foretaste of the great work which this young
Vicar set so earnestly about to accomplish.
The coming events, of which the former were but shadows, could not be
delayed for long. The mind of the congregation was being irresistibly
awakened to the awful decay of their neglected Church ; they were slow to
realise it perhaps, yet the day had to come, and with almost a shock the
inhabitants at last read the following report from Mr. Crowther, of Man
chester : — " In October, 1848, I accidentally visited the Church. It would be
difficult to describe the wretched condition ofthe fabric. Centuries of neglect
or injudicious repair had resulted in leaking roofs, walls green with mouldering

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 227
damp, columns more than their diameter out of the perpendicular and
tottering to their fall, pews of every shape and size, windows of post-
Reformation date and the vilest character architecturally — a tout-ensemble
presenting about as melancholy a spectacle of neglect, ruin, and irreverence as
imagination could conceive." But such a report was too much even for the
bravest. All the wind seemed to vanish from their sails, and for two years
they could do no more than re-chisel and repair the old circular-headed door at
the end of the north aisle, together with the windows on either side of it.
Dr. William Whewell, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, in writing
to his sister, under date September 22nd, 1850, says: — "I went to Kendal
while I was staying with James Marshall at Coniston. I found they had dis
closed the foundations of the chancel piers only the day before, and the result
was they were in such a condition that all who saw them wondered they had
stood so long, especially one old lady who had been in the habit of sitting
near the most dangerous pier seemed quite shocked at the danger which she
had escaped." As a consequence of this timely visit, Dr. Whewell determined
immediately to make a representation ofthe matter to his College, and we find
that they quickly issued an order for the underpinning and rebuilding of these
columns, and also for the complete restoration of the whole chancel.
The following month saw the great restoration commenced, and the old
St. George's Chapel in the Market Place cleaned and put into a state of decent
repair for the temporary occupation of the congregation, as far as space would
allow. Pulling down first the east wall with the little old vestry behind, the
College rebuilt the buttressed gable and filled their new east window with pale
green antique glass. The old window was wider than the one now erected,
and, curiously like to the one in the other church at Kirkby-in-Lonsdale, was
not centrally placed. It had five main lights, sub-divided above the transome
into ten, with cinq-foil heads. The centre compartment contained some four
or five square feet of stained glass, which tradition said came from Furness
Abbey, and the side-lights some two or three feet more. Indeed, there was
only just so much left as to excite regret for that holy enthusiasm which
levelled its fury in olden time against this most beautiful of the ancient arts.
The best of the glass was sent to the Museum for preservation, and the rest
was subsequently incorporated with the most north-easterly of the clerestory
windows. The well-carved corbels on the east wall supporting the chancel

?-Ita>!caft
tot-<ft

INTERIOR AFTER THE RESTORATION OF 1850.

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 22g
arcade were not executed until the year 1868. But the old communion rails,
which were three-sided, as is well illustrated on page 225, were straightened
at this time and set back some five feet.
The College then removed the plaster arch erected by Vicar Hudson and
extended the chancel one bay further west, cutting short the nave with four
clerestory windows by so much, leaving eight on either side instead of ten.
The six chancel columns were entirely rebuilt, and the roof, hitherto low and
unsightly, was replaced by one of more elaborate design and raised to the
height of the original roof. A wooden hammer-beam chancel arch was
thrown across the nave, having tracery spandrils resting on angel corbels,
bearing shields with the emblems of the Passion carved upon them.
In the base of the column nearest to the altar on the south side was hewn
out a chamber about seven inches by four, into which a number of different
European coins were deposited ; also, a glass bottle hermetically sealed,
containing the Vicar's address on the subject of the restoration, a list of
subscriptions, and a piece of vellum setting forth that this pillar and five
others in the Church were rebuilt A.D. 1850, &c, &c.
John Mann, one of the churchwardens, gave some of the old carved
capitals, corbels, and muliions to his friend the Rev. Edward Hawkes,
minister of the Unitarian Chapel, and some of these are still to be seen
ornamenting a rockery at the burial ground in the Market Place. There is an
especially fine carved capital there which I would fain see restored to the old
Church, and there taken care of by the Vicar.
But, since the rest of the fabric was as badly dilapidated as the chancel, the
parishioners, stimulated by the energy, sacrifice, and determined perseverance
of their Vicar, also set to work, and almost completely overhauled what
was left untouched by the College patrons. The roof was made open,
and thus raised some 18 feet at the apex higher than the old flat oak
ceiling, which was panelled with painted ribs and rosettes at the inter
sections, similar to the Parr Chapel. It will be noticed that the string
course below the clerestory on the north side is lower and the windows
are larger than those on the south side. The west end wall was next
attacked. By removing the organ to the Bellingham Chapel, it became
necessary to do something with the white painted main entrance doors and

¦N>CD

»-•tofta: ftbftft*

BEFORE THE RESTORATION IN 1850, SHEWING THE OLD WESTERN DOOR AND PORCH.

o ft

fttoft

ao a:

AFTER THE RESTORATION IN 1850, SHEWING THE NEW WEST PORCH.

232 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
the dilapidated window above. The doors were rebuilt and widened, and
the window redressed with fresh tracery. Upon the exterior of one of the
muliions will be seen a well carved-horse shoe for good luck.
The peculiarly wide porch ofthe XIVth Century was then demolished to
make way for the present erection. On the southern side there was a priest's
door, with a four-light window beside it, and within was a hoi}' stoup. There is
still to be seen on the outer face of the wall a line showing where the flashing
of this wide roof came. I have thought it well to put the two elevations of this
western facade close together, so that the round-headed arch of the central
door and the odd-looking ancient porch can be compared with the work of this
restoration. Below the new porch a heating chamber was excavated to take
the place of the six old ugly stoves ; and it is said, but I cannot vouch for the
fact, that the hot-water pipes now required to heat the Church from this
chamber, measure about one mile in length.
At this restoration it was also noticed that the bases of the chancel
columns were several feet below the then level of the chancel floor, and that
the base levels of the whole nave arcade gradually rose upwards to the western
end. It was therefore decided to restore this ancient slope once again,
and in order to show the bases fully, some nine inches of ground had to be
excavated away from the west end and no less than three feet from the east
end — an excavation which not only discovered a number of silver and copper
coins of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth's time, but also necessitated the removal of
" cart-loads " of human bones. It was also discovered that the base of the
Sandes' column, being the fifth on the north side from the east end and upon
which his monument was erected, had an ornamental band upon it worthy of
notice. Previously the aisles had been paved with squares and diamonds of
buff and blue paving flags, and upon their being taken up they were used as
coping stones, and can now be seen on the Glebe House garden wall.*
The old square and high-backed pews, none of which had any interesting
feature about them — excepting perhaps the large and high-curtained pew of
the Hall situated against the third column from the east in the outer north
aisle, and which was lined with blue cloth and plentifully garnished with brass-
* Since writing this, the wall has just been taken down and a low dwarf wall with iron railings
substituted in its place; a vast improvement which throws open the gardens around the Glebe House.

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH.

*3$

headed nails — was removed, and the entire Church re-seated with low open
benches. The four carved oak bench ends of the old clerk's pew alone were
kept, and they are now framed into the present front choir stalls. The carving
upon the new choir stalls and the different
designs on the nave bench ends is decidedly
good, and worthy of a better material than
stained pitch pine. Seats were provided in the
north aisle and raised tier above tier for the
boys from the Blue Coat School, National
School, and Jennings' Yard School. And at
the same time, the Abbot Hall doorway be
neath the third north window from the east
was blocked up.
The renovation of the old black marble font
was undertaken by the ladies of the town, and
private subscription enabled them to raise it
on a massive base in the form of a Maltese
Cross, and to pave the baptistry floor with en
caustic tiles. The font cover has been erected
recently in memory of the late Venerable
Archdeacon Cooper.
At this time, also, the Bellingham Chapel
was re-roofed by the Hon. Mrs. Howard, and
the old elaborate oak ceiling — then much
decayed — was replaced with a new one of
similar design in a rather unsuccessful imita
tion ofthe rich fretwork and stalactitic orna
ments of the same period in stone. It is
adorned with gilt bosses containing the bugle
horn and other bearings, the cognizances of
the Bellingham family. Two of the clerestory
windows in this chapel were many years before
blocked up, and it is to be regretted that at
this restoration they were not again opened
out.

Font Cover.
By permission of
Messrs. Hayes and Parkinson.

234

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

Finally, six stained glass windows were presented, and the whole of
the clerestory windows in the nave were re-glazed by private gifts. When the
congregation re-assembled on June 3rd, 1852, they must have felt it difficult to
conceive that they were worshipping, indeed, in the same Church. It is
worthy of note that during the whole time of this restoration morning prayers
were said in the building, even when the roof was off. Since then, in the year
1854, *he windows of the north aisle, except the Bellingham Chapel, were
re-glazed in diamond quarries instead ofthe old square crown glass put in in
1723. The Churchyard was closed for burials on September gth, 1855; and in
April, 1857, Christopher Gardener presented a new tower clock.

Recent Events.

On August 15th, 1858, the Rev. John Cooper, M.A.,

became Vicar. In the year 1862, the plain perpendicular
window of the Strickland Chapel was filled with appropriate tracery in
harmony with the corresponding window of the north central aisle, and glazed
with the antique green glass which was
taken out of the great east window.
Unfortunately, the freestone string course,
introduced with such good effect under
the windows on the south-west side of
the Church, and which was one of the
features so much insisted on by the archi
tect ofthe restoration, was omitted below
this window.
The restoration of the south-east corner
of the Church was commenced on the 23rd
day of May, 1864. The walls were
strengthened by a plain chamfered plinth of
freestone with limestone base, and also by
the re-building of all the buttresses except
ing one. A moulded freestone string-course was also inserted, with projecting
square blocks and gurgoyles, and the whole surmounted with crocketted pin
nacles and a battlement. The six windows to the south, including the old
priests' door and one to the east, were entirely rebuilt, and the roofs over both
aisles, including the chapels, were re-timbered. The limestone sun-dial in the
Churchyard was erected in September, 1866.

The late Ven. Archdeacon Cooper.

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 235
During the progress of these works, costing some £2,200 and lasting over
a period of twelve months, divine service was never interfered with or
suspended. The beautiful Caen stone dado, presented by Mr. T. A. Argles in
memory of the late Tobias Atkinson and of Elizabeth his wife, was completed in
1867. The centre part from the floor to the window sill consists of an arcade
of nine pointed Gothic arches, surmounted with a vine leaf cornice and crest
of exquisite tracery. The pillars are of polished Kendal Fell marble, with
crowned and mitred heads at the springing of the arches. On each side of
the window are high curved niches, surmounted by a carved canopy, within
which — on the bend — are painted the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and
the Lord's Prayer. A good story is told of the late Archdeacon Cooper, that
when he was appealed to by a clergyman as to whether it was right to remove
the Ten Commandments from the east end, he replied : — " My dear sir, at my
Church they have already bent them, and, I am afraid, will before long break
them ; so that by removing them you, at least, would prevent such an evil."
The restoration of the two north roofs, except that over the Bellingham
Chapel, was commenced on July 6th, 1868; unfortunately, after all the
experience of oft-repeated decay, they were only executed in pitch pine.
At the same time it was found necessary to re-build certain portions of
the north west wall, one new buttress facing west was added, the angle
one re-built, and a battlemented parapet erected the full length of the
north side to match that on the south side, with diabolical gurgoyles to
frighten away the evil spirit which superstition always assigns to the
north side of a church. All along in the cornice are placed at intervals
several freestone paterae cut in divers devices and monograms, among
which latter may be noticed J.C., for John Cooper, Vicar ; J.S.C., for Joseph
S. Crowther, Architect; W.G.R., for William Grayson Rigden, Curate; F.S.,
for Francis Scawell, Curate ; and the date 1868 in antique figures. At the
same time, the paterae and gurgoyles on the south wall left unfinished in 1864
were likewise carved with devices and monograms.
In 1869-70, the east end of the Bellingham Chapel was taken in hand by
the Honourable Mrs. Howard, and rebuilt with two new tracery windows to
match the rest of the building. In place of the three clerestory windows above
these, the architect inserted a rose window with twelve trefoil cups radiating
from a cusped sexfoil centre. The old square crown glass, the last remnant of

a»

tototo.to >-.totototo ftft

ELEVATION SHEWING THE NEW EAST WALL TO THE BELLINGHAM CHAPEL.

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 237
the 1723 glazing, was taken out and replaced with diamond panes of a slightly
greenish hue. The raking battlements of the western pediments of the south
aisles have also been re-built with a new freestone buttress, surmounted with a
pinnacle at the south-west angle, the old one having become unsafe.
Gas was introduced for the first time on Advent Sunday, November 28th,
1869 ; there were in all 580 burners, and the cost was about £200. It is
curious to learn that before this — on great occasions — the chandeliers at the
dissenting chapels were borrowed to add lustre to the services. In 1891, the
family of the late G. F. Braithwaite presented to his memory a chiming clock
with inner dial, the original outer dial of the 1857 clock being retained. In
July, 1893, whilst re-tuning and repairing the framework of the bells, it was
discovered that the massive oak beams of the belfry floor were so decayed
through damp that they had to be taken out, and a strong concrete floor on
iron girders substituted. The same year the heating apparatus was also
renewed. It was from the old green pulpit of 1684 that one of Kendal's worthies,
the celebrated Oriental traveller Rev. Thomas Shaw, D.D., preached
one Sunday from the text, " A good name is rather to be chosen than great
riches," whereupon his drunken brother called out aloud, " So it may be, but
how must they do that have neither ? "
This green pulpit with its " houre glasse " was removed in the year 1757,
not being, so it is said, in harmony with the new seats. In its place an oak
" three-decker," costing £16, was erected against the fifth south column from
the east end, a great clumsy structure which stretched half-way across the
nave, and was surmounted with a canopy. It is said to have been of the
Roman Doric style, and bore inlaid the date and sacred monogram. Opposite
to it on the north column were hung the King's Arms to constantly remind the
preacher of his required loyalty, and on the other side of the same column
hung Thomas Sandes' monument, with the Alderman's pew immediately
below facing southward. Sixty-six years later — June, 1823 — Vicar Hudson,
who had long been dissatisfied with the position of this pulpit, temporarily
erected another in the chancel, and covered it with sixty yards of green cloth
and furnished it with a blue cushion and tassels. For one Sunday he
preached from it, but on the Monday following Josias Lambert, of Watchfield,

238 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
took " French leave," and with the assistance of a joiner and an axe
demolished the erection, because, as he contended, it blocked up the entrance
to his pew. At the time of the great restoration of 1850, the well-carved oak
pulpit, raised upon a Caen stone pillar, took the place ofthe old three-decker,
which was sold to be converted into a bedstead — truly a most suitable use,
seeing that for so long a period it had been the cause of so many falling away
into sleep. When the solid bottom step was being sawn across, a cavity was
discovered concealing a paper which bor.e the date of 1236. Can it possibly be
that this paper was put there to commemorate the first pulpit erected in the
Early English Church, which was certainly built about this date ?
Prior to the end ofthe XVIIth Century the Church was seated with
Seats. open " fformes," and in those days no stoves warmed the incoming
draughts ; but after this period, the churchwardens, having consideration for
the comfort of the congregation, began to give permission for the erection of
closed-in pews. Seven days after Vicar Crosby's induction — on June 29th,
1699 — consent was given for the first pew to be erected " att ye first pillar in
ye second row of fformes from ye great church doore." We can easily foresee
the results of such an arrangement, for those who were thus comfortably
accommodated began to look upon the pews as property which could be
handed down from father to son. Twenty-one years later, Thomas Lick-
barrow was put to the expense of 6s. iod. in opposing a Mr. Cook for
appropriating a pew to himself; and again, in the year 1723, a sum of 4s. was
added to the churchwardens' expenses when they met at a public-house to
consult as to what methods should be taken to oppose a Mr. Crowle's deter
mination of having a pew solely for his own use. On the 12th day of July,
1806, I find the following notice given : — " That a Vestry Meeting of the
Churchwardens and Inhabitants of the Parish of Kendal, will be holden in
the Parish Church, on Saturday, the twenty-sixth Day of July Instant, at
eleven o'clock in the Forenoon, to determine what steps should be taken to
remove or Compel to be removed, or to be made public, the Seats or pews
lately erected on the South Side of the Chancel, in the said Parish Church.
Joseph Garnett, Vestry Clerk." As a result of this meeting, it was agreed
that proper steps should be immediately taken to do away with these seats or
their appropriation, and that " Messrs. Richardson and Fell be appointed the
solicitors to act as they shall think proper or be advised." Two-and-a-half
years later another vestry meeting was held on the 21st day of January, 1809,

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH.

239

"to consider the impropriety of taking up certain places of sitting in the
Church, by Mary Lambert and Ann Lambert, spinsters, and of appropriating
the said places of sitting to their own use and benefit, in exclusion ofthe rest
ofthe said parishioners, etc., etc."
Nevertheless the practice seems to have continued, for the newspapers for
1823 frequently contain complaints respecting this usurpation. Again at the
restoration of 1850, when the old higgledy-piggledy pews were replaced by low
and open benches, a strong effort was made to break away from this illegal
custom, and to throw the whole ofthe sittings open to the parishioners. But
alas ! owing to lack of funds, the intention was but short lived, for between
the years 1858-9, when the parish was sub-divided into 17 district parishes, by
Lord Blandford's Act, the mother Church became so straitened in money
matters, that the churchwardens were obliged to go back to the principle of
raising rents upon allotted seats. Contrary as it undoutedly is to the essential
characteristic of a parish church, yet from this time the old custom seems to
have revived.
_.. _ That there had been an organ in the Church long prior to the
The Organ. & 5 F
year 1657 there can be no doubt, for in the churchwardens'
books of that date there is an inventory, concluding " with some organ pypes
and old iron nayled up in a chest neare Sir Thomas Strickland Quire." Then
in a deed poll bearing date 22nd February, 1698, we find that Jennet Wilson,
second wife of Alderman William Wilson, a tanner, did appoint that her
trustees should permit the mayor, recorder, two senior aldermen, vicar and
schoolmaster, and their successors for ever to hold " all that close or parcel of
Ground called Haverbrack lying in Kendal Park " (worth about £18 a year)
upon trust that they and their successors for ever might consent and employ
the clear rents, issues and profits thereof yearly for and towards a stipend to
an organist (by the major part of them to be elected and approved of) for
playing every Sabbath day "upon a pair of Organs in the Parish Church of
Kirkby Kendal."
On January 21st, 1701, " Vicar Crosby met Mr. Mayor and ye Church
wardens to consult about ye organ loft building." Accordingly, in the follow
ing year we find that at the west end of the Church the old loft was taken
down and a new and larger one erected in its place at a cost of £87 14s. 6d.?

240 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
and that 2d. was spent upon a broom to sweep it ! Upon this a new organ
was built at a cost of £500, and as some say by Bernard Schmidt, organist at
the Collegiate Church, Manchester, from 1682-1696. Here is a lively
description of it : — " The broad masses of richly gilt pipes, the frieze, the
Bishop's mitres on the side towers, the Crown on the centre tower, with the
carving ofthe Acanthus leaf flowing gracefully round the feet of the tiers of
pipes. The gallery front a muddle of the Ionic and Corinthian orders, with a
large Clock face in the centre, the rest past description. All made of good
English oak, and then painted and grained in imitation of oak, until it resembled
no wood at all." After the organ was finished, Mr. Preston, organist of Ripon
Minster, came to judge and try the instrument. The organ had at first only
one manual from GG to D in alt., nine stops, and 672 pipes. Robert Strickland
was the organist.
On either side under this loft was a large square pew for which a payment
was made towards the organist's salary ; these pews remained in situ for one
hundred years, i.e., until the year i8or, when they were removed to allow of
the side wing extensions to the gallery.
The churchwardens' accounts for this period furnish us with some curious
items. For instance, in 1706 there is an item of 6d. for a key for the organ,
and in the following year one of 3s. " payd more at a meeting of ye church
wardens and ye repaire of ye organ." How much of this 3s. was spent at the
social meeting at the " Ring o' Bells " and how much on the organ is left to
the imagination. It seems that in 1710 it was thought advisable to buy a
"lock for ye organ lofte," yet, nevertheless, in 1714 the instrument was in
such a very bad state of dilapidation, that on July 21st it was found necessary
for the wardens to repair to the inn once again, and spend 2s. 2d. to consult
about " repairing the large pipes in ye front of ye organ, which were in danger
of falling out." Could it possibly have been the dogs that created so much
trouble to the fine old instrument ? For from this time forward and until
1793 the organ blower received his salary for " bellows blowing and dog
whipping." There is a curious custom recorded on the authority of Mrs. Maude (who
died in 1831 at the age of 88) and of A. Yeates (who died in 1837, aged 93) as
in vogue about 1770-80. The severity of long voluntaries upon the organ,

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH.

2^.1

which sometimes lasted
twenty minutes, was miti
gated as follows : — "The elite
of the congregation, dressed
out in the very height of
fashion, as they always were
on Sunday, used to leave
their seats to promenade the
aisles, backwards and for
wards, chatting and strutting
about till the music ceased,
when they would compla
cently return to their high-
backed pews, gaudily lined
with some bright coloured
cloth and shining brass-
headed nails, and, being once
more snugly ensconsed,
would immediately fall into
sleep." But to return again to the
poor organ which had stood
for 88 years. The end of
"Father Smith's" instrument
came at last, for on April the
6th, 1790, it was doomed to
a complete transformation
and repair. The tone was
lowered by one note in order
to bring it to concert pitch, a
swell organ was added with
six stops (25 pipes), and a
trumpet stop to the Smith
manual of 56 pipes, in order,
it is said, to make it suitable
for public concerts. Several

MUSICAL FESTIVAL
AT KENDAL.
ONDER THE PA+RONACE OP
Sir MICHAEL t.E FLEMING, Bart PrefideiH.
'DANIEL WILSON; Efq Vicc-Prefident.

John Morland, f.fq.
Myles Sandys, Erq
Thorrus Strickland, Efq;
Jarrard Strickland, Efq.
Rev. Richard Wadefon, B.
James Wilfon, Efq.
Chridopher Willon.Efq.

Henry Ainflie, MxD.
Rev, George Bcllafis, D. D.
John Burp, Efq.
William Wilfon Canis, Eli).
Alan Chambre, Efq.
Myles Harrifon, Elq,
William Havgarth, Efq
Jofeph Maude, Elq
STEWARDS,
THERE will be performed in the CHURCH
ofKENDAL,
On WEDNESDAY Morning, the 29th of AUGUST, 179s,
A grand Selection of
SACRED MUSIC,
From the Works of HANDEL.
And at ihe THEATRE,
ON WEDNESDAY (EVENING,
A GRAND
^MISCELLANEOUS CONCERT,
In which wiU be performed
Some of the mod admired Glf.es, &c. by the principal'
Vocal Performers, and Solos, Concertos, &c. by* ihe
principal Inlt.umemal Performers.
On THURSDAY Morning, AUGUST 30th,
The SACRED ORATORIO of the
MESSIAH.
And in the EvENrNG^a 'BALL.
LEADER ofthe BAND, Mr. HAIGJi*, of MUnchestjr.
Among the Vocal - Performers are Mrs Shepley, Mifs
Worral, three MifsTravifes, Mifs Lawforr, and Mrs. Rulfcl,
Meffrs. Meredith, Hole, i, Oldham, Travis, ~Neild,' Jiey-
wood. Whitehead, Lee, Baj low, Marlow, etc, &c. &c.
Among the I.iftrumental Performers are MrHVs. Nichol-
fon, Hughes, Humphreys. Langhorn, Two Entwiftles, Twos
Jackfons, Sudlow, Clough, Blauharhafet, Hill, Langlhaw,
Robinfon, &c. &c.
The whole under the Direflion of Mr. Mt R (di th, aud
Mr. J*cksou. Qrganift.
Subscription Tickets, transferable, for the Firft Seats, for
the Two Performances in the Church, aud the Concert at
the Theatre, 19*.
' Single Tickets f«rr each Performance in the Church, Firft
Se ats 55 . — Second Seats 3s — Third Seats is. 6d.
> Single Tickets for the Concert irt the Theatre, Boxes and
Pit^s. — Gallery as.
Tickets, and Books" of the Words, to be had of Mr. ¦
Jackfon, Mr. Garnet, nrar the Chuich, and of Mr. Penning-
ton, Printer, in Kendal
, ((tsf- No Mon-v wil. li, taken -at the Doors.
Eadr^g^rning Performance \..ii Degin at Eleven o'CIock,
l|adj^fte^^&£ Pcufiirnifiice a: N' v;.i o'gloek. (34J

242

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

of these sacred concerts were held at irregular intervals, in conjunction with
similar ones of a secular character held at the Woolpack Yard Theatre, and
together they formed a musical festival usually extending over three or four
days.

MESSIAH.

SACRED ORATORIO.

In I7gi David Jackson was
appointed organist, and we find
that on the 29th and 30th days
of August, 1792, the first of
these festivals was held under
his direction and that of Mr.
Meredith. " The band was
full and well chosen, and the
company was exceedingly gen
teel and respectable." Wednes
day morning was devoted to a
" A Grand Selection of Sacred
Music from the Works of Han
del " in the Church, and at the
theatre in the evening there
was " A Grand Miscellaneous
Concert." On the Thursday
morning the Church was again
filled to hear the sacred oratorio
of the "Messiah." On the
racecourse there was the further
attraction of horse-racing in the
afternoon, and in the evening a
ball took place at the " King's
Arms." Oh, the mixture of it !
The illustration on page 241 is
a facsimile of the newspaper
advertisement, which gives the
list of patrons, full programme
and the prices for admission.
It would seem, however, that the total receipts of £220 were not considered
adequate to defray the expenses of the undertaking.

COMPOSED BY

Mr. HANDEL;

A? IT WILL BE PERFORMED IN

THE CHURCH OF KENDAL,

Thursday, August 30, \"]pt.

KENDAL:
frRINTEP By W. PfcNNlNGTOJ*,

Title Page to the Book of Words.

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 243
The second festival, which proved a financial success, was held on the
12th, 13th, and 14th days of September, 1801.' On this occasion there were
only three meetings held, the first being at the theatre on Monday evening the
12th, when " A Select Band of Instrumental Performers and the Celebrated
Lancashire Catch and Glee Singers " gave a miscellaneous concert ; the second
KENDAL GRAND
MuslcalFestlral
IS FIXED FOP
October the 17th, 18th, 19th, & 20th, 1815.
CONDUCTORS,
Messrs. G. and C. ASHLEY,
M \N AG Kits OF raK OHATOrilOS AT>TH£ATOE ROYAL. CQVENT GARDEN
Oi, W.ilrn-Kilnj nnd Fndnj Morning, ^will be performed in Uie Parish Church.
TWO GIIAND SELECTI01VS OF
SMCREB MUSIC,

\inl seltci I'.irl* ul i In OrnUino ol

CREATION.
Requiem, and Mount of Olives.
*¦ ( ...I .... 'I'l  . I .. \l...  . I... Ull'lll.'ll 1 WI 1'PrtDlft _P

\m! .in Tln.r-.l.n M..rin.i» Hi.- KACHKl) ORATORIO of

THE MESSIAH.

mI.h.,,,,,1 IViifiiv Kvriiiiit

MISCELLANEOUS CONCERTS
IN THE THE A TRE.
And on Wednesday Evening a Ball at the King's Arms.
For other Pnrlinil»rs*ie reliT Hi.- I'nl.lir l„ lt»- llnnd-Bilk » loih n„<, Im- ¦¦„< I ol* M , .ssi>. M nnd H. Brmillmaile. Mr.Pcnninguin, and Mr. Dowson, booksellers, Kendal ; Mr.
lamesShaw. bookseller. I'cnrilli : Mr (' (.lurk. I.ookhdler. I.uiii nsti-r : Mr. A-ildinrm-r, Ulverston ¦ Mr. Allen. Kirkby Lonsdale : and Mr. Bateman, bookseller, Appleby.

IIMED "- V UKAVrilWAITK AND CO.. KENDAL

Copy of Poster described on Page 244.
on Tuesday morning at the Church, when various pieces selected from the
oratorios of the " Messiah " and the " Redemption " were given ; and the third
again at the theatre on the Wednesday evening. The Lancaster Gazetteer for
October 3rd, 1801, records that they " were well attended by a numerous and
genteel audience, many of whom came from a considerable distance. The per
formances throughout were extremely well received."

244

kirKbIe Kendall.

In 1805 the organ was again repaired at an expense of £"350, and a
organ " was superadded containing eight stops (560 pipes).

choir

HUnftal
Grand Musical Festival.
1815.

SELECT! OF
SACRED MUSIC,

from the cimpqfiiiom of the moft favorite Avihori—
jincient aud Modtni.

PERFORMED IN THE

CHURCH.

Principal Ptrformert.
Mr! SALMON,
Mils TRAVIS, Mrs. WILDE,
Mit RUSSELL, and Mils M. TRAVIS,
Mr. BRAHaM,
Mr. G ARBEIT, Mr. ROLLE,
And Mr. C. SMITH.
Leader of the Band, Mr. ASHLEY, Organ, Mr. JACKSON.
Second Violin, Mr Challoner, Viola/Mr K.G.Alhley, '
Oboes, Meir Hughes and Scruton, Clarionet, Mr. H'jpkinfon,
Violoncello, Mr. C. ]. Atriley, Double Bafs, Mr T Heicher/
Trumpets, Men". Hyde and Hendcrfon, DoublePtums, Mr. Jcnkinfon.

tONDON:
PatNTED 0TE.MA'JLEIfiH,2,B0W-STBEEt

Price One Shilling-

Title Page of Book of Words.

The author has also in his
possession a bill-poster,
announcing the last of the
Grand Musical Festivals that
were held in the Church, for
October 17, 18, 19 and 20,
1815, and which is recorded
as being "one of the grandest
things ever known both in
Church and Play House." The
price for single tickets at the
Church and at the boxes and
pit of the theatre was 7s. 6d.
each. The gallery 3s. 6d. On
the mornings of the 18th and
20th two grand selections from
the " Creation," " Requiem,"
and " Mount of Olives," were
performed at the Church, and
on the 19th morning was given
"The Messiah." On the 17th,
19th and 20th evenings, miscel
laneous concerts were given in
the Theatre, Woolpack Yard,
and on the evening of the 18th
a grand ball was given at the
" King's Arms."

It must not be thought, however, that these festivals in the Church met with
unanimous approval from all, ior I have before me some tracts and two bills,
which were posted by John Pearson, the minister of the Inghamite Chapel, one
on the Parish Church door and the other in Stricklandgate near the theatre.
They certainly are very curious reading, but by reason of their sincere earnest
ness I desire to respect them. Doubtless these tracts had the effect of putting

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 245
a stop to the continuance ofthe festivals in the Church, for the next meeting
of the Harmonic Society, which took place on the 18th of December, 1816, I
find was confined to the Theatre Royal. On this occasion "A grand. Selection
of Sacred Music chiefly from the compositions of G. F. Handel with
instrumental accompaniments " was given under the leadership of Mr. Parrin,
organist of Penrith. Mr. Jackson, organist of Kendal, presiding at the
pianoforte. Thomas Scarisbrick was appointed organist on 21st December, 1822, a
position which he held till his lamented death on February 26th, 1869. In the
following March our greatly esteemed William Burton Armstrong, then organist
at St. Thomas's, was elected to fill his place. In 1825 an octave of pedal pipes
was added (13 pipes), there being no room in the gallery for more than that
number. When the old organ gallery was removed in the year 1847, the organ
was placed on the floor against the west doors, but at the restoration of 1850
it was entirely remodelled and taken away to the Bellingham Chapel. What
is known as the Armstrong organ is an entirely new instrument (by Willis,
London), built in the year 1877, and is now situated in the Chambre or St.
Thomas-a-Becket's Chapel.
When it is remembered that the Churchyard formed at one
Stained Glass. time a common playground, that the old Grammar School
was adjacent, and that the boys of bygone generations were not much behind
the boys of to-day in their stone-throwing propensities, it is not surprising to
find that there is little left of the old glass. The oldest bits of stained work
still preserved are undoubtedly those small pieces now inserted into the modern
windows of the Strickland and Bellingham Chapels. No other glass dates
further back than the restoration of 1850-2, when the 16 clerestory windows,
the great west window, the two west north-outer-aisle windows, the Baptistry
window, the Bellingham Chapel and the Chambre Chapel windows were
presented. The west window was the gift of Mr. and Mrs. James Gandy in 1853, in
memory of an only son. It beautifully represents in the first compartment the
sacrifice of paternal affection, Abraham offering up Isaac; in the second light
the sacrifice of maternal affection, Hannah leading up little Samuel to the
Temple ; in the third light, Moses directing the people to look up to Christ the

246 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
healer of every sorrow ; the fourth light, Samuel anointing David ; and the
fifth light the hope of death, Elisha raising the Shunamite's son to life.
In 1854 unfortunately permission was given to remove the new and
beautiful 1850 green glass of the east window for the insertion of the present
stained glass, which is not all that it should be for such a prominent position.
In 1863 the west north-inner-aisle window was erected to the memory of Vicar
Barnes. The centre compartment represents the resurrection of our Lord ;
that on the left St. Paul preaching at Athens, pointing to our Lord with one
hand, and with the other to the idolatrous Athenian temples ; and that on the
right is intended to be a conventional resemblance of the deceased vicar
performing the burial service, with Kendal Church in its unrestored condition
in the background.
During the same year Mr. Strickland inserted in the centre compartment
of the window to the St. Catherine Chapel a coat of arms of his ancient family.
From the shield, it will be noticed, hang some purse strings, in allusion to
the fact that Sir Thomas Strickland was keeper ofthe privy purse to Catherine
of Braganza, the unhappy wife of the " Merry Monarch." The original badge
of office, a beautiful purse formed of crimson velvet, richly embroidered with
the Royal Arms and the initials C. R. in gold and silver, is still preserved at the
Castle. The crowned head was inserted in one of the cusps on September
22nd, 1868.
The second westerly window in the south aisle is in memory of John
Yeates (first mayor to the reformed Corporation) and Margaret his wife.
In the left hand compartment is depicted the angel appearing unto
Cornelius, with the arms of the Brettargh family above, and the Aigburth
family below. In the right hand light is depicted the Centurian beseeching
Christ to come and heal his servant, with the arms of the Toxteth family above
and the Ives family below. The central compartment contains three shields.
The upper one bearing the arms of Yeates ; the centre one the arms 1 and 6
Yeates, 2 Brettargh, 3 Toxteth, 4 Aigburth, 5 Ives ; and the lower one the
arms of Mrs. Yeates quarterly in an escutcheon of pretence.
The Chambre window was removed in 1877 to its present position, the
most westerly of the south aisle, when the new organ was erected in the
Chambre Chapel. The masonry, however, was found to be seven inches too

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 247
short for the glass, and upon a close inspection it is just possible to see where
the glass was cut across at the level ofthe shields and where the old ribbons,
which once entwined the shields, were cut away.
The window erected to the memory of Edward Sinkinson in the south
aisle is undoubtedly the best example of stained glass that the Church can
boast of. There are three altar tombs — one in each of the three
Monuments. remaining chapels — and each one is of considerable interest.
The Strickland tomb is of sandstone, with a dark marble top, without any
inscription or date ; but is probably of the XIVth or XVth Century. It carries
two shields, bearing the arms of Strickland, Deincourt, and Neville — viz., 1
and 3, a fesse dancette between ten billets, for Deincourt ; 2 and 4, three
escalop shells, two and one, for Strickland ; and the same impaling a saltier,
with a mullet pierced, for Neville.
The Parr tomb is of unpolished black marble, likewise without any
inscription ; but doubtless the remains of Sir William Parr, K.G. (grandfather
of Catherine Parr), are buried here, as well as other members of the family.
On the north side are shields bearing the arms of Parr, Brus, Fitzhugh, and
Roos — 1, those of Parr (two barulets), quartered with Roos (three water
bougets, two and one) ; 2, Brus (vaire, one bar) ; 3, Fitzhugh (three chevrons
interlaced). On the east end are all the preceding arms quartered — viz., 1 and
4, Parr, quartered with Roos (the former without the bordure) ; 2, Parr,
quartered with Fitzhugh ; 3, Roos, quartered with Brus, and encircled with
the garter. The Bellingham tomb is to Sir Roger Bellingham, and has inlaid several
modern brass plates, including two effigies and four escutcheons. Upon a
separate plate is a restored inscription taken from the History of Richmondshire.
The original brasses were lost generations ago ; but Mr. John Broadbent, a
descendant of the Bellinghams, refilled the matrix in 1863. William Garside,
of this town, engraved the effigies of Sir Roger and Margaret his wife to
precisely the same shape and size as the old ones.
" Their hands are folded on their breast ;
There is no other thing expressed,
Than long disquiet merged in rest."

248

KIRKBIE KEN DA L L .

The tomb originally stood upon the south side of the chapel, as can be seen
from the rough unfinished edges of the top stone, and the two freestone shields
once lost, but fortunately again discovered in 1862 in the Unitarian Burial
Ground, were originally fixed upon the north or left side. They bear the
following arms quartered : — 1, A bugle horn, stringed, being the original arms
of De Bellingchamp, who came over with the Conqueror ; 2 and 3, three
bendlets on a canton, a lion rampant, for Burneshead ; 4, three bugle horns,
stringed, two and one, for the Sussex branch of the Bellingham family.
There is also in the Strickland Chapel, under a raised canopy of black
marble, the figure of a boy in alabaster, dressed in a loose gown, the features
much defaced and cut
all over. Around the
base runs a chevron
like ornament, with
the initials "W. S. "
and the date 1656
raised in sunk panels
at the end. Around
the margin of the
tablet is inlaid a
border of white
marble, on which is
inscribed : — " This
pvre refined strvctvre does containe Natvres compleatest peece where every
graine waits for a gloriovs vnion and appears shrin'd in parentall sighs and
marble teares." In the same chapel there is a solid marble urn, in memory
of Captain William Philip Strickland, who died at St. Domingo in 1795. It
was discovered a few years ago in a barn at Standish, and brought here to be
placed with the other family monuments.
Mrs. Frances Strickland, whose grave is near by — the brass being pre
served in the Bellingham Chapel — was born, married, and buried on the 24th
June, 1690, 1708, and 1725 respectively : —
" Emblem of Temporal Good ! The Day that gave
Her Birth and Marriage, saw her in the Grave ;
Wing'd with its native Love, her soul took flight
To Boundless Regions of Eternal Light."

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 249
Just outside the doorway lie the remains of Thomas West, author of the
Antiquities of Furness. He died at Sizergh Castle on the ioth of July, 1779,
aged 62 ; and it is remarkable that no sort of inscription marks his stone.

5je« Ijetlr IIje IrotijK of JUait lElltttglj'm dsiruwr,
farjti margED fflailjErjjatt ftauigljtEr 0f jlttilrtmgE
gurkii f&ssrxaet irf inlinme |je frs& no ffiljilorEit
altzt itiljoaE oeiebbe Ije margin garutlyiE &iatglji£r
of %ijamas J^anfora (EsipriEr af farrjnm Ije (jail sis
Bottnea & Etjljt Jruajr/tEra, uf toljtrlj 5 BonttEs & 7
4s«0ijiErB iniilr jje aaiir gorailjiE ar gear. X^faing He
teas iljrE BrnrE & ons garrE of agE aito ogEir je 7 of
$.. m. 1577 (3111.) I

L
In the Bellingham Chapel there are several interesting brass plates, which
were collected together at the restoration of 1850-2, and especially this one : —
" To the memory of the Most Religious and Orthodox Christian,
The most Loyall Subject and most ancient &, Serviceable Member
of this Corporation whereof, He was once Alderman and thrice
Maior, WILLIAM GUY of Water-Crook Gentleman, who dyed the
fOur Lord MDCLXXXIII
twenty-fifth day of December, in the Year of -I .
(His Age LXXXVI

_?5o KIRKBIE KENDALL.
" Had Loyalty been Life, Brave Guy thou'd'st Than
Stood Kendall's Everlasting Alderman
Nay could the joynte force of All
That's good or vert'ous over death prevaile
Thy life's pure thre'd noe Time or Fate could sever
And thou'dst still Livd'd to pray; KING live for Ever.
But Thou art gone ; A Proof such Vertue is
Too Good for Earth, and onely fit for Bliss,
And Blissful Seats: Where, If blesst Spirits doe
Concerne themselves with anything below.
Thy pray'rs the same, Thou still do'st Supplicate
For Charles His Life, For England's Church and State
Whil'st to Thy just Eternal Memory
Envy and Malice must in this Agree
None better Lov'd, or Serv'd his Prince than Thee."
Another brass is to Alice, the wife of Roger Bateman, who died the 25th
day of March, 1637, aged 26 : —
" Shall we entrust a graue with such a guest
Or thus confine her to a marble chist
Who though the Indies met in one small roome
Th'are short in treasure of this pretious tombe,
Well borne, & bred, brought vp in feare & care
Marriage which makes vp women, made her rare
Matron & maide with all choyse virtues grac'st
Loueing & lou'd of all, a soule so chast,
N'er rigged for heauen, with whome none dare
Venture their States with her in bllisse to share
She liueing virtue's pattern, the poores releife
Her husbands chiefest Joy, now dead his greife."
Against the wall is a beautiful mural tablet of white and dove-coloured
marble in memory of Zachary Hubbersty, the sculptured group of figures
representing his widow and six children mourning their loss. It is impossible
to imagine anything which conveys a more natural picture of the poignant
grief than this group exhibits. The widow is in a recumbent position,
surrounded by her offspring ; and the figure of an angel is seen pointing
upwards, as if bestowing sublime consolation to the widow and fatherless.
The drapery is managed in the most masterly style, and the whole is one of
the choicest bits executed by the late J. Flaxman, R.A. (1755-1826). One of

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 251
the children— Mary— afterwards married Richard Chambers, and became the
mother of the celebrated Ephraim Chambers of Encyclopedia renown.
One of the best known and most sought of the memorials in the Church
is that on a brass plate within the communion rails to "Mr. Ravlph Tirer, late
Vicar of Kendall, Batchler of Divinity, who died the 4th day of Ivne, Ano :
Dni: 1627":— " London bredd me, Westminster fedd me,
Cambridge sped me, my Sister wed me,*
Study taught me, Liuing sought me,
Learning brought me, Kendal caught me.
Labour pressed me, sicknes distressed me,
Death oppressed me, and graue possessed me,
God first gaue me, Christ did saue me,
Earth did crave me, and heauen would haue me"
In the south aisle there is a handsome monument of black marble con
taining the following tribute to the genius of Romney : —
" To the Memory of
GEORGE ROMNEY ESQUIRE,
the Celebrated Painter;
who died at Kendal, the 15. Nov. 1802,
in the 68. year of his age, and was interred
at Dalton the place of his birth.
So long as Genius and Talents shall be
respected his Fame will live."
At the west end of the north aisle there is a monument of white marble in
memory of the men of the 55th Regiment, who were either killed or died from
disease during the war with Russia, in Turkey, and the Crimea, in the years
1854 an<i J^S- At the side of the monument are placed two colours, carried
by the regiment in variours actions in India, China, &c, up to the year 1850.
Above hangs a triangular dragon flag of embroidered satin, being a trophy
captured by the regiment at the attack on the forts of Tinghae in the island of
Chusan, China, in 1841, which was deposited here with military honours on
* It is thought by some that "Sister" here refers to the Church — II. Epistle of St. John, verse i and 13 —
to whom in a spiritual sense he was wed; but the more popular theory is the one set forth by " K. K.," in his
letter to the Westmorland Gazette, November 22nd, 1862, stating that an old MS. copy of this epitaph had
turned up with a footnote saying that " the Vicar had married his wife at the instigation of his sister."

252 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
July 18th, 1874. It is also interesting to notice the colours and belts
presented to the old Kendal and Lonsdale Volunteers by the Hon. Mrs.
Howard on the 16th January, 1804. They were afterwards transferred to the
Militia, and deposited in the Church upon the anniversary of the Battle of
Waterloo in June, 1816. Near by the pendant sword, which is a modern
addition, there is an ancient helmet, commonly called " the Rebel's Cap,"
concerning which the following legend is recorded : — During the civil wars
of the Commonwealth, there resided in Kendal one Colonel Briggs, a
leading magistrate, and an active commander in the Cromwellian army. At
the same time a royalist, Robert Philipson, nicknamed from his bold licentious
character " Robin the Devil," inhabited the island on Windermere, which,
with the estate at Calgarth and some property in Crook, his family possessed
for many years. This Colonel Briggs besieged Belle Isle for eight or ten days,
until the siege of Carlisle being raised, Huddleston Philipson, of Crook,
hastened from Carlisle, and relieved his brother Robert. The next day, being
Sunday, Robin, with a small troop of horse, rode to Kendal, to make reprisals.
He stationed his men properly in the avenues, and himself rode directly into
the Church in search of Briggs, down one aisle and up another. Having
gained- his object he retreated by way of the western door, in passing
beneath which, it is said, his head struck against the archway, when his
helmet, unclasped by the blow, fell to the ground and was retained. On
leaving the Churchyard the girths of his horse were cut, and he himself was
thrown. Nothing daunted, however, "Robin the Devil," after killing with his
own hand the man who had seized him, clapped his saddle once more upon
his faithful steed, vaulted into it, ungirthed as it was, and rode full speed
through the streets, calling to his men to follow. The legend goes on to state
that his helmet was afterwards hung aloft in the Church, as a commemorating
badge of sacrilegious temerity. This narrative is still extant in a ballad of the
times, entitled " Dick and the Devil," now, of course, extremely rare, and
Scott alludes to it in his poem of Rokeby, as follows : —
" The outmost crowd have heard a sound
Like horse's hoof on hardened ground;
Nearer it came, and yet more near, —
The very death's-men paused to hear.
'Tis in the Churchyard now — the tread
Hath waked the dwelling of the dead ;
Fresh sod, and old sepulchral stone,

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 253
Return the tramp in varied tone ;
All eyes upon the gateway hung,
When through the gothic arch there sprung
A horseman arm'd, at headlong speed —
Sable his cloak, his plume, his steed,
Fire from the flinty floor was spurned,
The vaults unwonted clang returned !
One instant's glance around he threw,
From saddle-bow his pistol drew,
Grimly determined was his look 1
Full levelled at the Baron's head,
Rung the report, the bullet sped.
While yet the smoke the deed conceals,
Bertram his ready charger wheels
But floundered on the pavement floor
The steed, and down the rider bore
And bursting in the headlong sway,
The faithless saddle-girths gave way."
" Rokeby," Stanza 33, Canto VI.
_, _ „ Bells filled a much more important place in the lives of our
The Bells. ancestors than they do in ours. From the time that Britain
became Christian until the Reformation, there was scarcely an event in public
or private history into which they did not enter — joyously they rung out at
every national or municipal rejoicing, they celebrated the birth of an heir to,
or the marriage of, the noble, and with muffled peal they sounded alike for
high and low, at the time when a soul was passing away, and again some
hours after, as well as at the funeral. Nevertheless, I have been unable fo
discover any accurate information concerning the bells in our Church tower
prior to the Reformation.
From an inventory preserved in the Churchwardens' books made in 1657,
mention is made of there being " five bells in the Steeple and ropes for ye
bells, an old smale chyme rope, old iron, and a little bell wch hangs at ye
north side at ye Church." But it would seem from the following order for
repairing and re-hanging, that these bells must have existed for some consider
able time previous to this date to have become thus decayed, especially when
it is remembered that the woodwork in all probability was the common massive

252 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
July 18th, 1874. It is also interesting to notice the colours and belts
presented to the old Kendal and Lonsdale Volunteers by the Hon. Mrs.
Howard on the 16th January, 1804. They were afterwards transferred to the
Militia, and deposited in the Church upon the anniversary of the Battle of
Waterloo in June, 1816. Near by the pendant sword, which is a modern
addition, there is an ancient helmet, commonly called " the Rebel's Cap,"
concerning which the following legend is recorded : — During the civil wars
of the Commonwealth, there resided in Kendal one Colonel Briggs, a
leading magistrate, and an active commander in the Cromwellian army. At
the same time a royalist, Robert Philipson, nicknamed from his bold licentious
character " Robin the Devil," inhabited the island on Windermere, which,
with the estate at Calgarth and some property in Crook, his family possessed
for many years. This Colonel Briggs besieged Belle Isle for eight or ten days,
until the siege of Carlisle being raised, Huddleston Philipson, of Crook,
hastened from Carlisle, and relieved his brother Robert. The next day, being
Sunday, Robin, with a small troop of horse, rode to Kendal, to make reprisals.
He stationed his men properly in the avenues, and himself rode directly into
the Church in search of Briggs, down one aisle and up another. Having
gained- his object he retreated by way of the western door, in passing
beneath which, it is said, his head struck against the archway, when his
helmet, unclasped by the blow, fell to the ground and was retained. On
leaving the Churchyard the girths of his horse were cut, and he himself was
thrown. Nothing daunted, however, "Robin the Devil," after killing with his
own hand the man who had seized him, clapped his saddle once more upon
his faithful steed, vaulted into it, ungirthed as it was, and rode full speed
through the streets, calling to his men to follow. The legend goes on to state
that his helmet was afterwards hung aloft in the Church, as a commemorating
badge of sacrilegious temerity. This narrative is still extant in a ballad of the
times, entitled " Dick and the Devil," now, of course, extremely rare, and
Scott alludes to it in his poem of Rokeby, as follows : —
" The outmost crowd have heard a sound
Like horse's hoof on hardened ground;
Nearer it came, and yet more near, —
The very death's-men paused to hear.
'Tis in the Churchyard now — the tread
Hath waked the dwelling of the dead ;
Fresh sod, and old sepulchral stone,

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 255
Repairs to the bells and bell frame were made in 1676 and 1682, and the
clock loft in the steeple was laid in 1685 with a floor of two-inch planks. In
1686 a contract is made betwixt
" William Lawrence of Whittington, Carpinter and Mr Murgatroyd Vichar & ye
Chirchwardens both of ye Town & Parish of Kendall, That ye saide William
Lawrence is to hang aright and ffinish ye first Bell being yet imperfect and he is
to find materials to it as wood and iran and workmanship and he is to have to
what as hath been payd him before 2lb more to be payd to him by ye present
Chirchwardens for & in consideration of which 2lb when he has done his worke &
receives ye money (according to this present contract) he is to enter bound to ye
Chirchwardens to uphold ye hanging for the said first Bell of his owne charg for
ye term of seven years next following."
The first bell referred to would be the tenor or heaviest bell. In the year
1695 was added the sixth bell, and the memorandum is so interesting that we
give it in full : — ¦
" Whereas, our Treble or fifth Bell being casually splitt has been twice prsented to ye
Comisaryes for being out of Repaire, It is this day concluded and agreed on by ye
unanimous consent of ye Churchwardens both of ye Town and Prish with other discreet
men of ye same, that ye same Bell is this yeare to be casten and further yt a Sixt Bell is
to be added.
ffor ye p'formance of wch wee do contract & Bargan with Mr. Christo : Hodgson Bell-
founder — viz : That he is to cast ye splitt Bell and also make a Sixt Bell ; And he is to
have ye liberty of ye Bell house for his worke wherein he is to build his ffournass of his
own charge And he is to continue it there for Three yeares next coming and make use of it
if occasion require for ye casting of Bells, And according to contract he is to have for ye
Splitt Bell (as it comes to by weight) after ye Rate of 30s per lb and what new metall he
adds for ye making it good As also for ye Sixt Bell he is to have after ye rate of i4d per
pound. The Splitt Bell when weighed to ye Bellfounder is
When recd Casten is
His addition of Metall
The Sixt Bell when casten and received

The Casting of the Old Bell comes to
The New Metall in all comes to

c

qr

d

II

I

6

II

3

1

0

1

23

9

3

26

£

s.

d.

16

19

0

68

°3

10

The Tow Bells when recd from Bellfounder   85 2 10

254 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
oak of those days. "Made by ye Mayr part of ye Churchwardens, 29 June 1693:
Whereas for yeares last past ye Bells have beene much out of Repairs in yr
hangeings by reason of their oldnesse and decaydness of their work both of
wood and iron, and have cost much monny in patching and mending ye Same
and still grows worse and worse, soe yt yr are now some of them not fitt to be
Rung, and are looked on in danger of falling, wch thing if it should come to
pass would bee greet losse and damage, Wherefore to hang them anew is
thought fitt by us Churchwardens here present to be. ye best means to prevent
such fruitlesse charge and further danger, and this being ye best tyme to
provide mater ialls for ye work and because ye charge at present cannot be
computed what it may account too till further consultation abot itt wherefore
tis agreed on by vs Churchwardens yt Tho Denyson, Jno Sleddall, Tho
Middleton, Christ Hudson, being very meeke men are elected trustees to
whome wee Comitt ye whole mangement and carryeing on ye worke wch worke
by this means wee believe may bee as well prformed as iff wee were aparent
Generally in itt and yt they shall have a reasonable allowance for yr paines
and if after yr Consultation about itt according to their discretion an Assessmt
answerable be forthwth laid collected and brought in for ye prformance of ye
same in due season we each one promise to act and doe our parts accordingly."
Here follow the names of nineteen churchwardens, of whom seven are con
tent to make their marks.
The " little bell " above referred to, hung in a turret at the' north-east
corner of the Bellingham Chapel, and in Roman Catholic days was known as
the " Sanctus " Bell, and since then as the " Parson's Bell " or " Tinkler."
Several pieces have been knocked off the rim, and we learn from the Church
wardens' books that the Grammar School boys were in the habit of throwing
stones at it because it summoned them to school. This bell was removed
to the tower in 1804, during the restoration ofthe Bellingham choir roof where
it still hangs, and, I believe, is now used as the " ringing-in " bell.
Of the five bells in the steeple, it would seem that the three largest formed
the earliest peal, of which, one at least, came from Shap Abbey, bearing date
1631, and weighing 35cwts. To these three were added two treble bells. And
for many years after the commencement of the Churchwardens' account book
(1658) we have recurring items for making " five belropes " and for ringing on
national days the payment of " 5 shillings."

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 357
were made, not so much for the encouragement of the art, as for the ready
means which they afforded of obtaining fines to be spent on beer. Indeed the
sign ofthe " Ring o' Bells Inn " is pretty faithful when depicting the ringers
in the loft, each supported by a great mug of foaming ale. Ringers' jugs were
by no means uncommon, and some were curious examples of the potters' art.
" If you love me doe not lend me,
Euse me often and keep me clenly.
Fill me full or not at all,
If it be strong and not with small."
But to return to the Rules. For fear of losing them by decay on the damp
walls they were repainted on canvas in the year 1833, but after a time the
canvas also rotted and fell to pieces. To Thomas Jennings is due the credit of
having made a careful copy of the lines in i860, from which they have since
been printed and framed.

Agreed to and Painted I Painted on Canvas from I Copied on Paper from I Printed for the first
on Belfry Wall, 1788. | the original, 1833. | the canvas, i860. ] time, 1894.
ORDERS.
Agreed on by the Society of Ringers, and Subscribed to by the Church Wardens of Kendal,
for the better regulation and encouragement of the Art of Ringing.
" From Easter Sunday until New Mayor's Day,
At Ten the Ringers shall appear alway ;
I'th Afternoon by half-past two again,
This Rule unalter'd ever shall remain.
" From New Mayor's Day still Ten shall be the hour
For Forenoon service, as expressed before ;
The Afternoon Service from thence must alter'd be
Until the Clock commence the hour of Three.
" Whoe'er till Bells are raised is absent hence,
The forfeit for the fault is just fourpence ;
If he neglect till service it be o'er,
For every peal he forfeit twopence more.
" He who the whole day does himself absent,
Without of two or more he gains consent
One Shilling forfeit he must pay, as fee,
For th'use and service of Society.

256 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
It is further Contracted and Agreed~~on that he is to have such sums of money paid
him in full this yeare except £10 o o which he is to have paid him at ye end of a year and
a day after ye Bells be hung during wch terme of a yeare & a day if ye Bells ffaile either in
Mettale or Hanging he is to make them good at his own charge."
The bell-house above referred to was the little old building situated in the
north-west corner of the Churchyard, which stood till the year 1790. " In .
the days ofthe early bellfounders," says Mr. William Andrews, "the country
roads were little better than miry lanes, full of ruts and holes, and where the
moisture of the winter was often not evaporated during the summer. For this
reason bells were mostly cast in the immediate vicinity of the churches or
monastic establishments they were intended to grace. The monks, too, were
not unwilling to retain the usage as an opportunity for a religious service ;
they stood round the casting pit, and, as the metal was poured into the mould,
would chant psalms and offer prayers." Southey, in The Doctor, says: — "The
brethren stood round the furnace, ranged in processional order, sang the 150th
Psalm, and then, after certain prayers, blessed the molten metal, and called
upon the Lord to infuse into it His grace and overshadow it with His power,
for the honour of the saint to whom the bell was to be dedicated, and whose
name it was to bear."
When Queen Anne was crowned it is evident that Kendal had some pains
taking ringers, for on April 23rd, 1702, the ringers were paid 10s., "ye Queen's
Coronation Day, being 2s. 6d. more than has been lately paid, but it is in
consideration of their extraordinary ringing."
The great bell from Shap Abbey was re-cast by Abraham Rudhall, of York,
in 1711, having for several years been broken, and in 1717 it was again re-cast.
In 1774 it again burst, and being so unwieldly in size, taking two men to ring
it, and not being tuneable with the rest, it was broken up and re-modelled with
other metal into three smaller bells, making a total of eight bells. The first,
second, third, and sixth were re-cast, and the fourth and fifth of the old set
became the seventh and eighth of the new peal.
In 1788, a long series of rhyming " orders for the better regulation and
encouragement of the Art of Ringing " were painted on the plaster over the
belfry door. In olden times there appears to have been a close connection
between the belfry and the cellar, and it is more than likely that these laws

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 259
midnight. There is a story told of how Vicar Hudson rang the tolling bell.
The old sexton of that day, John Jennings, had a daughter, well known for
having a most retentive memory, and also for being an excellent errand goer.
Whenever anything was specially wanted at the Vicarage, the word was : —
" Go, and tell John's daughter." Once, when she was tolling the passing
bell in the loft, the worthy vicar made his appearance to ask her to take a
message, to which she replied that her father would be vexed if the bell ceased
even for one minute, as he had been already paid for it. "Oh!" said the
reverend Divine, " I will toll while you are away," and like a brave man for
some twenty minutes he stood at his post counting the movements of the
pendulum, and swinging at the right number the clapper : —
" That had so oft with solemn toll,
Spoke the departure of a soul."
The newspapers for October 4th, 1834, record that " on Sunday last, the
Church bells were silent owing to the Churchwardens refusing to pay more
than £12 a year for the ringing." The ringers would not strike the clapper,
and so they struck themselves. After a period of six months' silence a
" Liberal Churchman," through the newspapers, implored the vicar to no
longer withhold from the town the sweet music of the Sabbath bells. But the
appeal was of no avail. At last, on the occasion of the death of Thomas
Strickland in September, 1835, the bells tolled out a muffled peal, the first time
that they had been heard for eleven months.
In 1893, the peal was re-tuned and hung upon a new frame. The Kendal
ringers have long been noted for their correct and scientific " change ringing,"
and the bell loft is hung with records of their exploits.
The registers commence in 1555, but are for the first few years
egis ers. mcompietej gapS 0f a few months occurring between entries, and
from 1561 to 1570 no entries are to be found. Again a whole book is missing
between the years 1631 and 1679, after which date they are complete up to the
present time.
It is recorded on a stone in Penrith Church that there died of the
plague in Kendal, in the year I597"8> about 2>500 persons. The Kendal
register contains entries of numerous burials in the year 1597, some of the

258 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
" On Parish Days the Ringers shall appear
When they the tolling of the Bells do hear ;
All absentees for every peal that's past,
In twopence fine most surely will be cast.
"And 'tis agreed that on such Parish Days,
The Seventh Bell's warning shall the absent raise
Within one quarter of an hour, if not,
No more's allowed, and equal fine's his lot.
" Whoe'er presumes a Bell to pull off here
Without consent, or does get drunk or swear,
Sixpence for each offence he sure shall stake,
Ere he his peace with us for it shall make ;
Likewise he fourpence pays, besides all that,
Who here appears with either spurs or hat.
" The youth who to the Ringing Art's inclined,
Shall ever with us hearty welcome find,
If he with us the Jolly Boy reveres,
Who sometimes soothes and mitigates our cares.
" No Miser here with us can claim a part,
Nor be companion in our noble art,
Which nurtures health, of life the chiefest bliss,
With which the world compared a bauble is.
" He who to pay these forfeits is not free,
If yearly Ringer or a Deputy,
It is resolved the fine from wages due,
Shall be deducted with exactness true.
" And furthermore, if anyone beside,
Refuse by these our orders to abide,
From out the Belfry he shall be expelled,
And as an alien evermore be held.''
On the 18th of June, 1816, two treble bells, each weighing about 7cwt.,
were added on the anniversary and " in commemoration of the glorious
achievements of Lord Nelson and His Grace the Duke of Wellington, who
with Divine assistance, gave peace to surrounding Nations and to this favoured
Isle." The inscription on one reads : — " We'll sing their praise, and join in
glorious harmony this noble peal." They arrived by canal, on the 30th of
December, were hung the next day, and ushered in the New Year of 1817, at

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 261
1291 — ... 1306 — Walter de Madestan
the other — Ecclesia de ¦ Kyrkeby Kindale Divisa Est,
Pars Willelmi £"66.13.4. Pars Walteri £66. 13.6.
Reference is made to him in the Patent Rolls 23 Edw. I,
(1295) and described as " parson of a moiety of the Church
of Kirkeby in Kendale." He was a noted pluralist, of no
great reputation, consecrated Bp. of Worcester in 1313
and died abroad in 1317.
VICARS.
13 12 —  — Roger de Kirkby.
It appears that Kendal was not appropriated to St. Mary's
York, till after 30 Edw. I. (1303). In that case Roger was the
first vicar. He was witness to an exchange of lands at
Sizergh in this year.
1352 — ... 1366 — Thomas de Leynesbury.
He occurs in 1352 as vicar, with permission to study at a
University. He was a trustee of certain lands granted by Sir
Thomas de Strickland, Knight, in 1366.
Doubtless there was a Vicar between Leynesbury and
Greenwode, of whom we have no record.
 — May, 1421 — Thomas Greenwode.
On the 20th of June, 1396, Archbishop Scrope gave Green
wode, then only an acolyte, letters dimissory that he might
be ordained. In 1409 he was instituted to the Rectory of
Ousebridge, York. This he gave up in 1413, when he became
Vicar of Kirkby Stephen. On the 5th of March, 1415, he was
made Vicar-general by Archbishop Bowet. At the time of
his death he was Canon of York and Lincoln, and Vicar of
Kendal. He died on the 2nd of May, 1421, and was buried in
York Minster.
June, 1421 — ... 1439 — Richard Garsdale.
He was a trustee in a settlement ofthe Sizergh Estate in the
year 1432.
July, 1439—  — John Bryan.
1495 —  — William, Abbot of St. Mary's, York.
He granted a lease of part of the tithes to Sir Thomas
Strickland in this year,

262 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
1520 — ... 1534 — Thomas Maynes.
Letters patent granted by Edw. VI.
For a short period the patronage of the Church lapsed to the
Crown, by whom two presentations were made, viz., James
Pilkington, B.D., and Nicholas Asheton.
Dec, 1550 — ... 1551 — James Pilkington, B.D.
He was born in 1520. At the age of sixteen he was admitted
a member of St. John's College, Cambridge, where he pro
ceeded to the degree of A.B. in 1539, and was elected a
Fellow in the same year. He afterwards took the degrees of
A.M. in 1542 and B.D. in 1550, in which latter year he was
presented by Edward VI. to this living, as the first Protestant
vicar. In the reign of Queen Mary he was obliged to fly
(1554) from England ; he returned in March, 1558, and was
appointed a commissioner to revise the Book of Common
Prayer. In July, 1559, he was admitted Master of St. John's
College and Regius Professor of Divinity. At the age of 40
he was elected the fiist Protestant Bishop of Durham on
February 20th, 1561. He died at Bishop Auckland, January
23rd, 1575, aged 55, and was buried in Durham Cathedral,
" with as_ few popish ceremonies as may be, or vain cost.''
Dec, 1551 —  — Nicholas Asheton.
Presented by Edw. VI.
1562 — July, 1591— Ambrose Hetherington, D.D.
1591 —  — Samuel Heron, D.D.
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He took an "ad
eundem " D.D. degree at Oxford in 1598 to qualify himself
for a Crown living restricted to Oxford graduates, and died in
1615.
1592 — June, 1627 — Ralph Tirer, B.D.
He was buried within the communion rails at Kendal Church,
under a very thick stone, which was removed somewhat to
the north at the restoration of 1850. On the stone is a brass
plate containing his well-known epitaph.
1627 — ... 1640 — Francis Gardener, B.D.
Dec, 1640 — ... 1645 — Henry Hall, B.D.

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 263
Mar., 1646 —  — Henry Masey, M.A.
Note. — The author of Brand's History of Newcastle, writes: —
" March 25, 1652, Mr. William Cole settled at St.
John's, Newcastle, to preach forenoon and afternoon,
with a salary of £150 per annum. He was minister
of Kirkby Kendal in Westmorland."
May, 1656 —  — John Strickland, B.D.
In the civil wars he took the covenant, and preached before
the Long Parliament. He became assistant to the com
missioners for ejecting insufficient ministers and school
masters in 1654. In 1662 he was ejected for refusing to
conform to the Church of England. He died in 1670.
Jan., 1660 — ... 1673 — William Brownsword, M.A.
On November 24, 1645, he was admitted a pensioner of
- Emanuel College, Cambridge. He was B.A. in 1645 and
M.A. in 1649. In 1648 he is described as " Preacher at
Dugglas," Douglas being a chapelry in the parish of Eccleston,
Lancashire.
In accordance with the Church Survey Act of 1650 the com
missioners return him as " cure of Douglas Chapel, a
godlie painfull Minister, but he did not (being dissatisfied
with the usurped powers) observe the 13th day of this
instant month (June) appointed by Act of Parliament to be
kept as a day of humiliation, and had notice of it by the
Constable." From Douglas he removed to Preston (1654). In 1658 he was
presented by Trinity College, Cambridge, to the Vicarage of
Kendal, which position he filled till 1673. He had the
freedom of the borough granted to him November 6, 1662.
His contiguity to the scenes of the labour of George Fox,
and the early Quakers led him to write: — "The Quaker-
Jesuit, or Popery in Quakerism, with a Serious Admonition
to the Quakers to consider their ways and return from whence
they are fallen." London 1660. Small 4to., 16 pp.
A quaker, " Robert Barrow prisoner in the comon Goale in
Kendall for not paying vnto William Brownesword preist of
Kendall his Easter Reckonings," accused the Vicar in some

264 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
doggerel lines for abusing him " in pullpitt, private and
and abroad." — See Kendal Mercury for July 25th. 1863.
He also wrote " England's Grounds of Joy in His Majesty's
Return to his Throne and People." London 1660. 4to., 28 pp.
Nov., 1673 —  — Richard Tatham, M.A.
He appears not to have been instituted for on the 22nd
November, 1673, there is a conclusion: — "Agreed by the
Master and seniors that Mr. Loup have a presentation to the
Vicaridge of Kendal." Apparently the living lapsed to the
Bishop, who appointed Michael Stanford.
1674 — Mar., 1683 — Michael Stanford, M.A.
Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, 1659 — 1673. He died
March 3, 1683, aged 47.
1683 — April, 1699 — Thomas Murgatroyd, M.A.
We find no record of Mr. Murgatroyd, except that of his
burial under date of the 17th of April, 1699, 'n the Parish
Register, which runs thus : — " Mr. Tho. Murgatroyd, Vichar
of Kendall."
June, 1699 — Dec, 1733 — William Crosby, M.A.
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1690. A man
entirely given up and married to the Church, and was truly
in every respect an " Eunuch for the Kingdom of Heaven's
Sake." He was "sworne" freeman of the borough January
21, 1700. He died at the age of 70 years. The foot of his
grave is close to the front of the Communion Table. The
Rev. Tobias Croft, his curate, preached the funeral sermon.
The following is a copy of a letter sent by the Corporation to
Trinity College : — " Kendall December 10th, 1733.
Reverd. Sirs, Wee being now come from performing our last
& very sorrowfull office to our late Deceased and reverd.
pastor Mr. Crosby, do in behalf of ourselves and the numerous
inhabitants of this place & extensive parish, take this oppor
tunity of expressing our Gratefull acknowledgement of the
College's presentation of the last vicar, who was one of the
most eminent ornaments ofthe Church in & out ofthe pulpitt
that has appeared in these parts within our remembrance, &
wee hope that upon consideration of our ensuing representa-

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. 265
tion ofthe cure it will be accepted by some Distinguished
person of your body, the benefice being in our opinion one
hundred & thirty pound per annum & upwards, clear of all
known reprises, the vicarage house & outhouses, being all
very fine & in a manner new, which cost the deceased several
hundred pounds, and although there are twelve or thirteen
chappells of ease in the parish, yett curates thereof are no
burthen to the vicar no more than is the curate resident,
between which last & the vicar, the office & duty are equally
divided & though the first-fruits are very high, yett
every new Incumbent will find some Ease therein by a
Legacy of sixty pounds from the last incumbt. so as every
Incumbent give security for his Exor. to pay the principal
to succeeder.
Whereby & by a legacy of his well chosen modern
Library for benefitt of succrs. the late vicar will be a double
benefactor to every of them & they therefore need not bring
from Cambridge any of the books of which this appropriated
library consisteth.
Wee may add to the above that a handsome court & a fine
garden on side of a large river, join the vicaridge & that this
place is situated in an healthfull air & plentifull country and
accomodated with a cheap market for fish & flesh, & a good
publick school, all which is earnestly submitted to your best
consideration by Reverend Srs.
yor. very Servts. etc., etc.
P.S. A lott of pritty Tapistry & hangings in the Dining room
is to continue in it.
Dec, 1733 — Nov., 1744 — Richard Cuthbert, M.A.
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He died on the 7th
November, 1744, aged 48, and was buried in the eastern
portion of the Churchyard.
Jan., 1745 — Feb., 1789 — Thomas Symonds, D.D.
Hewas born July 28th, 1709; deacon, 1732; priest, 1733;
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1736. He died
February 7th, 1789, aged 79, and was buried within the
Communion rails.
Note.— The Newcastle Chronicle for March, 21, 1789, says:—
" The Rev. Richard Kirshaw is preferred to the
Vicarage of Kendal in the County of Westmorland."

266 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
July, 1789 — Feb., 1806 — Henry Robinson, M.A.
Born 1748. Fe'low of Queen's College, Cambridge. He died
25th February, 1806, aged 58. In the Churchyard is a flat
stone over his grave simply containing his initials and date —
" H. R., 1806."
April, 1806 — Nov., 1814 — Matthew Murfitt, M.A.
A.B. in 1783, and A.M. in 1786. Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge. He died aged 50.
1815 — Oct., 1843 — John Hudson, M.A.
A native of Beetham, he went to Heversham School. He
left it for Trinity College, Cambridge, in the year 1793. On
taking his degree in the year 1797, he was declared Senior
Wrangler, and was elected a Fellow of the College the
following year. At the age of 30 he was elected a Tutor.
Thenceforward " he commenced a career, prosperous and
brilliant beyond example." Amongst his scholars was Dr.
Blomfield, Bishop of Chester and of London. He died aged
70. He was interred within the Church near the Parr
Chapel, but the stone was removed somewhat more to the
south during the restoration of 1850.
April, 1844 — May, 1858 — Joseph Watkins Barnes, M.A.
He was born in 1806; died May, 1858, aged 51; and was
interred in the New Cemeteiy.
Aug., 1858 — Jan., 1896 — John Cooper, M.A-
Trinity College, Cambridge. B.A. (Wrangler and 1st Class
Classical Tripos) in 1835, M.A. in 1838, deacon in 1837,
priest in 1838, Vicar of Kendal in 1858, hon. Canon of Carlisle
in 1861, Archdeacon of Westmorland in 1865. Formerly
Fellow of Trinity, 1837-1859 ; Vicar of St. Andrews the
Great, Cambridge, 1843-1858; Tutor of Trinity, 1845-1855 ;
Senior Dean, 1855-1858.
April, 1896 —  — William Robert Trench, LL.M.
Trinity College, Cambridge. LL.B. (2nd Class Law Tripos)
in 1861, LL.M. in 1870, deacon in 1859, priest in 1871, hon.
Canon of Chester in 1876.

VI.
Stricklandgate,

OR

The Horth Road.

The " geat " or drift road, along which the young cattle were
driven to the township " stirk-lands," where they pastured
in common upon the unenclosed land, novr known as
Strickland Ketel and Strickland Roger.

269

STRICKLANDGATE, OR THE NORTH ROAD.

THE commanding building which stands at the junction of Highgate and
Stricklandgate, with its oriel window looking down to the once confined
entrances into Finkle Street, was known in the coaching days as the famous
" Crown Inn." Across the street swung a sign representing a Royal Crown in
gilded colouring. The first notes that I can discover about it are, that in 1797
the Providential Benefit Society held its meetings here, that in 1798 James and
Ann Jackson were " mine hosts," and that in 1806 their lease was renewed.
Here was the booking office for the light coaches run in opposition to the
Royal Mail. They left at eight o'clock in the morning, three days a week, for
Appleby, Orton, Temple Sowerby, Penrith, and Carlisle, being run in connec
tion with the " Lord Wellington " post coach, that made the journey between
Carlisle and Glasgow in fourteen hours. In July, 1824, there is a record of the
landlord (Howard) opening " a neat little theatre " in one of the rooms ; and
again, in June, 1826, I find that the new landlord (Bowman) continued the
play-house. The inn was kept by a Mrs. Walker, in 1868, in which year it
was closed as a public-house.
The chemist's shop next door was at one time owned by Joseph
No. 4. Simpson, a woollen draper, who was elected a burgess in 1764.
Notice the excellent perspective view of the yard adjoining. The old dormer
gablet and iron gutters, that row of flanking chimneys, the diminishing width
of lane sloping upward, and the Serpentine Hill in the background. See it in
the early morning with the sunshine upon the sloping hill, throwing up in dark
sombre relief each chimney and every little detail, and say if it is not the
quaintest glint in Kendal.
_ This commodious shop used formerly to be divided into two smaller
No. 8.
ones — a bookseller's to the left and a shoemaker's shop with a door
way up the entry to the right. The earliest occupant of the bookseller's shop
that I can find was Alderman William Pennington, printer and bookseller, who

270 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
died here in 1815, having removed from his old shop beneath the " Rose and
Crown " in 1800. He was succeeded by Messrs. Airey & Bellingham, book
sellers, and from hence emanated the first number of the Westmorland Gazette
and Kendal Advertizer on May 23rd, 1818.
On May 3rd, 1828, George Harrison Gardener leased the premises to John
Jackson, of the " King's Arms Inn," for fourteen years, who sublet it to
Thomas Richardson, the publisher of fhe Westmorland Journal of Useful
Knowledge. This paper was printed in quarto on a sheet of foolscap, and its
columns aimed at being entirely free from all sectarian and political bias, but
filled with "useful information — moral, literary, scientific, and amusing." The
first number was issued on the ist June, 1833, and subsequently on every
Saturday, at the price of three halfpence. Thomas Richardson seems to have
assigned the premises to Joseph Dawson, bookseller, who on the 12th July,
1842, obtained a further lease for another fourteen years. After a short time
Dawson enlarged his premises by taking possession of the adjoining shoe
maker's shop, and throwing the two together he commenced the business of
selling music and musical instruments. At his death in 1857 his nephew,
William Fisher, entered upon possession, and subsequently his son Richard.
In 1896 Mr. Douglas became the lessee.
As regards the shoemaker's shop, we know but little about it beyond that
at one time it was occupied by John Bragg, who married Miss Wilson of High
Wray, to whom Thomas Atkinson succeeded; and, upon his crossing the street,
Robert B. Hunter, saddler, entered in.
Redman's Yard A buildinS UP tnis yara"> now occupied by Braithwaite's
cycling works, used formerly to be Dawson's printing
office ; and here in earlier days Alderman Christopher Redman (Mayor 1749
and 1760) had his cabinetmaker's shop.
Redman had business relations with " Honest John Romney,"* a cabinet
maker at Beckside, Dalton. Romney's son, the celebrated painter, was born
on the 15th day of December, 1734, and when old enough was sent to school.
His progress being slow, his father thought it waste of money to continue the
expense of his studies, and so he placed the boy, then at the age of eleven years,
* The correct spelling- ofthe family name was Rumney, which form " Honest John " always used, and
young George used when signing his indentures.

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD.

271

in his own workshop. With a joiner's pencil young Romney seems always
to have been drawing the sign-board of the " Red Lion Inn," which hung out
before him, or else copying some picture in a monthly illustrated paper.
The first incident, it is said, that led Romney to an earnest cultivation of
drawing was when having observed a great singularity in the countenance of a
stranger in church, and being desired to describe the person, he took a pencil
and delineated the features with such strength and resemblance as to not only
delight his friends
but also to excite him
to a more serious ap
plication of the art.
His next encourage
ment came when one
day Redman's sister,
a Mrs. Gardener —
who, by the way> was
the mother of Daniel
Gardener, the emi
nent crayon draughts
man, another Kendal
worthy — was on a
visit to " Honest
John." Noticing
how apt the lad was
with his pencil, she
asked him to take
her portrait, and the
result was so pleasing
that she at once in
terceded with his
father to let painting
be his sole pursuit
and profession. Thus
was he bound, at the
age of 21, as an apprentice to an intinerant painter named Christopher Steele,

residing temporarily here in this yard.

272

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

(Ted mans
11 Yard

With Steele young Romney
went on periodical visits to the
principal towns in the neigh
bouring counties, and it was
whilst paying a visit to York in
1755 that his excellent work
attracted the attention of Law
rence Sterne, Vicar of Stretton,
then at the height of his popu
larity, who afterwards interested
himself on Romney's behalf,
and obtained for him several
commissions from persons of
considerable influence. T h e
praise of Sterne was a passport
that lifted him into celebrity at
once. George then fell ill with a
fever, was nursed by a domestic
servant named Mary Abbot, the
two young people fell in love
with each other, and rather than
be separated during Steele's
periodical rambles they resolved
to get married, which they did
on October 14th, 1756. Two
years later, at the age of 24, he
left Steele, returned to Kendal,
commenced business as a por
trait painter on his own account,
and was at once in demand,
though he had only studied a
little over two years. Romney's
initial production was a sign for
the Post Office, a hand holding
a letter ; and his two first

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 273
portraits of importance were half-length pictures of Walter Strickland and his
wife. Colonel George Wilson introduced the artist to the Strickland family
at Sizergh, where he also had the advantage of copying a few pictures of
other masters. When he had sufficient pictures to form a little collection he
raffled them in the Town Hall for ten and sixpence a ticket.
Yearning for a larger field for his labour,
and with the full consent of his wife, the
two young people shared their savings of
£100, and taking £50 he bid adieu to wife,
son and daughter, and set off alone to seek
his fortune in London. On the 14th
March, 1762, he thus set up his easel in
Dove Court, close by the Mansion House.
Reynolds was at that time at the meridian
of his fame, notwithstanding which, Rom
ney soon proved a rival so powerful, that
it was said " he divided the empire with
Sir Joshua." Writing of him at this time,
Richard Cumberland says : — " Romney,
shy, private, studious, and contemplative,
conscious of all the disadvantages of a stinted education, of a habit naturally
hypochondriac, with aspen nerves that every breath could ruffle, was at once in
art the rival, and in nature the very contrast of Sir Joshua."
In 1764 he visited Paris to study Rubens, revisited Kendal and Lancaster
in 1767, executed many paintings, and then in 1773 he journeyed to Rome. In
two years he returned again to his popular studios in London, where he
remained, till failing in health he came back again to Kendal, and died on
November the 15th, 1802. The characteristic merit of his works consists in
poetic dignity of conception, wherein Flaxman said he was the first of all
English painters, and in the harmony and brilliancy of his colouring.
Again Redman's Yard is celebrated for the birth of the portrait painter,
Thomas Stewardson, in 1781, the son of a dogger, who was apprenticed to Jack
Fothergill, a noted sign-board painter, up the "Elephant Inn" Yard. Barely
20 years of age he removed to London, was kindly taken in hand by Romney,

^^5S*"»ItfR8*>

GEORGE ROMHEY.

274 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
and in 1804 he exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy, became
portrait painter to George IV. and Queen Caroline, and finally died in
August, 1859. This house is first known as the tea dealer's shop, occupied by one
No 1 2 Fallows, who was succeeded in the same trade by William Richard
son in 1823. Joseph Barrow followed, and after one or two more tenants it
ultimately passed to Mr. Douglas in 1852.
What a host of associations are conjured up by the one
King's Arms Inn. T ... r
word " inn." How they come crowding upon us trom
all sources, coaching houses and ancient hostelries, with the thousand and one
memories of the famous men who have frequented them.
In the earlier days, when communication between different parts of the
country was difficult, and travellers were few, it is probable that there existed
no great number of houses of entertainment. The hospitality of the abbey, and
that of the neighbouring castle, sufficed in most cases for the needs of the times,
o'r at least so far as the rural districts were concerned. But gradually as
commerce and general inter-communication increased, there sprung up inns
which laid themselves out for the reception of those who journeyed abroad ;
merchants, pilgrims, and persons of no fixed abode. Hither came also all that
motley assemblage who were from time to time allowed within its precincts;
morris-dancers,* mummers, jugglers, musicians, and ballad-singers, all hopeful
of gathering largesse from the guests. For travellers and pilgrims in olden
times were not a doleful folk. On the contrary, most endeavoured to make
their journeys as agreeable, and as much like a holiday, as possible.
Since the decadence of' the "White Lion," this inn has been the town's
principal hostelrie, an inn whose history is inseparably connected with many of
Kendal's most important events, and whose landlords have so frequently taken
the mayoralty chair. The date of its erection is not known, but its external
facade and picturesque interior seem to have been but little altered. The
house is well described by the author of A Fortnight's Ramble as being "a large,
old, straggling inn, with two galleries leading to the bedrooms," and, says he,

* Says Dr. Johnson :—" The Morris-dance, in which bells are jingled, or staves or swords clashed, was
learned from the Moors, and was probably a kind of Pyrrhic, or military dance."

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD.

*75

" I would advise you to make a cross to know which to go by." Or again, by
the author of The Strange Adventures of a Phaton, who speaks ofthe laughter
that shook the coffee room. A curious feature of the coffee rooms of to-day.
As a posting house, there is none of the stir now, in these days of railway
and electric transmission of news, as was created by the dashing up of the
" Royal Mail," with its fine team of greys, its smart guard, and bluff-weather-
beaten " whip," to say nothing of the fluttering of dripping waterproofs, the
pulling asunder of soaked plaids, and the drying of wet and gleaming cheeks
that were red with the rain. And within there is now none of that bustle, such

The King's Arms, .by Stirzaker.

as used to be, when a thousand servants seemed to be scampering about to
assist and prepare a steaming and fragrant banquet by the time that warmer
and dryer clothes could be put on. Oh, it was a commotion and a welcome
indeed to arrive in those days at this big, warm, comfortable, old-fashioned
inn, and a succulent supper worth remembering, with that appetite whetted by
a long ride in moorland air, and flavoured with the agreeable recollection of
past perils safely surmounted.
The author has in his possession an oil-colour painting by Richard
Stirzaker, made in 1823, representing the "Telegraph coach," standing

276

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

before the inn laden with luggage and passengers. On its sides are the names
of the towns to which it runs, viz. : — -Carlisle, Lancaster, Preston, Bolton,
Manchester, and Liverpool; and what an animated scene it reveals with "mine
hostess," Mrs. Jackson, standing in the entry talking to Arthur Shepherd, and
with many local characters, such as Jack Towers, Father Saul, Fitty Jimmy
at the stationer's door, Old Fratch, John Gobies, Abbie Jingler, Beggy Ning-
nang, Billy Toy leading a broken-down horse, and Chas. Docker, stay and
corset maker, standing talking to Wm. Richardson, tea dealer; whilst up above
almost all the windows are thrown wide open for those within to wave adieu as
the horses spring up to the collars at the word " Let 'em gah, mi lads, an' luk
oot fer yersels."
The first stage coach from London to this inn arrived in 1763, twice a
week, drawn by six horses, and was called the "flying machine," I suppose, as
it ran at the marvellous rate of six miles an hour.

LIVERPOOLE and KENDAL
STAGE COACH, 1768.
REMOV'D from the WHITE LION,
in KENDAL, to the KINGS's ARMS, fets out
from thence every Friday Morning, at Four o'CIock ;
lies at the Bear's Paw, at Wigan, and arrives at the
Black Horfe and Rainbow, in the High Street, Liver-
poole next Day, at Noon ; fets out from thence every
Monday at Noon, lies at Wigan, and arrives at the
King's Arms, in Kendal, every Tuefday Evening.
N.B. Any Perfon who has Occafion to go to Lanca
fter, Prefton, Wigan, Warrington, Manchefcer, &c, or
Parts adjacent, may beconvey'd, by applying to the a-
bove King's Arms, in Kendal, which will certainly and
regularly fet out at the Time mention'd.

From the Cumberland Pacquet
for May n, 1775, I extract the
following : —
LONDON TO KENDAL
FLYING MACHINE
IN THREE DAYS.
" Whereas it has been repre
sented to the proprietors of the
said machine, by several of the
inhabitants in and about Ken
dal, that the said Machine not
coming to Kendal as usual, has subjected the said inhabitants to several
inconveniences, also appointments and losses, therefore the said proprietors,
being willing to do the utmost in their power to remove such com
plaints, and depending upon the encouragement of the public in general,
have agreed that a Machine of a new construction, on steel springs, shall begin
to set out on Tuesday, the 9th of May, 1775, and continue to go from Mr.
Petty's, the " King's Arms Inn," Kendal, every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thurs
day evening, about eleven o'clock, to carry three inside passengers, two of

COPY OF ADVERTISEMENT IN 1768.

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 277
which may be insured seats at Kendal for London, and two more insured at
Lancaster, where they take the Stage Coach which carries six inside, and the
other seats are reserved for passengers from Liverpool who meet this Coach
at Warrington.

£ s.

D.

s.

D.

Kendal to London

3 0

0

Kendal to Lancaster

5

0

Lancaster to do.

2 15

0

Lancaster to Preston

5

0

Preston to do.

2 IO

0

Preston to Wigan

4-

0

Wigan to do.

2 8

0

Wigan to Warrington

3

0

Outsiders and children on lap, half price ; each inside to be allowed 20 lbs.
weight of luggage, outsiders 10 lbs., all above to pay 4d. per pound from Kendal
to London, and in proportion the rest of the road. N.B.^ — A Stage Coach
which goes between Liverpool and Preston, by way of Ormskirk, meets the
above Machine at Preston, both in coming up and going down." How
nervous the good folk were of passing near London after dark is well shewn by
the following note: — This "machine" will arrive at the far end early in the
day in time for a good dinner, and it will be accompanied by a strong guard
at the starting out so as to allay all fear.
Then in the Cumberland Pacquet for 1781, we find frequent advertisements
such as this : — " Cheap and Expeditious Travelling. A Coach or Diligence
from Preston to Kendal, Fare n shillings — Sets out from the "Black Bull
Inn," Preston, on Monday morning, the 23rd of July, 1781, and will continue
to run from the same Inn every Day (Sundays excepted) at five o'clock in the
Morning ; Breakfast at the King's Arms, Lancaster ; arrives at Kendal at one
o'clock, and returns the same Evening to Preston. This Coach is timed
to meet the Glasgow Diligence on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, which
arrives in Kendal at one o'clock, Dines and proceeds to Carlisle the same
evening, and the Day following arrives at Glasgow."
I have beside me a handbill dated from Kendal, May 12th, 1794, setting
forth the " Kendal, Lancaster, and Preston FLYING STAGE WAGONS "
which left the "White Horse Inn," London, every Tuesday and Friday, by
way of Lichfield, Warrington and Wigan. How long they took to accom
plish the journey I do not know, but the circular goes on to say that the
wagons arrive at Wigan, Chorley, and Preston every Monday and Thursday ;

278

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

CHEAP and

EXPEDITIOUS FROM

TRAVELLING

Kendal to London,
In THREE DAYS
By way of Kirkby-Lonfdale, Settle, Skipton, Keighley, Ha
lifax, Huddersfield, Pennifton, Sheffield, Chefterfield,
Mansfield, Nottingham, Leicefter, Northampton, &c.
A DILIGENCE
SETS out from Mr. PETTY'S, the King's Arms in Ken
dal, on Wednefday the 20th of June, 17S1, at Four
o'CIock in the Morning, and will continue to go every Mon
day, Wednefday, and Friday, at the fame Hour. Refts the
firft Night at Mr. Murgatroyd's, the White-Lion, Halifax,
where three Seats are referved certain, in a genteel POST
COACH, with fets out the next Morning at Three o'CIock,
and arrives at Mr. Wellin's, the Bull-and-Mouth Inn, in
Bull-and-Mouth Street, London, every Monday, Wednefday,
arid Friday Evenings by Seven o'CIock, and returns the fame
Evening, by the faid Courfe to Kendal. Refts at Notting-

/.

d. 6

ham on Sunday.
Infide Fare from Kendal to London
Outfide Fare from ditto to ditto 1 10 o
Infide Fare from Kendal to Halifax 0170
Outfide Fare from ditto to ditto 090
Short Paffengers Three-pence Half-penny per Mile.
Each Paffenger to be allowed 141b. weight of Luggage,
Small Parcels under i2lb. Weight, from Kendal to London,
Three Shillings,all above to pay Three-pence per Pound,and
so on in Proportion.
Paffengers from Kendal to be entered at Mr. PETTY's,
the King's-Arms.
*#* The Gentlemen in Kendal, &c, are defired to be par
ticular to order their Goods they wifh to have by this Car
riage, to the Bull-and-Mouth Inn, London, as they will not
only have them cheaper, but confiderably in lefs Time. To
prevent the Paffengers being importuned with Drivers at
every fhort Stage (so much complained of) we beg they will
take particular Notice, that this Carriage is conducted from
Kendal to London by Eight Drivers only ; while the other
Carriages on the fame length of Ground, have not less than
Twenty. And to put a ftop to any infults or unnecceffary
Delays by the Drivers, on Application to any of the Pro
prietors, fuch Driver will be immediately difcharged. This
Carriage meets at the White-Lion, Halifax, the Liverpool,
Warrington, Manchefter, Leeds, York, Hull, and Scar
borough DILIGENCES, which go out every Day.
Alfo COACHES, &c, fet out from the Angel Inn.
Sheffield,everyMoming,(Sundaysexcepted) to Derby, Bur
ton, Litchfield, Birmingham, Worcefter, Gloucefter, Oxford,
Briftol, &c. Likewite to Worktop, Ollerton, Newark,
Grantham, Stamford, &c. At the above Inn may be had
genteel Mourning Coaches and Hearfes. The Proprietors of
the above Machines will not be accountable for any Parcel,
Box or Trufs, above Ten Pounds Value, on any Account
whatever. 8®- In a few Days a DILIGENCE will be eftablifhed from
Lancafter, to meet the above Carriages at I ngleton, by which
Paffengers may be immediately conveyed to London, or any
other Part of the Road. 27

Copy of Advertisement from the Cumberland Pacquet,
for July 3rd, 17S1.

Lancaster every Tuesday and
Friday; and Kendal every
Wednesday and Saturday. Re
turning to London from the
" King's Arms Inn," Kendal,
every Wednesday and Saturday.
The light four-inside post
coach, the " Good Intent," is
advertised to run in 1811 from
this inn to the " Black Lion
Inn," Whitehaven, by way of
Ambleside, Keswick, Cocker-
mouth, and Workington, at
5-30 o'clock every Tuesday,
Thursday, and Saturday morn
ing, returning the following day
at seven o'clock in the evening.
The night mails, North and
South, crossed each other at
Kendal, where they changed
horses, the North one arriving
at 1 1 -30, and the South mail at
midnight. This brief respite
must have been a delicious rest
to the traveller's jolted and
aching limbs. Indeed there
would be just time to drink
that noted drink of a tumbler
of "fresh milk, one fair lump of
sugar, two table-spoons of rum,
with a passing thought of nut
meg grating on the top of all,"
— a trifle that could be tossed
off in a minute, and so far as I
can read, was perpetually so

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 279
being tossed off,— before the guard applied " the yard of tin " to his lips, and
the four fresh horses whirled them off again into the dark damp lanes.

The UNION COACH,
FROM
Kendal to Leeds,
Continues to run from the
King's Arms Inn,
KENDAL,
Every Morning, Sundays excepted, at 5 o'CIock,
And goes through Kirkby-Lonsdale, Ingleton, Settle, and Skipton
By Way of Otley on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,
Ancl by Way of KeigHley cmd Bradford on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday,
And arrives at the
Hotel and Tavern,
LEEDS,
About 8 o'CIock in the Evening,
Where it meets the regular Coaches to all Parts of the South, &c.
PERFORMED BY

T. Atkinson, King's-Arms, Kendal.
R. Hartley, Kirkby-Lonsdale.
G. Proctor, Lion, Settle.
J. Rose, New-Inn, Skipton.

G. Richardson, Devonshire Arms, Keighley.
J. Wood, Talbot, Bradford.
M. Smith, White-Horse, Otley.
J. Greaves, Hotel, Leeds.
The Coach, from the Hotel, in Leeds, sets out at 6 o'clock in the Morning, and arrives at tbe
KingVArms, in Kendal, in the Evening, where it meets the regular Coaches to all Parts ofthe North.
The Proprietors request Permission to observe, that they cannot be answerable for more than
FIVE POUNDS for any Box, Parcel, Truss, or Luggage, if lost or damaged, unless entered aa
valuable, and insured accordingly.
FEBRUARY io, 1808.

>. J'rim.r, km-J.;.

COPY OF POSTER DESCRIBED ON PAGE 280.

From the north the " New Times " was driven by Will Richardson,
imong whose feats as a " whip " was the cruel one of lifting with his thong a

28o KIRKBIE KENDALL.
duck by the neck from the roadside, a dexterity only equalled by the man who
could pick a fly off his leader's right eyelid.
Another coach, the " Royal Union," driven by Geoffrey Bentham, left for
Leeds daily, skirting along a delightful range of valleys, and I illustrate on
page 279, a reduced illustration of a large poster issued in 1808 concerning it.
What is announced as "the well regulated, safe, fast, cheap, and new
light post coach, called the " Royal Pilot," we find from the local chronology
is advertised to run from this inn to Lancaster, Preston and Liverpool.

Kendal, Penrith, and Whitehaven
POST COACHES.

THE Proprietors, of the GOOD INTENT
and VOLUNTEER COACHES, return their sincere
thanks to their Friends and the Public, for the liberal en
couragement they have hitherto received, and respectfully
inform thenv that the
GOOD INTENT COACHES,
JPROM KENDAL TO WHITEHAVEN,
Have commenced to run DAILY (Sundays excepted) by
way of Ambleside, Keswick, Cockerraouth, and Work
ington" ; — leaves Kendal at Five o'clock each morning, and
Whitehaven at Eight, returning by the same route to
Kendal.
THE VOLUNTEER
Leaves Penrith every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
morning at eight o'clock, and arrives in-time at Keswick,
to take the Kendal or Whitehaven Coaches, returning the
same, evening to Penrith. PROPRIETORS :
John Jackson, Kendal
William Wilcock, Ambleside.
William Atkinson, Penrith.
John I'anion, Keswick.
Willtam Wood, Cockermouth.
The Proprietors will not be accountable for any Pack
age or Parcel above Five Pounds value, unit-.; entered
and paid for accordingly.
February 6, 1813.

LEEDS AND KENDAL
flinton Coacj),
BV
BRADFORD, SKIPTON, $c.
THE PUBLIC are respectfully informed, that
from and after Monday, the Third day of May
next, the above Coach will run from Leeds every day
(Sundays excepted), viz.
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from the White
Horse Yard, and on Tuesdays, Thursdays,and Saturdays,
from the Hotel, each Morning at half-past Five o'clock,
and arrive at half-past Eight in the Evening, at the King's
Arms, Ker.dal, where it will meet direct conveyances to
Penrith, Whitehaven, Carlisle, Portpatrick, Glasgow, &c.
The Union Coach will leave the King's Arms, Kendal,
every Morning at Five o'eiotlc, and arrive at Jjceds-at
Eight in the Evening, having a direct connection witVthe
South Mail and Union Coaches to London, and also im
mediate conveyances tpYork, Hull, Sheffield, &c. 4c.
The Proprietors, ire not accountable for more than
Five Pounds for any Luggage, Parcel, or Package, unless
entered and paid for as valuable.

* PERFORMED BY
John Jackson, King's Arrtis,
Kendal.
Roper, Rose and Crown,
Kirkby Lonsdale.
Procter.GoldeiiJ.ion, Settle.

Pose, Devonshire
Skipton.
Morgan, Keighley. %
Wood, Eradford..
Greaves, Hotel, Leeds.

Hotel,

' February, IS, 1813.

Accidents were many of course, but what matter, delays were reckoned
upon, and to arrive at all was cause for a benediction, as has been well said : —
" You got upset in a coach and there you were, but now-a-days you get upset
in a train and where are you ?

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 281
The first mention we have of this inn is. in 1696, at which time it was kept
by a Mrs. Rowlandson, whose fame is handed down to us for her power of
making excellent potted char and hot-pot. She retired in favour of her son,
Alderman Thomas Rowlandson (mercer, having his shop under the Moot Hall),
who was landlord in 1715, when Earl Derwentwater with his forces entered the
town, in the time of the Rebellion. From 1728 to 1762 the inn was owned by
the Singleton family, when it was sold to Alderman Christopher Fenton, who
was four times Mayor, 1768, 1774, 1781 and 1792, and who is celebrated for
being the first innkeeper to keep a post chaise in Kendal. The Singletons also
farmed an estate, which to this day bears the name of Singleton Park. After
a Dr. Masterson (died 1790) Alderman William Petty succeeded as landlord,
and in 1798 Alderman Thomas Atkinson ; then followed John Jackson, who in
181 1 guaranteed the business of the light post coach, and he, in turn, was
succeeded by James Holmes, tenant in 1838, and who died in 1847. James
Jackson came next, and he retired in 1867 in favour of Joseph Dawson, at
whose death his daughter, Mrs. Bell, took up the reins of management with
such great success and hearty cheer as we all so well remember. John D.
Wilman came in 1894.
In 1841, the London Standard reports a substantial testimonial to the
good cheer of this house, for we read in that paper that " among the delicacies
ofthe dinner at the Commercial Travellers' Association on Christmas Eve
was a pie presented by the good lady of the ' King's Arms Inn ' at Kendal,
which attracted much curiosity. The pie contained two fat geese, two large
turkeys, four fowls, two pheasants, four grouse, two hares, four prize rabbits,
three tongues, and eight pounds of beefsteak and ham. Its circumference
measured seven feet, it was ten inches in depth, and weighed 5st. 81bs." No
wonder the early papers delight in telling us of the sumptuous feasts spread
out upon every conceivable occasion beneath the roof of such an hospitable
hostess. Nothing seems to have gone wrong with our good townsfolk in those
balmy days, for be it peace or war, trial or prosperity, there seems always to
have been an occasion for feasting.
" O hour of all hours, the most blessed upon earth,
Blessed hour of our dinners !
We may live without poetry, music, and art ;
We may live without conscience, and live without heart ;

282 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
We may live without friends ; we may live without books ;
But civilized man cannot live without cooks.
He may live without books, — what is knowledge but grieving ?
He may live without hope, — what is hope but deceiving ?
He may live without love, — what is passion but pining ?
But where is the man that can live without dining ? "
— Owen Meredith.
In 1812, Trinity College gentlemen held their annual dinner here ; the
year following the good folk ate and drank in honour of the great battle of
Leipsic, and later on in the same year the worthy Mayor bid them fill up their
glasses and honour thirty-eight toasts by way of celebrating the victories over
the French. In 1816, a social gathering was held in consequence of peace
with America. In 1818, Mr. Brougham kept the board lively during his
contest, and "The Kendal Book Club " and " The Card Assembly" held their
festive balls. The patriotic met, to commemorate the glorious revolution of
1688, and the sportsmen, clad in Kendal green, gathered here over their
annual hunt celebrations. In 1819, the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo
was loyally kept, and we read later on of the Aldermen again dining and
passing round the cup, in honour of George IV. being proclaimed King of
England. On Saturday, October 3rd, 1835, the papers record that " a travelling
carriage arrived with two gentlemen, who dined in private together. Much
curiosity was excited as to who they were, till a domestic, with woman's wit,
put it to the test by asking the stouter party, whom she took to be a nobleman,
to frank her a letter. He smiled, and said — ' Morgan, give this young lady a
frank sure,' whereupon Morgan gave her the frank of Daniel O'Connell." It
seems that before the delighted maid could spread the news of O'Connell's
presence he had managed to leave the town, much to our local reformers'
chagrin. In visiting this inn one should not fail to notice the quaint old latch on
the " private room " door and the two most interesting old keys of considerable
merit that still unlock two other doors.
Below the inn are still three small shops, well depicted in Stirzaker's
picture. The one to the south was formerly occupied by Nathan Lowthian,
who carried on the same business of a hairdresser as the present tenant does

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 283
to this day ; next to this was the coach booking office. On the other side of
the entry, and below the bay window of the " Black Hole of Calcutta " bed
room, is seen the old-established saddler's shop — then carried on by Thomas
Relph, and very much as it is now, with the exception that the door was in
the centre, with two small windows on either side.
_. __, The Westmorland Gazette and Kendal Advertiser was first
Gazette Office. issued under the editorship of Fisher, on the 23rd of May,
1818. It is evident from the address to the public, which occupies the first
column of the first issue, that the adherents of the house of Lowther, not
content with being treated in the Chronicle upon what was called equal terms
with their opponents, started this paper with the avowed intention of writing
down and suppressing the older paper. It Will be remembered that three
months previous to this, the great Parliamentary election was fought between
Lord Lowther and Henry Brougham — an election when every impassioned
thought and every strong word then known in the provincial language, were
freely brought into action by both parties. A subscription list was at once
opened to provide funds for the new undertaking ; 33 shares and a half of £50
each were taken up, and a capital of £1,675 thus raised. The paper as it first
appeared, and as it continued for some time, consisted of four pages of five
columns each, and was published at the price of sevenpence. The original
printers were Airey & Bellingham, but before the end of the second year a
separate printing establishment was arranged for in the New Shambles, Finkle
Street. This charge of sevenpence a copy included the fourpenny stamp duty then
imposed by the Government upon all papers, and no journal was legally
current until it had received the stamp of the exciseman. The paper came
from Manchester ready stamped, and the printers had to be very careful not to
spoil a sheet, or the price of the stamp was lost. Although the Government
stamp carried the newspaper through the post free of charge, still the tax
proved a great clog to the advancement of general knowledge. Unprinted
paper was taxed ; news was taxed ; advertisements were taxed. Mr. Frank
Pollitt tells us that " there were penny papers in the days of Queen Anne,
but they were inconvenient to the Government ; they took impertinent notice
of the conduct of ' the great ; ' so that in 1712 the stamp duty was imposed to
keep them in order. The little penny papers were, in fact, taxed out of all

284 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
existence. The advertisement duty likewise, was as great a clog on business
as the stamp duty was on the production of cheap news. The Gazette paid
3s. 6d. on every advertisement inserted."
From July, 1818, to November, 1819, the editorship was placed in the
hands ofthe celebrated De Quincey, who was not a model editor. He wrote
a few ordinary and many extraordinary articles, and delighted himself with a
lively controversy with his rival at the Chronicle Office respecting the numbers
and circulation of each paper. Poor De Quincey ! it was not easy for him to
bend his literary aspirations in subservience to his outside proprietors, and put
up with fixed office work. In June, 1819, he received a letter suggesting the
proprietors' displeasure, and in the following November his resignation was in
their hands. De Quincey was succeeded in his editorial functions by John
Kilner, who held the post for three years, acted as manager for the proprietors,
and helped to set the new journal firmly on its feet. It was during his
management that in January, 1820, the Gazette followed the example of the
Chronicle by publishing in quarto size, with eight pages of four narrow columns
to the page ; but in January, 1821, it again changed back to folio form of six
columns. Kilner resigned in October, 1821, when overtures to John Briggs, at
that time editor of the Lonsdale Magazine, resulted in his appointment at a
yearly salary of £50. Briggs died in November, 1824, at the early age of 36.
The Lonsdale Magazine, a monthly publication, after being published for two
years in Kirkby Lonsdale, was continued for awhile by John Briggs when he
came to Kendal ; but for want of support it only lived another year. Tyras
Redhead then took up the work, and we find that in September, 1836, the
stamp duty was reduced from fourpence to one penny on each copy, when the
price of the paper at once fell from 7d. to 4±d. The editorship was resigned
by Tyras Redhead in April, 1837. A new departure was then made — Thomas
Harrison, solicitor, on behalf of the shareholders became the registered pro
prietor. He slightly enlarged the page, and gave a fresh pledge of con
stitutional orthodoxy in a new motto — " Pro rege, lege, et grege."
In May, 1844, tne proprietorship passed into the hands of Thomas
Atkinson, who for six years following continued to print it in the New
Shambles ; but in December, 1850, the works were removed to some specially
erected premises in the Woolpack Yard, where the make-up was finally
changed to the eight-page form in which it has become so familiar to us. This

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 285
first step in advance was followed by many others. The last issue on which
the penny stamp duty was paid was that of June 23rd, 1855, and on the 30th
the price of the paper was reduced from 4M. to 3id. In the meantime-
August, 1853 — the tax on advertisements had been taken off; only the paper
duty remained, and that followed the rest in i860. As an immediate result,
the paper was reduced in price from 3|d. to 3d. on October the 5th. The late
Charles Pollitt was taken into partnership in 1867, and in December of that
year steam was introduced. It is rather interesting to learn that the first copy
of the Gazette printed by steam on December 14th, 1867, was sent as a
curiosity for preservation to our local Museum.
The year 1873 saw the further reduction of the price from 3d. to 2d., and,
as Mr. Frank Pollitt says, "the years which immediately followed were the
years during which the first great Education Act came into general operation.
Readers were multiplying, interest was quickening, a wide field for the penny
newspaper was opening, and in January, 1881, the Gazette was published at
that price." To Charles Pollitt must be ascribed the honour of thus following,
although seven years later, the Mercury's popular price, who, upon the retire
ment of Thomas Atkinson in 1880, vigourously took up the sole management.
His keen foresight led him to lay down new and more rapid machinery, and in
1884 the paper so well edited, was enlarged from forty-eight to fifty-six columns.
The continued growth in the circulation of the Gazette made it necessary to
build new offices and lay down rotary machinery in 1899. The yard at the
rear of the old publishing office in Stricklandgate was taken in and covered over
and the warehouses and cottages were also requisitioned for the Gazette's new
home. At the same time the size of the paper was enlarged to sixty-four
columns and it is now the largest paper published within many miles of Kendal.
The Kendal Herald was published first on January 2nd, 1864, by Thomas
Atkinson. It consisted of eight pages of five columns each, and was sold at a
penny. However, its life was only of short duration, as we find it discontinued
on October 13th, 1866. The name of this now almost forgotten inn, which
Rose and Crown Inn. .. , , . A . . . , ,
displayed a pictorial signboard representing a rose
and a crown, was probably meant as a tribute to the Lancastrians. It is a
building of considerable antiquity, and still has in its attic a most splendid
example of heavy oak framing, which is to-day in perfect preservation, On the

a86

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

Ev

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 287
second floor there are traces left of the elaborate cornices that once ornamented
the dancing saloon.
The main floor of the inn, approached as was usual from the entry, has
now been entirely taken down so as to give height to the shop beneath, which
was formerly divided by a partition into two small and very low shops, where a
dogger and a hosier had their places of business (see illustration on page 286.)
A shearman's farthing, issued in 1666, was found here when some workmen
were engaged in altering one of the walls.
The first note that I have of the inn is that it was kept by Mrs. Bryers in
1756, and my last note is that soon after January, 1876, the property fell into
the hands of the Lancaster Bank, from whom it was bought by Messrs. H.
Waddington & Co., who at once gave notice to the tenant that the license
would not again be applied for. Thus did the " Rose and Crown " cease to
exist as a public-house on August the 25th, 1876.
.... . _ . w The famous hostelry of the " White Lion," now much
White Lion Inn. . .
decayed by passing years, and which had an old open
galleried front, is now converted into private shops, the gallery being enclosed.
Until quite recently the ancient fagade, of over 200 years, had been preserved,
but alas ! since this illustration was taken, vandalism has had its sway, and
the poetry of Gardner's old tinsmith's shop, snugly hidden beneath the pent
roof, is lost to the town for ever. The beautiful oak-pierced barge boards to
the gables, however, still remain.
It was here that William Hudson, the botanist and author of the " Flora
Anglica " (1772) and other works, was born, in or about the year 1730, the inn
then being kept by his father. The poet Gray stayed here in October, 1762,
and writes the following account of his visit: — "I entered Kendal almost in
the dark, and could distinguish only a shadow of the castle on the hill and
tenter-grounds spread far and wide round the town, which I mistook for
houses. My inn promised sadly, having two wooden galleries in front of it ;
it was indeed an old, ill-contrived house, but kept by civil, sensible people, so I
stayed two nights with them, and fared and slept very comfortably.
" Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round,
Where'er his stages may have been,
May sigh to think he still has found
The warmest welcome at an Inn." — Shenstone.

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

For many years a rampant white lion, painted on copper, braved the
elements in front of the house, being a badge of one of the Edwards. Truly
an appropriate enough sign for the roaring trade that must have been carried
on here. It will be remembered that in olden times families put out their
escutcheons upon the frontages of their houses, and the heraldic lion Argent,
Or, Gules, or Azure, to the uninitiated in heraldic art, were spoken of by the
vernacular name of white, golden, red, or blue lion. From these the inn
keepers took their signs, and not from some king of the polar seas, or bloody
monarch of the desert. The earliest record
that we have of the
inn dates back some
200 years, to a time
when it was put up
in public sale.
Whilst referring later
on to Dockray Hall,
it will be seen that I
quote at some length
a will dated March
nth, 1697, in which
William Mori and
gives devises and be
queaths to certain
friends this inn, to
gether with other
properties, to be sold
immediately after his
death, to pay and
discharge all his just

Wigan, Prefton, Lancafter, and Kendal
STAGE-COACH,
SETS out from the
BELL-INN, in Wood-
ftreet, on Monday Morn
ing-., and arrives at the
WHITE-LION, in Ken
dal, on Thurfday Night. —
Sets out from thence on
I uefday Noon, and goes
to the above Inn, in London, on Saturday Night, during the Winter
Seafon.  An Infide Place,

Between London and Kendal, 3 1. 7 s.)

Prefton, 2 1. 15 s.
Lancafter, 3 1. is./ Wigan, 2 1. 10 s.
Outfides, and Children on Lap, Half-price, and allowed ten Pound of
Luggage; Infides, twenty Pounds; Four-pence per Pound for all above,
to Kendal, and fo in Proportion: — One-Half ofthe Money on entering-
their Names, the other at taking the Coach. — No Money, Plate, Writings,
or Things of great Value, will be accounted (in full) for, if loft, unlefs en
tered and paid for as fuch. By this Method, Paffeng'ers, maybe expediti-
oufly conveyed from any Part of the North, to or from Manchefter, \\ ar-
rington, Wigan, Prefton, Lancafter, or the Parts adjacent, at a Price in
proportion to any Part of the Road. /ABRAHAM FREELOVE, and
ROBERT BATHER, of London.
Performed, if God permit, by ^ THOMAS PARR, of Guilford.
AND
*JAMES HOLMES, of Lancafter.
N. B. The STAGE from Liverpool to Kendal, performed by the a-
bove James Holmes, fets out from Liverpool every Monday Morn
ing, — and from Kendal every Friday Morning, during the Winter-
Season. October 13th, 1764.

Copy of Coaching Advertisement.

debts.

On September 4th, 1806, in consequence ofthe bankruptcy of John Petty,
this inn, standing then at a rental of £70, was sold by public auction to Wm.
Stainton; and again in 1870 it was sold, when the auctioneer alludes to the
far-famed dancing room, "47 feet by 16 feet, approached by a spacious oak
staircase, and also to a bowling green, 154 feet by 414 feet/' a space which is
now covered by Nelson's timber yard. Here it was that the meetings ofthe

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 289
Loyal Orange Lodges were regularly held about the year 1820, and where the
artizans and mechanics held their memorable meeting to protest against the
Corn Laws, adopting a petition, which obtained 2,500 signatures. And here,
too, in 1829, some townsmen met to inauguarate a Kendal Co-operative Society,
and in 1830 to hold the tenth and final anniversary of the Kendal Union
Building Society.
,,. j jnr Up the yard, behind the " White Lion Inn," there is another fine
Yard 44. ...
specimen of the old leaden rain water spouts, for which Kendal
was at one time so famed. It bears on the shield the initials " I. S.A." with
an eagle displayed on the shaft.
_ _, , , The tall building at the head of Entry Lane has lone:
Temperance Hotel. been known as a Temperance Hotel, and below,
where Ion has his shop, modernized some few years ago, previously existed
two small shops one above the other, the upper one being approached by a
flight of steps that projected into the street. This can clearly be seen in the
illustration on page 286. Here till the year 1819 Nicholas Wilson, watch
maker, had his abode, a man who was best known as one of the first scientific
bellringers in the North of England, and to whom we are indebted for a peal
at our Parish Church, which ranks amongst the most complete and musical in
the kingdom.
_ _ This historic lane in the Boke of Recorde is named " Stane's
Entry Lane. Entry" by reason of its being opposite to the ancient " Cauld
Stean." On Speed's plan of 1614 it is marked "Wilson's Lane," and in the
register of the burials at the Parish Church it is entered as the " Entry in
Stricklandgate, 1762."
_ , ,. Of the old-fashioned " Peacock Inn," which stood on the
Peacock Inn. .
south side of the lane, I can learn nothing that would be of
interest to record. The quaint old wooden-fronted gable, a glory of massive
grandeur, so interesting to the antiquary, passed away at the beginning of this
century. ,_ ,_ But to return to the eastern side of the street we notice next
Nos. 13 to 19. door to No. 9, which was at one time a coffee house, a
splendid row of lath and plaster houses, with molded overhanging pro
jections. No. 13 (Farrer's tea shop) alone retains the original quaint form of
window ; the other shops being refronted in the year 1822.

290

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

I can only trace the history of the row back to the middle of last century,
to a time when it was owned by William Herbert, a mercer. He died in
February, 1766, and by his will bequeathed lo his wife Agnes, during her
natural life, all that burgage house, messuage or tenement, with a stable and
back buildings, and also three shops and two cellars under the front of the said
dwelling-house ; and after her decease to his grandson, Fletcher Fleming.
The widow died January, 1776, aged 84, and in the following month the
property was sold by the said Fletcher Fleming.
After this time No. 19 was occupied by William Bordley, an ironmonger,
who was succeeded by Thomas Miller in the same line of business. He was
mayor in 1776 and in 1780, and to him is due the refronting of the northern
end of the row. John Pearson came to Kendal in 1781, and took over Miller's
business, and in his turn became mayor in 1809 and 1818. He died at the age
of 80 in the year 1837, and was succeeded by his son, Francis. Matthew
Redhead followed, and removed the business next door to No. 21.

Nos. 21 and 23.

The Old Town Hall and adjacent Buildings.
Further to the north was the ancient draper's shop as here
illustrated. It must have been a dear old place, such as
one would now-a-days give much to look upon. And it would not be so small
either, for every inch of space was utilised. For instance, a foot was stolen
from the ground to gain head height, and the ceiling of the shop was just at

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 291
that convenient level to enable " Tommy Wilson " to easily reach unaided the
topmost shelf, whereon lay the silks, cambrics, and delicate drabs that
delighted the Quakeresses shopping in those sober days.
Truly, the drawing strikes one strangely with the singular and simple idea
our forefathers must have had, of what constituted the requisites of a first-class
shop. But when Thomas Miller made such extensive alterations to the
adjoining row, the spirit of this building became ashamed, in sheer desperation
it was compelled to throw aside its lowly guise and submit to the frontage
being entirely rebuilt in 1826. As a compromise, however, it clung tenaciously
to the olden small panes and large frames until the year 1854, when they at
last gave way to what was then considered the largest plate-glass windows in
the town. It was Wilson Marriott, a chemist, who thus converted the place into a
substantial and finely-hammered limestone building. I am told that he paid
the Corporation the sum of £20 to be allowed to carry his cornice up higher
than that on the Moot Hall, and thereby block up one of the three dials of the
town clock.
Notice the prominent lines in the illustration depicting the paving flags.
With what pride they are drawn in ! And no wonder, seeing that they formed
the first street pavement ever set in Kendal. But the boys would run along
and strike their clogs against them, in consequence of which poor Tommy
Wilson soon became terribly aged, and after a time removed to the more
rural district of Netherfield. See page 197.
In the middle of the XVIIIth century it would seem that a tanner occupied
the building. One who was doubtless present at the last Kendal Guild in 1759,
and walked with the 60 tanners who took part in the procession. The follow
ing extract is from the Westmorland Gazette of June 10th, 1826: — "A singular
hammer. In the walls of a house now being taken down adjoining the Town
Hall, a hammer was found similar to those used by the excise for stamping
leather. A tanner of the name of John Sawrey resided here some 60 years ago
(1766) who was suspected of stamping his own leather to defraud the revenue.
One morning it was discovered that he had quitted both house and trade and
was never more heard of. This is most likely the very hammer that he had
used and which he had kept concealed in the wall. The parts are well cut,

292 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
clean and perfect, on one side there is the No. 1402, probably the progressive
one then used by Government and in two other corners the letters J. H. which
appear to have been movable so that they might be changed as required. In
the same building has been found a silver coin of the time of Edw. VI.,
probably a shilling being nearly as large as our half-crown, but very thin."
Adjoining these shops, and at the corner of Mercer's Lane,
Moot Hall. stands the building which, until the year 1859, was the Moot
Hall.* It is one of the chief characteristics of an ancient town that its hal!
of justice was almost invariably placed in the Market Square ; and to many an
antiquary, visiting this ancient burgh in recent days, it has appeared as a
puzzle why our Town Hall should be so far remote from this rightful position.
It can be, therefore, of no small comfort to our wonted pride to feel that in
days gone by our Moot Hall did not transgress against this customary
characteristic. It would seem that the building was erected in the year 1591, but that in
1729 it was almost entirely remodelled, being greatly heightened and adorned
by new windows, a time when the old oaken gallery that used to run along
Mercer's Lane was removed. Upon the Corporation removing to the White
Hall in Highgate the property was sold by auction on the 12th day of April,
1859, when it realized the magnificent sum of £280 !
Accustomed as we are to the style of our present mayor's apartments, it is
difficult to imagine this old court-loft, approached by twenty-four steps, and
only partially lit with the aid of some half-burnt sixes fixed in tin candlesticks
against the whitewashed walls. Turning sharp round to the west, at the head
of the stair, so as fo face the portrait of John Yeates hanging above the bench,
the careful observer might have distinguished truly a few long windows
begrimed with dirt on the right-hand looking into the lane, and another on
the left over the gallery appropriated to the jury. Beside this latter window
there was a doorway leading to the retiring room, the which being separated
only by a sliding partition, could be thrown into the main court as necessity
required. In front of the bench was a round table for the use of the learned
profession and their subordinates, with occasional room for the newspaper

* Moot.— A. Saxon, Mtitian, to meet for deliberation, to discuss, from mill, a meeting, whence me'tan, to
leet. Likewise a moot-point, one liable to be debated.

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 293
reporter. But nothing, I think, can describe the dilapidated condition of the
building, so much as the wooden rail pen-like enclosure which was placed in
the centre of the room as a necessary precaution to keep the public away
from this rotten portion of the floor, and beneath which were no wooden
supports.Town Clock * have. ^een una^e to ^n(^ any rec0I"d of a public clock having
been set up in this town prior to the year 1582, before which
period one would suppose that
"Time told his birthdays by the sun."
In the above year, however, we learn from the Boke off Recorde that " James
Leyburne esquyer of his liberalise ffor the vse benyfite & pleasure off all the
inhabitants of Kyrkby Kendall and also off all others comynge and resortinge
vnto the same did ffrelie geve & bestowe all his clock furnyshed wth the
soundinge bell belonginge, as the same was standinge at his Manor house off
Cunyswicke wthin this pishe, together wth divers oke trees in his pke off
Cunyswicke for settinge and placinge the same vpon." It is highly probable
that this frame and clock remained standing in the Market Place for 167
years, that is to say until the year 1759, when upon rebuilding the Moot
Hall the clock was, as we know, suspended out from the heightened tower, in
which position it remained until the year 1774. No wonder that after indicating
the flight of time to six or seven generations of our townsmen, besides having
previously done duty for an indefinite period at Cunswick Hall, that we read at
last of its erratic movements and the troubled faces of those who resorted to it
for the time of day.
A five days' severe battle was fought at Appleby in October, 1774, for the
parliamentary representation of Westmorland, which resulted in the return of
Sir James Lowther and Sir Michael le Fleming. Sir James, of " galloping
Jammy" renown, whilst staying at the "White Lion" a short time afterwards,
also became annoyed with the wayward movements of the old clock, and by
way of commemorating his happy victory, presented to the Corporation a new
one made by Wm. Wilson, of All Hallows Lane. The gift seems to have been
a particularly generous one, seeing that the town as a whole voted against the
donor in the election. For 87 years this clock served the town, at first with its
dial facing into the Market Place, until August, 1840, when it was rehung on
the front of the Hall, so as to face up and down the main street.

294 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
In a dialogue, the Rev. Edward Hawkes makes t' auld Toon Clock expostulate
about its " dour mesters, who were for ivver riving and rooting," as follows : —
" If ye'll tak t' trouble, Sir, to leeak back intuit Kendal papers, aboot t' time
when Lord John were trying to tinker t' Reform Bill ower agen, mappen i'
'51 or '52 ye'll see o' aboot it. O sorts o' folks had been starin' and jibin'at
ma ; an' sayin' I was good to nout at o'. But it was o' t' fault o' them that
sud ha' guided me reet. Well, then I get sic a scooring, an' my feeace and
fingers and harms were paanted and varnished, an' I kna net wat ; an' et last
I were weel oilt and let ga ; an' I foon it easy gaing, for they let me ga on
" tick," which maist high leeved folk like ye kna. An' then t' Editor o' th'
paper, I kenna which, sed to ma coomfort — for Sir, I were enlightened like, I
can read t' paper gay weel — he sed verrra grand, ' The machinery, which is
self-illuminating, is retained ; and we are fain to believe that the Town Hall
clock, instead of being any longer a gibe and a joke, will really be rendered not
only useful but ornamental to the worthy Kendalians.' Eh Sir, but it did mi
auld worn oot works gude to read, a' that, its so gran and self satisfactory like,
I shall ev a wink o' rest and bide my ain time." Poor thing, its rest was not
for long, the time soon came for it to go to a saintlier home. For when the
Corporation removed in 1861 to the White Hall, the old clock, after being
deprived of its bell which was removed to the new hall, was presented to St.
Thomas' Church by the Mayor and Corporation, and a subscription was made
for its thorough repair, renovation, and erection there. It first struck the bell
of this church on August nth, 1862, and a cleaver contrivance was made so
that it could do this at every successive half hour, much to the delight, we are
told, ofthe inhabitants of that parish.
I have before me an interesting paper which is dated October 24th, 1843,
in which is set forth " A list of Days appointed by the Corporation of Kendal
on which to hoist the Town's Flag."

January

New Year's Day.

February

Queen's Marriage.

April

29

Kendal Spring Fair Day.

May

24
Queen's Birthday.
»)
29
Restoration of Charles II.
June
7
Reform Bill passed.
,,
18
General peace.
j»
20
Queen's Accession.
STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 295

June 28 „

Queen's Coronation.

August 13

Queen Dowager's Rirthday.

17

Duchess of Kent's Birthday.

„ 26

Prince Albert's Birthday.

November 1

Election of Town Councillors.

.1 9 -

Election of Mayor, Prince of Wales' Birthday

and Kendal Fair Day.

Easter Day.

Whit-Monday.

And such other days as the Mayor may direct.
__ , , _ At the south-west corner of the Free Library can still be seen
Market Cross. -
a portion of the old Cauld-stean, a corruption of call-stone,
from which all proclamations were called prior to the institution of the bellman.
It is supposed to have been a portion of the octagon base to the ancient
market cross, which was removed from the centre of Stricklandgate in 1765,
when the fast increasing vehicular traffic required the removal of such an
obstruction. There is a story told of some mischievous boys rolling this
historic stone down to the Elephant Yard Entry, much to the consternation of
the worthy burghers, but fortunately for their equanimity, it was quickly
found and restored to its former position of honour.
The well-known " London stone," which now is built in to a wall
opposite Canon Street Station in the Metropolis, was the central milliarum
or milestone of London in the days of the Roman occupation ; and so in a
like manner our Cauld-stean marks the central milliarum from which the
distances along our high roads are now measured.
According to some old plans the Market Cross seems to have been some
what ornate in design, standing upon an angular basement, and a few aged
inhabitants can still remember having seen an eight-sided obelisk lying in the
stone works of Webster and Holme, New Inn Yard, and that it was spoken of
as the old Market Cross pedestal.
Market crosses originated in towns near to some monastic establish
ment, to which the Order sent a monk or friar on market days to preach
to the assembled farming people. Their endeavour seems to have been to
excite public homage to religion, and to inspire men with a sense of morality
and piety amidst the ordinary business of life. The cross also formed a, con-
296

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

venient place where the tolls levied on farmers and dealers in country produce,
for the privilege of selling within the town, could be collected. Doubtless the
original form of such crosses was simply a shaft raised on steps, but in order
to shelter the divine, or the toll collector, a covering was added in umbrella
form, beneath which also the farmers' wives sought shelter in wet weather.
The prototype of the covered markets of to-day.
I have already, on page 50, referred to the bringing home of the third
Charter, and to the public rejoicings which took place at this cross in 1683.
Again, amongst the papers preserved at Levens Hall is a letter from Mr.
Richard Lowrey to Colonel James Grahme and dated April 23rd, 1702, as
follows. — "This being the day of her Majesty's coronation, the Mayor, Alder
men, Burgesses and others went from the public hall to the Cross, with drums
and music before them and drank the health of the Queen and Prince George
of Denmark on their knees, with the prosperity of the Established Church.
In the evening there were illuminations, bonfires etc. with such joy as I have
never seen in this town." The Cauld-stean was used for the last time on
December 31st, 1864, when the Town Clerk read from thence the abolition
of the Kendal tolls. Here for centuries past the farm servants have stood
during the hiring fairs, with the symbolic piece of straw in their mouths, and
the custom is still known as " standing the cross."

Pillory.

Pillory,

Near by stood
for many cen
turies the wooden pillory,
erected in the middle of
the street, between the
Cauld Stean and the
" Rose and Crown " Inn,
and which was sold at
last by the Corporation
for firewood in August,
1840. In England, in
bygone days, the pillory
was a familiar object, and
perhaps no engine of
punishment was more

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 297
generally employed. Where there was a market, the pillory was sure to be
seen ; for if the authorities neglected to have it ready for immediate use, for
bakers offending in the assize of bread ; for millers stealing of corn at the mill ;
for bawds, scolds and other offenders, they ran the risk of forfeiting the right
of holding a market, a most serious matter in those delightful days. In the
year 1816 the pillory ceased to be employed for punishing persons except in
cases of perjury, and for this purpose it was used so late as the year 1830, but
it was abolished altogether by Act of Parliament in the year of our Queen's
accession to the throne.
St Ga rf ' cv, 1 ^n tne s'te °^ t^ie Present Free Library the old St.
George's Chapel once stood, raised upon open-built
arches, a good model of which is preserved in our museum. It was erected
in 1754 on the site of some dingy-looking buildings, consecrated on June
24th, 1755, by Bishop Keene, and removed away in June, 1855, having just
stood one hundred years. After the erection of the present St. George's
Church in 1841, this chapel was little used excepting for temporary purposes,
but it will always be honoured as the place where the Rev. Wm. Whitelock
preached so faithfully between the years 1807 and 1822.

Church Missionary Society.
On Sunday, the 28th inst. two Sermons will be
preached at, St. George's Chapel, in this Town, by
the Rev. Isaac Saunders, M.A., of St. Margaret's,
Westminster, in aid of the Church Missionary Soci
ety for Africa and the East.
HIT Service to commence at half- after Ten in the
Morning, arid at Six in the Evening.
Kendal, August 20th, 1814.

Printed by M. Branthwaite & Co., Kendal.

Copy of Handbill.

I have thought it interesting here to illustrate a handbill in my possession,
as being the first notice we have ofthe Church Missionary Society in Kendal.

208

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

OR THE NORTH ROAD.

299

(Darker pk

§r

STRICKLANDGA TE
The executors of
the will of the late
Dr. Stratford, com
missary of the Arch
deaconry of Rich
mond, contributed
£600 towards the
building and endow
ment, besides £11 or
so for a set of com
munion plate. The
same Dr. Stratford
also gave by his will
£50 to the poor of
Kendal, £20 to the
poor of Killington,
£3,000 more for
specific charities ;
and he bequeathed
the residuum of his
personality, £9,390,
to be laid out in
buying good books
to be disposed of to
proper persons with
in the Archdeaconry
of Richmond, in S trick land jjaTe. l 
relieving poor housekeepers, putting out poor children as apprentices, clothing
poor old people and poor boys and girls, and augmenting fifty-eight small
livings and curacies. Good man !
Beneath the chapel were three shops at the west end, behind which was
the foul, dark, filthy " Black Hole," disused in the year 1836, and beneath this
again was the town's dungeon, where refractory prisoners were confined in
irons. In befitting contiguity, as the cause of such suffering, were other com
modious vaults for the storage and sale of wine and ardent spirits. During the
evening services the outcries of the drunken prisoners, it is said, were some-

\5'f 

5"

f

300 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
times heard giving fresh earnestness to the solemn preaching of Dr. Whitelock.
There are many towns that claim the authorship of the following lines, and
notably the ancient town of Richmond, but in 1822 one of our papers pub
lished them as a genuine inspiration : —
" There's a spirit. above, and a spirit below,
A spirit of love, and a spirit of woe !
The Spirit above is the Spirit divine,
And the spirit below is the spirit of wine ! "
In the rear was the market with its stalls clustered around the wooden
columns supporting the chapel floor, but the accommodation being imperfect
and insufficient the Corporation came forward in 1855, and, in order to provide
a new market house, voluntarily relinquished their holding in the two front
shops, and the Rev. J. W. Barnes, with the consent of Bishop Graham, con
sented to the removal ofthe disused church.
The present building was erected by public subscription, at a cost of £700,
upon a rather narrower site, in order to widen the northern lane to the market
square. The mayor, John Whitwell, laid the foundation stone at the south
west corner on the 21st day of July, 1855, who, instead of building in, as of
old, a townsman's child alive to propitiate the evil spirit of the earth, and
thus secure a safe foundation, paid the forfeiture by depositing a bottle
beneath the stone, containing the seven silver coins then in circulation, a
penny, six half-pennies, a farthing, and half farthing, together with a copy
each of the two local papers, and a parchment document. It seems that the
mayor was unfortunately cut short in the middle of his speech upon this
occasion by the ringing of the fire-bell in consequence of the firing of a hay
stack at Aikrigg End, and which caused the immediate dispersal of the
meeting. The building was converted into a Free Library upon the erection
of the New Market Hall in the year 1891.
Adjoining the Moot Hall was the "Slip Inn," a quaint old building,
the history of which we know nothing, except that it was tenanted
by Isaac Kirkby until 1813, and that it was sold by auction, together with the
dwelling-house and shop in front, when in the occupation of William Norman
in November, 1863, and that the overhanging front was altered in 1865. It
was closed as an inn in 1898.

tor-<b
o jk>H til
O Sa ¦S
&5
tq oa:
o b

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

3o2 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
The room recently occupied by the Guardians of the
Caledonian Room. ., iL , , ... , , ,
Kendal Poor, with the shops beneath, is probably an
erection of 1800. For a time it was a chapel for the Presbyterian Church,
after which- it was used as a newsroom by the tradesmen. See page 62.
This is another ancient inn, of which there is little history
recorded beyond the boast of a certain Taylor, that in order to
show the Kendal joiners what he could do, he made the front door, with eight
raised panels, in one day. We also find it put up for sale on the 18th August,
1780, being then let to James Hallhead at the clear yearly rent of £18, and in
complete repair. George Adlington was innkeeper till his death in 1795, and
my next note is that Christopher Gibson held the tenancy until December,
1843, when it was again advertised for sale by Roger Cornthwaite, together with
his own residence in Castle Street.
In the middle ages every town, abbey, and nearly all the more
important manorial lords had the right of hanging, so that the
gallows were on every hand a conspicuous feature. And considering that
Henry VIII., the monarch of "the hanging reign,"* favoured the town with
his courtship of Katherine Parr, it is hardly likely that this ancient borough
should have been wanting in this gruesome object. But where it stood I can
find no mention, nor indeed anything concerning it. But we have here in the
Market Place certain knowledge of the public stocks, which were made to hold
two persons, and which stood near to this last mentioned inn, until removed
in 1835. In 1405 an Act was passed for every town and village to be provided with
a pair of stocks, so that a place was not considered complete, or only regarded
as a hamlet, without this instrument of punishment, so essential to due order and
government were they deemed to be. It was enacted, in the year 1605, that
every person convicted of drunkenness should be fined five shillings or spend
six hours in the stocks, and here amid the busy market the poor culprit would
sit upon a cold stone seat, with his feet fastened in the miserable structure,
subject to the merciless scorn and derision of the crowd. Even the shins of
the great Cardinal Wolsey, when incumbent at Lymington, about the yea*.
* 72,000 persons were executed during- his 37 years of sovereignty.

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD.

3°3

1500, became acquainted with that town's wooden pinfold, for overstepping the
bounds of moderation at a village feast.
" A parson here! confined in stocks,
A prison made of wood — a — .
Weeping and praying to get out,
But couldna' for his blood — a — .
The pillory, it hung o'er his head,
The whipping-post so near — a —
A crowd of people round about
Did at Thomas laugh and jeer — a — ."
It was a fearful punishment without doubt, and perhaps was wisely discontinued.
An old inhabitant says that both
men and women used to be flogged
in the Market Place near to the
stocks, there being a ring fixed to
the wall to which the culprits were
fastened by a rope. Prior to this
modification of Queen Elizabeth's,
upon the famous Whipping Act of
Henry VIII., both men and women
were frequently punished by being
tied naked to a " cart tail," and
flogged through the streets, " till
the body be bloody by reason of
such whipping." He also men
tions the early practice of carting
prisoners through the town, with
a board hung on their backs, on
which was painted in conspicuous characters, the word " thief " or
"vagrant." After going the length of the principal streets in this fashion
the culprit was set down at the town's end, and so discharged forth from the
borough. This hall was built by public subscription in commemoration
of the Queen's Jubilee, 1887. The first charter for holding a
Kendal market was granted by King Richard I. The fair and market tolls

L7gewiTT.scr
Pillory, Whipping-post and Stocks
at Wallingford.

304 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
were abolished on the last day of 1864, being purchased by subscription
amounting to £1100, from the Lords of the Manor or Barony, the Earl of
Lonsdale and the Hon. Mary Howard. The event seems to have been
celebrated by a treat of wine and cake given by the Mayor and Corporation,
Farmers' Club, and other gentlemen. Afterwards a procession was formed,
headed by a band of music, which wended its way to the Cauld-stean, from
whence the Town Clerk read the proclamation declaring the tolls free from
twelve o'clock at noon of that day henceforth, and for ever.
This public-house still shows signs of having once had a
Football Inn. r
gallery front. The football, from which the inn took the
name, was won and retained as a trophy in a fierce contest played between
Kendal and some neighbouring township. For many generations it hung
suspended in the kitchen until the house was rebuilt.
This building at first consisted only of four small
Workmen s Newsroom. shops, a gallary and a loft. It was purchased on
February 23rd, 1836, by the Mayor, Thomas Sleddall, on behalf of the Corpora
tion for £20, from James Ward a tailor. By them it was used as a weigh
loft, in which the woollen yarn produced by the country women's distaff and
spinning-wheel was weighed out to the cap, jacket, or cloth manufactures. The
building remained as such for one hundred and twenty-two years, that is uutil
the 5th of June, 1758, when it was sold to Thomas Ashburner, printer and
bookseller, for £39 12s. 8d. Ashburner practically rebuilt the old building, and
transformed the premises into the " New Play House." He died in 1778 at the
age of 73, when the property came by will to his son, James, who succeeded
him in business.
In the autumn of 1787 the zealous Stephen Brunskill rented the building
at six guineas per annum for Wesleyan services, and on February 13th, 1795,
we find it sold to this body for £89 as their first meeting house. They could
not, however, have remained here for very long, as they subsequently removed
to " The Fold," in Stricklandgate, previous to the erection of their chapel at
the nothern town-end in the year 1808. Again, we find that in February, 1827,
James Moffatt, a draper, sold the building to Christopher Pennington, a watch
maker, for £250. For the same sum it was sold in 1843 by Pennington's niece
to the Trustees of the Working Men's Institute, who now continue to hold it.
The building was refronted, and otherwise considerably altered in the year 1865.

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 305
The history of the property is a good example of how even small rights
continue throughout hundreds of years. At the time that the Corporation
bought the property from James Ward, a right-of-way over the gallery was
granted to him in order that he might ascend to his tailor's shop, and this is
doubtless the same right now possessed by the " Football Inn " to a dwelling-
house inserted in the upper part of the building. Hidden away down the
¦ passage below the Institute's colonnade you can gain a most charming view of
some sunny-gardened cottages.
_, r, , . ,, „, „ _ This now-forgotten inn stood in the corner
The Hole in the Wall Inn. of the Market Square. It was the proud
possessor of a quaint-looking sign-board, which is still preserved in our Museum.
The sign has evidently been painted on what was once a much larger board, for
on the back there is still to be seen the lower half of a carved dragon, with the
date 1741. Mr. John Watson, in his admirable series of articles contributed to
the papers on our Local Inn Signs, and to which I am indebted for much
information, says that the name is believed to have originated from the hole
made in the wall of a debtor's prison, through which the poor prisoners received
gifts, such as money or broken meat, from the charitably inclined.
This inn at one time was owned by a Captain Marshall,
Golden Lion Inn. T r.
who altered its name from the Golden Lion to " The
Pack," hanging out for his sign a pictorial representation of his ship; but at
the close of his tenancy the inn was again known by its former name. Mr.
J. E. Hargreaves has in his possession an interesting picture of the bar parlour
painted about the year 1840. Sitting in an ancient-looking chair, with a glass
of grog before him, is a portrait of Robert Postlethwaite, then in his 79 year,
attired in an old-fashioned suit, with gaiters and brass buttons. Around him
are thirty of his associates, whose united ages amounted to 2,168 years, and
their average ages to more than 72 years.
After the Restoration, Richard Frankland, an
Market Place Chapel. eminent minister ejected from Auckland, became
a master of an Academy at Natland. Besides teaching during the week, he
preached in his own house and in the neighbourhood as opportunity offered.
There can be little doubt that to the labours of this pious man the Presbyterian
congregation in the Market Place (now Unitarian), as well as the Presbyterian

306

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

congregation at Stainton, owe their origin.

Old Gabled House between "Golden Lion Inn'
and Chapel.

The baptismal records in the
chapel date back to the
year 1687. Where these
early dissenters worshipped
at first is not known, in
deed the history is lost
until June 16th, 1702,
when the Rev. William
Pendlebury, M.A., a son
of the Rev. H. Pendle
bury, M.A., ejected from
Holcombe, in Lancashire,
was ordained.
The Rev. Dr. Caleb
Rotherham commenced
his ministery in 1706, and
it was during his charge
that the chapel was erected
in 1720, to accommodate
200 persons. The funds
for the building were raised
by voluntary subscription,
and by the 'sale of the
seats as freeholds, which
long continued to be pri
vate property.

Rotherham's ministerial training was received from Dr. Thomas Dickson,
who conducted a flourishing academy at Whitehaven. When Dickson
removed to Bolton, in Lancashire, Rotherham himself continued the classes
here in Kendal until his death in 1752. The Monthly Repository for 1810
contains a list of fifty-six Divinity students educated at this academy, some of
whom afterwards became eminent scholars and preachers.
The first mention there is of this chapel in the parish register, is in the year
1725, when on April 24th Thomas Gibson, of Stramongate, was buried at the
Presbyterian Meeting House. In the same year, October 2nd, Sarah Ogton,

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 307
of Fincal Street, was buried here. In 1726, January 23rd, Thomas Strickland,
of Stricklandgate, was buried at the same place. In 1728, April 30th, John
Foster, a soldier, was buried at the Presbyterian Meeting House ; and the last
entry is in 1729, July 5th, William Dawney, of Fincal Street, was buried at the
Presbyterian Meeting House. The oldest monumental stone is on the south
side of the chapel, and is inscribed as follows : — " Here lieth ye Body of William
Dawney, late of Kendall, Who departed this Life the 5 of July, Anno Dom.
1729." It was during the time of the Rev. Dr. Rotherham's ministry that the
English Presbyterian Church gradually changed their doctrine, and Rotherham
seems to have been one of the leading teachers of these distinctly Unitarian
tenets. For a long time their doctrine was strictly evangelical, but with
successive ministers from being Calvinistic in sentiment, they became first Arian
in their views, until finally they adopted the creed of Socinus. Four years
after Dr. Rotherham's death, in 1752, his son, also named Caleb, succeeded
him in this church, and continued to minister till his death in 1796. The
parsonage in front was erected in 1777 of dressed limestone.
In the early years of the present century the Rev. James Kay, one of the
ministers of the New Street Chapel, having changed his views regarding
Believer's Bapfisim, resigned his pulpit, and began business as a dealer in
earthenware ; but shortly afterwards he commenced a new cause under the
name of the " Unitarian Baptists," or dippers. They met for worship in the
Caledonian Room referred to on page 302, and baptized their followers early on
Sunday mornings during the summer, in the Castle Mill race or at the Ancho
rite's well. In 1820 Mr. Kay left Kendal for America, and his people joined the
Market Place Chapel, then fast becoming identified with the Unitarian creed. It
must be remembered that prior to the 'Tolerating Statute' of 1813 no Unitarian
place of worship could be legally established, and consequently, where chapels
were erected by that denomination, the trust deeds of necessity omitted to
specify the tenets for the promulgation of which the building was raised, or the
teacher endowed. Had it been otherwise, the property would have been
forfeited, and the founders, avowing dissent from Trinitarian doctrines, would
have become liable to severe punishment. The congregations were called
Presbyterian, not on account of their doctrine, but solely in reference to their
scheme of church government of independence,

308 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
After the Rev. Caleb Rotherham, junr., the Rev. John Harrison became
minister for 37 years, from April 15th, 1796, until his death on the 6th of May,
1833. The Rev. Edward Hawkes, M.A., was appointed pastor on the 15th of
June following, and served the church for another 33 years, until his death on
January 15th, 1866. During his ministry the chapel was re-roofed, the walls
stone-finished, and an organ was purchased from the old Roman Catholic
Chapel. The old building still retains its two heights of windows, but the
leaden casements have now entirely disappeared. The doorway which formerly
opened into the " Mason's Arms " Yard has long been walled up, but I believe
there is still a right-of-way into Stramongate.
The Rev. J. E. Odgers, M.A., formerly of Liverpool, preached for the first
time on the 5th day of January, 1868, and on the 27th of December following
the Rev. John. Russell, of Glasgow, was ordained the misister to fill the vacancy
caused by Mr. Odgers removing to Bridgewater. Russell resigned April 5th,
1874. The Rev. W. Birks followed, and was succeeded by the Rev. James
Macdonald, who took a great interest in the restoration of the chapel in 1882.
At this time a schoolroom was added at the side for a cost of some £500. On
the two down spouts are the dates A.D. 1720 and A.G.
Edward Holme, M.D., of Manchester, but a native of Kendal, and a
descendant of one of the founders of this chapel, bequeathed at his death in
1847 £1,000, the interest of which was to be paid for ever in aid of the
minister's salary.
In the papers, letters and journals of the late Mr. William Pearson, a well
known naturalist, of Borderside, in Crosthwaite, edited by his widow (who was
sister to the late Mr. John Greenhow, of Anchorite's House, and sister-in-law
to the late Rev. E. Hawkes), is the following allusion to the chapel under
notice : —
"This quiet, secluded building, though situated in the heart ofthe town, is overshadowed
by trees, beneath which rest many worthies of departed times, one of whom, James Patrick,
was the prototype of the " Wanderer " in the Excursion. A plain mural slab outside the east
wall of the chapel— which was his spiritual home— bears this inscription :— " Near this place
are buried John Patrick, of Barnard Castle, who died May 10th, 1763, aged fifty-one;
Margaret, the daughter of James and Mary Patrick, who died November 20th, 1767, in her
infancy ; James Patrick, of Kendal, who died March 2nd, 1787, aged seventy-one." When
staying in Kendal with his friend Mr. Thomas Cookson, the Poet Wordsworth himself was

STRICKLANDGATE OR THE NORTH ROAD. 309
an occasional worshipper along with the family at this chapel, and thus became acquainted
with the minister, the Rev. John Harrison, and with one of his congregation, the well known
blind mathematician and botanist, Mr. John Gough, with the delineation of whose remarkable
powers and character, the poet enriched his Excursion, and in turn has by the touch of genius
imparted to them a lustre that will not fade whilst English literature shall endure."
_ , . ... At the head of the old Post Office Yard and opposite to
Anthony Askew. rsr
the " Football Inn " was born the celebrated Oriental
linguist and classical scholar, Anthony Askew, M.D., the collector of the
" Bibliotheca Askeviana," being christened at the Parish Church on May
7th, 1722. He was educated at Sedbergh, and took his M.B. degree at
Cambridge in 1745, where he commenced his medical practice, and became
M.D. in 1750, after which he went up to London, and it is said of his house in
Queen's Square that it was crammed full of classical books, curious MSS., and
rare editions ; the passages were full, and even the garrets overflowed, and yet
the book appetite of Dr. Askew was not satisfied. He died at Hampstead,
February 27th, 1774, aged 52.
_ , _ , This inn was situated at the head of Bran-
George and Dragon Inn. thwaite Brow, and kept in 1761 by Joshua
Craven, to whom the supporters of Mr. Lowther and Mr. Upton were offered to
go to feast during the elections. I have by me a handbill of the sale of Garnett
Folds, Skelsmergh, to take place on Friday, the 8th day of September, 1775, at
the house of George Craven, innholder, at the sign of the " George and
Dragon," in the Market Place, in Kendal. His widow was landlady from 1813
until 1821. She died in her 94th year, having been at the inn for upwards of
54 years. St. George, the patron saint of England, is a very common sign.

uo

THE FELL SIDE.

BEFORE passing further along the North Road, it is necessary to cross
the street, and follow up Entry Lane to the Fell Side. This steeply
sloping ground is a perfect wilderness of steps, terraces, and lanes, and I would
advise those who are short of time to avoid the temptation of taking a short
cut through the network. Perhaps the central feature of the whole is that
All Hallows Chapel. ,,,,,., , , ,
beautiful chapel, which stands as a veritable oasis
on the south side of Syke Lane. It stands upon the site of the old workhouse,
a building which is said at one time to have been Kendal's original Town
Hall. It contained no marked architectural feature, if we except a large
circular projection at the back, which contained a ricketty staircase, but on
knocking off the accumulated coats of whitewash above one of the fireplaces,
the initials and date " G. G. M., 1696," were discovered in stucco, though I
• fancy the building must have been older than that. The late Alderman Fisher
says that a photograph was taken of the building, but I can find no trace or
remembrance of it anywhere. The foundation stone of the present chapel was
laid on July 22nd, 1864, by the late Archdeacon Cooper, assisted by Mrs.
Barnes, widow ofthe former vicar, and the Rev. John Scott. Both the chapel
and the cottage were built by subscription, and were opened on Ash Wednes
day, 1866, by the Archdeacon. Christopher Gardner gave a new bell on the
23rd day of March, which bears the inscription, " I. Taylor & Co., 1866," and
William Henry Wakefield gave the organ, which was opened on the 13th of
January, 1869.
The old chapel stood opposite to the " Black Swan Inn," in the All
Hallows Lane. As marked on Speed's plan, it stood on the lower side of the
field called Chapel Close> and it is supposed to have been taken down at some
early period in order to widen the road. The late Alderman Fisher possessed
two paintings of this old building made before it was taken down. Dr. Burn
also mentions that a house once stood here, bearing the arms of Roos upon it.

THE FELL SIDE.

3"

The Syke.

A stream called "The Syke," so named, I can only suppose,
because the descendants of Bill Sykes and his dog made free use
of it for washing away the stains of their night's work, used formerly to flow in
an open channel
down Syke Lane to
the head ofthe King's
Arms Yard, and
thence to the Maude
Meadow drain. But
after the building of
the chapel, the neigh
bourhood had per
force to trim itself up
a bit, put on its best
apparel and cover
over this sweet
smelling savour.
" Barracks."

On the opposite side )r,.\
of the lane stands

jkmg down
ounBin Ql°i*

another building of
about the same
ancient date as the
Poor House. Lat
terly it has been
altered out of all knowledge, but it still bears the name of the " Barracks,"
in which the overseer formerly had his office, and where the paupers are
said to have had their weekly pittances doled out to them on the Sunday
afternoon.

The Sepulchre.

Adjoining Chapel Close is an isolated cemetery called
" The Sepulchre," where some of the Society of Friends
have been buried. Painted now on the locked-up door are the words : —

1666.
FRIENDS' BURIAL GROUND.

312 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
It seems from the following ghostly letter that in 1863 the graves were
levelled down, and the slabs re-arranged : —
" A Supplication from ye Sepulchre. — To ye ancient friends now dwelling in
Kendall. — Respected Friends, — On ye afternoon of ye sixth day of ye month then reckoned
ye third, but now I believe known of mortals as ye fifth, and in ye year of salvation, a
thousand six hundred and seventy nine, it came to pass that a chosen and devoted but
despised few, carried my poor remains for burial, in this well-cared for then, but now, long
neglected spot of ground, which I fondly hoped, yea verily believed was henceforth to become
ye last ' house of my pilgrimage ' on earth.
My friend Thomas Jackson, Mayor of the town, together with ye Aldermen and Bur
gesses, came in a body lo my obsequies, for grievously lamented, as had been ye withdrawal
of so prominent a member as myself from ye ancient faith, nevertheless they had not ceased
to respect me. Conspicuous among ye aldermen, from his commanding presence and manly
bearing stood that venerable and 'orthodox Christian' my 'most antient' friend William Guy
of Watercrook, and though bending beneath the weight of more than fourscore years, still
of noble and majestic mien.
When probationers here below, friend William and myself agreed to differ on religious
matters, but oftentimes now take sweet counsel together during our noctivagant wanderings
amongst ye familiar scenes of our pilgrimage in your vale of tears.
William's appearance to ye Churchwardens a few years by-past cannot have been for
gotten by you, after his bones had been ruthlessly expelled from ye Steeple-house and cast
into ye Quagmire behind ye Castle, and his unpretending but celebrated 'brass' torn from
its 'customed site.' During all those troubles it was I who was his ghostly counsellor; and
friend William — grateful soul as he alway was — in return, now standing at my elbow cheers
me on. Ever since ye above sixth day of ye fifth month, 1679, my bones have reposed in peace,
if not altogether in quietness, for truly I must aver that I have oftentimes been disturbed by
ye noisy tramp of youthful dancing feet over my bed, but a stout door and a good lock might
any day have prevented this and so I thought lightly of it; and it was not till some years
agone that, when ye stone which covered my ashes and on which were engraved my two
simple initials ' G. B.' was broken and removed to do duty as the door step, that I felt moved
to animadvertize and be wroth withal, but I restrained myself.
I held my tongue and spake nothing, I kept silence, yea even from ' bad ' words, but it
was pain and grief to me.
On sixth day morning last, however, it came to pass that I was suddenly startled by an
unusual movement in close propinquity to my ' narrow-house,' and was incontinently

THE FELL SIDE. 313
exuscitated from my slumbers by ye sound of ye mattock and spade in ye hand of some rude
mortal digging and delving at ye roots of ye tree which had vegetated over my grave and ye
graves of those around me.
I saw that they were doomed — and I heard an order given to raze our little mounds to ye
earth and convert this solemn sepulchre into a common kitchen garden 1 1 This was more
than I could regurgitate — ye very stones ' would cry out of ye wall and ye beam out of ye
timber would answer it ' if I spake not.
Stay your hands therefore, dear friends, I beseech you, take ghostly counsel I warn you,
save ye remnant of my gravestone I implore you, preserve it I supplicate you, in memory of
one who, as much as in him lay, when a sojourner here below, both by word of mouth and
stroke of pen bore his humble 'Testimony ' to ye truth as held by ye people then scornfully
called Quakers. Desecrate not this sacred spot I entreat you, let me and ye many defunct
round me peacefully ' sleep ye sleep that knows no wakening till ye trumpet shall sound, and
ye dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed,' needing no longer ye few
feet of earth of which verily it striketh me we are begrudged.
Stay your hands, otherwise you may look for another visitation. Until then farewell.
From your true friend.
The shade of him who whilst on earth was called of man by ye name of
GERVASE BENSON, J. P.
From ye Sepulchre on ye Fellside, at 12 of ye clock at Midnight on ye four and twentieth
day of ye third month and in ye year 1863." This most successful Sunday School was corn-
Fell Side Sunday School. .
menced in the year 1833. At first both sexes
were taught together, but in the year 1840 a separate girls' school was estab
lished. The present school-house was built in 1851, and four more class-rooms
were added in 1859. Situated on the Low Fell Side is the curious old
Grandy Nook Hall. , ., ,. , . , , , , ,
building, which lor many centuries has been known
by the name of Grandy Nook. For a short time, however, it went by the
name of the " Wool Pack Inn," being kept by a certain " Willie Whittle,"
probably a corruption of Whitwell, and having on its sign the following
doggrel : — " Ye droughty souls wi' drought beset,
And good ale to slack it do lack,
Oh come wi' your whistles to wet
To old Willie Whittle's at t' Woo' Pack."

3H

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

On the end gable wall is a stone tablet bearing the name Grandy Nook,
and at the back there is a stone with the initials of Thomas and Katherine
Sandes and the date
1659, being precisely
the same date as
that on the coat of
arms over the en
trance to Sandes
Hospital. Then on
the front there is an
oak panel bearing
the initials and date
F.
T. x I.,
1669.
but to whom these
belong I cannot say.
The building was re
stored in 1864 by
John Fisher. There
is a Grandy Nook
at Keswick and else
where in the district,

evidently having some common meaning

Print Mill.

There was formerly a print mill on the Fell Side, where George
Braithwaite used to print by hand with brass rollers, woollen
bed and window curtains, which had been previously dyed elsewhere. The
printing resembled a sort of water mark. The site was on the south of the
next-property-but-one to the " Syke." The mill was discontinued at the
beginning of this century.
_ „ „ In 181 5 a deed was entered into between Henry Bradshaw
Bagmire Hall. J J 7 ,
ofthe one part, and George Mason and Nicholas Wilson 01
the other part, for the conveyance of "all that piece or parcel of ground situate
lying and being on the Ffell-side in Kirkby Kendale whereupon Bagmire Hall
formerly stood."

THE FELL SIDE. 315
The inevitable public-house abounded here as elsewhere. There was one
at the foot of Middle Lane, close to the new church, called the " Gardeners'
Arms," kept by a character, John Graham, whose nickname was " Domino."
On the west side of Low Fell Side stood the " Rule and Square," which was
kept at one time by old Mally Birkett, who in February, 1882, attained the
101st year of her age. The inn was mostly frequented by weavers and old
soldiers, many of whom, having fought in the Peninsular War or at the
Crimea, would sit by the fireside and spin their yarns of what they had seen
and done. Mr. John Watson says that " from this neighbourhood scores of
men responded to the recruiting parties, which in those days paraded the
streets with bands of music and streams of ribbons in search of youths to fight
in the wars." An anecdote is told of one fellow, bellicose to a degree, who, on
hearing the military bands, drove his foot through the miserably poor web he
was weaving, shivered his loom to atoms, and rushed out shouting, " I's off ta
feight auld Bonny," and he went too.
The old " Hyena Inn " was peremptorily sold by auction in August, 1843,
as "all that newly-erected inn known by the sign ofthe ' Hyena.' " On the Low
Fell Side, nearly opposite to the King's Arms Yard, there once stood the
famous " Black Cock," with all its sporting records in the old English pastime
of cock fighting at the Whitsuntide " mains."

VII.
Stiueklandgate, continued.

" Man made the town, and therefore fellowman
May garner there, within its dusky yards
Of pent-up life. Where wanes
The light of present being, while the vast
' Has been ' awakes again, — the being of the past."

319

STRICKLANDGATE— THE WEST SIDE.

„ s_ But to return to Stricklandgate, I would notice the quaint corner of
Jackson the saddler's shop. There seems to have been an external
staircase here leading to one of the open galleries above.
W 1 k V A After the pack horses were dispensed with for the transfer
of wool, large heavy waggons took their place, and these
being packed up to a great height necessitated the unusually wide and high
entries that are so noticeable in this quarter. See illustration on page 286.
And oh, what cumbersome waggons they were, revealing indeed a pitiful tale
of the state of the main roads in those days. Each wheel was tyred with three
iron bands placed side by. side, giving a width of twelve to fifteen inches.
Four strong-looking dray horses drew the conveyance, under the care of a
driver clad in a blue linen kirtle which covered him from neck to foot, and
like the shepherd's smock was wondrously wrought in ornamental needlework
with white thread on the breast.
_. Bartholomew Noble tells us that the " Corpus Christi " was played
X neat re. in Kendal in 1604, but where this took place we do not know.
These plays were suppressed in the beginning ofthe reign of James I.
Thomas Ashburner built the first known play-house in the year 1758 on
the premises that are now occupied by the Working Men's Institute. For a while
histrionic art flourished in Kendal, so much so indeed that the management of
the theatre in the Market Place, deeming their premises too small, sold them
to the Wesleyans for a chapel, and built a new play-house up this Woolpack
Yard in the year 1789. Here they seemed to flourish more than ever, and I
have beside me a collection of handbills, which are most interesting, but too
numerous to mention. The hall was beautified and repaired in September,
1818, by Mr. Howard; the manager of the Theatre Royal, at Lancaster, and
from henceforth it became known under the more dignified name of the

320

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

Theatre Royal, Kendal. So here the play continued until the influence of the
Rev. Wm. Whitelock and his celebrated poster was felt, when the love for the
play decreased, and in 1823 the proprietors again were glad to sell their
building, but this time to the Presbyterians. Two curious instances of the
stage preparing the way for the church, or take it as you will, the good over
coming the evil. Fortunately I have a reprint of the poster above referred to,
from which I extract the following : —
THEATRE.
"The Great & Terrible Day ofthe Lord."
By Command of the King of Kings.
AT THE THEATRE OF THE UNIVERSE
On the Eve of Time, will be performed
THE GREAT ASSIZE
or the
Day of Judgment.

THE SCENERY
which is now actually preparing, will not only surpass everything that has yet been seen, but
will infinitely exceed the utmost stretch of human conception. There will be a just Repre
sentation of All the Inhabitants ofthe World, in their various and proper Colours, and their
Customs and Manners will be so exact and so minutely delineated, that the most secret
Thoughts will be discovered.
THIS THEATRE WILL BE LAID OUT AFTER A NEW PLAN
and will consist of a
PIT AND GALLERY.
The gallery is very spacious & the Pit without bottom.
To prevent inconvenience there are separate doors
&c &c &c &c.
ACT 1.
Of this Grand & Solemn Piece will be opened by
AN ARCHANGEL WITH THE TRUMP OF GOD.
ACT 2,.
A PROCESSION OF SAINTS
In White with Golden Harps, accompanied with
shouts of joy & songs of praise.
ACT 3.
AN ASSEMBLAGE OF ALL THE UNREGENERATE.
To conclude with an address by
THE SON OF MAN.

STRICKLANDGATE— THE WEST SIDE. 321
• The play, however, seems still to have held a certain amount of favour in
the town, for I have amongst my collection of play bills, a dozen or more, con
cerning a theatre opened in 1824 in the Crown Inn Yard, and again in 1826
concerning " a neat little theatre " opened in one of the rooms of the " Crown
Inn," all of which are headed either by "The desire of" or by "The per
mission of the Mayor." Following on in chronological order I have bills
announcing plays to be held at the theatre at the bottom of the Old Shambles,
which bear dates during the year 1828, and then at last we come to the new
theatre, which was opened by Thomas Simpson in June, 1829, in connection
with his " Shakespeare Inn." A stage which had but an existence of only five
years, although patronized by such artists as Kemble and Kean.
_ __ The Presbyterian Church commenced, as has
Presbyterian Church. . . ,
already been said, in the Market Place Chapel, but
as in subsequent years the congregation became more and more identified to
the Unitarian creed, a few of the still faithful presented a petition in April,
1763, to the Associate Presbytery of Edinburgh (who seceded from the Estab
lished Church of Scotland in 1733), " praying that ministers might be sent
from Scotland to preach the gospel in Kendal." The petitioners numbering 31.
Their request being granted, a chapel was built on the Beast Banks, where
Monument House now is, and near to the monument which commemorates the
Revolution of 1688, where the burial ground may yet be seen, though closed in
1865. To this church the Rev. James McQuhae was ordained in 1764.
McQuhae preached with great acceptability, and not a little success, for a
period of eight years. He was a man far in advance of the age in liberality of
sentiment, and refused to confine his ministry exclusively to the sect with
which he was connected. Accordingly, having attended and taken part in the
ordination of a minister in some independent congregation, he rendered
himself liable to the censure of the synod in Scotland. To this ordeal he
refused to submit, and throwing off what appeared to him "a yoke of bondage"
embraced the independent form of church government. Without informing
the Presbytery, McQuhae announced to the people the next Sabbath morning
that he had changed his views ; an elder, James Smith, thereupon rose and
argued the question with him, but McQuhae proposed to end the discussion
with prayer. To this Smith objected, because they were not in a fit frame of
mind, but proposed that a Psalm should be sung, which being done, the

322 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
congregation separated. Next day the worthy elder wended his way to- the
Presbytery in Scotland to lay the matter before them. Thus, in 1772, with
several of the members and a sum of £100, did McQuhae resign, and start the
Lowther Street congregation.
The second minister, Thomas Simpson, was ordained in 1774, but the
inability of the people to pay his stipend led to his resignation in 1780. Suffer
ing from defection and death, with no increase of their numbers, the remnant
were forced to sell the property in 1806, and wall off the sacred enclosure ofthe
dead. At this crisis Abraham Williamson, of Keswick, visited Kendal, and
hearing of their straits gave £100 to the cause, with which the building was
re-purchased, only to be re-sold again in 1812. See passage on page 83 under
the heading of Monument House in reference to this. For the next 12 years a
minister occasionally came from Scotland, preached, baptized, and encouraged
the formation of a new church. At first the people assembled in a large room
at the "Crown Inn" (recently the lecture room ofthe Y.M.C.A.), the approach
being by a flight of stone steps in the yard, but the drama having ceased to be
patronized, the congregation opened the theatre in the Woolpack Yard in the
month of November, 1823, and worshipped there with the gaudy scenery
hanging around them. The reward to their faithful spirit, after this, soon came
upon them. With kindly loans for £550 they purchased the property, and
expended nearly an equal amount in fitting it up as a chapel to accommodate
450 persons. At the close of the service on the first Sunday ofthe congregation
meeting here, some wag wrote the following over the front door : —
" If, reader, you have time to spare,
Turn o'er St. Matthew's leaves,
You'll find that once a house of prayer
Became a den of thieves.
But now the times are altered quite,
Oh, Reformation rare !
This modern den of thieves, to-night
Became a house of prayer."
To this newly-formed congregation the Rev. Alex. Marshall was called in
January, 1825, and ordained on the 13th of July. Marshall died in 1828, and
the fourth minister, the Rev. Robert Wilson, was appointed, and ordained in
the December following, who greatly interested himself in a noble effort to pay

STRICKLANDGATE— THE WEST SIDE. 323
off the existing debts. After a ministry of four years Wilson left Kendal, and
the Rev. H. Calderwood, an excellent preacher, was appointed in his stead.
He was ordained in 1834, and during his pastorate the congregation flourished.
At this time a schism amongst the Friends led many of them to join this
church, who for a short period greatly strengthened the pastor's hands, until
they left again to form the community known as the Plymouth Brethren.
Calderwood then resigned the charge to become a missionary to South Africa
under the London Missionary Society. The church was now two years without
a pastor, until the Rev. John Guthrie was appointed, and ordained in February,
1840. Shortly after this the controversy regarding the extent of the Atone
ment and kindred subjects began to agitate the Secession Church. Guthrie
along with Morrison warmly supported the " new views," and causing much
dissatisfaction by them to the church here, he was removed by the Synod in
1843, and with him 100 out of the 130 members of the congregation left, for
whom Zion Chapel was built.
"• It was at this renewed crisis that Mr. Inglis came from Perth, preached
the gospel, and encouraged the people to persevere. He was ordained to this
church in August, 1845, where he remained for nearly 13 years, resigning in
January, 1858.
The Sunday School was commenced in 1826 under the auspices of the
Rev. Robert Wilson. The " Woolpack Inn," with what have once been capital
Woolpack Inn. . , . , , ,,..,, ri,
rooms within and large stabling in the rear, is one ot the
very ancient hostelries of the town. It was arranged probably not so much for
travellers as for commerce, and, as its name implies, was the great centre for
the carriers who brought traffic to Kendal by pack horses, carts and waggons.
It is likely that the premises were rebuilt in 1781, as a spout head bears that
date. Close to this commercial centre Thomas Sandes, the
' wealthy merchant, lived, who built for himself in 1659 his
gallery-fronted " House of Manufacture," schoolroom and library on the site of
what is now the " Elephant Inn," having his warehouse for Kendal cottons
behind. The old building was taken down, and the present " Elephant Inn "
built about 1820, with a sign depicting a huge painted elephant.

324 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
In a cottage at the rear is still to be seen an oak screen with a carved
frieze, bearing the letters S. 1651, for Thomas and Catherine Sandes, and
T. K.
the room divided off by this screen from the lobby is also oak panelled and
carved with other dates and devices, which are unhappily buried beneath a
cheap cottage paper.
In 1811, the Court of Conscience was held at Brother Speight's, the
" Elephant Inn." Robert Speight was a Sergeant at Mace to the Corporation
of the Borough for twenty years.

Daily Conveyance between Kendal fy Penrith.
% BETTY WALKER
ID ETURNS thanks to har Friends and the Public, for the many Favours already conferred, and hopes
¦"" fy attention to merit a continuance thereof. She begs leave to inform, them that her Waggons leave Penrith
every Morning, and arrive at Kendal the same Evening ; and a Waggon leaves Kendal every Morning, which arrives
fit Penrith the same Evening ; from each place Goods are forwarded by regular Carriers to tne adjacent Country, and
all Parts of the North and South.
Goods intended for their Conveyance may be delivered to —
JOHN HARGREAVES, White Horse, Cripple Qate, London.
.JOHN LING, Birmingham.
MivHUNT, Sheffield.
JOHN HARGREAVES, Manchester, Rochdale, Haslingdale, Bury, Liverpool, Preston, and Lancaster.
JOHN SIMPSON, Wade Lane, Leeds.
UNION COMPANY WHARF, Liverpool, by Canal.
JOHN HARGREAVES, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Hawick, Langholm, and Carlisle.
:J.-,BAXTER, Dumfries. s ^ s ,
The Proprietor will not be accountable for more than Five Pounds for any Box, Package, or Parcel, of any discrip-
tron if under the weight of Twenty-eight Pounds., nor more than after the rate of Twenty Pounds per Cwt. for any
Package of greater weight, unless entered of higher value, and an Insurance paid thereon, at the time of delivery.
Kendal, March 1, 1813;
Although it is not my purpose to deal in this book with the great
manufactures for which the town became famous, yet I can scarcely pass by
this largest of all the warehouses without a word concerning the Kendal
cottons or coatings as they were styled, but which were in reality woollens dyed
in green. Shakespeare (1598) alludes to them in his Henry IV., where he
makes Falstaff say : " But as the devil would have it, three misbegotten knaves,
in Kendal green came at my back and let drive at me." Camden (1551— 1623)

STRICKLANDGATE— THE WEST SIDE. 325
writes : " Kendale or otherwise as I wene Kirkby Kendale, is a place famed for
^excellent cloathing, and for its remarkable industry. The inhabitants carry
forward an extensive trade for woolen goods, known in all parts of England."
And Speed (1614) says : " This towne is of great trade and resort, and for the
diligent and industrious practice of making cloath, so excels the rest, that in
regard thereof it caryeth a supereminent name above them and hath great
vent and trafncke for her woolen cloaths, through all the parts of England."
Two hundred years later, John Housman in his Guide to the Lakes (1802) says
that " There are now 12 houses in the Kendal cotton trade which together
make about 1,200 pieces weekly, each piece containing about 24 pounds of
Wool. Here are also eight principal linsey manufacturers."
The goods were formerly carried periodically on pack horse, by the makers
themselves, or were sent to London to be vended by the warehousemen among
their customers, who visited the metropolis from different parts ofthe kingdom.
Cornelius Nicholson says : " After the rise of the British Colonies in North
America and the West Indies, the greater part of the Kendal cottons were sold
to the merchants trading to those countries for the clothing of the negroes and
poorer planters. As the colonies increased, and slaves multiplied, the demand
for Kendal manufactures continued to increase till the intervention of the
American War caused a total suspension of the export trade. Upon the
cessation of hostilities it again revived, but our manufacturers not being able
to keep pace with the improvements in machinery with those of Yorkshire,
the latter interfered, and were gradually gaining advantage of Kendal, till
the increase of American duties put a stop to the exportation. In process of
time the change of fashion demanded a more elegant fabric of wearing apparel,
and the celebrated ' Kendal cottons ' were degraded to the use of horse checks,
flour-cloths, dusters, mops, &c. Linseys, which, for a number of years, were
collateral with the cottons, after the decline of the latter, grew to be the staple
manufacture of the place. This article was sent to Holland and Germany,
excepting a finer sort which was made, and continues to be made, for home
consumption." " The hosiers used regularly to attend the markets of all the towns, and
at stated times all the villages and hamlets within twenty miles of the
circumjacent country, to give out worsted ancr take in the stockings which
had been knit during the interval betwixt each visit."

326

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

In 1801 the average quantity of stockings made for the Kendal market,
weekly, was in Ravenstonedale 1,000 pairs, Sedbergh and Dent 840 pairs, and
in Orton 560 pairs.

Adjoining was the " Green Dragon Inn " and Miles
Lancaster Bank. . .
Baldwin, the saddler s shop beyond, both of which were
old oak-galleried houses of quaint architecture. Behind there was also a well-
patronized bowling green, and Alderman David Jackson's warehouse and rope-
walk. In 1799, John Wakefield, the son of the founder of the Wakefield's
Bank, purchased the block whereon he built a new residence, and to it he
removed the bank from its primitive quarters next Stricklandgate House.
John Wakefield died in 181 1, but the bank was carried on here until the
amalgamation with the Maude Wilson and Crewdson Bank in 1840 under the
style of " The Kendal Bank." See page 37. Subsequently the property was
disposed of by W. H. Wakefield, and has now become the property of the
Lancaster Banking Company, who opened their branch here on November the
3rd, 1864. Pack Horse Inn.
Further north we come to
what was once a mass of
cottage property, but now
a well-built house, formerly
called Brownsword House,
being doubtless the resi
dence of the family of that
name, one of whom was
Mayor in 1694, and an
other Vicar of Kendal from
1658 to 1672.
On the accession of
James I. to the throne,
whilst passing from Edin
burgh to London, in
August, 1617, he lodged a
night or two here, and

STRICKLANDGATE— THE WEST SIDE.

327

knighted three of his suite on the occasion, viz. : Henry Mildmay and George
Spencer, both sewers to His Majesty, and Francis Knightley, cup bearer,
.because, it is said, he could not find any of the local inhabitants flattering
enough in their welcome, to receive the honour he had intended to bestow.

In old deeds, dating 1739, and in Pennington's table of 1802 and Taylor's
of 1823, this house is said to have been used as a "workhouse for the poor"
from 1725-1768. It then became the property of Benjamin Hurd, and was
used by him as a woollen manufactory. After 1803, the Hurds turned the front

328

Y^80OT™«T*

KIRKBIE KENDALL.
portion of the factory into a
public-house, which became
familiarly known as "Ben
Hurd's," and then as the
" Pack Horse," doubtless by
reason of its being connected
with the numerous pack horses
conveying the merchandise of
early Kendal. The sign repre
sented a horse with its packs,
fairly adjusted, ready for a
journey. The inn, however,
was finally disused as such in
1855, when it became the
property of the late W. H.
Wakefield. Cornelius Nicholson gives the
following table of pack horses
that plied to and from Kendal,
weekly, as follows, with their
" hotts," or panniers, laden
with local manufacture, and a

musical ring of bells around the neck of the leading horse : —

One gang of pack-horses to and from Kendal every week, of about ....
One gang from Wigan weekly, about
One gang from Whitehaven, over Hard Knot and Wrynose, about ....
From Cockermouth weekly, about
Two gangs from Barnard Castle, about
Two gangs from Penrith twice a week, about 15 each, making
One gang from Settle twice a week, about 15 each, making
From York weekly, about
From Ulverston, about
From Hawkshead twice a week, about 6, making
From Appleby twice a week, about
From Cartmel twice a week, about
From Lancaster, two waggons, equal to about
Carriages, three or four times a week, to and from Milnthorpe, computed at  40
From Sedbergh, Kirkby Lonsdale, Orton, Dent, &c, about   20

20 18
20 15
26
30 3° 10 5
12 12 6
64

Besides 24 every six weeks from Glasgow.

Total

354

STRICKLANDGATE— THE WEST SIDE.

329

Generally four gangs were on the London road, two travelling through
Lancashire, and two through Yorkshire. One set was every week in London,
one in Kendal, and the other two on their road. The same horses went
through the whole journey, and the number of each set was generally from
fifteen to twenty. They were ten days in going, and the same in returning
exclusive of one Sunday each way. Beside carrying packs, some of them
occasionally carried passengers, and many a northern yeoman has accom
panied the driver on foot to see London, and returned home again with the aid
of an occasional lift. The owners in loading up reckoned a young lady as
acquivalent to half a pack.

ME AND MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER.

Adjoining this is " Wade's Yard " or Hutchinson Place. It was
ard 84. ^.^ ^ ^ ^^ Wade, card maker, and Mayor of Kendal in
1742-3, and remained in his family about 100 years. He bought the premises
November 1722, of John Cookson for £80, arid from his diary I glean that
he " laid out in re-building, &c, £297 12s. 6d., besides all malt (the treating
of the workmen), and many more things, which I forgoot to poot down." He
died in 1766, aged 76 years, having been twice married.

33°

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

At this yard end is a pair of strong oak door cheeks, which within living
memory had a pair of large oak doors, which were regularly bolted at an early
hour of the evening. And this was doubtless the practice in many ofthe yards
in these good old primitive days. I have a handbill dated
1 6th September, 1823,
announcing that the
" Editor of the Kendal
Chronicle, Tyras Redhead,
respectfully informs the
public that youths are edu
cated at his school in Mr.
Fishers' s Yard, Strick
landgate, in all the useful
branches of learning. Par
ticular attention is paid
towards their acquiring a
correct knowledge of the
English language, a sci
ence too much neglected
and too little understood ;
nor can this be looked for,
as in many instances the
teachers themselves are
totally ignorant of the
idiom and grammatical
principles of the language,
commencing to teach
without any requisite qualification and fulfilling the adage of Dr. Syntax."

Yard 84.

" And when a man's the scourge of heaven,
To teach a school he's always driven."
Here the universally-respected archaeologist, the late Alderman John
Fisher, was born, and his father and grandfather before him. The
house was built by a family of the name of Dodgson, wholesale grocers, about
the year 1710, and purchased by Alderman Fisher's father, William, in 1806.

No. 86.

STRICKLANDGATE— THE WEST SIDE.

33i

Within is an oaken room and mantelpiece, which was John Fisher's " Old
Curiosity Shop," where he kept his pictures, books, files of ancient papers,
bric-a-brac, coins and
tokens. In the cosy
corner he would smoke
and laugh in his own
pleasant way, and look
ing up from his book
and big magnifying
glass, would tell of his
love for Kendal, her
history, and all that be
longed to her past, over
which he loved to dwell
with a great heart's
affection. On a carved
panel of this chimney
piece there used to be
the date and initials —
D.
I. A.,
1710.
but the panel was taken
away in 1848.
Stricklandgate
House Museum.
The museum stands
upon the site of some
old properties, where a
family of the name of
Rutson (shearman
dyers) had their residence and business premises. One of them, Robert
Rutson, was mayor in 1751-52, and his son, William, in 1772-3.
Joseph Maude, whose family originally came from Sunderland, built this
house as a residence for himself about 1776. The mantelpiece and grate in

332 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
the Museum library, and in the old drawing-room immediately over, are
particularly worthy of careful inspection, and the cornices and front door were
thought very wonderful productions at that time. Here he lived till his death
in 1803, Thomas Holme Maude, his son, who was mayor in 1799 — 1800, and
again in 1813-14, also resided here many years.
After another short occupancy it was leased in 1854 f°r 2I years to the
Kendal Literary and Scientific Society, at a rental of £45, with option to
renew for another 21 years, at a rental of £50. This Society was instituted in
the year 1835, and numbered amongst its first hon. subscribers, Lord Brougham,
Wordsworth, Southey,then Poet Laureate, Professor John Wilson, Dr. Birkbeck,
Dr. Dalton, Professor Sedgwick, and many other honoured names. Their first
meeting rooms were in New Street, in the house that had been temporarily
occupied as the Bank of Westmorland. Outgrowing that accommodation,
they removed to the old Roman Catholic Chapel (contiguous to the existing
chapel), where the new Kendal Museum was opened in March, 1838. Still
increasing and prospering, they procured plans from Messrs. Bowman and
Crowther for an elaborate Gothic structure, which they proposed to erect on
Miller Field. The scheme, however, was abandoned in consequence of this
house becoming eligible, and to which they removed in 1854.
The " Kendal Library," formerly an independent establishment in New
Street, founded on November 5th, 1794, immediately became amalgamated to
the Museum. The Kendal Savings Bank, which also had its quarters here for
a long time, was established in 1815, and at its discontinuance in 1896 the
directors purchased the property out of its surplus monies, and gave it to the
Literary and Scientific Society.
Nob 96 and 112 Where there is now a fruiterer's shop, there used to be
a beerhouse under the sign of " The Fish ; " and still
further to the north, there was until the year 1856 another house of refresh
ment, known as the " Greyhound Frigate Inn."
No 114 The well"remembered bakery adjoining was established about the
year 1830, and was sold by John Willan in September, 1833. Here
it was that Hartley, in the year 1841, practically illustrated the Corn Laws by
placing two loaves in his window, to each of which was affixed a label. On
one was written " Taxed loaf price 6d."

STRICKLANDGATE— THE WEST SIDE.

333

" Sad contrast you see,
This is not duty free ;
If you want to enlarge it,
See that Corn Laws don't charge it."
On the other, which was nearly twice the size, was written " Untaxed loaf
price 6d." " To the Corn Law Repealer,
And fair trading dealer;
If the duty were off,
Here's a sixpenny loaf."

No 118.

The substantial building now occupying the corner of Maude's
Street was rebuilt about 1787 by Thomas Gandy, .shearman dyer,
and Mayor 1784-5. Until recently there was an entry upon the south side,

The Birthplace of Rev. Dr. Shaw. (Demolished 1897.)
which in former days was divided into two. That on the south was known as
Muslin Shop Yard, by reason of a muslin manufactory being established in
some buildings behind in the year 1802. However, it was not successful, and
only had but a short existence. The factory was taken down in 1839, when

334 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
tbe two yards were thrown into one spacious entry, which has since been built
over by the improvements made to this house.
This street, which was opened out in the year 1897, caused
the demolition of an old-fashioned gabled house, where
Dr. Shaw, D.D., the famous orientalist, was born in 1693. At the time that
Thomas Gandy built his house next door some dispute arose as to the " land
mark," and Gabriel Shaw, a shearman dyer, and descendant of the doctor,
in order to protect his rights against encroachment, placed a stone on the
front of his property at the extreme south containing his own and his wife's
initials : — S. G. M. Ius tuum tueri fas est sed ne ultra. 1790.
Intending to say, " It is lawful to protect thy own property but not to go
beyond." This inscription peeled off about 1853, and fell into the street.
Gabriel was a good pedestrian, as we find from the Carlisle papers of 1801,
that on June 30th, at the age of 63, he walked from Kendal to Whitehaven,
arriving there at three p.m., did his business, and the next morning walked
back again, none the worse for the expedition. He was huntsman to the then
squire of Dallam Tower, and was killed September, 1816.
Yard 143. There is a picturesque corner, well worth a visit, down this yard.
„. „. . _ The Maude's Meadow drain, as it is now called, was
The Dyer's Beck. then a portion of the dyer's beck. At the Municipal
Elections of October, 1863, votes are solicited for Busher, the advocate of the
drainage of Maude's Meadow. But this long vexatious question was not
finally disposed of till August, 1864, when John Whitwell dug the first sod for
the drain in Busher's Close, near to its outfall into the river. The beck,
covered over about the year 1820, used formerly to be open on the west side of
the street, and steps laid down to it from the pavement whereat the dyers used
to wash their cottons.
Passing along a mass of cottage property and the Jack Shop Yard, we come to
the fine range of buildings which were formerly used as the woollen manufactory
of John Wakefield and Sons. Near the entry to the dwelling-house was the
primitive office of the bank, which they established on January ist, 1788. The
court -yard was open to the dwelling-house and manufactory, and the dyer's

STRICKLANDGATE— THE WEST SIDE. 335
beck, which ran open across the street, was used, as I have said, to wash the
yarn. The woollen business was continued by Jacob Wakefield until the year
1815. After his death on the 3rd of October, 1844, several great improvements
and additions were made, and the old bank chamber was taken down in the
year 1864.
Mr. Wakefield being interested in the beer trade, opened an inn next door
which was known as the "Black o' Moor" or "Labour in Vain" public-house;
upon its sign was depicted a white man scrubbing a negro, hence the part title,
" Labour in Vain." The site of this inn is now occupied by the drawing room
of Lindum Holme. The rapid growth of the town, between the years
St. Thomas Church. 1820 and 1835, necessitated increased church
accommodation in this locality, to supply which this church, dedicated to St.
Thomas, was built in the " Fell Field," at a cost of about £3,000, and with
accommodation for 850 people. The foundation stone was laid August 4th,
1835, and the building was consecrated on July 5th, 1837.
The tower rises to a height of 95 feet, and on the nth August, 1862, the
old town clock (the gift of the Corporation) was placed within it. Over the
chancel arch is the old painting of the King's Arms, which formerly hung on
the chancel beam of the Parish Church until the restoration of 1850. Many
improvements were effected and the church was reseated in 1867, and in the
year 1897 the walls of the chancel were covered with mural decoration.
Vicars.
W. P. Hutton, ... July, 1837, to January, 1840.
John Antes Latrobe, M.A., February, 1840, to July 1865.
Hon. Canon of Carlisle. A member of a distinguished Moravian family.
Author of " The Solace of Song," " Sacred Lays and Lyrics," and other
poems. He resigned the incumbency through ill health, when he
returned to Gloucestershire. The pulpit in the church was erected to
his memory.
Henry John Monsarrat, July, 1865.
B.A. and Divinity Testimonial 1855, Deacon and Priest 1856, M.A. i860.
Formerly senior curate of Parish Church of Cheltenham, 1861-1865.

336 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
The Parsonage was erected in 1854. And tne beautiful row of beech trees
above Maude's Meadow were planted by William Medcalf between the years
1795 and 1799, when he was acting as land agent to John Wakefield.
„ „, , „ , The Sunday School was first held in the building
St. Thomas' School. J b
still called "The Factory," situated on the Fell above
the Workhouse, on Sunday, August 2nd, 1833, under the superintendence of
John Gandy. It continued to meet there until the present school premises
were built in 1841. In January, 1838, an adult school was begun under the
care of J. C. Braithwaite, "for scholars who feel themselves too old to be
associated with boys in the schools." A most successful and inspiriting class,
which became amalgamated with the school upon their entering into the
permanent building.
_ ,... This pleasantly-situated terrace of houses was built in the
Town View. year 1831.
_ . The Prison stands on the site of an ancient House of Correction,
Prison. which, in 1776, is thus minutely described in the " State of Prisons,"
published about that time, by Howard, the philanthropist. " Only one room
for men and women, 18 feet by 13 feet, with one window about two feet square,
no chimney, no court, no water, no sewer. The keeper has a garden, with
a salary of £6 10s. od. a year, no fees. The town prisoners are allowed six
pence a day, the country prisoners fourpence."
In a bill presented for payment to " Benj. Browne the High Conble of
Kendall Ward ye 22nd of Aprill, 1720," there are a number of items such as —
" Laid out by me miles Atkinson as under for Repairing of ye House of Correcon,
December 18th, 1717. For 13 threave of Straw att 3d., 3s. 3d. ; 400 Spellks
att 4d., is. 4d. ; Thatcher and Server 2 days 3s., = 7s. 7d." Another item is —
" March 25th, 1719, paid for Repairing the Stocks which were broken up by a
madman, 2s."
"Att a meeting of the Mayor and Aldermen in the Moot Hall, this 19th day
of April, Anno Dni. 1720, it is ordered that Mr. Alderman Dawfon be desired
to take workmen along with him and view and infpect His Majtye's Prifon or
Gaol within the said Burgh, and report to this Court what will be necefsary to
be done at the said Gaol in order to make it sufficient, and what the same will

STRICKLANDGATE— THE WEST SIDE. 337
cost. Itt is also Ordered that the Conbles of the said Burgh shall with all
convenient speed Buy a pair of ffetters for the better securing of ffellows which
shall hereafter be sent to His Majtye's Gaol within ye said Burgh, and to bring
ye Charges thereof in their Accots."
" Att a meeting of the Mayor and Aldermen held for taking into Confidera-
tion ye weaknefse' of the gaole of this burgh comonly called ye Court loft & ye
impofsibility of making it fufficient to detain prifoners in clofe & safe custody
& that therefore it is necefsary to have a ftrong gaole as foon as money can be
raifed or obtained for that purpofe, doth therefore & and for the indempnity of
ye former the prefent & the future mayors of this burgh declare grant & agree
that the defence of all & evry action or actions wch fhall or may hereafter be
brought agl them or any of them for ye efcape of any def or def 5 in any fuit or
fuits formerly or now depending or wch may hereafter be depending in the
Court of Record of the faid burgh fhall be defrayed out of ye publick revenues
of the Corporation to wit untill fuch new ftrong gaole fhall be provided."
On January 25rd, 1776, there were two men and one woman imprisoned,
and it would seem that in March one of the men managed to get off: — " Broke
out of the Gaol, John Buchannan, alias John Macdonald, who pretends himself
to be a smuggler, by birth Scotchman, aged 32 years, and wears his own black
hair, &c, &c." On September 18th, there was only one, a deserter; again
three years later, on May nth, 1779, when Howard visited a second time there
were no prisoners at all, which seems a fortunate thing, for the one room
comprised the whole building, that served to accommodate the keeper, his
family, and the prisoners, who all lived together. A cheerful home indeed,
with its two foot window ! With the low thatched roof it must also have been
a trifle insecure. Over the door was a stone, inscribed with the following
distich : — " If people woulde be goode and live in feare
The justices woulde never send them here."
The present prison was erected in 1785-6 and nearly re-built again in 1817,
and the inspector's office and work rooms were added in 1829. Mrs. Fry and
her daughter visited the house in September, 1818, and expressed her satis
faction at these improvements, but "regretted the want of instruction for the
prisoners." In 1894 it was closed as a civil prison, but has since been used

338 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
by the military authorities. It occupies an area of 2,000 square yards, fenced
by a thick wall, in some places 42 feet high.
In primitive times, when Miles Hayton (or " Miley Honey ") was keeper,
he used to take the prisoners for an airing, and allow them to play football
on the Tenter Fell, but when it was time to return he used to say — " Noo,
lads, you mun follow me, or if ye don't, I'll lock ye out ! " Another story is
told of this simple governor, that, having to convey a female prisoner to
London, upon alighting from the coach at their journey's end, the prisoner
contrived to give him the slip, whereupon he ran about the London streets,
crying — " Hev you seen ought of Mall Ward fra Kendal wi' a linsey-woolsey
petticoat and poor-house bedgoon on."
Here is the official police notice, extracted from the Newcastle Courant for
June nth, 1791 : — GENERAL HUE AND CRY
From the Police Public Office, Bow Street, London.
ESCAPED.
From the Swan Tap-room, in Lad Lane, about four o'clock on Saturday afternoon,
Mary Ward, convicted at the General Quarter Sessions, at Kendal, Westmor
land, in December, 1789, and ordered for transportation. Whoever will appre
hend and secure the said Mary Ward, in any of His Majesty's Gaols, shall
receive a reward of three guineas from Miles Hayton, keeper of the House of
Correction at Kendal, aforesaid. The said Mary Ward was born in Westmor
land, is 50 years of age, about five feet high, lusty made, darkish complexion,
black hair, full face, had on a brown linen gown and a black bonnet, an old
drab-coloured cloth cloak, and a pair of handcuffs fastened to her wrists when
she escaped.
It was, however, to no purpose, for it is said that Mall got clear off, and
was seen selling apples in London long afterwards.
Preserved in the Museum is a brank or scold's bridle, which came from
our prison. The instrument may be described simply as an iron framework
which was placed on the head, enclosing it in a kind of cage. It hinged on
either side (f) and at the top (c) and was fastened at the back (e.) In front,
an opening (b) was left to admit the nose of the woman whose misfortune it
was to wear it. And below a plate of iron (a), which either sharpened or

STRICKLANDGATE-THE WEST SIDE. m
covered with spikes, was so situated as to be placed in the mouth. This could
not fail to pin the tongue and effectually silence the noisiest brawler, for if she
attempted to move her tongue in any way whatever, it was certain to be

The Brank.

The Brank in use.

shockingly injured. On the left side was a chain (d) by which the victim was
led or attached to a post or wall as required. I can find no mention of the
last time that this revolting instrument was used, but generally throughout the
country it ceased to be used about the year 1824.

" A prison is a house of care,
A place where none can thrive,
A touchstone true to try a friend,
A grave for men alive.

Sometimes a place of right,
Sometimes a place of wrong,
Sometimes a place for jades and thieves,
And honest men among."

House of Correction Hill.

At one time the inhabitants of these houses
disdaining the appellation of the House of
Correction Hill, gave to the row the more cheerful name of Belle Hill. On
the west side was formerly the "Brown Cow Inn." We find in 1737 an estate
advertised to be sold at the house of John Hudson, at the sign of the " Brown
Cow." Shaw's Brow, built upon vacant ground in 1819, was named after
Thomas Shaw the builder, at the top of which was for a time a public-house
bearing the name of " The House of Lords."

34°

STRICKLANDGATE— THE EAST SIDE.

No. 29.

It is little realized by those who traverse along the busy Market
Place upon what an elevated ground it stands, and what a beautiful
landscape of the Kent valley is seen from many of its upper windows. But
harder still is it to realize that these houses in days of yore were the residences
of the leading gentry. In front of the chemist's shop, at the corner of Cheap-
side, may be seen the arms of Richard Crowle, viz., Sable, a chevron between
three mascles Or, two and one. This Crowle was Recorder of Kendal from
1752-1757. The family originally came from Hull, and resided some time at
Cunswick Hall. Here stood, together with the adjoining houses to the north,
the last of those interesting memorials of a bygone age, the wooden-framed
galleried-houses, with their massive vertical and transverse oaken beams rudely
" sett vpp," and firmly bound together by oak pegs or trennels. Cornelius
Nicholson says,
that before the
days of the
umbrella, these
galleried houses
were so com
mon in Kendal
that you could
walk dryshod,
under the cover
of them, from
the Newbiggin
; to this Strick
landgate end.
Good old Ken
dal truly may
be considered
~jzr- ~&~ — —=- — — =ri-z- — ¦ one of the
-^ — — dampest spots
Jonas Hanway— the first Englishman to carry an umbrella.

STRICKLANDGATE— THE EAST SIDE.

34 1

in Christendom, but at least it must be acknowledged that she has done her best
to protect the passer by, as far as possible, from the rain. Where is there such
another town with so many covered entries on either side of the public way.
Caught in a sudden shower, one has but twenty paces or so to run at the most,
before a friendly shelter can be met with, and who is there amongst us that has
not oftimes had cause to bless these quaint old yard ends ?
At the beginning of the XIXth century a firm of Waite and Jackson carried
on here a large drapery establishment, and in the year 1818 I find that James
Noble occupied this building as his surgery. In 1822 the premises were
re-built altogether, when the galleries were superseded by the present limestone
front. William Tindall had a chemist's shop here about 1848, until his death
in 1852, when a firm of Armistead and Shepherd followed. They were
succeeded by Matthew Burton, who caused the doorway to be removed to the
corner of the building. It is said, but upon what authority I cannot say, that
Burton christened the side lane " Cheapside," as an indication of the very low
profits that he in his shop was prepared to make.

No. 35.

Yard 33.

No. 31.

No. 31.

Upon the site of this building there used to be, until taken down in
1822, some quaint old shops, as illustrated here.

342

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

The first was "Pot Wilson's" china shop, where an extensive earthenware
establishment was carried on for a long succession of years by William Wilson.
He also occupied the adjoining premises on the left as his dwelling-house, one
of the front rooms of which he appropriated to a display of the glass and china
department of his business. This picturesque-looking gallery, as well as the
whole building, had remained intact since the period of its original formation,
and was of the double or two-storied character, the lower story of the gallery
being ascended by the usual flight of stone stairs, and the upper by a wooden
stepladder. None of the windows to the front were glazed, but were provided
with clumsy-flapping shutters, which divided horizontally in the centre,
cunningly "contrived a double debt to pay," at night answering the ordinary
purpose, but during the day the higher half being lifted up inwards, the lower
half falling down outwards, served as a bench or shelf for the display of the
commodities kept within.
Wilson was preceded in the occupancy by Johnny Taylor and his dame
Jinny, who tenanted the same for many years ; Johnny following the calling
of a chair-maker and wood-turner, and his wife pursuing that of dealer in
baskets and swills. This brace of worthies have each of them acquired a
certain share of local celebrity, the former being still remembered in Kendal
by the proverbial saying — " Try it out, said Johnny Taylor," and the latter is
the often-quoted lady who used to boast of her abstemiousness in " going to
bed supperless every night of her life," taking in place of that meal, as she was
wont to say, " nobbut a bit o' bread and cheese and a quart o' yal ! "
When the old pot shop was being taken down a fine sixpence of the reign
of Queen Elizabeth was found, bearing date 1566, it had most probably been
lost by some early occupier, and I should not be surprised if it pointed to the
fact that this ancient timber building was of a date anterior to this reign.
No 35 It: wil1 be S6en by the ulustration tnat Richmond's shop once bore a
resemblance to the old Moot Hall. Here in former days Betty
Tyson kept a draper's shop below, and her good man, John, kept a cobbler's
shop above. The building was taken down in the year 1833, and the bay
window here depicted still does duty in a shop in Branthwaite Brow.
White Horse Inn. The neXt buildin& was for a Jong time the " White
Horse Inn." We find it advertised for sale by the

STRICKLANDGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 343
Executors of the late Adam Walker, on March 2nd, 1821, as a "commodious
and well-accustomed inn," with a " good brew house, granary, and excellent
stabling for 33 horses, with other outbuildings, now in the occupation of John
Walker as tenant." In 1832 William Wilson was the tenant, and in November,
1854, when in the occupation of John Kelly, all the domestic effects, brewing
vessels and innkeeper's stock-in-trade, &c, were sold up. The Philharmonic
Society held its meetings here.
I have before me an interesting borough notice signed by John and Robert
Harrison, Mayors, and dated November ist, 1820, regulating the cloth and
fustian dealers and other chapmen for placing their stalls during the quarterly
fairs. It seems that like the present market stalls, in Highgate and Stramon
gate, these dealers were allowed to stand out with their wares in Stricklandgate.
The cloth stalls from the White Horse Yard, and the fustian stalls from the
Pack Horse Yard, northwards.
These quarterly fairs and marts were the events of the year. Peripatetic
traders visited the town, and country folk, for miles around, flocked in and
bought clothing and goods to last them till the next similar occasion. With
side shows they were entertained — -wild beasts or bearded women, six-legged
calves or merry-go-rounds. The shopkeepers had great roasts of beef in their
back rooms, and plenty of beer for the free use of customers to feast at will.
For three or four days the town devoted itself to jollity and a little business.
All will remember how Billy Tyson spent his " hunneymoon " at one of these
festivals. " Billy hed been ta Kendal afower, but nivver ev a fair time, en
beath Mary Jane en him war fairly gloppened wi' t' scooars a foke et cum
streemin o' ways, when tha gat ta Stramongeat brig, tha cud hardly stir fer
foak cummin fra en ya spot en anudder, en when tha gat up in t' middle
et toon it wos war en ivver, en sic a crush en a gabble ! T' coo fair wos
partly ower, en t' maisters en t' men war cummin doon off t' banks reddy fer t'
hirin'. Billy thout tev hissel, ' Wy, if this is Kendal fair, I waddn't cear hoo
seean I was oot on it, en I'se sewer its nea spot fer Mary Jane.' Thear wos
a girt rough fella steppin on her taaes nobbet a minnet sen, and seea he ses ta
Miley, " Wy, noo then, lets away get this hunneymoon, en then I don't cear
hoo seean weep off heeam again.' ' Stop a bit,' ses Miley, ' Ya hevn't seen t'
shows on t' New Rooad, ner cheeap Jacks, ner t' strikin machines, tha pay a
penny ta hev a shot wi ther dubble neaf et a kind ev a buffer,' ' Oh ' ses

344

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

Billy, ' if that's it I waant gang ta see sic fooalment et nout, I'd rader see a
baar spot.' " But now all this has gone, with many another merry time. The
coming of the railway did much to kill their importance by making the journey
here too easy and common. Instead of the quarterly purchase and the time of
general settlement in money matters, people now-a-days order their goods
now, then, or anytime, and pay for them when they can.

No. 45.

Here Christopher Browne, apothecay, lived. He was born in 1703,
married Katherine, daughter of Alderman Thomas Rowlandson,
November, 1730, was mayor 1734-5, and died July 20th, 1747.

Nos. 49 to 57.

down.

We next come to the old lath and plaster house for centuries
known as " The Fold," and which has recently been pulled

&"1" P^riclfW (fc

Nos. 49 TO 57.

At the head of some steep steps there was formerly a long gallery open to
the street, and out of it lead the doors into the different parts of this floor.
Here in a large room thaf could hold 300 people the Independents first met

STRICKLANDGATE— THE EAST SIDE.

345

after their secession from the Presbyterians (1772 — 1781), before their New
Street Chapel was erected, and here also the Wesleyans came to worship
after leaving the Market Place, whilst awaiting the erection of their chapel at
Stricklandgate end, in 1808. Then the room was converted into a billiard
room and ball room, much frequented by the tradesmen and others in the
town. Samuel Bolton, painter, occupied this building till his death in 1852,
when it was purchased by his old apprentice, Alderman John Robinson.

Seven Stars Inn.

This house was re-built in 1830 by John Colman, upon
the site of the original " Seven Stars," existing in
1797, a very low two-storied building, which had for its sign the Masonic
emblem. When John Thompson was tenant in May, 1842, all the domestic
effects and innkeeper's stock-in-trade were sold. Near the front of the inn was
a horsing stone of three or four steps, being the last in Kendal.

No. 65.

In the recessed corner was formerly the " White Hall," and I find
from an advertisement that both it and the neighbouring "Black
Hall " were put up for public sale on October the 4th, 1869.

We now come to the historic " Black Hall," probably the best
* ' residence in the town, at the time when Henry Wilson, nomi
nated the first Alderman in the Charter of Queen Elizabeth in 1575, occupied

346 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
it. For a long time it continued to be the residence of the family, till the year
1733, when the heiress, Miss Frances Wilson, married Francis Drinkel. Their
daughter married a Mr. Stephenson, who assumed the name of Standish, and
who held the hall till its sale in 1869 to Rainforth Hodgson for £650. In 1579
Henry Wilson, for misconduct, was deprived of his burgesship and his office of
justice of the peace. He was buried in Kendal Church on the 29th August,
1592. He presented to the Corporation the two splendid silver flagons that
we read of, and which must oftimes have flowed with spiced wine smoking
hot as the custom then was, but which were during the dark days thought to
be of so little worth that the Corporation exchanged them for a set of common
candlesticks. The ancient building was greatly modernised about 1810, especially by the
introduction of sash windows, the only noticeable external feature now being
the real old Westmorland chimneys, massive and circular, smoking their pipes
in peace, but even these were re-built about 1820. One of the upper rooms is
paved with cobbles.
It is now a brush manufactory, and may be known at once by the sign of
a bristly hog, elevated over the doorway. Inside it bristles also with numerous
rooms, and gloomy crannies literally crammed with bristles, bristles everywhere.
The sign of the " bristling hog," as like the sign of the clog of the clog-
maker, the umbrella of the umbrella-maker, and the smoking man of the
tobacconist, is one of the few still remaining of the ancient tradesmen's signs
put up to bespeak the trade carried on within when few could read, and the
mere epithet " a brush shop " would be unintelligible.
The brush manufactory business was established in the year 1838 by
Grant and Hodgson. The productions have always been highly reputed for
their excellent qualities and general characteristics. The works are fitted up
with all the best appliances for rapid production of all classes of work, and
considerable quantities are turned out both for the wholesale and retail branches
of the trade.
n •„•*• „..,., «, , When the old room in Castle Street
Primitive Methodist Chapel. became too inconvenient for the use of the
Primitive Methodists, they built their present chapel in the Black Hall

STRICKLANDGATE— THE EAST SIDE.

347

Yard, the foundation stone of which was laid July 14th, 1870, by the Mayor,
J. J. Wilson. The stone was placed at the south-east corner, and in the
cavity beneath were deposited a bottle containing some small current coin of
the realm and a copy of each of the three Kendal newspapers. As an instance
of the failure of a long-sighted policy, it seems that when the chapel was
erected there was a feeling that before long the Black Hall Croft would become
a main thoroughfare ; for as early as January nth, 1817, correspondents urge,
in the local papers, making a road between Stramongate and Stricklandgate
through the croft. The Sunday School was commenced at Castle Street in
1823.

_.. Here lived Thomas and Elizabeth Wilson. The former, who owned
No. 71. Kentmere Manor, was an attorney, and died in 1756, aged 82. His
son Thomas, who
changed his name to
Fenwick, was born
here in 1729, was
M.P. for Westmor
land from 1768 to
1774, and Recorder
of Kendal from 1766
to 1777.
James Dowker,
attorney, whose an
cestors were Quakers
in Crook, married
Jane, daughter of
Thomas Wilson, and
lived here also for
some considerable
time. Scratched
upon the leaded panes of the kitchen window are still to be seen the inscrip
tions—" James Dowker, 1781," " James Dowker, Trinity College, Cambridge,
1782," "John Dowker, 1782," with "Thomas and John Wilson." Cornelius
Nicholson came to live here in 1845.

34«

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

Adjoining is the well-built house which
No. 73. J
bears on the head of the leaden spout the
I7sir
Strickland Arms, and the initials J " F, which
doubtless designate John and Frances Strickland,
the builder of this house and his wife. John, who
was Mayor of Kendal 1717-18, is supposed to have
been a lead merchant. His wife Frances was the
daughter of Edward Backhouse, of Morland, and
seems to have been curiously connected with the
24th of June, for it is quaintly recorded on a brass plate in Kendal Church that
she was — Born, | 1 1690,
Marry'd, I the 24th June, \ 1708,
Bury'd, ) (1725.

No. 77.

No. 75.

No. 73.

No. 71.

This house is said to have been the town residence of the Stricklands, of
Sizergh, and it is not improbable that when it ceased to be useful in this

STRICKLANDGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 349
respect, it fell to a descendant of a younger branch, who engaged meritoriously
in trade, the estates following the elder line. T_r
On the back side of the house there is a spout head which is marked I. M.
1732.
for John and' Mary Harrison. He was recorder from 1699 to s.715, and grandfather
of Myles Harrison, " the blind lawyer," and recorder from 1777 till his death in
1797. Harrison must have bought it of John Strickland. It is said that
Myles's father had four wives, and when joked on the subject, instead of
apologizing, he, like another blue beard, would reply, quoting old Bishop
Thomas of Lincoln, " If I survive I will have five." Whether he had a contract
then pending, conditional on events, is not recorded in the files of papers he
left to his executors to destroy.
Following a Miss Dyson, Dr. Thomas Gough came to reside here sub
sequent to the year i860, and towards the close of his life. Born in 1804, he
was the eldest son of John Gough, the " blind philosopher," and nephew to Dr.
Thomas Harrison, with whom he was placed as an apprentice. After the death
of Harrison in 1835, Gough stepped into his shoes, and trod them with an even
step. He rose at once into full confidence and practice, and, from the first day
of his professional career to the last, earned the gratitude and enjoyed the
esteem of his numerous patients. But Gough has a name to live beyond his
profession. With the able help of his friend, C. Nicholson, he founded the
Kendal Natural History and Scientific Society, became curator of the Museum,
and was the collector and donor of that remarkable set of fossils for which our
Museum is justly noted. He died July, 1880.
„„ ,  There is every reason to believe that these two houses once
Nos. 85 and 87. J
formed the " Cordwainer's Arms." The cellars still retain
stone benches for the barrels of beer. On the door leading down are painted
C C
the letters ^ ' and up on the first floor was the dancing room, which has only
been divided off into two rooms within the last six years.
In the illustration of Yard 89, the charming old back gable of the inn is
seen, with that curious window placed in the angle, and the old stone stair
leading up to the dancing saloon. The old picturesque building (No. 4) down
the yard, is said to have been the brew-house.

35°

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

Down the yard also is the well-known rope-walk. It was early established
by William Kitchen, and when he failed in March, 1857, Thomas Camm came
to Kendal and took over the
work, which he carries on so
successfully to this day.

Yard 93.

Over the entry into
this yard there is
one of the few date stones that
still remain. By whom the

•YfTOB^-^milflNDGfflr

ff

house was built is unknown,
but there are some reasons for
supposing that the initials refer
to Thomas Middleton, who was
Mayor of Kendal in the year
1699.

No. 95.

The adjoining house is rendered famous as being once occupied by

Bonnie Prince Charlie, when he advanced into and retreated from
England in 1745. Here he held a levee, but history is silent as to whether any
of the disaffected Kendalians honoured his court, or whether the episode of
King James the First was repeated on this occasion. (See page 327). The
Duke of Cumberland in close pursuit, having enquired where the Prince slept,
came and slept himself on the same couch. The next day witnessed the defeat
of the Scotch at Clifton Dykes, near Lowther.
The house must then have been comparatively new, as the spout head
bears the date 1724, and no doubt the Prince was attracted hither by the
thought of its possessing, what we hear so much about in these days, " all the

STRICKLANDGATE— THE EAST SIDE.

35i

latest and most modern improvements and appliances." Doubtless also Justice
Thomas Shepherd, who occupied the house at this time, must have been an
additional attraction, as it is said of him that in " dress and manners he was a
perfect gentleman." Thomas Holme, who was Mayor in 1741, and again in
1755, subsequently lived here, and after his time it was occupied by the
Wakefield family before their removal to Sedgwick.
James Gandy, "the punctual," resided, and had his business premises
in the next house. It was evidently an ancient house with a massive
kitchen fireside, and must have been a place of some note. Report says that
it was the residence of the Duckett family, of Grayrigg Hall, and we have the
inventory of Mistress Ann Duckett, of Stricklandgate, Kendal, dated October
18th, 1558, which speaks of a portable equipment for mass, with vestments
and altar stones. Her wardrobe was somewhat rich, containing black velvet
sleeves, damask velvet sleeves, a brown kyrtle, a red petticoat, and a white
one, with two silk hats, &c. The old title deeds prove that the premises
belonged to them certainly in the middle of the XVIIth century, and the
mills behind are still known as the Duckett Mills.

Cross House.
Adjoining this and
to the north, formerly
stood the Strickland
gate Cross House, as
before it stood a
stone cross where the
devout performed
their devotions on
entering or leaving
the town by this
northern road.
Standing loose in a
yard behind there are
still three circular
blocks of freestone,
evidently part of a
column, shaft, or
pedestal, but whether

flJBr

Cross House (removed in 1887.)

352

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

or not these formed a portion of the ancient cross it is difficult to say. The
early house was removed about the year 1804, and another erected in its place,
where James Noble lived for some time. The northern half has now been
removed to make room for the entrance into Sandes Avenue.
North of this was a substantial house projecting somewhat on to the
pavement, which was built in the year 1734. It has now entirely disappeared C.
for the entrance to the Avenue. On the spout head were the initials R. L.
1734-
for Roger and Lydia Chamley. It was partly re-built by George Wilson, and
W.
in the yard behind there was a lead cistern with the initials and date G. M. for
1770.
George and Mary Wilson. Subsequently Esther Gough lived here, and died in
1837, being the mother of the unfortunate Charles Gough, who perished on
Helvellyn in 1805 His remains were not discovered till three months after
wards, when they were found guarded by his constant attendant, a faithful
terrier-bitch. Sir Walter Scott has immortalised the tragedy in his well-
known lines : — " Dark green was the spot 'mid the brown mountain-heather,
Where the Pilgrim of Nature lay stretch'd in decay,
Like the corpse of an outcast abandon'd to weather,
Till the mountain winds wasted the tenantless clay.
" Nor yet quite deserted, though lonely extended,
For, faithful in death, his mute favourite attended,
The much-loved remains of her master defended,
And chased the hill-fox and the raven away."
Miss Wilson altered and improved the house very considerably after
Mrs. Gough's death, when what was left of the ancient woollen warehouse was
razed to the ground.
s , _ Leading down to the river there used to be a narrow lane
here, known as Sandes Close, which, in some documents
relating to the division of the town into wards " for the better relieving and
ordering of the poor," dating back to the end of the last century, is printed
Senhouse Close. But in West's Antiquities we find that Edwin Sandys
" granted some land to the Free Grammar School, and which is still known as
Sandys Close or Field." How it got into other hands is not clear.

STRICKLANDGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 353
The history of this avenue and bridge, which has proved of great con
venience to the inhabitants of this part of the town, is curious reading in the
local papers. About the year 1867 a memorial was presented to the Corpora
tion by the ratepayers and property owners of Stricklandgate asking them to
make the road. The subject was frequently discussed in the Council, and as
often deferred to another day. About the year 1876 Captain Braithwaite
Wilson's property in Sandes Close came into the market, and was purchased
for £2,460, but it was not until December, 1883, after some 15 years of talk,
that the Corporation timidly determined that if £500 worth of land were sold
the Corporation would make the road down to the river. In January, 1884,
a sale was held, and of course sufficient land to more than cover this amount
was quickly sold. Another full year was then allowed to pass by, until
February, 1885, when a Local Government Board inquiry was held, and then,
eighteen months still later, the foundation stone of the bridge was laid.
This was an interesting little ceremony performed on the 13th day of
September, 1886. After prayer by the Ven. Archdeacon Cooper, Alderman
George Foster Braithwaite presented to the Mayor, Richard Nelson, a box
containing an illuminated record of the stone laying, the names of the valiant
members comprising the Corporation, a copy of Dr. Paget's sanitary report for
1885, an abstract of the Corporation accounts for the past year, copies of the
Times, Standard, Daily News, and Manchester Guardian for that day, the current
copies of the Westmorland Gazette and Kendal Mercury, Wilson's Household
Almanack, together with each of the copper and silver coins of the realm.
" Pro Regina et patria et pro bono publico." The Mayor then placed the
box in a cavity of the foundaton stone, and covered it with mortar, amid
cheers. In the corner made by the projection of Vipond's bake-
"T' Bell Neak."
house, at the entrance to Jerry Wane's Yard, is a place,
which, till the property was re-built by Wane in 1806, was called " T' Bell
Neak." Outside were seats made of blocks of blue stone, upon which the
Stricklandgaters "most did congregate" to gossip and hear the news, and
where the old men on sunny afternoons did doze and sleep. There is a
tradition that formerly a bell hung there, and hence its name ; but for what
purpose the bell was hung is not known. On the site of the small grocer's
shop was a public house, in days gone by called the " Lords and Commons."

354 KIRKBIE KEN D ALL.
In a poster dated April, 1864, announcing the sale of this
inn it is described as the " Strickland Arms or Sawyer's
Arms," lately in the occupation of Samuel Airey.
In the last will of Edward Whitehead, dated 23rd July, 1732,
Busher Close. „ , , , . „ . „„, ,, , , , ,,
we find the bequest of all that Close called or known by the
name of Busher Wife Close, alias Dyers Close, lately purchased by George
Craister, and one parrock known by the name of Busher Wife Parrock."
This building was formerly a spinning house or Jack shop
used by Messrs. Wakefield, who converted it into an inn
about the year 1823.
In 1847 we find the property mortgaged for £600, and in 1848 in order to
meet this sum it was then sold in public auction, a proceeding to which it was
again subjected to in September, 1871, by an order of the Court of Chancery.
„ , Whitfield came to Kendal during the time of the Scotch
Wesleyan Chapel. .
Rebellion, in 1745, and preached in the Market Place.
Having heard of the loyalty of the town and the large number of recruits that
it had sent to the royal army, he commenced his sermon, on one occasion, by
saying " Oyez, Oyez, Oyez, ye loyal men of Kendal, having heard with what
readiness you have enlisted under the banners of His Majesty, King George,
to defend him and his throne against all Enemies, I am proud to come among
you, since I also hold a commission, not from any earthly protentate, but from
the King of Kings, with power to enlist you under the banners of the cross, and
lead you to triumph over the world, the flesh, and the devil."
Again on June 22nd, 1750, whilst on a preaching tour through England,
he came here and spoke, it is recorded, to several thousands in the Market Place.
In a letter written on the same day to a friend he says — " The people have
flock'd to hear the Gospel, like Doves to the windows. I have preach'd here
to a great multitude, go to-morrow, God willing, set forward for Whitehaven."
Among some curious entries in the registers of Tunstal Church, near Kirkby
Lonsdale, was found the following : — " In the year 1751 the Methodists settled
and established their doctrines at Kendal, which is a doctrine contrary to reason
and scripture." On April the 9th, 1753, John Wesley visited Kendal, and in
his journal says — " I preached there in a large convenient room (the weather

STRICKLANDGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 355
not allowing me to preach abroad) where Mr. Ingham's Society used to meet.
I was disgusted at their manner of coming in and sitting down without any
pretence to any previous prayer as well as at their sitting during the hymn,
while not one (although they knew the tune) sang with me. At the second
hymn every person stood up and most of these sung audibly, and the greatest
part of the audience followed us to our inn, nor did they leave us until we went
to rest." Again on June 25th, 1761, Wesley rode from Keswick to Kendal, and
says — " A few years ago the fields here were white for harvest, but the poor
people have been so harassed by seceders and disputers of every kind that they
are now dry and dead as stones ; yet I think some of them felt the power of
God this evening." In 1765, coming north again, he says " that on April nth
we rode on to Francis Gilbert's at Kendal, where there is now a real work of
God. The genuine Gospel has taken root, and services are consecrated to
God." Then we come to the autumn of 1787, when the worthy Stephen
Brunskill, of Orton, knowing that there was not another local preacher within
twenty miles of Kendal, and feeling a very keen desire to preach here, made a
request to the Mayor for leave to preach in the open Market Place. This
earnest request seems to have been readily granted, and we are told that many
people flocked to hear the Word preached by this eminent local preacher. A
curious interruption is recorded of how on one occasion, whilst Brunskill
was warning the large audience that " if they did not amend their ways, they
would rush to hell in waggon loads," an old waggoner, named Bet Craiston,
quickly responded by saying, " Whya, whya, Steven, that's o' reet enough, but
wha's to bring t' innocent horses back, I wonder ? Tell me that, if thoo can."
However, in consequence ofthe inclement weather, a Sunday came when
the good man was obliged to tell his people that for a time, at least, the
services would have to be discontinued, unless they could find some room to
meet in. This announcement caused great distress, until a Mr. and Mrs.
Barlow, being desirous of having " preaching in the town," volunteered to give
two guineas a year, if the rest of the flock would raise the necessary four
guineas a year extra, wherewith they could rent the old play-house in the
Market Square (now the Working Men's Institute). From the Market Place
the congregation removed to " The Fold," in Stricklandgate, until a chapel
was erected for them on the present site to accommodate 700 people. It was

356 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
opened October 30th, 1808. The choir gallery was altered and the vestry
enlarged in 1852, and it was entirely renovated in 1883 to accommodate 818
worshippers at a cost of £4,000, the congregation meeting in St. George's Hall
during the progress of the work. It has now a handsome facade 55 feet in
length, built of the grey limestone from the old building, and dressed with
Prudholme stone. There is also a lecture room capable of seating 200 persons.
The burial ground attached is now closed.
During the years 1787 to 1790 Kendal was served by travelling
preachers from the " Dales Circuit." From 1791 to 1794 the Barnard Castle
Circuit ministers paid fortnightly visits, after which time preachers came from
Lancaster until the year 1805, when Kendal was made the head of its own
Circuit. The Sunday School was opened in September, 1814, when eight or nine
boys attended in the morning, and fifteen or sixteen in the afternoon. There
were no girls in attendance for some weeks, but the number of scholars steadily
increased, so that in 1826, when the school was only twelve years old, there
were upwards of 200 names on the books. The first superintendent was
Edward Burton. Until 1820 writing was taught in the school. It is interest
ing to note that the managers were the first to give a school treat to keep their
boys from going to the Kendal Races, and also that they first adopted in 185 1
the plan of taking their scholars to Levens Park for their annual treat.
, , „ „ Containing, at one time, about 160 acres, used to be called
Kendal Fell " Dob Freer."*
The Corporation, about the year 1683, in memorialising the King for the
renewal of their Charter, prayed at the same time for certain additional
privileges and benefits for the town, and particularly urged the following plea,
viz.: — "There is adjoining the town a parcel of waste ground called Dob
Freer, which is all the common pasture that is belonging to the town, and
is no more than a hill full of rock and stones. The fee and soil thereof doth

* Freak is a Saxon word, and fria is Icelandic, from both of which we obtain "free," "freeman,"
"freedom," &c, whose substantive meaning is " a liberty" or common right. No doubt the word was
applied to the Kendal Fell Lands, which were left open to the public when property became consolidated.
There were also freah-lands on the east side of the town as well as on the west, so that as a distinctive name
to this common we get Dub (Celtic Dubh) or Dob, most probably by reason of existing water springs.

STRICKLANDGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 357
belong to the Crown, but is of little or no advantage to His Majesty, neither is
worth to the town above £5 per annum, but might be of greater use or benefit
to us if His Majesty were pleased to grant us the soil and inheritance thereof."
This plea, however, was not granted, and it was not till the seventh year of
King George III., 1767, that an Act of Parliament was obtained for inclosing
" Kendal Fell for the use of the poor there, and for cleansing and enlightening
the streets of the borough," excepting the High and Low Tenter Fells, which
shall not be ploughed up, but reserved for the use of the shearman and manu
facturers whole and entire, and the Bowling Fell, which shall be left open for
the inhabitants to walk upon.
In 1824, that delightful promenade, the Serpentine Walks, was formed
mainly through the efforts of forty subscribers. For a great many years
sixpence was charged for admission, and neat beds of flowers bordered the
footpaths, but in 1849 the walks were thrown open to the public, and these
bright glimpses of cultivation immediately vanished.
The Act contained, however, no provision for selling any of the lands, or
for granting any building leases, and as a demand for building sites at this end
of the town increased, a further Act was obtained in 1861 giving the power to
grant such leases for building purposes not exceeding a term of 99 years, and
also to sell land for the purpose of making roads, provided that sufficient land
be set apart for recreation and for the purposes of drying clothes, and provided
also that no part of the Serpentine Walks, nearly 18 acres, shall be sold leased
or exchanged, but shall for all time remain appropriated for the purposes of
public recreation. It was planted with trees in 1790.
,„ „ , Previous to the passing of the Act of 1767, there seems to
Workhouse. ,
have been no systematic plan of poor relief. According to
tradition the first workhouse was on the Fell Side, and the paupers had their
weekly allowances doled out on Sunday afternoons. But two years after the
passing of the Act the present workhouse, described as " a neat, airy, and
pleasant building, large enough to contain 80 poor persons," was built in 1768,
Richard Peddar, the architect, receiving two guineas remuneration for his
plans and model.
Truly, the architectural profession must have been a paying employment
in those days ! Part of the walling contract was let to Thomas Copland, a

358 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
trustee, and another part to Thomas Kennedy, who was Mayor, a Knsey manu
facturer, at 2s. id. per yard, but what they had to do with contracting for
walling we cannot tell. The Kendal Fell Trustees found the timber, and
Joseph Thompson, when at Liverpool, was desired " to buy what Baulk and
deals he judges proper and suitable." Slating cost iod. per rood to lay. ,
It seems that Mr. Architect Peddar was so satisfied with the remuneration
of his work that he again drew plans for an additional wing in 1776. The
vagrant office was established in 1818, and in the following year we find this
entry: — "Vagrant Office, Kendal, May 14th, relieved during the week 13 men,
six women, and six children. Amount of relief, including lodgings, 10s. 8d."
Assuredly the overseers were not extravagant in those days ! Days,
remember, of misery, affliction, and demoralisation following the wars.
Multitudes of soldiers, marines, and seafaring men had been sent adrift, and it
would seem that the campaign against " beggars for the country's welfare " in
Kendal became almost as serious a pre-occupation as had been the campaign
against Bonaparte.

Burgh and Townf hip of 1
Kirkby in Kendal. )
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN,
That there are in
The WORK-HOUSE of the faid Town,
A Number of
BOYS AND GIRLS,
Ready to be put out as
PARISH APPRENTICES.
Thofe Perfons defirous of engaging any of them, may apply to Charles Waide'
Mafter of the faid Work-houfe.
N. B. With the younger Part of them, a Premium will be given.
KENDAL: Printed by W. Pennington.

Copy of Handbill.

A committee room was added in 1823, and fever wards in 1829. Our
present master will be interested to hear that his first predecessor entered upon

STRICKLANDGATE— THE EAST SIDE.

359

office at a salary of £20 per annum. The Poor Law Union under the Act of
1834 was brought into operation in Kendal during the year 1836, when 58
townships were incorporated as the " Kendal Union."

Blue Buildings.

The " Blue Buildings," skirted by Strickland Place,

HER

Majesty QUEEN CAROLINE.

Chapel Row, and Caroline Street, were erected between
the years 1820 and 1822, being the outcome ofthe " Union Building Society,"
the first of its kind in the town. The shares were chiefly taken up by the
Liberal or Blue party, in order
to procure county votes for the
support of Henry (since Lord)
Brougham against the Low-
thers. William Jennings, the
grocer, of Jenning's Yard,
Highgate, was the secretary to
the society, and architect of
the buildings.
Caroline Street was named
after the unhappy Queen, whose
cause against the House of
Lords the Blue party so earn
estly espoused.
The first intention was to
build upon both sides of Caro
line Street, but the ground on
the. west side was, instead, sold
by the committee to the Fell
Trustees* that they might iso
late the poorhouse, and provide
a site for an infirmary in the
event of the town being visited
by any infectious epidemic.
The committee, however, reserved to themselves on the boundary of their
property, a site for a wall fountain opposite to Cross Street, over which they
erected an arch, and .dedicated the pump to the tenants of the Blue Buildings,

The Lords having on Monday last carried the second
reading- of the Bill for imposing Pains and Penalties,
Degradation and Divorce on Her Majesty, our Gracious
Queen Caroline, by a trifling majority of 28,
THIS IS TO GIVE NOTICE,
That Petitions will be immediately prepared by a Com
mittee for the Signatures of the Inhabitants of Kendal
and other parts of the County of Westmorland, to the
Honourable the House of Commons, against receiving
this odious and unconstitutional Bill from the House of
Lords.

Lords for the second reading of the Bill,
Against it . - -

123 95

Majority 28

Petitions are preparing from all parts of the King
dom to the House of Commons against receiving this
Bill. Kendal, 8th Nov. 1820.

Printed by Richard Lough, Finkle. street, Kendal.

Reduced Copy of Poster.

360 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
as the inscription says — " For Ever." When " for ever " reached its finality
and for why, I cannot find out.
At the corner of Cross Street there used to be another " Lords and
Commons " beerhouse, and in Strickland Place there is still the " Oddfellows'
Arms."^ , „ , The old Dockwra or Dockwray Hall, which, by the way,
Dockwray Hall. ,
in the hey-day of its glory, must have been a very fine
building, is now unfortunately non est. One barn alone remains, and the lands
are rapidly being covered with villadom. Speed depicts the hall on his plan
as surrounded by a high curtain wall similar to those usually found enclosing
the manor houses on the border. Herein was the private oratory dedicated to
St. Anne. All history concerning the hall and chapel has vanished with the
building itself, and the only entry that I can find concerning it, is of one
William Gilpin, steward to Alan Belingham, of Levens, who purchased from
the latter certain rents belonging to this chapel of St. Anne's, of £3 7s. 8d. a
year at thirty years' purchase. Also his will, dated 1561, in which he bequeaths
the same to the poor of Kendal.
Of the ancient Dockwra family we know more, and to me, the most
interesting of them all, was one William Dockwra. It seems that in the year
1683, Robert Murray started a penny post for the conveyance of letters between
the different parts of London within a radius of ten miles. Soon after he
assigned all his rights and property to this William Dockwra, who carried on
the business for a considerable time with much success. This, however,
brought him into conflict with the Duke of York, upon whom and his heirs
had been settled in 1675 the whole of the Post Office
revenues. The case was tried in the Court of King's
Bench, and went against Dockwra. In the next
year, however, he was appointed under the Duke, as
comptroller of the district post, and his hand stamp,
" Penny Post Payd," is the oldest postage stamp
known. The words are placed in a triangular frame
surrounding the letters T. W. E.
The only other reference that I have to the hall is a Will as follows : —

STRICKLANDGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 361
" In the name of God, Amen, the eleventh day of March, Anno 1697, I, William Morland
of Dockwray Hall, being weak in body but of sound mind and memory (praised be God for ye
same) and knowing ye immortality of this life, doe make this my last Will and Testament in
manor and forms following, (that is to say) (first I commend my soul to Almighty God my
Creator and own all my sins, saved by ye pretious death and merritts of my blessed Saviour and
Redeemer Christ Jesus  I give, devise and bequeath unto my good friends, William
Curwen of ye Burrough of Kirkby Kendall, Richard Pindar of Dockray Hall in ye said
County of Westmorland Esq., Richard Washington, Jonathan Thompson and Thos. Wilson all
of Kirkby Kendall aforesaid and their heirs and survivors (together with Hillside and Straw
berry bank in Hutton-i'-th'-Hay, and lands at Mintsfoot). All that messuage and tenement
commonly called or known by the name or sign of the " White Lyon " together with all the
Shopps and appurtenances thereto belonging  and I place special trust and con
fidence in them, the said William Curwen  that they the said William Curwen
shall with all convenient speed after my decease in open sale or otherwise sell all the said
(properties at Hillside, and Mintsfoot and the White Lion Inn etc.) for the best price they
can and out ofthe monies raised by such sale to pay and discharge all my just debts that I
am owing to any person or persons whatsoever, if the said sale will so far extend, but in case
the monies raised by the sale thereof will not extend to the payment and satisfaction of my
just debts then my Will and mind is that the said William Curwen  do sell so much
of my demesnes and lands belonging to Dockwray Hall as will pay and satisfy my just debts
etc. etc." Before the construction of the Green Road this old building,
' together with the barn (recently converted into the Green-
bank stable), stood alone amidst the fields surrounding Dockwra Hall, and in
all probability formed a portion of this ancient estate. Here also is the
Horncop {Horn-cup) well, that indispensible adjunct to all the manorial
dwellings of the past.
In recent years the house has been very considerably enlarged, but there is
conclusive evidence that it at first only consisted of a parallelogram measuring
some 26 feet by 15 feet, containing the hallam and a couple of bedrooms over.
The gable walls are three feet six inches thick, the roof is constructed of great
unhewn oak trees, and the ceilings are plastered upon rushes. To this aula
must have been added, as necessity required, a kitchen wing, with another bed
room over, and an oaken staircase leading to the upper floor. In this secluded
retreat the Roman Catholics found a convenient and safe place wherein they
celebrated Mass during the Reformation period. Peter Newby, the poet, was
born here in 1745, and in the first volume of his poems there is an ode of 30
stanzas written in 1786, from which I extract the following :—

362

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

Hail ! clean, delightful, calm retreat,
Of ev'ry virtue once the feat,
Where pureft merit, without pride,
For many a year did erft refide,
Where honefty and worth once dwelt,
And many a heart their bleffings felt,
Drooping to thee I turn my mental eye,
Reflect — indulge my heavy thoughts, and figh.
What tho' no turrets grace thy name,
Thy fimple front no notice claim,
Tho' all my anceftors were poor,
And thou no hall, but cot obfcure;
Tho' all in ruins round thee lie,
The fymbol of my deftiny,
And tho' to thee I give my parting tear,
Still to my hearing fhall thy name be dear.
Each chamber, tho' but fmall and low,
Each place, wherein my fteps might go,
Each planted tree, each garden-bed,
And little field, where cattle fed,
Where peaceful happinefs once fmil'd ;
Where once I prattled, when a child ;
Where my firft breath in dawning life I drew —
Neglected, rural place, adieu, adieu.

Secreted thou from envious eye,
Beneath a fhelt'ring hill doft lie,
Whence diftant azure mounts I fee,
Forming a profpect fuiting thee.
The Kent meand'ring winds below,
Whofe ftreams with health and profit flow,
Along whofe banks the patient angler plays
The vary'd fly, his fav'rite fifh to raife.
The curling fmoke, the fimple bridge,
The antique fteeple, and the. ridge
Of hills arifing 'bove the town,
The caftle, once of great renown,
Now daily mould'ring to decay,
And hills and fields where cattle ftray,
Enrich the pleafing landfcape, and invite
Whoe'er comes near thee, to enjoy the fight.
Then let me turn my thoughts from thee,
And calmly meet my deftiny;
Bid each fond-fancy'd fcene adieu,
And drive thy beauties from my view.
Hard is the tafk — for ftill my mind
To dwell on ev'ry part's inclin'd. —
Yet the whole pitying world, with tears, I tell,
That I have bidden thee a long farewell.

Dockwray Hall Mills.

At a meeting of the Mayor and Aldermen, held in
the Moot Hall, the 19th day of April, Anno Dni.
1720, it was ordered " that the Owners of Dockerey hall Lands be admonifhed
to come to a refolucon what they intend to doe about the repair of Dockerey
hall Lane and give their Anfwer to the Justices of the Peace of the said Burgh
on Thurfday come a fortnight at the Adjornment of the Sefsions then to be
held in and for the said Burgh."
I have an advertisement dated April 22nd, 1809, of the sale at the " King's
Arms Inn," in Kendal, on the 10th day of May, 1809, of " all those valuable
Mills, called Dockwray Hall Mills, situate on the River Kent, within the
liberties of the town of Kendal, consisting of one Mill for Rasping and Chipping
Dying Woods, with a Room over the same, containing in length forty-one feet,
and in breadth seventeen feet three inches, with the Water Wheel, Going geer
and Utensils thereunto belonging. Two Fulling Mills, containing five Pair of
Stocks, one of the said mills being thirty feet by twenty-seven feet six inches
and the other twenty-nine feet by twenty-four feet nine inches ; with a large
Carding room over the said two last-mentioned mills on the second floor and a

STRICKLANDGATE— THE EAST SIDE. 363
Wool Loft on the third floor. One Friezing Mill containing four Single and
two Double Friezing Boards, with large and convenient Rooms over the same.
Also three Dwelling Houses or Cottages adjoining the said mills. And also
several inclosures and parcels of good land in high cultivation adjoining the
said mills and containing in the whole eight acres, three roods and three parches
or thereabouts ; all which said mills are now in the occupation of Mr. James
Gandy, as farmer. Further particulars may be had by applying to Mr. John
Dawson, etc., etc."
The present buildings were built by Gandy and Son (1816 — 1817) as a
woollen and drysalter's mill, and described as the largest manufacturing
building ever erected in the county. In digging for the wheel-case the work
men discovered an alder tree five feet below the surface of the ground, probably
proving that the fields about Kendal are of alluvial formation. The mills were
destroyed by fire April 14th, 1824, the damage being estimated at £20,000, but
the walls were left standing, and it was soon re-built. The lower portion at
the west end was built by Edward Bayliff in 1830 as a marble factory, and here,
under the direction of Wyatville, the King's architect, he made the two marble
mantelpieces for Windsor Castle, one being of Kendal Fell limestone, and the
other of Italian dove marble, placed in St. George's Hall, Windsor. Kendal
Fell limestone was first polished as marble in 1788 by Francis Webster.
The tercentenary of Shakespeare's birth (April 23rd, 1564)
was well celebrated in Kendal. Monday, the 25th April,
1864, was kept as a complete holiday, 1,500 children walking in procession,
were presented at this low Tenter Fell with Shakespeare medals. Master John
Wakefield, eldest son of W. H. Wakefield, in the presence 3,000 persons, planted
an Oak sapling, which the Mayor declared to be the property ofthe public, who,
he hoped, would religiously preserve it, and hand it on from generation to
generation by the name of the " Shakespeare Oak." He also said that the
portion of the Fell, on which the tree had just been planted, had, by a recent
Act of Parliament, been dedicated to the public for ever, and he wished it hence
forth to bear the most appropriate name, and go down to posterity by two
words which Shakespeare himself had done so much indissolubly to unite, viz.,
" Kendal Green." The Oak unfortunately within a few hours became damaged
(oh boys !) and in the following spring it was found that it was dead — quite
dead from the root upwards. " The comfort is, however," said Sally Alick,

364 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
" that Shakespeare cannot die any more than can the proceedings of that after
noon on which his memorial tree was planted be blotted out of our local
annals." But a new oak was privately planted by the same gentleman to take its
place on March 21st, 1866. I wonder how many there are amongst us who
can point to this commemorative tree, for surely this is an instance of the need
of some tablet to record its history. It is in the centre of the west side.
Three fir trees were also planted in commemoration of the Prince of Wales'
marriage, and in April, 1870, other trees were added on three sides of the green.

VIII.
Finkle Street,

OR

The East Road.

Some authorities derive the name from Fennel (Anglo-Saxon
finugl, German fenchel), supposing that the street was once over
grown by such a weed in consequence of its desertion during
the great plague of 1598. Doubtless the central position and
its narrow and confined area rendered the street more liable
to the virulent contagion than other streets, but still it must
be conceded that the clue is not a strong one, when compared
to the other more popular one, derived from a word in the
Scandinavian or Teutonic tongue, which signifies an elbow.

367

FINKLE STREET OR THE EAST ROAD.

Pump Inn.

The old buildings that for a long time obstructed the entrance

into Finkle Street, of which the " Pump Inn " formed a con
spicuous part, are well remembered, being only removed in the year 1878. As
was usual, we find that they were framed in oak, with the interstices filled in
with a clay plaster mixed with straw, and having its upper third story over
hanging the two lower. The northern portion seems to have been used as a
public-house from the middle of the last century, and the origin of its name is
made clear by the following order made by Alderman Joseph Sympson in
1709, and inserted in the third Boke of Recorde : — "The neighbours in the ffish
shambles may have
libty to convert ye
Shambles well Into a
pump at their owne
prper charge." Con
cerning the ancient
draw-well, with axle
tree and bucket, we
find an " order " in
1594 "that twoe
sworne men were
yearelie appointed to
see the same well
cleansed and main
tained," with powers
to enforce a fine of
„j c _ _ „*f„„^^ Old Pump Inn, facing- Fish Market.
2d. tor every ortence, ' 5
to be levied " of the master or dame's goods," offending against the order.
Edmund- Adlington, a Friend, and a native of Yealand, whose weight
reached over 24 stones, and his wife's weight over 22 stones, by trade a shear-

368 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
man dyer, is the first owner of the northern portion of the property, of whom
we bmve any mention. Thomas Jackson, mercer (Mayor in 1661-2 and 1678-9),
occupied it as his tenant. Adlington sold his front shop portion to William
Birkett, of Troutbeck, for £100. In 1683 the property was again. sold for £100
to a sister of the previous owner. In 1697, after having changed hands many
times, it was sold by auction for £102 10s. to Richard Lowry, who was Mayor
in 1698-9. In a deed dated 21st of June, 1740, Richard Lowry " did grant
bargain sell unto his daughter, Martha Lowry, spinster, all that burgage house,
messuage, and tenement, known as ' Lead Hall,' situate standing and being in
the ffish market in Kirkby Kendal, and also his shop adjoining thereunto on
the back side thereof." Martha it seems obtained a license, and designated
the new inn after the pump. "The pump runs clear
With ale and beer."
Another Mayor of Kendal was the next owner, William Baxter, who kept
a small ironmonger's shop adjoining, and after his death in 1798 it passed to
Chippendale, his son-in-law, who purchased the small warehouse and shop up
the lane on the north side for £282, and transformed the side shop into a some
what roomy but low ceilinged bar-parlour. A son of the above Chippendale
sold the property for £1,000 to Hannah Nicholson, and ultimately in 1841 it
became by purchase the property of Mrs. Fisher, of the Old Shambles, from
whom it was purchased by the Corporation.
Outside on the north wall was a broad shutter, covered with handbills,
which hung on hinges at the bottom, and served the double purpose of a stall
for the exposure of goods on market days, and of a notice-board when closed.
Lowry in his will, dated 1740, calls the house by the name of Lead Hall,
and in another old deed it is called by the name of " Skeat Hall."
Besides this inn on the southern side was another house, which projected
out further on to the pavement, supported on wooden columns. For a long
time it was an inn under the sign of " The Fountain," and I find it left by
John Nelson to his son, Thomas Nelson, by will dated February, 1750, and
again left by Thomas Nelson to his wife Elizabeth by will dated June, 1767.
Here in the upper rooms Todhunter had his museum. Below was a shop at

FINKLE STREET OR THE EAST ROAD.

369

the south corner occupied by a Thomas Kendal, grocer, who was succeeded by
Thomas Robinson, and later by Mr. Butterwith as partner. Mr. Robinson at
first was only a tenant, but in 1840 purchased the premises for £800.

Old Pump Inn, facing Stricklandgate. (Demolished 1877).
It is said that in early days the frontage was continued so as to meet
No. 1, Highgate, and that the southern entrance into the fish market, known
as Crock Lane, was entered under the archway, which was closed by a pair of
gates after sunset.
Even as far back as 1777 the expediency of removing this great obstruction
at the busiest centre of the town, seems to have suggested itself, but it was not
till the year 1868, when Robinson made the generous bequest of his corner
shop and warehouse to the town, on the condition that the adjoining inn and
shop were obtained and the whole taken down, that the scheme came within
the region of practical politics. As soon after as possible, Robinson and
Butterwith's shop was demolished. At the same time the old drinking foun
tain, which had stood at the south side of the warehouse, was likewise
consigned to the past, and in its place the Corporation erected an iron structure.
After much delay and discussion, in the year 1878, the " Pump Inn " was
bought over, and shared the same fate. So ended the renowned old building,

37°

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

in which the shoemakers and the tailors had held their club meetings for years
over their hot ale and rum, and where the country lads and lasses at Martinmas
and Whitsuntide had danced upstairs to the fiddle, whilst below old Jimmy
Dowker sung and Jimmy Wiggins held forth in favour of "Harry Brougham."
I have said so much
about this Mayor of
Doodleshire and Poet
Laureate to "Harry,"
that it will be interesting
to represent his portrait
here. " Had I but served
my God," he said, whilst
standing in the Market
Place clad in workhouse
clothing, "as I served
Harry Brougham, the
workhouse never would
have been my doom."
Poor Jimmy died there
soon afterwards, April
22nd, 1838, and left the
following lines for his
epitaph : —

Jimmy Wiggins.

• Of base ingratitude I've had my share,
This world at best is but a scene of care :
Sickness and sorrow — poverty and trouble,
Frail mortal's lot — this life it but a bubble.
Had I served God, instead of Brougham,
Tranquil and peaceful would have been my home ;
But folly and vice have led me far away,
And now I must lament each misspent day.
No more shall I with flippant tongue
Answer a giddy, mirthful throng,
For fixed will be my doom,
No envious foes — no storm that blows
Can reach me in the tomb."

There is a tradition that Prince Napoleon, when making a tour of the
lakes, stayed all night in Kendal, and was recommended to this " Pump
Inn " for a glass of the best Kendal ale, and it is further boastfully said that

FINKLE STREET OR THE EAST ROAD. 371
the beverage so tickled his fancy that he was not able to leave without emptying
three glasses, and even then thought none the worse of it, although he awoke
next morning with a heavy head.
m ji. . mr Here in Crock Lane was the entrance into Tod-
Todhunter s Museum. hunter's museum referred to above, rich in anti
quarian articles belonging to the district, and where it remained till it was
broken up and sold on July 15th, 1832. This remarkable collection was first
started in 1796 in a room near Abbot Hall gates, where a barber's shop now
is, and where it remained until about the year 1800. (See page 121.)
Upon the site of the present grocery shop there once stood the
"Turk's Head Inn." By a will dated April 4th, 1789, Emma Coup-
land leaves unto her granddaughter, Emma Braithwaite, her messuage and
tenement, lately an inn called the " Turk's Head," being in the fish market.
The premises afterwards became Dalrymple's confection shop.
" The shop of Thomas Cotton, where also may be had books and
No. 11. other stationery ware. Also Dr. Daffey's Right Cordial Elexir
truly prepar'd from London." There seems to be no record of the ancient
bookseller's shop that stood at the head of the street before the time of Thomas
Cotton. He is specially noted for being the first printer in Kendal, and who
brought out the first Kendal newspaper, The Kendal Weekly Courant, on the
¦ ist of January, 1731. In size it was 15 inches by 9J inches, or medium quarto,
containing four pages, and bearing a halfpenny stamp, being sold at a penny
halfpenny a copy. After Cotton's time, we find the paper edited by Thomas
Ashburner, a paper manufacturer at Cowan Head, who also published the
Kendal Weekly Mercury, first issued on January 4th, 1735, being the same size
as the Conrauf, which also bore the Government halfpenny stamp tax, but was
sold for a penny. A copy of each of these papers is preserved in the Museum.
Ashburner was succeeded by his son James, the publisher of the Kendal
Diary. This firm also published for a short time The Agreeable Miscellany, or,
Something to Please Every Man's Taste, a fortnightly periodical of 16 pages,
within a blue cover, of octavo size, and sold at a penny. It commenced on
May 13th, 1749, and only survived 39 numbers, the last appearing October
26th, 1750. In September, 1794, Wilson and Branthwaite purchased the

372 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
business, but on Isaac Wilson's death (December 20th, 1796,) the firm became
known under the names of Michael and Richard Branthwaite.
The Westmorland A dvertiser and Kendal Chronicle, a folio weekly paper,
was established on the 29th of June, 1811, by the following proprietors : — John
Pearson, Jacob Wakefield, James Swales, John Swainston, Michael Bran
thwaite, James Johnson, and Dr. Robinson. It was published at 6Jd. a copy,
bearing a 3^d. stanp, by J. Steel & Co., until January 30th, 1813, when Steel
retired. M. Branthwaite's name then heads this paper, and to him is due the
credit of introducing the "leading article." But his tenure seems only to have
lasted some five years, for in the paper for April 18th, 1818, is' the following
notice : — " The new Editor of the Chronicle, we find, is the publisher, Mr.
Richard Lough, who speaks in his own name this week."
With this change, and owing to the secession of the Tories and the
commencement of the Westmorland Gazette, the paper entered into party
politics, and became the first Liberal paper in Kendal. Mr. Lough became
sole proprietor in January, 1820, and professes himself as a whig and a
"glorious revolution of 1688 man." He changed the form ofthe paper to quarto
size of eight pages, with three wide columns to the page. On January 19th,
1822, a new arrangement took place. The paper became edited by one Tyras
Redhead, who commences with some sharp things about the Gazette, but who
was not loath to turn round and become its editor three years later, in
succession to the talented editor, John Briggs. Richard Lough died February
5th, 1831, aged 40, and the following week Mrs. Lough became proprietor, the
paper being pluckily edited by her daughter.
On May 17th, 1834, The Kendal Chronicle bids the public farewell, and
soon after appeared the first number of the Kendal Mercury, a paper at first
costing 3^d., which became reduced in i860 to 3d. The editor, George Irvin,
retired in April, 1837, and in May the Rev. George Lee, a Unitarian minister,
took up the work, a post he was destined to hold for many years. The issue
of April 28th, 1838, contains the following extract from an official return
printed by order of the House of Commons : —
" Number of stamps issued from 30th June, 1837, to 30th November, 1837.
Number supplied to Kendal Mercury   .... 18,000
„ ., Gazette ....    8,000
„ ,, Lancaster Gazette   .... 12,000
„ ,, Lancaster Guardian   17,000."

FINKLE STREET OR THE EAST ROAD.

373

This gives to the Mercury at that time an average weekly circulation of
820 copies, and to the Gazette 363 copies.
Joseph Richardson came to Kendal from Middlesbrough in October,
1863, immediately took large premises at No. 46, Highgate, and started what
was the first penny paper, called the Kendal Times, Westmorland Reporter, and
Lake District Advertiser, in opposition to the two old-established papers,
costing 4^d. stamped. The first issue on January 2nd, 1864, appears to have
caused considerabe excitement, Highgate was crowded by hundreds of people
waiting for its publication, and no fewer than 2,064 papers were sold over the
counter between the hours of six and ten o'clock in the evening. On the 23rd
of April, 1864, being the Tercentenary of Shakespeare's Birthday, he set on
foot a movement, through his paper, to illuminate the town, a scheme which
was very warmly taken up. He himself had a full-length figure of the poet in
transparency, illuminated by gas in front of his premises, and he also had
manufactured in Staffordshire 2,000 white bowls, with an insrciption in brown
letters, " Shakespeare Tercentenary, April 23rd, 1864. Presented by the
Proprietor of the Kendal Times." Richardson, however, relinquished the paper
about the close of the third year, and the failing Mercury was only too glad to
amalgamate such a powerful rival. Our honoured friend, Mr. Edward Gill,
became the proprietor, and on September 6th, 1873, reduced the price to the
popular penny.
But upon the site of Mr. Gill's
present shop there stood in the
year 1818 the " Lord Nelson
Inn," with the sign of his ship,
the " Victory." The inn was
closed about the year 1855, and
Mr. Edward Gill moved his
business to here in 1868.

"WATERLOO KOTJSE

Waterloo House.

Proceeding

down the
hill, we come to Waterloo
House, the frontage of which
was set back in the year 1873.

374

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

It was the first shop in which panes were placed in the windows in single
sheets. Plate glass was not introduced into Kendal before 1849. The western
portion was formerly occupied by James Fothergill, tobacconist, and then by
Messrs. Brocklebank and Gawith, also tobacco and snuff factors.
Snuff and . other forms of
tobacco on their introduction
had many bitter opponents.
After the great plague the
popularity of tobacco and snuff
increased, for during the time
of the terrible visitation both
had been largely used as disin
fectants. There is a curious
entry in Thomas Hearne's
Diary, 1720-21, bearing on this
theme. He writes as follows
under date of January 21st : —
" I have been told that in the
last great plague in London
none that kept tobacconists'
shops had the plague. It is
certain that smoaking was
looked upon as a most ex
cellent preservative. In so
much that even children were
obliged to smoak. And I re
member that I heard formerly Tom Rogers, who was yeoman beadle, say, that
when the plague raged he was that year a school boy at Eton, when all the
boys in the school were obliged to smoak in the school every morning."

Central Buildings.

In 1871, the Corporation having completed their plans

for widening and improving this part of Finkle Street,
set to work to pull down Hannah Berry's far-famed bake shop, the old barber's
shop kept by one Jemmy Dowker, Miss Speight's celebrated pie shop, the
hosiery warehouse of Thomas Gould, as well as the shoe shop of John Walker,
where on October 25rd, 1764 (Jockey) John Bell, the eminent Chancery

FINKLE STREET OR THE EAST ROAD. 375
barrister,, was born. He was the son of Matthew Bell, grocer ; was called to
the bar in 1792, and died at his house in Bedford Square, London, on
February 6th, 1836. It is said that he had three different styles of hand
writing. One that his clerk could read and he could not, another that he
could read and his clerk could not, and another that neither he, nor his
clerk, nor even Lucifer himself, could decipher.
In July of the same year Messrs. Bailie and Hargreaves purchased from
the Corporation for £1,450 a considerable site on this widened thoroughfare,
and erected the Central Buildings in 1872.
*> x «.^= There seems to have been little postal communication with the
Post Office. v
outside world till about the middle of the last century.
The riding work was first done by men or boys on horseback, and if they
had more letters than they could well stuff into their breeches pocket, they
were deposited in the saddle-bags. This official, who blew a horn to announce
his approach, is well described by the Poet Cowper in The Task, Book 4, "The
Winter Evening " : —
" Harkl 'tis the twanging horn o'er yonder bridge,
That with its wearisome but needful length
Bestrides the wintry flood, in which the moon
Sees her unwrinkled face reflected bright ;
He comes, the herald of a noisy world,
With spattered boots, strapped waist, and frozen locks ;
News from all nations lumbering on his back,
True to his charge, the close-packed load behind,
Yet careless what he brings, his one concern
Is to conduct it to the destined inn ;
And, having dropped the expected bag, pass on."
The riding boys were succeeded by men who drove in post gigs, depositing
the leathern letter bags in a box, which the driver sat upon. A pair of horse-
pistols were delivered by the postmaster to each man when he set out on his
journey, which he placed in holsters on either side of the splash-board in front
of him. These were duly delivered up to the postmaster at the end ofthe
day's journey.
The first postmaster, of whom any reliable account has been obtained, was
Hugh Holme, Deputy Recorder, who was. followed by Christopher Fenton,

376 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
senior. About the year 1760 Romney painted the celebrated hand for Fenton,
who was at that time the landlord of the " King's Arms," and it was used by his
wife, the postmistress, to point to the entrance ofthe little post office beneath
the inn. Between 1780-90, old John Jennings, landlord of the " Unicorn Inn,"
carried the letters between Kendal and Lancaster, going there with his horse
and cart one day and returning the next.
But a great change soon came for the better. The postman's gig was
discontinued, and the town was served by the Lancaster to Whitehaven well-
appointed four-in-hand coaches, with driver and guard in scarlet coats and gold
lace hat-bands. Arnold and Burdett were the guards, and Tom Preston and
David Johnston the drivers. Leaving Lancaster, the mail passed through
Milnthorpe, Kendal, Bowness (the town of Windermere did not then exist),
Ambleside, Keswick, Cockermouth, Workington, and Whitehaven. The
coaches generally crossed each other on Dunmail Raise. Undoubtedly, Tom
Preston was one of the best whips in Britain. He would suffer no delays, and
his blunt determination was sometimes set down as boorishness, but a kinder-
hearted man never lived. Many a lift did he give to poor people, tramping
home burdened with market-day stores, when the coach was not full, without
fee or reward, and not in the least detrimental to his employer or the service.
Christopher Fenton, junior, succeeded his father as postmaster, and held
the position for more than thirty-four years, until his resignation in April, 1824.
From the Carlisle Journal for August 30th, 1800, 1 extract the following: —
" Having had occasion to call at the post offices in the different towns I passed
through, the extreme politeness and affability of the Post Master of Kendal
particularly attracted my notice and led me to make some enquiries respecting
him, when I found that his attention to strangers and diligence in the discharge
of his office had diservedly procured him not only the praise of travellers but
of the inhabitants."
He was succeeded by his son, Miles Fenton, who died in 1830. The great
influx of letters which followed the adoption first of the fourpenny, and then of
the penny postage, 1839 and 1840, rather disgusted our worthy officials. A
letter for which a person paid is. id. or iod. was a respectable commodity ; but
when a penny only had to be paid, they said that people wrote about every
thing and nothing.

FINKLE STREET OR THE EAST ROAD. 377
The post office was removed from under the " King's Arms Inn " to the
Bank Cross House, in Highgate, but after the re-building of these premises in
the year 1812, it crossed the road to Cross View, No. 107, Highgate. How
ever the office had not a long existence there, as it was soon removed again to
No. 17, Finkle Street, where it remained for a few years. Still unsettled, the
next move was to some newly-built and more commodious premises at the top
corner of Yard No. 77, Highgate, the receiving box and message window being
placed in the entry ingeniously contrived for the purpose. Here it did not
remain many years before it made another change to Lowther Street, opposite
the side entrance to the Town Hall. Ever restless and erratic, the office then
removed about the year 1865, to No. 63, Highgate, where Romney's " hand,"
which had for many years faced the elements, was honoured with a glass
cover. The colour had stood remarkably well, even after years of exposure to
the biting frosts and heavy rains, a wonderful proof of the care with which
Romney mixed his pigments.
On December 6th, 1869, the office being unable to find a firm footing
anywhere, next removed to a position under the Town Hall. But here the
limited accommodation for the telegraphic work finally necessitated the
removal in May, 1877, to their present premises in the Central Buildings.
In 1853 two receiving houses for letters were opened in Stricklandgate
and Stramongate respectively, but in December, 1857, they were replaced by
pillar letter-boxes, with an additional office in Kirkland.
Yard No. 45. Down this yard there used to be a draw-well.
To retrace our steps back again up Finkle Street to the other northern
side, we notice at the corner of Stricklandgate the house where, in
early days, was the first " Dog and Duck Inn," kept by Jonathan Birkett in
1794, and where the Good Intent Benefit Society held its meetings in 1796.
But the sign was transferred to the neighbouring " Half Moon," No. 16, when
that property was re-built.
Here Sir Robert Mackereth was born, who was M.P. in 1774 for
No. 12.
Castle Rising in Norfolk. Truly, he was one of our Kendal worthies.
Humble in his birth, by care and assiduity he accumulated a large fortune,
and during the season of his prosperity he liberally set apart £50 a year for

378 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
the relief of indigent deserving families in this town. After his removal to
Hampshire, he is said to have bought this property for his sister Ann. After
his death in 1788, it passed into the occupation of Fell and Goff, surgeons
(upon the pane of glass in one of the windows is scratched the name of Betty
Goff), and afterwards to that of Dr. Mason, a much-respected surgeon, who
was succeeded by his daughter, Mrs. Harrison, a lady accomplished as a
pharmacopolist.»t „,, The " Half Moon " was situated where the boot shop now is, until
No. 16. ....
the property was re-built, as I have just said in i.812, when the sign
was altered to the " Dog and Duck," by which name it was known in
December, 1856, when advertised to be let.
«/¦» j r.a The watchmaker's shop and the sweet shop adjoining
No. 26 and 28. occupy the site of a house where Thomas Holmes, the
father of Dr. Holmes, lived. From here the fatal shot was fired on December
14th, 1745, which killed one of the rebels, and which led them, by way of
compensation we suppose, to kill John Slack, the farmer of New Hutton.
Both were buried, probably together, on the following Monday in the parish
churchyard. -T _,. , , The New Shambles were built in 1803, expressly for the
New Shambles. °' v J
butchers, upon the site of a narrow path called " Watt
Lane," according to Speed's plan of 1614, and Todd's plan of 1787. The
enterprise of keeping the fraternity together, in these New Shambles did not
seem to answer well, as by degrees the butchers left for more commanding
premises in the main streets.
A1, _. _ „ Further down we come to the flour warehouse,
Old Fire Engine House. which was built by the Corporation as a fire
engine house in 1838, upon a piece of vacant ground, or what had formerly
been a garden. Our eccentric author, " Hob Thrush," leaves to us the
following truly characteristic sketch of this curious building : — " The order is
certainly Doric-pure Doric, for there are three doors. The centre is occupied
by an arch, closed by folding doors. The right and left, in a parallel line, are
also adorned with similar doorways, the arches being of precisely the same
span. The left hand entrance is perforated with holes, the configuration of
which represent large letters, and should any luminous body be burning inside

FINKLE STREET OR THE EAST ROAD.

379

these unintelligible syllables would become visible. FI RE ENGI NES.
Perhaps as many theories such as F for fig, and J for jig have been advanced
in elucidation of this mystery, as there have been to explain who paid for the
500 special constables' staves, that were manufactured to spiflicate the
Chartists, who were expected to arrive in Kendal one Saturday night by the
Packet, out of Staffordshire. Above the key stone of the central arch is a
small black and white signboard, on which is inscribed ' Edward Carradus,
Fireman,' which is intended to intimate that if your chimney catches fire, Mr.
Carradus has power and authority to come and spout water in at every one of
your windows, charge you a sovereign for the shower-bath, and chalk up to
your account as many gallons of ale as your kind neighbours, who are assisting
to pump water into your " hold" can drink. But the greatest value of these
water engines is exemplified on old Nut Mondays. On this day they are
regularly taken down to the Kent side, where the firemen spurt water into the
air in the form of a rainbow, for the gratification of the junior branches of the
community. The Corporation water carts are also kept here, and should the
atmosphere become cloudy, and a fall of rain be apprehended, they are
immediately ordered out to deg the streets." Poor " Hob Thrush," with such
articles as these, it is sad that his journal came to such an untimely end,
lasting only so long as to give forth three four-page quarto numbers in the
year 1842. This house was in 1816 occupied by DougaU Wright, a little man
No. 38.
with a big voice, who combined with his business of auctioneer,
which, by the bye, was one of the earliest in the town, that of a silk dyer.
The earliest tenant that I can find of the old house at the corner of
No. a. Branthwaite Brow was one John Kitching, flour dealer, who
subsequently removed further up into the Market Place. After him James
Airey moved here in 1850. The shop was formerly entered from Branthwaite
Brow by a flight of steps through a deeply-recessed square-headed doorway.
Underneath the bow window facing Finkle Street were the upright doors
leading into John Whinerey's store cellar. At the time of the widening
of Branthwaite Brow the house underwent considerable alteration, and soon
after it was tenanted by John Heap, " the early riser," who, it is said,
disturbed his neighbours, by handling his tin ware, as early as four o'clock in
the morning.

380 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
This lane was formerly very narrow, but it was
Branthwaite Brow. , ; , , , . . , , , , e ... « j r
almost doubled in width by order of the Board of
Health in the year 1851.
This improvement necessitated the pulling down of some rickety old
houses which stood on the west side. The new shops which were built
fronting on to this widened street, were erected with iron-plate fronts to
economise in space, and bear date 1853. The lowest shop, Edmondson's, on
the east side, was set back and rounded off soon after 1851.
This lane was also very narrow, but greatly widened by public
subscription in 1818. Here formerly stood the beer-house
called the " Canal Tavern."
The " Kent Tavern " is a house probably opened about the same time as
the canal in 1819. The first bridge seems to have been entirely a wooden
Miller Bridge. 5 . '
structure, which was swept away by a flood prior to the year
1668. In 1669 it was re-built of wood on stone piers, which lasted some
seventy odd years. At a court or an assembly of the Worshipful the Mayor,
Aldermen and Burgesses, at the Moot Hall, the 30th December, 1742, it was
agreed and ordered that the sum of £40 should be advanced and paid by the
Chamber of this Corporation in aid of a fund to be raised towards the building
of a stone bridge, instead of the narrow wooden mill bridge. Alexander Deary,
of the Common Garden, and James Wilson, of the Castle Mills, promised to
pay the sum of five guineas for the use of the same.
An inscribed stone was built into the new bridge, bearing the Mayor, John
Waide's initials, I. W., and the date 1743. This stone is said still to be doing
duty as a cellar window sill, reverse side up, on the premises of Mr. Richard
Everson, carver, in Highgate. A gate was placed half-way across the bridge.
Curiously, the life of this bridge seems also to have been only one of some
seventy-five years, for in 1818 we find the Mayor, Jonathan Hodgson, laying
the foundation stone of a new and wider one, a few yards to the south of the
wooden bridge, for a more commodious passage to the intended basin of the
Lancaster and Kendal Canal. The traffic must have increased very rapidly,
for we find the bridge again enlarged in the year 1822.

<
Q W
oQCO
« Ul
J

FINKLE STREET OR THE EAST ROAD. 381
During the French Revolutionary War, Kendal had its day of military
excitement, and the Miller Close played a conspicuous part in it. For
instance, I find in the Cumberland Pacquet for April 7th, 1795, that the
recruiting business for the army had long been very brisk here, " a party of
Wakefield Volunteers marched back a few days ago, in great spirits, with
upwards of forty Kendal recruits." And again, " the Caithness Fencibles
marched from Kendal a few days ago, they have enlisted thirty-four in that
town. A party of Colonel Blair's Volunteers, or Liverpool Regiment, are still
in Kendal seeking more recruits." Every recruit receives the full bounty of
twenty-five guineas in hand immediately on his being enrolled. And, there
seems to have been an equal degree of spirit for the sea service, for a recruiting
sergeant for this service had been appointed, and the town's quota, viz., seven,
were soon enrolled.
In the following month we read that 180 of the Fifeshire Fencibles and
150 Dragoons arrived at Kendal, and went through their manual exercise in
Miller Field. Then we further read that the complete number of Westmorland
Volunteers is already raised for the navy, and that Daniel Wilson, of Dallam
Tower, and William Carus Wilson, of Casterton, review them on Miller Field.
In July of the same year a large party of Durham Rangers, the 83rd Regiment
of Foot and the 31st Regiment of Light Dragoons passed through Kendal, and
encamped in Miller Fields. The papers say that ".little is heard but drums
and fifes, and little seen but scarlet coats with glittering armour."
There is a good story told to the effect that Bonaparte and Marshall Soult
were considering as to the best part of our coast on which to land the French
troops, the Emperor believing that Morecambe Bay was the most suitable.
Soult, however, replied " But we should be opposed by that devil of a Colonel
Maude and the Kendal Volunteers." The story went on to say that thence
forth any idea of invading England was given up.
A good stone house towards the bottom of the street bears
Lowther Street. IF
date on a stone ' o ' for James Fell, a surgeon, who
lived there. A Captain Haygarth built the large house, with the bold flight
of stone steps at the south-east corner. Here Samuel Gawith lived, and died
during his mayoralty, October 9th, 1865, aged 49.

382 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
As described under the Presbyterian Chapel, the Rev.
Independents. ..,,,.
MacQuhae seceded from that body on principles of church
government in 1772, with several of the congregation, and for a time
worshipped in "The Fold," Stricklandgate.
In 1781, when Lowther Street was opened (or New Street, as subse
quently became known in consequence of the town's dislike to the name of
Lowther), a new chapel was erected here, capable of seating 400 persons, and
opened September 12th, 1781. In 1815 a subscription of £209 was raised tor
altering the seats, and erecting a gallery.
From 1826 to 1861 the Rev. D. Jones was minister, and during his
ministry, in 1828, the building was re-fronted. So great was the anxiety of the
congregation to obtain seats to listen to this remarkable preacher, that for
some time before the doors were opened, numbers gathered together to await
on the door-step. Sunday after Sunday the assembly overflowed into the
schooolroom, and slits were made in the dividing wall so that they also could
hear his excellent discourses.
In 1886 the interior was completely renovated, and the straight-backed
pews removed for the more comfortable ones now in use.
The Sunday School was one of the first in Kendal, originating in 1789,
only nine years after Robert Raikes founded the Sunday School system, and
in 1812 a branch of the London Missionary Society was established. The
school was begun in a large vestry upon a part of the ground where the
schoolroom now stands, which was formerly a slate yard. Between 1820 and
1825, John Crosby was the superintendent, and his successors were Richard
and Thomas Greenhow. The present premises were built in 1829, and during
the time the building operations were being carried on the scholars were
taught in the bottom of the chapel, where the vestibule now is, and they also
sat there during service on seats specially erected for them.
A general meeting was held at the Town Hall, Lancaster, on the
Canal. 7th of February, 1792, to take into consideration the propriety of
entering into a subscription for making the proposed canal. " Resolved
unanimously that a subscription be entered into for obtaining an Act of
Parliament to carry the said canal into execution and for defraying all

FINKLE STREET OR THE EAST ROAD. 383
expenses necessary for completing the same." Immediately after the meeting
it was announced that the subscriptions amounted to £"247,800.
An Act was immediately obtained for making the canal navigable from
Kendal, by way of Lancaster and Preston, to go through the great coal
districts, near Chorley and Wigan, and to join the canals in the south of
Lancashire ; its principal design being to carry south, limestone and slate, and
to return with coals. It was opened for navigation on the 18th of June, 1819
(the anniversary of the victory of Waterloo), and was looked upon as an event
causing a new era to the trade of Kendal.
At an early hour in the morning flags were hoisted on the Town Hall,
Castle, Church Steeple, Canal Warehouses, and various other places, and a
general bustle pervaded the entire town, business was suspended, shops closed,
and every one seemed anxious to witness the pleasing and novel spectacle.
Several pieces of cannon were procured for the occasion and stationed on
the Castle Hill and in Chapel Close on the opposite side of the valley, and
these continued to fire at intervals during the morning. At nine o'clock the
Corporation and gentlemen of the town, preceded by a band and a party of
special constables, walked in procession down to the canal basin, and embarked
on board the Corporation barge, accompanied by a large party of ladies.
Another boat, fit up for the occasion, and denominated the "extra barge," was
also filled with gaily-attired occupants, and at last a start was made at 10-15,
the boats being drawn down the canal amidst the ringing of bells and firing of
cannon. Hincaster tunnel (378 yards long) was reached at twelve o'clock,
and Crooklands at one o'clock, where the party awaited the arrival of the
Lancaster contingent, five trading boats of Messrs. Hargreaves, Welch & Co.,
and three packet boats. There were several bands of music, and each boat
hoisted an appropriate flag. The full aquatic procession of sixteen boats then
returned northwards, arriving back at the basin at five o'clock, amidst the
huzzas of, it was conjectured, 10,000 people, who literally covered the Castle
Hill side. Naturally the evening was spent with excellent dinner parties at
the Town Hall to which 120 sat down at the " King's Arms," and elsewhere,
and a ball, at which some hundred ladies and gentlemen attended, terminated
the festivities of the day.

384 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Its length from Kendal to its southern termination at Westhoughton,
including a connecting railroad of five miles from Preston to Clayton Green,
is nearly 76 miles, of which course nearly nine miles is navigated by the
Leeds and Liverpool Company, between Whitle-le- Woods and Wigan. The
fall from Kendal to the mid-level is 65 feet, and the rise from thence, on the
southern side is 222 feet. It crosses the Lune at Lancaster by a stupendous
aqueduct, passes a tunnel 378 yards long at Hincaster, and is fed by a large
reservoir of 150 acres, near Killington, five miles east of Kendal, and its cost
amounted to above £600,000.
. .„ . These works were built by the Corporation likewise in
Canal Works. 1819.
_ iwii ^ne °^ mills were probably built for grinding corn for the
oastiie lviiiis- Castle, as we know that a malt house was added to them in
1685. From the Newcastle Journal for November ist, 1755, I extract the
following : — " To be Let to farm, For any Term exceeding twenty-one Years,
at Sergeant Chambers's, Innholder in the Fish Market in Kendal, on Friday
the 14th of November 1755, to enter at Martinmas 1756, Castle Mills
belonging to the Corporation of Kendal aforesaid, consisting of one large
convenient Malt-Kiln, with Lead Cistern, and suitable Granaries ; also one
drying Kiln for Oats, &c, one pair of Grey Stones for grinding Oats, two
Boulting Mills, one Crush Mill, three Snuff Mills, four Frizing Mills, one
Fulling Stock for Milling Leather, Hemp, &c, one good Dwelling House, one
new built Barn, Stable, and other suitable Outhouses, two Closes by
Computation eight Acres of exceeding good Land, with all other Appurten
ances and privileges, now under Farm to James Wilson. Any person minding
to view the premises, may in mean Time, apply to Joseph Symson and Robert
Dixon, the Chamberlains of the said Corporation. Further particulars will be
exhibited at the Time of letting."
Also from the Cttmberland Pacquet for August 25th, 1790 : — " Deaths. A
few days ago, at the Castle Mills, near Kendal, in the 77th year of his age,
William Pennington, formerly a very eminent miln-wright ; not more regarded
for his ingenuity by those who were enabled to judge of his abilities, than
esteemed for the integrity of his conduct by all who knew him."

FINKLE STREET OR THE EAST ROAD. 385
The old buildings were taken down in 1805, and for many years after
there was to be seen the remains of an arch which formed part of the structure.
Stramongate mill becoming too small for increasing trade, William Braithwaite
and Son and Isaac and William Wilson besought the Corporation to erect a
larger mill, which was accordingly done in 1806, but considerably more to the
north-west than the old mill. In the year 1854 they were purchased for £5,000
by Messrs. J. J. and W. Wilson, who converted the place into a woollen mill,
and applied steam power, the first in the district.
_ , Near to where Castle Lodge now is, was the " Non mi
Castle Lodge. Recorda," which we find in the Cumberland Pacquet for
June 18th, 1782, advertised to be sold as follows : —
Common Garden, Kendal.
To be sold by Auction, upon the premises on Friday the 26th Day of July 1782; the common
garden, late belonging to Alexander Deary deceased, which is freehold, and only subject to a
pepper Corn yearly on Demand, pleasantly situated on the East Side of the River Kent,
adjoining to the Town of Kendal, in the County of Westmorland, containing near Five Acres
(Statute Measure) of very fertile Ground, with a convenient Dwelling-House, which has been
long used as an Inn or public-house and well accustomed and is in good repair, Brew-house,
Seed-shop, Stable, Hay-loft, and other appurtenances hereunto belonging. The Garden is
well fenced and watered and planted with Variety of Choice Fruit Trees, and has therein a
Flower Garden, or Nursery, and Hot beds, and a great many beautiful Walks and Arbours,
laid out in Taste, and in complete Order. For further particulars apply to Mr. Patrick,
Linen-draper or Mr. Postlethwaite, Attorney in Kendal.
Again in the same paper for December 28th, 1784, I find it advertised by
Thomas Greenhow to let as " all that ancient Common Garden, consisting of 4
Acres, bowling green and dwelling house thereunto belonging, now and for
many years past, used as a public house." It was again sold in public sale on
the 20th day of June, 1788. These almshouses were built at a cost of £4,250,
and handsomely endowed by the late John Sleddall
"in commemoration of Her Majesty's Jubilee " in 1887. The endowment
fund stands now at £17,350.
These schools were built in 1870 upon the site of the old
Industrial Schools, which were founded in 1799 by George
Braithwaite in conjunction with Dr. Briggs. In 1812 Jane Emerson

oo

*3ta
>.fa
t-

FINKLE STREET OR THE EAST ROAD. 387
bequeathed the sum of £25 12s. for the support of this institution, and in 1814
John Postlethwaite left the sum of £250 for the same purpose. The schools
met at first in an old building down Yard 39, Highgate, but with the help of
these legacies, together with about £150 raised by voluntary subscription, the
trustees were enabled to obtain these premises in the year 1827. John Dawson
was the first writing master, being assisted by Billy Curwen.
Here from 200 to 300 children were accommodated. The three large
rooms were in charge of three different teachers, the lower or knitting school
portion being at one time under the care of an elderly lady, familiarly called
" Betty Slee." On the upper floor was the sewing school, under the care of
another aged lady, called " Betty Richardson," and the third room, which was
over the large committee room, was the reading, writing, and arithmetic
school. The children attended their classes of one hour's duration, and
devoted the rest of the day to the knitting and sewing business on the House
of Industry principle. The scores of pairs of stockings which were turned out
every week used on certain days to be scoured and put upon stocking boards,
and leant against the street walls in a line running the full-length from the
Friends' Meeting House to the school itself. When well dried they were
packed up and sent off to the various markets at home and abroad, which
helped to make Kendal famous in those days as being one of the headquarters
ofthe stocking-knitting business. The sewing school devoted itself to making
black and green checked gingham frocks and under-clothing for the towns
people, who paid them well for their work, the school being in repute for
the marvellous neatness of stitching of wristbands and fronts. From a
lack of funds, the trustees were obliged to close the schools about the year
1847. The School for Science and Art was opened on Monday, September 5th,
1870, and in the evening there was a public meeting in the Town Hall to
celebrate the movement. The owners of the Castle granted the whole of Tenterholme
to be a possession for ever to the shearmen dyers. The
higher part of this ground, now known as Thorney Hills, once joined the
island. At what time the race near Stramongate Bridge was formed, or the
weir built opposite the new road, we have no information, but Goose Holme

388 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
is first mentioned in the churchwarden's books for 1713, when a bushel and
half of sand was got from there to roughcast the church with.
The Court sitting on March the 22nd, 1714, held that this land was open
to free pasture, together with Dob Freer, Tenter Holme and Thorney Hills.
Again in the report of a law suit raised by the action taken by John Ireland to
enclose for his own use this piece of ground, I extract the following : —
" Goose Holme belongs to the Corporation of Kendal, as Conservators for the inhabitants,
who have common right, from immemorial usage, of pasture, of drying and bleaching clothes
upon the Holme, and of procuring sand from the river. Ireland, it was stated, had made
encroachments some years since upon the Holme; but the Corporation, having cognisance of
the fact, proceeded in a body to the spot, and there, asserting the public right, caused posts
to be set up for the use of the inhabitants, in drying their linen &c."

IX.
Stramongate

AND

Iiongpool.

Stream-mound-gate, so named by reason of an embankment
made along the river to prevent, as far as possible, this lower
part of the town being flooded. According to Speed's Plan (1614)
it was at that time called Straman's-gate.
Longpool has also doubtless obtained its name from the same
liability to be flooded.

39i

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL.

Note. — The odd numbers are all on the southern and the even numbers on the
northern side of the street.

Before Kent Lane was widened the old house that stood at the
No. 1. eastern corner projected some six feet or more on to the Stramongate
pavement. It was here that Jeremiah Foster lived, at least when he was at
home, for, being a postman, he carried His Majesty's Royal Mail to Sedbergh
every other day, and returned to assist his wife, who kept a grocer's store here,
on each alternate day.
Opposite, at the corner of Branthwaite Brow, there used formerly to
be an inn known by the sign of " The King's Head." We know that
it existed in the year 1796, but little more is known until we find it sold by
public auction on December 23rd, 1850, together with all the " household
furniture, brewing vessels, and innkeeper's stock-in-trade." The following
year the house was set back, and the corner rounded off in connection with the
Branthwaite Brow improvements.
Here at the beginning of this century John Coward lived. He and
his wife were noted characters. Conservative to the backbone, and
tenacious of all the ancient habits and customs of their forefathers. Nothing
would induce them to conform to modern notions, or dispense with their
wooden trenchers, from which until the last they ate their meals upon.
Unfortunately we have no information whatever about
this inn, although I have hunted carefully through the
local newspapers nothing can be found for good or ill. The initials J.A. on the
leaden spout head refer to John Archer a previous landlord. A curious
instance of quiet unreported history.

392 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Adjoining, however, we come to a house which is full of ancient
history, and every portion of its quaint exterior and delightful gable
seem to breathe a tale of the olden days and of the lives of those who dwelt
within. It was the town house of the Bellinghams of Burneside and Levens.
In the time of George II. the front and premises on the right hand ofthe yard
behind were all one, communicating together by a paved hall, and at that
early date the premises were recorded as being 300 years old.
John Broadbent, of London, and a descendant ofthe Bellinghams, com
pletely restored the premises in the year 1863, and inserted an oak tablet in
the gable containing the Bellingham arms with the inscription " Baron of
K. K., 1544." Unfortunately a recent owner has removed almost all the
interesting portions of the interior, together with many curios once collected
together in the gable room. But there still can be seen two well carved
oaken chimney pieces, a carved cupboard door bearing the arms of the
Bellinghams with the date 1774, and another small cupboard door in the back
premises bearing the initials and date " B.N. 1648."
The next is Badenock's Yard, which to the street has now a
Yard 11. modern shop front. Badenock was a Scotchman, and had left the
"land o' cakes and brither Scot " to become gardener at Levens Hall. After
retiring he came to live here. Two Scotch drovers, when driving their cattle
up Stramongate one day, happened to see this worthy " brither " standing at
his door, when one of them cried to the other, " Aye, Sawney, there's great
Will Badenock, wha com awa wit' moon leet, stanan there ! " Agnes Harker,
a sister of Captain Cooke, " the celebrated navigator," lived in the yard for
many years, and died there April 27th, 1822, aged 96.
This house was formerly an inn known as the " Black Bull," but in
No. 13. J '
some deeds dating 1733 and 1755 I find it under the sign of the
" Bull Head," and in a deed dating 1777 the house appears to have been
discontinued as an inn.
Upon the other side of the entry was the "White Sergeant Inn."
It is said to have been the rendezvous of the Press-gang during the
times of the French Wars, and was popularly known as the " randy-vow."
Here also the Working Men's Institute was first established, and where the
Chartists held their meetings.

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL. 393
No 18 Immediately opposite the " White Sergeant," and where Baron's
original reed manufactory once stood, was the " Shoulder of Mutton
Inn," a sign which was afterwards changed to the "Recruiting Sergeant"
public-house. „_ , _ _ It would seem that this part of Stramongate was
Mason s Arms Inn. * b
almost as thirsty as Kirkland, for adjoining the
" Shoulder of Mutton " we find this inn bearing for its sign the " Mason's
Arms." The house, together with No. 22, was formerly an ancient residence
known as Ralphford Hall, and Thomas Gibson in 1777 charged the premises
with a guinea per annum to the Sandes Hospital. Here in 1822 the Licensed
Victuallers held a meeting to protest against the trade being thrown open, and
that no license should be withdrawn without a trial by jury. By going down
Yard No. 24 and looking back upon the quaint gable, one can get a good idea
of what the old building resembled, before it was so intolerably modernized
in front. ... Crossing the road again to the southern side we come to the old
No. 21. . . b
family residence of the Wilson family. It was in the possession of
Isaac Wilson when Prince Charlie passed through in 1745, and the officers
were quartered here.
There is a good story told how that at dinner one of them called out for
some mustard to be brought, whereupon a poor Highlander, ignorant of its
nature, helped himself to a good spoonful, which he at once put into his
mouth. Fancying himself poisoned, he drew his sword, and would have cut
the serving man down had not the other officers interfered. A part of the
repast consisted of raised meat pies, which were speedily emptied of their
contents, and then arose a cry " Fill up the walls again."
The late Alderman J. J. Wilson says that the house has to all practical
purposes been re-built since those days, seeing that it has had a new front,
new back, new roof, a large central chimney stack removed, and most of the
floors re-laid. In the yard behind, however, there is still to be seen a
W.
leaden cistern bearing the initials and date I. S. for John and Sarah Wilson.
1781.

394 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Unfortunately I have practically nothing to record concerning this
most delightful old building, with its central gable. Upon pages
165 and 166 I have already gone pretty fully into the subject of that wonderful
cure-all, the Quakeress's Black Drop, and here in this shop window for a long
/

U THE

Original
MlacU Mr op

I*-Mr

1*-

time was displayed the poster, as illustrated, announcing that Hannah
Backhouse sold over the counter her " Original Black Drop " from a secret
recipe known only to herself.
^. «.,,.«, , Down Yard No. 27 there is an ancient building,
Roman Catholic Chapel. measuring 19 by 10 yards, which immediately
strikes one's attention. At present it is a warehouse wherein Mr. Hunter
stores his antique furniture, but in reality it is the old Roman Catholic
Chapel which became disused when that body built their new chapel in
1837 upon the New Road.
After the time of Thomas Maynes, who was Vicar of Kendal from 1520
to 1534, there appears to have been no regular Roman Catholic priest at
Kendal for some 200 years. Whilst the Penal Laws against Roman Catholics
were on the Statute Book, we find by a reference to the Parish Church
registers that a Roman Catholic marriage took place on the " 31st May, 1739,
between John Borwick and Dorothy Jackson, both of Kendal, married by a
' Papist Priest.' " Another entry appears as follows : — " 1745, April 23rd,
Thomas Coupland and Eliza Holme married by a Papist Priest, Mr. Barns."

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL.

395

Another entry, but in the burial register, is as follows :— " 1761, Septem.
6th, Rev. Mr. James Gandy, of Kirkland, Papish Priest." Probably he lived at
the last house on the west side of Milnthorpe Road, which tradition says has
been a house where Mass was celebrated in secret.

These entries re
late most likely to
the founders of the
present Roman
Catholic Mission, at
all events we find the
first mention of a
separate c h a p el in
the year 1793. It
seems at first to have
been little more than
a disused warehouse,
but in that year the
Rev. Robert John
son, of Dodding
Green, transformed
or re-built it into a
chapel. On the
front of the gallery
can still be seen the
inscription : — in - tympano - et - choro - in -chordis-et-organo-laudate-domi-
num, taken evidently from Psalm 150, v. 4, " Laudate eum in tympano et
choro ; laudate eum in chordis et organo."
This Robert Johnson followed Father James Gandy, and resigned in the
year 1792, when he was followed by the Rev. Thomas Wilkinson, who had
been his curate for five years. The living was then only worth £20 a year.
With indomitable energy Wilkinson succeeded in raising a church orchestra
of string and wind instruments, and it is said that Kendal was the second town
in England to form a Roman Catholic choir. After sixty-five years' faithful
service Father Wilkinson retired in 185 1. The Rev. James Gibson succeeded;
his holy life and strong faithfulness to his duty made him revered by all who

396 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
came to know him, and Kendal sustained a great loss when on the nth
January, 1895, in his 78th year, he quietly passed away. As Chaucer says : —
" To drawen folk to Heven by fairnesse,
And good example was his besinesse."
The Rev. William Stephenson is now the priest in charge. The baptismal
register commences in the year 1742. The entries are made in a curious way,
merely an entry of birth, although in reality no doubt they were meant to
stand for baptism. The entries were thus made to avoid detection, as it was
not then legal for a papist priest to perform any sacerdotal function. Extend
ing over twenty-one years, there are only twelve baptisms in all, which proves
how small in number Roman Catholics were at that time.
For some time after the disuse of the old building it held the Museum of
the Kendal Literary and Scientific Society until its removal to Stricklandgate.
The foundation stone of the present chapel was laid on October 27th,
1835, by W. C. Strickland, and the building was opened for service on the
13th day of September, 1837. It is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and St.
George, and within a canopied niche is a fine sculptured piece, representing
St. George and the Dragon, from the chisel of Thomas Duckett, who also
embelished the chancel with statues of our Redeemer, the Blessed Virgin,
St. Mary Magdalene, and St. George. The interior of this sacred edifice gives
the impression of a strange admixture ; common in its seating accommodation,
but decidedly impressive in its chancel. The altar and screen, raised up upon
a flight of steps, are splendidly executed and elaborately ornamented in stucco,
the latter being a composition of recesses, with statues, and the former
bearing on its front an emblematical figure of the lamb, together with two
angels in the attitude of prayer. Both are painted and gilded in the
continental style.
At the back of all is a three light window. The centre light represents
the founder of the new church, Rev. Thomas Wilkinson, in the presence of
St. Cuthbert, the patron ofthe diocese (represented in the first compartment),
offering the church to our Lord. Our Lord blesses the offering, and places it
under the care of St. George, the patron of the church, who is represented
in the right hand compartment.

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL. m
Another window, by Hardman, in the north-east corner, is to the memory
of Dean Gibson. The upper portion represents "The Good Shepherd," the
middle " Our Lord giving his charge to St. Peter," " Feed My Sheep ! " and
the lower portion represents the dean in red vestment in the attitude of prayer.
The light over the vestry door to the south represents St. Joseph, and is to the
memory ofthe Ellison family; and that over the door to the north represents
St. Ann teaching her daughter the Virgin, and is to the memory of the
Denver family.
Amongst other fine stained windows, the one bequeathed by the Ellison
family as a memorial to the late Father Gibson, in the south aisle, is the glory
of the place. The most magnificent piece of coloured glass and stained work
that Kendal can boast ; too good by far for the dark corner in which it is
placed. The pulpit came out of the old church, and is said to have been the gift
of the Rev. Father Johnson. There are also two pieces of carved oak panels
worthy of close attention, one placed in the pulpit side, and another at the
west end of the southern aisle. The new side altar is also a beautiful piece of
oak work, from Beyaert of Bruges, and one cannot leave the building without
a wish that our Protestant churches of Kendal would feel more than they have
done in the past that the best and most beautiful of human art should be
dedicated to the Temple of God. The " Lamp of Sacrifice " is not brilliant
in our church buildings of to-day.
The Sunday School was started by the Rev. Thomas Wilkinson, and was
taught by a Mrs. Littleton in a cottage in the yard. After her death, I believe,
there was an interval of some fifteen years, after which time Thomas Duckett,
the noted sculptor, recommenced the work.
The three substantial houses that project somewhat forward
No. 31 to 35. were built by the Rev. Father Johnson at the end of the
XVIIIth century, and they became the property of each successive Bishop of
the Diocese.
_„ _ Adjoining to the east is Gibson's Place, which was formed
Gibson's Place. J , „ L ,
in the year 1782, when New Street was opened out, but
with the exception of the front, it was almost entirely re-built by Edward

398 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Gibson, a builder, in 1812. The late Dean Gibson, who purchased the
property in 1857, made some considerable alterations. The doorway to his
residence he removed to the other side, which is now only a few yards from
the vestry of the church. On the railed verandah in front he erected a glass
house for his plants, and the garden was extended to the new iron rails
erected in a line with those in front of the church. He also obliterated the
stone looking to the river, which had the inscription : —
GIBSON'S PLACE.
1812.
By the generosity of Dean Gibson, trees were planted along the New Road
in December, 1858.
__ __ On crossing the road, we come to the house which was for a short
No. 30.
time a tavern known as the "Queen Victoria," established about the
year 1840. ~~ , « „ These houses were re-constructed or re-built at the close
Nos. 32 and 34. of the XVIIIth century, when " Squire Hoggarth," a
weaver by trade, was the proprietor. On the frontage there is a beautiful
specimen of a leaden rain-water spout head, which bears the date 1780. Here
William Sleddall for a long time carried on a school until his death in 1813.
„,. „ _ . n „ At the foot of Black Hall Croft, we come to what was in
St. George s Hall. the XVIIIth century the town house of Jacob Morland,
of Capperthwaite Hall. It is supposed to have been the first house erected in
Kendal with proper plans, specification, and contract. Afterward it became
the first County Court Office, when John Smith Wilson was registrar, and in
the square behind there is still to be seen one of those long Westmorland
windows, for which this town at one time was so noted.
St. George's Hall was built in the year 1879.
„ __ After passing the front of the lane, there is a capital house, with
double flight of steps, occupied at one time by Edmund Tatham,
surgeon, and since by the late John Farrer. It stands upon the site of an earlier
house occupied by Thomas Gibson, of the firm of Gibson and Gough, which
was taken down in 1786, and after being rebuilt it became the house where

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL. 3gQ
was first established the Maude, Wilson and Crewdson Bank, founded simul
taneously with the Wakefield Bank on the ist of January, 1788. In 1792 the
business was removed to No. 69, Highgate, which was purposely erected for it.
The partnership between Joseph Maude, Christopher Wilson, and Thomas
Crewdson, of Kendal, bankers, under the firm of Maude, Wilson, and
Crewdson, was dissolved, by the death of Thomas Crewdson, in the year 1795.
The business was then carried on by Joseph Maude, Thomas Holme Maude,
Christopher Wilson, Christopher Wilson, jun., and William Dillworth
Crewdson, under the firm of Maudes, Wilsons, and Crewdson. This co
partnership was dissolved by mutual consent on the 31st day of December,
1801 ; and the business was then conducted by Thomas Holme Maude,
Christopher Wilson, Christopher Wilson, jun., and William Dillworth
Crewdson, under the firm of Maude, Wilsons and Crewdson.
Finally, it became amalgamated with the Wakefield Bank in 1840, under
the style of " The Kendal Bank." But to return to this house, we find it
became after this the residence of Robert Dixon, an eminent tanner, who
caused the spacious hall, it is said, to be made for exercise, as he was a martyr
to the gout. This inn, called by the rebels " The Gallowav coming
Nag's Head Inn. r , „ „ , , ^, " .
out of the Bog, was tenanted by Thomas Tate in
June, 1854. To return again to the south side. The Temperance Hotel that
No. 41 now is and the premises behind were tenanted earlier by Samuel
Crewdson, hosier, then by John Gaskarth & Sons, linsey manufacturers, and
subsequently by John Johnson, hosier, who took into partnership John
Thompson. When they dissolved partnership, the firm became known as
John Thompson & Sons ; and the last of the family of that name to reside in
Kendal, and who twice served the office of Mayor, was the late James
Thompson, of Singleton Park. At the back there is another old Westmorland
window. The house that sets back is of a very ancient date, and when John
No J9 Todd made his plan in 1787 there was between this house and that
of Thomas Crewdson's, No. 53, a very wide entry, which led into the yard
where their warehouses were.

400 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
^ __ In one of the early deeds (about 1690) of this house there is a plan
drawn, giving it the name of "The Cross House," arid where it is
shown as projecting out across the pavement as far as the present kerbstone.
It passed from Herbert to Thomas Gibson in 1710, from Thomas Gibson to
John Wilson in 1764, and was then described as situated " in Lierlian Street,
commonly called Stramongate ; " and from John Wilson to Thomas Crewdson
in 1779, who carried on an extensive hosiery business close by. The long stair
case window, measuring 33 feet by 2 feet 9 inches, is the best specimen that
we now have of the old Westmorland windows.
When the house was re-built in 1792 it was set back to its present
frontage, and the high wall of the burial ground adjoining, which also extended
out to the kerbstone, was likewise at this time set back in a line with the new -
building, thus leaving many a grave below the present pavement. To
compensate, as it were, for the ground thus taken, the Lord of the Manor
granted permission for the burial ground to extend backwards as far as the
New Road, and one can see to-day the junction on the west side wall where
this extension has taken place.
_ . , . „ ,  Those who are fortunate enough to possess a
Friends' Meeting House. , *
copy of John Todd's plan will there see a
good plan of the original Friends' Meeting House, constructed about 1688, and
which, when taken down, was found to have been built with clay, instead of
lime mortar. On the door was discovered the date 1688, and it is probable
that the Society was introduced into the town by George Fox about 1645. As
confirmatory to this date of building, I would refer to the inscription which
was scratched upon a cottage window pane in reference to the height of a
flood, as given on page 22.
The illustration on next page, shows the steps that led up from Yard 59
to the gallery of the chapel over a portion of the caretaker's house.
The burial ground must also have been in use in these early days, as we
find that one of the preachers is recorded to have been buried here on the 24th
day of September, 1743. As I have just intimated, the ground was enclosed
on the Stramongate side by a high wall and large folding gates, over which a
few aged trees reared their heads as guardians of the portal.

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL. 401
The present building was erected in the year 1815, nearly on the same
site, to accommodate 1,200 people.
The Sunday School
was first started in
the Meeting House
about the year 1830,
but the classes be
came discontinued in
1839. Soon after
another attempt was
made, with little
better success, for we
find that the school
again dwindled away
about 1856. How
ever, in February,
1859, the scheme was
resuscitated, the boys
meeting in a room in
the Black Hall Croft,
and the girls in the
Meeting House. Two
years later the boys
moved to a room on the New Road opposite to J. Ireland & Co.'s works, and
from this time the classes seemed gradually to grow, insomuch that in the
year 1869 and 1875 more rooms in the same building had to be added. At
last Stramongate Hall was built in 1880 to accommodate both sexes, and the
school has ever since increased in usefulness.
On the northern side of the road there is now a pot shop,
No. 56 to 66. . , , , „
where Dr. Longmire resided when Mayor in the years 1855
and 1861. The house has been re-built upon the site, as some say, of the old
Cross House.
The plaster and painted house adjoining occupies the site where Jonathan
Dawson* hosier, and Mayor in 1787-8, lived. Next house but one to this also
lived another worshipful hosier, the genial John Suart, Mayor in 1793, and

402 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
again in 1807, before it was re-built. The properties are coupled together, as
it would appear that most, if not all the hosiers, occupied places in Stramon
gate. Suart's house, when taken down in 1815, was found, like the old Friends'
Meeting House, to have been built with clay.
_ , . _ -. . . For more than two centuries since its foundation in
Friends' Day School. ,„,,...,„,,,
1698, the Friends School has played an active and
conspicuous part in the educational history of Kendal. The following minute
was made at a quarterly meeting of the Friends, held in Kendal, in November,
1697 : — " This meetting haveing had under their consideration ye erecting of
A scooll for ye Education of their children and have Agreed yt Kendall may be
ye place for one yeare, J. Blayklinge is desired speedily to write to Christr :
Win and give him account of what is her.e Agreed upon, and yt £16 per Ann.
be assured to ye Scooll master." Things moved slowly in those days, posts
were infrequent, men did not greatly hurry themselves, so that it was not till
January, 1698, that the preliminary arrangements were made and the school
was in operation.
The first master was John Jopson. In 1706 the school had so well
increased that an assistant master was engaged at £10 a year. The school
premises adjoined the Meeting House on the south side. About the year 1715
Thomas Rebanks succeeded Jopson, and in 1728 a boarding school was
established by him in connection with the day school. For full fifty years this
worthy man held the position.
Here is a copy of a school bill in those days: —
Trustees to Richard Willan, Dr.
To Boarding & Schooling for Lanc'lot Willan. £ b. d.
N.B. — The last paymt discharged to 20th, 4th Month, 1734, since which
to 20th, 10th Month, 1734, One £ year .....   400
To nth. ist Month, 1735, Wn. he left, n weeks and upwards more .... I 14 o
Vulgar Arithmetic 10s MercM Accompts £1 1/-    in o
Firing at home & school i/6, Oil lamp black 4d.   ... o 1 10
Worsted and Thread for a long season     010

Keced of James Wilson the Contents
of this Note in full by me
Thos. Rebanks.

Kendal, 14th 3rd Month, 1735-

£7 7 io

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL. 4o3
When the Pretender's following passed through Kendal, the tail of it was
lodged in poor Rebank's house, which they fairly well ransacked, making it
difficult for our pedagogue even to retain his watch and silver buckles by the
which he set great store.
Soon after his retirement, the committee reorganised the foundation of
the school on broader principles, and erected the present building in the year
1772 upon a portion of the Bryan Lancaster's estate, with the influential
assistance of the Society of Friends all over England.
George Bewley, " a man of superior mind and a good classic," followed as
headmaster. Here is a copy of a printed circular addressed by the Friends of Kendal
to friends generally, on the school of Kendal : —
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS AMONGST FRIENDS
FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUTH
IN THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.
Having repeatedly engaged the Attention of the Yearly Meeting and also several
Quarterly Meetings in this Nation, though little hitherto hath in Consequence thereof been
Effected: And as George Bewley, George and Leonard Raw, did sometime ago intimate to
Friends here their Willingness to unite in this useful Employment, provided a House was
Erected convenient for the purpose : We took the Matter under our serious Consideration,
and having had Convincing proofs of their suitable Qualifications for the Undertaking, in the
satisfactory Essays they have already made among us in a separate Capacity, we thought they
merited our warmest Encouragement, and we have accordingly Erected a Capacious House
in a retired and healthful part of the Town, which is now finishing with all possible Expedi
tion, divided into four Commodious Apartments, which, tho' perfectly distinct, will yet by
help of Glass in the partitions be under the view of one person ; the Expense whereof when
Completed will amount to about five hundred pounds, for the Discharge whereof and the
purchase of a Library for the public Service of the School, a Subscription has been opened
here, and we have liberally contributed thereto, according to our respective Abilities.
Now as we move upon principles of general Utility, in making this ample provision,
having before a House more than Sufficient to accommodate the Youth that are likely to
arise among ourselves, when taught after the usual Methods : We therefore hope our
Friends at a Distance in affluent or Easy Circumstances, for whose benefit as well as our own
the Institution is Calculated, will generously Contribute toward defraying the Expense of
Carrying this beneficial Design into Execution.
Kendal, the 23rd ofthe 3rd Month, 1772.
I have before me a prospectus of this school dated 1722, from which I
extract the following : —

404 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
At Kendal in Westmorland
Was lately opened, under the Direction and Management of George Bewley, George and
Leonard Raw,
A new large & commodious School, in an open, healthful, and retired Situation
Where Youth are instructed

£ ¦¦ <M
In English and Writing at .... ....   i ro o
In Arithmetic, Latin & French at ....   220
In Gieek & the practical parts of the Mathematics at  3 3°
And in the theoretic or Elementary parts thereof at  440

by the Year
and
five Shillings
upon
Admission.

Any Scholar, for the small Consideration of one shilling a Quarter, may have the perusal
of a Choice Collection of Books, in the most serviceable Branches of Science purposely
prepared for the Benefit and Utility of the School.
Boarders are received into the Masters' House at £14 per Ann. (Washing and Tea
excluded). The Undertakers, actuated with the warmest Wishes for the promotion of the general
Good of Mankind, in the well-conducted Education of Youth, are determined to Exert their
utmost Abilities, that the Understandings of their pupils may be profitably improved, their
Manners justly formed, and their Minds made sensibly acquainted with the interesting
Truths of Christianity. If their Attempt to serve the public meet with Sufficient Approba
tion and Encouragement, they will procure a Suitable Apparatus for Experimental philosophy,
proper Instruments for Astronomical Observations, able Assistants in other useful Branches
of Knowledge and whatever else may contribute to render the Institution more Extensively
beneficial. Bewley retired in 1785, when the appointment of Jonathan and John
Dalton, as joint successors to their cousin, was announced, and the school
must ever remain famous for their connnection with it.
Here is an extract from their circular : —Boarding School, Kendal, January 16th, 1787.
Jonathan and John Dalton take this Method of informing their Friends and the public,
that they have lately taken and furnished a commodious House in Kendal, fit for the
Reception of a pretty large Family, with an Intention of taking Youth to Board, and be in
structed in all or any of the following Branches of Learning, viz. : — English, Latin, Greek,
and French, also Writing, Arithmetic, Merchants' Accompts, and the several parts of pure
and mixed Mathematics specified beneath.
Geometry Mensuration Conic Fluctions Perspective
Trigonometry Surveying Astronomy Mechanics
Navigation Gauging Projection Pneumatics
Geography Algebra Dialing Hydrostatics
Use of the Globe Fluxions Optics Hydraulics, &c.

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL.

4°5

The Terms are : —
Board, exclusive of Washing, per Annum
English and Writing
Arithmetic, Merchants' Accompts, Latin, and French .
Greek and the Mathematics

£ B.
14 O
I IO
2 2
3 °

Those who place Youth under their Care, may depend upon a careful and steady atten
tion being paid to their Improvement, Health, and Behaviour.
N.B. — The School House is a large and elegant Building purposely erected for the
Accommodation of Youth, in an agreeable and airy Situation, and has belonging to it a very
valuable Library of Books, chiefly on ancient and modern History, Mathematics, and
Natural Philosophy, also an Air pump, Globes, and several other Philosophical, Mathe
matical, and Optical Instruments. Cumberland Pacquet, January 24th, 1787.
It was during the twelve years that the illustrious John Dalton served the
school as a master, that he imbibed his taste for meteorology, and laid the
ground work, by watching the fluctuations of our own climate, of his celebrated
essay on that subject. He removed to the Philosophical Institution at
Manchester in 1793, and there became " the father of modern chemistry," and
demonstrated the atomic theory, which in physical science ranks next to the
theory of gravitation. Again in 1815 the connection of Jonathan Dalton with
the school was severed, when
Samuel Marshall was ap
pointed in his stead, till the
year 1855, when our honoured
friend, Alderman Henry
Wilson, took up the reins for
five years. He was succeeded
by Henry Thompson, who
had the management of the
school for eighteen years, i.e.,
till 1878.

Yard 65.

Returning to the
opposite side of
the road, I cannot pass by
without a word of comment
upon that most choice bit of
grouping that can be seen
down Yard No. 65.

Vartl K"^5"1 ¦=~,tramonjate

406 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
My illustration gives no adequate interpretation of its charm, for the
soft colouring of each shapeless stone, enriched by the golden stain of time
and glowing beneath the warmth of a mid-day sun, cannot be depicted by
hard drawn-out lines of black.
_ _ Before this lane was widened arid made a continuation
Rosemary Lane. of the New Road, it was merely a pathway that led
down to the river-side and on to the tentering ground that lined the river's
banks, which, as far back as the year 1612, was used by the shearmen dyers
when Kendal was characterized by Camden to be " lanificii gloria et industria
precellens." _,, The earliest mention that I have ofthe house that stood upon this
No. 71. r
site is a curious paragraph taken from the Cumberland Pacquet for
February 10th, 1795 : — •" On Wednesday last, at Kendal, one William Airey, a
mason, was engaged for a considerable wager, to run from the town hall to
Crooklands, being six miles on the Lancaster road, and back again, in the
space of two hours, which he performed (though the snow was four inches
deep) with the greatest ease in one hour and 35 minutes. It is worthy of
remark that the said Airey some time ago, repairing the roof of a house three
stories high, slipped his foot accidentally, and fell upon the pavement, but his
life was miraculously saved by a mastiff dog that laid there, and happily
softened his fall."
This ancient house at the foot of Stramongate was approached by -three
steps on the main street side, and was the residence of a family of the name of
Mawson, who were manufacturers of woollens at Crook Mill. In 1808, Daniel
Harrison, wine merchant, under St. George's Chapel, married Miss Betsy
Cartmell, and here in 1809 was born their only son and heir, Thomas Cartmell
Harrison, who was student of Caius College, Cambridge. Their eldest
daughter Jane became the wife of Thomas Harrison, Town Clerk of Kendal,
and who, after residing with his father-in-law for many years at Sand Area
House, built the mansion at Singleton Park in 1848-9.
This present building of hewn limestone, which stands upon the site of
the old Sand Area House, was erected in 1827-8 by D. Harrison, his wife,
a strong masculine woman, being, so it is said, clerk of the works.

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL. 407
From the year 1849 to 1851 it was the residence of W. D. Crewdson,
who was followed by Robert Braithwaite. Subsequently it was bought by
Stephen Brunskill, who suffered considerably from the overflowing of the
river during his residence here, and who ultimately sold the premises to our
townsman, Mr. James Harrison.
Messrs. Ireland's mill is perhaps the oldest woollen factory in Kendal.
Nathan Gough, father of John Gough, the blind philosopher, and grandfather
of Dr. Gough, one of the founders of the Kendal Literary and Scientific
Society, was partner first with Thomas Gibson, who endowed the Unitarian
Chapel, and subsequently with John Ireland. On Friday morning, December
21st, i860, the mill was completely destroyed by fire, and with the large
amount of manufactured goods represented a loss of some £4,000, which was
fortunately all covered by insurance. The present mill was re-built in 1861.
Here John Gough, Kendal's blind philosopher, was born on the 17th
day of January, 1757, but since his day the building has been raised a
story in height, and has had new sash windows inserted in place of the old
leaden lights and casements. When John was very young his parents removed,
it is thought, to the other side of the street — since the " Blue Bell " beerhouse
— subsequently they went to one of the houses, then just built, at the north
east corner of Lowther Street, which bears the inscription ~.lg " (James Fell,
surgeon). On John Gough's marriage in 1800, he went to reside at Middleshaw, in
Old Hutton, living there till about 1812, when he built Fowl Ing, where he
remained till his death, July 28th, 1825, aged 68 years.
In the recess and adjoining Sand Area Meeting House there once
existed a public-house called the " White Swan," much frequented
by anglers and tanners. Chiefly in consequence of the spread of the Hicksites
Sand Area Chapel. . . , „
or Quaker Unitarians, in America and to some small
extent here, and also on account of their dissatisfaction with the state of
religion in the various churches and chapels in the town, some ten or twelve
friends met one Sunday morning at Birklands for the purpose of prayers and
the breaking of bread. They desired to have a service more simple, scriptural

4o8 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
and spiritual than anything they could find around them. After holding their
meetings for a short time at Birklands, they engaged a large front room over
the shop of Thomas Woof, tea dealer, at No. 35, Highgate. Here they
remained for a considerable time, until their members increasing, a larger
room became required. This was found in a workshop over an open saw-pit,
close behind the Railway Station, which was fitted up for the purpose, and
supplied with a baptistry. Several lecturers were brought down to preach
" The coming of the Lord draweth nigh." The public mind became greatly
exercised on the question, and large numbers were drawn together in con
sequence. To accommodate these assemblies, the White Hall Lecture Room
had to be rented for the Sunday services, and a front room over the bookseller's
shop of Mrs. Richard Hargreaves, in Lowther Street, was secured for the
Tuesday evening meetings, but this likewise proving too small, the meeting
moved to a large room formerly the warehouse of Gascoigne Barker, the girth
manufacturer, up Yard 104 in Highgate. But for the quarterly meetings and
baptisms the Longpool room still continued to be used, unless many were to
be baptized at one time, when the ornamental pond in the Birklands' grounds
was called into requisition for the solemn service.
The drawbacks from this continual changing from one room to another,
however, soon became manifest, and as some small cottage property at Sand
Area then came into the market, it was at once secured, and the plans
drawn for the present building, which was built in the year 1857, and opened
on October the 4th, accommodating some 300 people.
Shortly after the building of the new Inghamite Church in 1844 a secession
took place, the seceders at first worshipping in the Friends' School, from
whence they removed to the neat little chapel in Castle Street Cemetery, and
were designated the " Christian Brethren." But on the erection of this Sand
Area Chapel they amalgamated with the Plymouth Brethren, which necessitated
the enlargement of the building in January, 1863.
_ . „, , T This inn was re-built in 1850 on the site of a very
Duke Charles Inn. . ° J
ancient hostelry of the same name, and which pro
jected considerably into the street. It had for a sign a portrait of Duke
Charles leading his soldiers with his drawn sword. Mrs. Unsworth was the
first landlady of the new inn, and she celebrated her house-warming by
inviting her patrons and friends to a black-pudding supper.

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL. 409
This shop was erected in 1863 upon some old and delapidated
property. James Thompson also built his extensive card-making
steam mill in 1859, upon what was then known as Potter's Close. Since the
time of John Wade, who served the office of Mayor in 1743, the manufacture
of wool cards has risen to a place of considerable eminence, indeed it is
affirmed that if the business was not originated here, it at least received from
the ingenuity of our townsmen so many improvements as should fairly entitle
the town to the honour of its invention. The large factory on the river-side still
continues to retain its popularity for its good work and machinery.
The " Bridge Inn," at the south-west of Stramongate Bridge,
Bridge Inn. which became licensed about 1830, was formerly a good
B.
residence. Upon the spout head are the initials and date, G. A. for Garnett
1738.
Braithwaite, who is supposed to have erected the house at this period. He
was a joint owner of a little mill in the neighbourhood, said formerly to have
been a silk mill, and afterwards a pin mill, which ceased about the year 1790.
The factory was subsequently moved to the Castle Mill dam, converted into a
woollen mill by Wilson and Braithwaite, and continued as such till about
1806, when the new Castle Mills were built.
In the pre-reformation episcopal registers there is
Stramongate Bridge. .
an entry, dated 1379, concerning De ponte de
Strowmondgate," in which the bishop offers an indulgence to all who shall
adequately contribute to the building of the bridge which spanned the Kent,
in the parish of Kirkby Kendall, in the Diocese of York. This is an interesting
extract, as it shows that there was a bridge across the Kent at a very early
date. Two centuries later the bridge seems to have been in a very dilapidated
condition, and required the following precaution to be taken by the authorities,
Vide Boke off Recorde, 21st December, 1582 :— " Itm it is ordeyned and
constitutyd by the Alderman and Head Burgesses aforesayd w,h the ffull advise
& assent aswell of the xxiiij" sworn assistantes as off moost p'te off the honest
Inhabitantes heare that no maner of p'son or p'sons frome hencefurthe shall or
may, either drawe or trayle any tymber or other draughte whatsoever either by
strengthe off horses or other catall or by the power of men (above one only
beast draught at any one tyme) Over either of the Brydges called stramang' or
nether brydge Sub pen for fac toe q°c xijd. thone halff therof to the Chamber &
the other halff to the Brigtolers."

410

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

STRAMONGATE BRIDGE IN KENDAL.
The Rebuilding of the said Bridge will be
Let at the Coffee-House in Kendal, on Wed
nesday, the 5th Day of June, 1776, agreeable
to a Plan then to be produced. For Particulars
in the mean time, apply to Mr. John Bracken,
High Constable, or to Mr. John Shutt, in
Kendal.

the following advertisement it would seem
entered into at all : —

STRAMONGATE BRIDGE.
To be Let, at Mr. Maskew's, the Coffee
House in Kendal, on Thursday, the 22nd Day
of September, 1791, the finding Materials,
taking down and re-building Stramongate
Bridge over the River Kent in Kendal, after a
Design ot Mr. Harrison's of Lancaster, con
sisting of Three Eliptical Arches, which may
be seen at the Printing Office in Kendal. The
Two End Arches to span Forty-five feet each,
and the Centre Arch Fifty feet. The Carriage
and Foot Roads to be Thirty feet within the
Battlements. To be well and substantially
executed and to be upheld for Seven Years.

This work could not have
been carried out immediately,
for West, in his Guide to the
Lakes published some two
years later, speaks of the
bridge as " more venerable
than handsome." Indeed from
that the first undertaking was not
Hitherto this narrow pass,
which formed, by the way, the
main post road from north to
south, and the only certain
communication from Scotland
to the busiest and most popu
lous parts of Western England,
was so extremely narrow and
steep at its approaches that
numerous accidents occurred
in crossing it, especially with
the heavy lumbering coaches of
that day.

Curiously, however, it was not doomed to destruction, for when the work
was set about to widen it in the following year and the decayed crust removed,
it was found that, unlike the crazy exterior, it was within so firmly cemented
that nothing short of blasting could have removed such solid work.
A look at this remarkable bridge from beneath the first arch, on the
eastern side will fully repay the curious observer. It will be at once noticed
that the bridge, as it now is, is really three distinct bridges, the old one being
in the centre and not much wider than either of its outside neighbours with
which it is not connected otherwise than by juxta-position. The date of
1793-4 was inscribed upon the bridge in two places.

Cuckstool.

The cuckstool, or " tumbrel," or "trebuchet," for the scolding

women who were treated as offenders against the public peace,
stood about here close to the bridge. Anciently this chair was also called

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL.

411

the " gagging stool," in Domesday Boke it is called " cathedra stercoris," and
earlier still we find it amongst our Saxon ancestors, and called by them the
" scolding stool." The free use of the tongue gave rise to riots and feuds to
an extent which it is difficult for
us to realise at the present day,
and still more difficult is it for
us to realise that a time was
when poor women gifted with
long tongues and twisted brains
had to be gagged by such
inhuman instruments as the
"brank." (See page 339). If
the notorious scolds fortunately
escaped this most inhuman in
strument, they were fastened
instead into a cuckstool, that they might have the warmth of their temperment
abated by the salutary operation of ducking. Readers of Boswell's " Life of
Johnson " will remember how the doctor, in reply to a remark made by a
celebrated Quaker lady, Mrs. Knowles, observed — " Madam, we have different
modes of restraining evil, stocks for men, a ducking stool for women, and a
pound for beasts." Many were the different styles of apparatus used for this
purpose, the most common being a strong wooden-framed chair, embellished
and painted on the back with pictures of devils flying away with scolds.

Ducking-stool fron a chap-book.

The following extract from the Boke off Recorde, which unfortunately is
not dated, reveals a good deal between its lines of the power used by the
magistrates' with this instrument of punishment : — •" Whereas sundrie p'sons
inhabitinge wthn this Burghe and others (off their insatiable mindes without
any regarde to comon honestie modestie or feare off God or his seuere
punishmt, either in this life or the life to come) doe give vp their bodies (wh
Almightie God hathe made and ordeyned to honor) vnto all maners off dishonor
& dissolute kinde off life in quaffinge immoderate & supfluous devouringe off
stronge ale & drinke at verie many nedeles and unfit times continuing the same
most foule & detestable vice so longe, till at length they be so farre overtaken
& gone, that they become beastlike and insensible without reason or any good
vnderstandinge, besides the great losse off time & waste off their goods, and

412

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

miserable wante off their famelies at home, and their own beggering at lengthe,
and lamentable grefe to all other good Christians their neighbors detestinge &
loathing that vice : ffor redresse whereoff, and preventinge off sundrie Mischiefs
wh els mighte happen by this occation (Besides great daunger to their soules)
iff the same enormitie should not in time be spedilie forsene, it is therefore
ordeyned & established by the Alderman and Burgesses of this Burghe beinge,
That all times hereafter when and so often as any psons or psons whsoeur

Ducking Stool at Ipswich.

shalbe sene or knowne by the Alderman or any Justice off Peace or deputie
alderman hereafter wthin this Burghe beinge, to have bene or at any time to
be so farre outaken besotted or drunken wth immeasurable devouringe off
strong drinke, That then it shalbe laufull to or for any alderm, Justice, or
Aldermans deputie, all & evy such misordered p'son & p'sons to causse to be
imprisoned in the dungeon wthin the same burghe, there to remaine at suche
diet, and duringe the pleasure of him that comitted him to th' end thereby to

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL. 4i'3
reclaime and waine euy off them from leudenes & detestable offences off drink-
inge: And also that evy suche magistrate aforesaid shall or may comit &
comand to be sett on the Cuckstoole euy comon skold, or railer, off notorious
misdemeanor at the like pleasure off the comander or magistrate &c."
The operation of ducking was variously carried out in different towns.
Where there was no running river, the beam projected over a stagnant pool ;
at the end of the beam was a pulley, over which ran a rope fastened to a basket
large enough to hold one person. The scold being forced into the basket,
hung over the muddy pool, amid the butt of jeers and missiles of a jubilant
crowd. The only way of escape was a jump into the dirty water, and run the
gauntlet through the crowd, but if the hapless one did not take the jump
"willingly, the push of a pole relieved the basket -of its weight. In some towns a
large cage was used, and, instead of taking a jump, the culprit was lowered
into the filthy pool, and drawn up again several times until the town authorities
thought the punishment sufficient.
Immediately after crossing over the bridge you enter into what is locally
claimed to be, and with an old-time pleasantry described as, " the district
Corporation of Doodleshire." Its history and charter date back to the time of
Riphard Cceur de Leon, when the heroic Dickey Doodle left the Far Cross
Bank for London. At once Dickey's rosy cheeks and curly wig seem to have
attracted the attention ofthe Royal Monarch, who took him as a page to the
seat of war. But after returning, his polished manners, downy moustache and
soft lips seems likewise to have proved too great an attraction for the court
beauties ofthe day. Poor Dickey, however, overshot his mark, and the King
wishing to send a Royal Charter to the Burgesses of Kendal, seized the oppor
tunity of banishing this winsome lad from court by sending him on that
perilous journey to the far-north of his realm. Dickey Doodle, if we are to
credit historians for want of other pastime, set off from London astride his
horse on November 18th, 1196, and reached Kirkland on the evening of the
28th. But alas, the "Cock and Dolphin" came in view, and after drinking
several flagons of nut-brown ale, the poor youth became oblivious, his horse
was taken from him, and he was consigned to the custody of the watchman
and his shins to the wooden stocks, until he was sober. Upon his liberation,
the crowd threatened to be rough with our page, and Dickey had to seek
safety in flight up Highgate, down Finkle Street, and over the fields to the

414 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
ford across the river, where Stramongate Bridge now stands. But his pursuers
dared not follow, as the dwellers on the east bank were at enmity with those
on the west. So Doodle received a warm welcome and a change of raiment.
The Book of the Chronicles then further goes on to state that the ambassador
besought his Royal Master on a post card, to so alter the charter as to make it
only apply to that portion of the town on the eastern bank ofthe river ; where
upon His Majesty not only at once agreed, but sent a telegram suggesting the
name of Doodleshire and Dickey as its first Mayor.
The following extract is from the Westmorland Gazette for October 6th,
1827 : — " If we had mirth, wine, and gladness in the Town Hall on Monday
last, so there were fun, frolic, and oddities at Far Cross Bank, or Doodleshire,
on the same day, where a Mayor was chosen, according to custom, in all due
formality. There were also races for smocks, hats, and waistcoats, silver cups
for trail hunts, and a belt to wrestle for. Huddlestone, Esq., merchant tailor,
was chosen Mayor ; and dressed in a huge cocked hat, scarlet embroidered
coat, sash, long white wand, thickly powdered, and mounted on a gallant steed,
he rode the liberties in procession ; but when the procession was over, his
lordship, it is said, descended from his dignity, lost the centre of gravity, had
business on all sides of the road, and began to study the zigzag diagram in
mathematics. The trail hunt was all confusion ; nobody won, but somebody
got the prize cup. One Gilpin, out of Kentmere, carried away the belt — a
descendant of the once celebrated Dr. Bernard Gilpin ; but tempora mutantur.
We are sorry to state that the Recorder was not present, he having had exten
sive dealings in malt for several days before, and having fulfilled two or three
engagements in the Town Hole was too much exhausted to attend, and thus
was the mainspring of action, life, and fun wanting. The fun began to wane,
mirth died on the ear, and many will remember with pleasure, yet a sigh of
regret, that they have passed away the last Doodleshire Mayor's day."
British School. The British Sch°o1 in Castle Street> °Pen to children of-
all religious denominations, was built in 1835 at a cost of
£610— of which sum £485 was raised by voluntary subscription, and £125
granted by the Government Commissioners of Education. It was enlarged
in 1857 and again in 1899.
Castle Street Cemetery. Meldrum's large garden was purchased in
1842, and was first used as a cemetery in May,

ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, KENDAL.

STRAMONGATK AND LONGPOOL. 4i5
1843, for the funeral of Miss Wakefield. The cottage was built in 1843, and
the foundation stone of the chapel laid on the 12th day of July, 1845. Within
the stone was deposited a glass bottle containing a copy of each of the Kendal
newspapers, several coins presented by Mr. J. Severs, and a written scroll
stating the objects of the founders. A brass plate attached to the bottle bears
the following inscription engraved upon it : — " Kendal, July nth, 1845. — This
chapel was built and cemetery established by deed of trust, vesting them both
in the following trustees, for the benefit of all who may use them for the inter
ment of their dead : — William D. Crewdson, J. J. Wilson, W. Wilson, Edw.
Crewdson, I. Whitwell, W. Wakefield, E. Wakefield, W. Braithwaite-Benson,
&c, &c."
_ Opposite to the " Castle Inn " are some cottages, the upper
rooms of which were formerly united into one fairly large room,
where the Primitive Methodists (introduced by Frank Jersey, a converted
sailor), first held their meetings. Here they remained until their new chapel
in the Black Hall Croft was erected in the year 1872.
_ , _ This row of houses was built about 1821, and Kent
Castle Crescent. Terrace chiefly about the year 1823.
_,. „« . ,., , Stockbeck, on the elevated banks of which the
St. George's Church. ' , r , „ „ . , ,
church stands, has its name from the Saxon stok
(a village) and the Danish "beck" (a brook). In order to escape the over
flowing of the Kent the ground was raised some four feet or more, and the
building was commenced in 1839 and consecrated by the Bishop of Chester on
the 17th of June, 1841. The endowment was transferred from the old St.
George's Chapel, and the funds for the erection— some £4,500— were procured
by subscription, augmented by a grant from the Church Building Fund.
The church measures 118 feet by 64 feet wide. The two western towers
are 13 feet in diameter, and rise to a height of 100 feet. There is accom
modation for some 1060 sittings, of which 900 are free and unappropriated.
The parsonage was erected in 1849 at a cost of £850.

1841-1843.' — Rev. W. J. Woodcock
1844-1847. — Rev. M.I. Finch.
1847-1856— Rev. J. B. Meredith.

Vicars. 1856-1875. — Rev. E. Gabriel.
1875-1893. — Rev. Geo. Crewdson.
1893 .—Rev. R. W, Britton.

416 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
_, _ _ , The Sunday School was founded in 1826 during
St. George's Schools. y 5
the curacy of the ^Rev. Richardson. When the
new church was building the school removed to a room connected with the
brewery in Castle Street, and after the erection of the present day schools near
the Railway Station in 1853, the Sunday School has found a comfortable
quarters there ever since.
Returning again into Wildman Street through Ann Street, we notice a
house built by Ann Cookson with this inscription : —

ANN'S PLACE
Quis putaret
1836

(Who would have thought it ?)

Wildman Gate in Speed's plan was greatly rebuilt in 1819, and widened
in 1821.
_ These works were built about 1760 or 1770, but the flat-coped,
Brewery. .
prison-like frontage has only been built within the last three
years, when the frontage was set back to widen the street. In the old title-
deeds this property is named " Sleddall Hall," and the site upon which the
" Farmers' Arms" (formerly the "Weavers' Arms," and earlier still the "Pack
Horse ") was built in 1770, is particularly described as the " Croft " belonging
to the same. «» Down the yard adjoining, and through a doorway opening
Yard No. 3.
into a narrow passage on the left hand, there is still to be
seen a remarkable piece of plaster ornamentation. It appears as if the passage
now goes through what had formerly been a room of some importance — pro
bably a portion of the Sleddall Hall — and that this plaster work decorated the
F.
overmantel. It consists of a central shield bearing the initials and date I. M.
1660,
on either side of which are three horizontal panels, decorated with fruit and
foliage with the exception of the lower ones, which bear on the dexter two
birds, and on the sinister two lions rampant. The whole measures some six feet
in length by two feet three inches in height.

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL. 4I?
No. 18. Immediately below the " Farmers' Arms," and where there is now a
bakehouse, was, at the end of last century, a tavern known as the
" Bottle and Glass."
Prince of Wales' Feathers. °PPosite is the " Prin" of Wales Feathers,"
with its well-painted sign.
Castle Dairy PerhaPs the °ldest house now existing in the town, and rich
in antiquity, stands upon the north-west of Wildman Street
-—a. tottering remnant, which but imperfectly sets forth a correct idea of its
original shape.
From the appellation given to it now, it would seem that it may have been
used by the Barons as a dairy in connection with the farm ; but it is well
known that prior to the end of the XVIth Century, such offices as these were
always situated within the outer wall of the keep. Tradition also affirms that
the laundry was situated here, and, further, that it became the residence of the
steward or overseer.
On a stone outside above the central window, and within a sunk panel, are
the initials " A.G.," with a cord of sundry knots entwined and the date 1564,
for Anthony Garnett, the proprietor. On the splay of the western kitchen
window-head can still be seen the incised motto : —
"QVI . VADIT . PLANE— VADIT . SANE,"
and " A.G." in cypher.
This same idea is rendered into English on coeval glass in Worlingworth
Church, Suffolk— "\}t nt hialke plainly— irralketlj aaucln."
At the south-east corner and on the upper floor is a bedroom that is said
to have once been the chapel. One can hardly realize this, for if it were
intended for the estate husbandman and servants, as well as for pilgrims
passing on their perilous journey over the fells to and from Shap Abbey, it is
scarcely likely that it would be placed in such an inaccessible corner. For
undoubtedly the ancient doorways to the building are those which can still be
seen, by going round to the back, at the north-west corner of the building,

418

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL. 41g
which are as far away removed from this room as a diagonal line must be. By
the way, these ancient doorways, unseen by the public passing along the
comparatively modern turnpike road, are worthy of a close inspection.
But to return to the bedroom, whether it was the chapel or not, it is
undoubtedly the most interesting room left untouched in the building. The
ceiling is vaulted and spanned by three cross oaken ribs, at the crown of which
there were three carved bosses. Of these only two now remain. The one
nearest the window has a shield of four quarterings, viz. :-i, two barrulets
engrailed, on the upper one a mullet pierced, for Parr ; 2, three chevronels
interlaced, for Fitz Hugh ; 3, three water-bougets, two and one, for Roos ; 4,
three gryphon's head erased, Or, for Thomas Garnett. On the next boss
there is another shield also of four quarterings, viz. :-i and 4, a fess dancette
between nine billets, four and five, for Deincourt ; 2 and 3, three escalop shells,
two and one, for Strickland.
The foot ofthe rib nearest the window rests upon a richly-carved corbel
on the western side only, which is made up of two gryphon's heads.

The Castle Dairy.
The principal piece of furniture is a large oaken bedstead, upon the head
board of which there are two rows of carved panels in bold relief. On the
upper row we find first, a mask with horns ; second, a shield bearing the
initials A. G. conjoined by a fanciful knotted cord, with the inscription
" omnia vanitas " cut upon a scroll ; and third, a mask in cinque-cento style.
On the lower row there are three lion's masks in as many panels. '

420 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
Beside the bed there is a beautiful ambrey, on the cornice of which is
inscribed the words — oia ¦ vanitas ¦ honor * divicie • potestas, and at the
base there is the date, anno • dni ¦ 1562, with the initials A. G. on either side.
In the window there are four diamond panes of stained glass, viz. : — 1,
A. G. with the date 1565 ; 2 and 3, an oak tree erased Argent, fructed Or, on
its branches an eagle and child, Or ; 4, the date 1567 • omnia • vanitas, the
initials A. G. interlaced with cord, and a skull head.
The kitchen is interesting by reason of the fine " clavey " or oak mantel
shelf that extends the whole width of the house, and the two diamond panes of
stained glass in the stone mullioned window, viz : — 1, the date 1567 • omnia
vanitas " viendra • le ¦ iour with the initials A. G. interlaced with cord, and
a skull head ; 2, a fleur-de-lis within a tasteful border in cinque-cento style,
surmounted by a crown. There is also a small oak cupboard decorated with a
linen pattern panel.
Within an old chest was discovered many years since a missal, and
within a smaller box were a dozen beechen roundles, some 5^ inches in
diameter, gilded and painted, six of one pattern and six of another. In the
centre of each was a representation of an animal with a quatrain beneath.
These roundles are supposed to be of the time of Henry VIII., the letters
being half-printing, half-running hand, with red Lombardic initials at the
beginning of each line. The verses are given at length in Nicholson's Annals
of Kendal and the roundles themselves are preserved in the Museum.
We fear that we must ascribe the rumoured subterranean passage to the
Castle to no higher authority than that wild fancy which thus gilds, to its own
delight, antique and curious buildings in all parts of our country — that native
spirit of poetry " One with our feelings and our powers
And rather part of us, than ours,''
without a sprinkling of which this world in all its teeming beauty might be too
much of a dull reality.
Railway Inn. This inn was known in the Year z79^> by the sign of the
" Lowther Arms," a name which it continued to bear until
after the completion of the railway. In the year 1850 it was greatly altered by

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL. 421
its landlord, Thomas Fisher, since when it has been considerably altered and
added to from time to time, notably some two years ago.
_ ., It is interesting to remember that Kendal was one of the earliest
Railway. h
of provincial towns to be blessed by a railway.
The battle for the line — north and south — began in 1836. There was
a severe contest between the east coast towns, the west coast towns, and
the central towns for the favour of the great trunk to connect London with
Scotland. Kendal took the lead in the contest, and there was little prospect
at that time that any more than one through line could pay. A railway
committee was at length formed, of which Cornelius Nicholson was appointed
secretary. He visited Penrith and Carlisle, formed local committees, and set
about the great task of raising a capital of £1,200,000. And here the projector
must certainly have failed if he had not been able to persuade the railway
companies already in operation between London and Lancaster to subsidise
the projected Lancaster and Carlisle Branch. They ultimately promised
£500,000, and the remaining £750,000 was raised by dint of personal canvass
ing in the district.
The Bill passed through Parliament in 1844, and the first sod was turned
at Grayrigg in September of the same year. The prospectus was for only a
single line of rails, but it was thought advisable at once to enlarge the plan,
and the proprietors having borrowed the additional amount, determined most
judiciously that a double line should be at once laid down. Finally, it was
opened to the public for traffic in September, 1846.
Some disappointment was naturally felt at first in Kendal, when it was
found that this line could not be brought nearer the town than Oxenholme.
To repair this defect surveys were immediately made from Oxenholme through
Kendal to Windermere. There was no difficulty then in raising capital for
the project, as a mania was setting in, and this little undertaking needed no
support from the outside world.
The original intention was to carry the line as far as Lowwood, but this
would have entailed a viaduct over the Troutbeck stream, which the engineer
calculated could not cost less than £11,000, a serious addition to the estimate
of £125,000 to Windermere. This, however, was likewise for only a single line

422

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

of rails, and another £40,000 was required for constructing a double rail. The
Act passed through Parliament on the 30th of June, 1845, and the line was
opened for traffic amid great rejoicings on Tuesday, April the 20th, 1847.

ICBMBJil^ & IIIDi^ISli RAIL'S AYi
Opening tfnouejf) to SHfn&ermere,
On TUESDAY, 20th April 1847.

LEAVING KENDAL AT 12 O'CLOCK, NOON.
t& nsrtinit mt @ p.m.

Copy of the Second Class Ticket, which was printed in green ink on a buff card.
The Kendal Station at first was only a mean wooden erection, but it was
rebuilt in i860 at a cost of between £7,000 to £8,000.
I have before me as I write a Parliamentary Report from the Select
Committee upon this proposed new branch, dated 230 die Maii, 1845. It is a
most interesting paper, giving not only the estimates of the cost, but also the
names of those gentlemen who came forward at once to take up shares and
become directors. The principal names are : —

Edward Wilson (Chairman)

... £1,250

John Harrison

£2.500

C. L. Braithwaite

250

Cornelius Nicholson

3,500

Jas. Bryans (Bowness) 

250

*John Wakefield

2,500

G. B. Crewdson

••¦ 3.750

William Whitwell

2,500

Dr. John Davy (Ambleside)

250

John Jowett Wilson

2,000

*James Gandy 

.... 16,250

John Hewitson Wilson (Staveley)

1,250

John Gandy 

.... 12,500

*Christopher Wilson

2,500

» These gentlemen were not Directors.

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL. 423
The report is also interesting in that it gives a return of the traffic in
passengers from Kendal to Bowness and Ambleside betwixt ist November,
1843, and ist November, 1844, as follows : —
Passengers by Posting through the Plumgarth's Toll Bar.

728 pairs, averaging 4 persons each 2,912
572 cars, „ 3 „ „ 1,726
468 gigs, „ 2 „ ,, 936

364 saddle horses ....  364
T&'al  5,938

Passengers by their own private Conveyances.
150 carriages, averaging 4^- persons
each    675
300 phaetons, averaging 3 persons
each  ....  900

450 gigs, averaging 2 persons each 900
900 saddle horses   900

Total

Passengers by the Whitehaven Mail and by the Mazeppa Coach.

3.375

The Mail, 365 days, averaging 7 persons per day ....    2,555
The Coach, for 20 weeks in summer, 6 days a week, averaging 10 per day   1,200
Total  3,755
Actual returns taken for seven days in November, 1844 (the worst month
in the year), give the number of carts passing one way only as 331, or at the
rate of 50 per day, and it does not include carts laden with coals and lime, of
which there were 62 tons of the former and 20 tons of the latter carried
regularly per week. Beside this, there were some 39 tons of goods carried per
'week by carriers as follows : —
Robinson, the carrier, had 48 horses on the road, each week averaging 12 cwt. per horse,
and Ben. Townson had 16 horses, carrying a load averaging the same weight.
Mr. Elijah Armitage has in his possession an oval brass plate, measuring
about i£ by ij inches, upon which is inscribed around the border the words
" Kendal and Windermere Railway Company," and " Season Ticket " in the
centre. Under the railway bridge was an inn called
Duke of Cumberland Inn. „
formerly the New Crown, and at the
junction of the northern roads we have the " Duke of Cumberland," said to
have derived its name from the fact that the Duke, when passing through
Kendal, following the rebels in 1745, dismounted and had a glass by way of
refreshment.

424 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
The poor Duke had not so many friends between here and the border.
Willowdene Will with his Mistress Rowe and. Lord Traquair were ever ready
to assist him to alight from his chaise on some lonely spot and find sport in
his discomfiture. So that one can well imagine the relief to his pent up feel
ings as, on emerging from the moors over Shap Fells, he came in sight of this
towns-end inn, and the exuberant pleasure of that quaff of brown Kendal ale.
About one hundred years ago a very large granite stone,
about ij yards cube, was placed in the centre of the
street, in front of what is called " Salt Pie." It was the resort of all lads and
newsmongers of the neighbourhood (their cauld-stane in fact). At last
becoming a nuisance, it was buried beneath, where it still reposes unknown to
the lads of to-day as they pass over and over it. But whether this stone was
placed to mark the site of the ancient cross or not, is not known. It seems
more probable that the cross stood at the junction of the two roads.
_, . _ This house was built about 1812 on the south-west slope of
Benson Knot, which rises 1,098 feet above sea level, for John
Gough, "the blind philosopher," and one of the most remarkable men the
North of England has ever produced, who lived and died there July 28th, 1825,
aged 68. It is said that he chose the site as being favourable to his listening
to the changes rung upon the Parish Church bells.
The name has come through a misreading of the title deeds ; old Isaac
Rigge, being defective in his eyesight, mistook the word " following " for
" fowling," at which Gough became quite delighted, supposing that it was the
"fowl yard" ofthe Castle, and although the blunder was soon discerned, he
yet clung to the name, and it bears it to this day.
St. Leonard's Hospital. Ab°ut a mile out on the APPleby Road stands a
modern farm house, built in 1836 upon the site of
the ancient Leper Hospital, of which there is only now but a small portion of
the boundary wall remaining. This hospital was related to the Priory of
Coningshead, but was not a dependency of it. William de Lancaster, fourth
Baron of Kendal, gave the advowson of this hospital to the Canons regular of
St. Augustine about the end of the XII"' Century. He also founded Conishead
Priory, first as a hospital, giving it also to the Canons of St. Augustine, and
which was afterwards erected into a priory. At the end of the XIVth Century

STRAMONGATE AND LONGPOOL. 425
this hospital came to Sir William del Parr, and at the dissolution of the
Monasteries in the 38th Henry VIII. it was granted to Alan Bellingham and
Alan Wilson, and was valued at £11 4s. 3d. per annum. The duties were to
lodge and feed the decrepit, the .indigent and lepers, as also to relieve the
poor wayfaring passengers.
Dodding Green Tl"S venerable old mansion> situated on the banks of the
Mint, appears to have been built in 1682 by Robert
Stephenson. This date is found on a downspout attached to the building, with
, . S. f°r Robert and Alice Stephenson, who, by the way, we find
R- A. convicted amongst other Popish recusants in 1678, and
described as of Skelsmergh. Numerous paragraphs in the Rydal Hall docu
ments refer to repeated sufferings of this couple under the penal laws in
consequence of their steady adherence to their faith. It was this worthy man
who instituted the Stephenson Charity, for which see " Horse and Rainbow
Inn " in Highgate. He died 1723.
The present edifice stands near the site of an older building, as is proved
by the remains of an ancient gateway having been discovered on ground near
the kitchen garden. Probably this more ancient building was erected by the
Dodding family, who must have been in the district some century earlier than
the date of the present building, as is seen from the baptismal entry in the
Parish Church registers : —
" 1558 Edmond ye sonne of William Dodin of Skelsmergh."
The Boke of Recorde speaks of this family being both numerous and
powerful during the 16th century. Stephenson died in 1723 and left his house
and chapel to the Roman Catholic Church, charging it with the payment of
40s. a year to the poor of Skelsmergh and Patton. Since then several eminent
ecclesiastics have lived here, notably Dr. Hogarth, Bishop of Hexham and
Newcastle (1850 — 1866).
In the year 1687 Bishop Leyburne, who was connected with the Cunswick
family, and was then Vicar Apostolic of the whole of England, confirmed that
year 138 persons at Witherslack and 65 at Sizergh and Dodding Green ; and
it further appears that confirmation was given here in 1793 while the Kendal
Church was being re-built by Dr. William Gibson, great uncle to our late
Dean Gibson, and Vicar Apostolic of the northern district and Bishop of
Acanthus.

426 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
In the corridor communicating with the chapel and a staircase to the
roof, there is the necessary secret closet for the safety of the priests during the
time of the Penal Laws. It measures some six feet long by two feet broad,
with plenty of head height, and, moreover, ventilation at the top. There is a
story handed down of a priest named Abbe Ray, who was hunted into this
chamber about the year 1689. His pursuers having seen him enter the house,
searched everywhere, but having completely failed to find their prey, they
determined to burn the house down over his head. But upon hearing this
dreadful fate the poor priest made his escape to the roof and leaped down on to
the bank at the back, calling out to his pursuers to spare the building as he
was there, and finally made his escape through the wood and over the
adjoining hill.
Fortunately in the hurry of the pursuit the house was spared, for, collected
in the several rooms, are many relics and valuable books. A portable altar
which had belonged to the Roman Catholic martyr, Nicholas Postgate, who
was executed at York on the 7th of August, 1679, is here held in con
siderable veneration. There is also another portable altar labelled " Wither-
slack Hall," which was given to Dodding Green by Lord Stanley. In the
library are many very rare and beautiful books, the majority of which were
probably collected by Robert Stephenson. There is one printed in 1660, and
another bearing the signature on the title page of Mary Thornburrow, entitled
A Daily Exercise of the Devout, by T. V., a monk of the Holy Order of St.
Benedict, and printed by A. Dom in 1673. Also several other office books,
dated 1724 and 1729, with the signature of John Huddleston and J. Holden
upon them.
Amongst the portraits there is one by Ducket, of the Rev. Henry Rutter, a
priest stationed at Yealand, and the author of several ecclesiastical works.
Priests at Dodding Green.

1716 — T. Royden.
— John Huddleston.
—I. Holden.
-1799. — Robert Johnson.
1799-1801. — John Lonsdale.
1801-1803. — Thomas Johnson.
1803-1812. — Robert Bannister.

1812-1820. — Thomas Wilkinson.
1820-1838.— Henry Rutter.
1840-1858.— Charles Brigham.
1860-1868. — Robert Hogarth.
1868-1874.— Ralph Piatt.
1880-1890. — Luke Curry.
1891 —Henry Brettargh.

X.
Kendal Castle.

Towering high, a ruin'd castle, old and gray,
In mould'ring piles fast hast'ning to decay,
Its towers and battlements all cleft,
Its draw-bridge gone, and scarce a vestige left
Of turrets, while circling round, a grassy moat,
That speaks its rude defence in days remote —
When sturdy archers strode along thy sheen,
Equipped with bow, and clad in Kendal green."

429

KENDAL CASTLE.

THE summit of Castle Hill is some hundred and seventy feet above the
level of the river, which flows away on its western side ; and, it is much
to be regretted that there is so little information to be gleaned concerning the
past splendour of the old Castle, rising like a grey crown over the green hill
and that has once been the great central pivot ofthe town.
P -N Mounting up the northern slope of the hill, the earthworks
surrounding the base-court and the square area itself
measuring some no by 96 feet, first strike attention, and perhaps before you
are aware of it, excite a keen interest. Here we have the outer court, which
would at first be surrounded by strong palisades of oak. Within this defence,
the area would be occupied by huts and sheds of daub and wattle for the
retainers and for the cattle belonging to the great thane or franklin of Saxon
days. Between this and the inner court is a cross moat, and the communication
would be over a moveable bridge of planks. The inner ward has a circular
area of about 250 feet in diameter, and the fortress raised by the " ceorl " here
would have no stonework about it at all. Unfortunately it still seems
necessary to repeat that the popular idea of the moat having once been filled
with water is quite erroneous. The very depth and size is sufficient proof that
it was not intended for water. No, the whole value of this moat as a defence
consisted merely in its depth, in the steepness of the scarp and counter-scarp,
and in the oaken palisade that surmounted the top.
From the fact that a Roman legion once occupied a camp at Water
Crook, a good mile to the south of the town, it is possible that they also took
over this thane's dwelling, not so much for a camp as for a look-out post ;
but it must be confessed that there is no masonry or other external evidence
of such a Roman occupation.

43o KIRKBIE KENDALL.
But the Norman conquest brought about a great change in these
Norman. , ,
parts, and Kendal became by gift from the Conqueror the
property of Ivo de Tailbois, a Norman baron. Now Ivo was already possessed
with lands on the east coast of England, and it is to be imagined that he
found those estates more enjoyable, for we find no definite information about
his either building a castle or dwelling here.
In the years following, when these counties were overrun so frequently by
regular organised expeditions under Bruce, and when almost every household
of value was plundered, and ravaged if not entirely destroyed, it became
necessary for the barons to erect their buildings both inaccessible and massive,
and with as little wood or combustible material in them as possible. More
over, for similar reasons, they were obliged to do without any windows for
light and air in the lower chambers, except such as could be obtained through
long narrow loopholes which could easily be defended. It is just possible that
the small donjon or circular tower that now stands at the north-west, and
which is evidently of a date anterior to the rest of the ruins, may have been
the early keep, standing alone as an Irish tower ; a shape which began to
supersede the Norman square keeps at the beginning of the early English
period. Possessing the elements of strength and passive resistence against assault,
grim and foreboding, it must have been a cramped, dark and uncomfortable
dwelling for the early inhabitants. In course of time, when the country
became more peaceful and property more secure, the lord was enabled to push
out a bit and gain more accommodation. Then would be erected the
banqueting hall and spacious kitchens, the bed chambers, and, as necessity
required, all the further apartments.
But the Castles of Appleby and Kendal do not possess the same strategic
importance as the Castle of Carlisle does, for there the Castle Hill commanded
the only road through the country that was practical for wheeled conveyances
— that is for the march of an army with the usual impedimenta. Kendal
Castle on the other hand, lies remote from the great military road over
Stainmore, neither is its name associated with either siege or assault. We
must, therefore, look uppn it as a fortified residence of a subject only and not
as a garrisoned fortress of the Crown.

KENDAL CASTLE. 43l
The Possessors. Iv° de Tailbois was succeeded by the de Lancasters, who
became in succession Barons of Kendal. After four
generations the male issue failed, and the property passed into the hands of
Helwise, daughter of the second William de Lancaster. She was married in
the reign of Richard I. to Gilbert, the son of Roger Fitz Reinfred, who was a
Judge of the King's Bench, and, what is more to the point, a particular
favourite of the King's. By a special grant, Gilbert obtained from King
Richard I. the whole Forest of Westmorland, of Kendal and of Furness, to
have and to hold in the same manner, in which William de Lancaster had
held it. And it is to the lasting credit of this feudal lord and his wife that,
having nearly unlimited power put into their hands, they preferred to use it
wisely, rather than abuse it.
The welfare of the community amongst which they lived seems to have
been their chief care, and having noted the industry of tne Kendal people, they
granted them privileges, gave them a seneschal, in the person of Matthew de
Redman, then owner of Levens, practically re-built the church, and also
instituted a weekly Saturday market with the King's consent. Now it seems
to me more than likely that we owe to Gilbert the building of the Castle.
He obtained from King John a continuation of the honour of Lancaster,
and executed the office of Sheriff of Lancaster from the seventh to the seven
teenth years of that reign. But Gilbert, the good, was unfaithful to John, his
bad patron, and thus joined the rebellious barons. Unfortunately his son
William having been taken prisoner, Gilbert was obliged to accept the King's
terms, and pay a ransome for his son, together with Ralph Deincourt and
Lambert de Brus, his esquires, twelve thousand marks ; also to find hostages
for his own and their future fidelity, besides which he was compelled to deliver
unto the King his Castle of Kirkby-in- Kendal, around which lay all his
dependencies. However, the Castle and Manor were again restored to his son
William, for we find that he was placed in his father's trust as keeper of the
honour of Lancaster under date 25th Henry III.
William and his sister Helwise married Agnes and Peter le Brus
respectively, also sister and brother, whilst William's other sister Alice became
the wife of William de Lyndsay. On the death of William de Lancaster,
without issue, this very valuable estate was divided into two portions, the
Lumley and Marquis fee going to Helwise, and the Richmond fee to Alice,

43^

KIRKBIE KENDAL L .

KENDAL CASTLE. 433
By an inquisition taken on the death of Peter le Brus, 1279, son of the
aforesaid Peter, we find that he was seised " of a moiety of the Manor of
Kirkeby-in- Kendale, and as parcel thereof, of the Castle, with the parks,
vivaries within the parks, and herbage therein of the yearly value of ten
marks." The Castle, " with all in Kendale that had been Peter's in demesnes,
villenages, rents and services of free men and others," fell to the share of his
eldest sister Margaret le Brus. She married Robert de Roos, and had a son
William, who had a son Thomas de Roos.
When John Kempe came from over the water, in the year 1331, to
establish here the Flemish industry (see page 206) he brought with him also
his beautiful daughter Marguerite. And notwithstanding the protection which
the baron afforded them, no enthusiasm could be aroused in our dalesmen to
welcome either the weaver or his daughter. But fifteen years later the people
needed no commands to celebrate the occasion, when Thomas de Roos led the
acknowledged beauty of Kendal to the hymeneal altar. Old and young made
a living avenue for the young lord and lady to pass through from the Church
to the Castle.
The Lady Marguerite, however, died within two years, and the Baron de
Roos remained an unconsoled widower for forty years. About the year
1385, when he was not less than sixty-eight years of age, he was induced to
marry again, that the barony might go forward in his line. The poor man,
unable to forget his overpowering sorrow, allowed his friends to select for him
a very worthy lady, who accepted him in spite of his declaration that it was
useless for her to expect love ; that all the love he had ever in his power to
give was buried in Kendal Churchyard.
Whilst all these important changes were taking place, nearly a century
rolled away, and during all that period the Castle remained practically
deserted. By this marriage, however, the aged baron had two children— a
boy, John de Roos, who died before his father, and Elizabeth, who was two
years old when her father died, 1391. In due time she married Sir William del
Parr, and thus carried the Lumley fee and the old Castle into the possession
of the Parrs, a good family of limited wealth, who held the barony for
nearly two centuries.

434

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

Sir William died in 1405, and was succeeded by Sir John, who only
survived his father some three years. He was succeeded by his son, Sir
Thomas, who died in 1464, leaving two sons, William and John. The eldest
married Elizabeth, a sister and co-heir of Henry, Lord Fitzhugh. He was made
Knight ofthe Garter by King Edward IV., and appears to have been living in
the 22nd Edward IV., but in what year he died we have not found. He had
two sons, Sir Thomas, the elder, and Sir William Parr, of Horton, in
N orthamptonshire. This Sir Thomas was master of the wards, and comptroller to Henry
VIII. He married Maude, daughter and co-heir of Sir Thomas Green, by
whom he had William, Katherine and Anne, and died in the year 1519. All
his manors, lands and tenements he left to his wife Maude during her life.
He willed his daughters to have £800 between them as marriage portions, and
William to have his great chain, worth £140, which the " King's grace " gave
him. By an-inquisition, after his death, of his lands in Westmorland, the
jurors find that he was seised of the Manor of Kendale, with 1,000 acres of
pasture, and £400 rent, &c, &c. In the Museum there is
a drawing which came
from Todhunter's Museum,
which is said to be a copy
of the one taken in the
time of this Sir Thomas.

Dame Maude Parr died
in 1531, but to many of us
the chief interest of the
Castle lies, not so much
with the tale of its battle-
mented walls and strong
defences as with the
thirty-five years' life of
her daughter, Katherine
Parr, who was born here
in 1513, for her's was the high honour of being among crowned heads, one of
the first nursing mothers of our reformed faith. That cultivated girl, who

KENDAL CASTLE,
THE SEAT OF SIR THOMAS PARR, BART., FATHER
OF QUEEN CATHARINE PARR, WHO WAS THE LAST
WIFE OF KINS HENRY THE EIGHTH.
From a- Picture in Mr. Todhunter's Museum-

KENDAL CASTLE.

435

was reckoned so fair a prize, that even at the age of eleven years an alliance
was sought with her by the great Lord Scroop, of Bolton. " Shee was told
by an astrologer that did calculate her nativitie, that she was borne to sett in
the highest of Imp'iall Majestie, which became moste true. Shee had all the
eminent Starrs and planetts in her house : this did worke such a loftie con-
ceite in her that her mother coulde" newer make her serve or doe any small
worke, saying her handes were ordayned to touch crownes and scepters, not
needles and thymbles." But however disposed the little Katherine was to

From Lake Country Romances, — Rev. H. V. Mills.
dispense with the performance of her tasks, Lady Maud was too wise a parent
to allow vain dreams of royalty to unfit her child for the duties of her station,
and notwithstanding Katherine's early repugnance to touch a needle, her
future skill and industry in its use became so remarkable, that there are
specimens of her embroidery which could scarcely have been surpassed by the
far famed stitches of the sisters of King Athelstan.
Among the Scroop MSS. there is a curious letter from her mother to Lord
Dacre, in which she assures him that "there can be no marriage until my
lord's son (Scroop) comes to the age of thirteen and my daughter to the age of

436 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
twelve." Katherine, however, was soon married after this to Lord Borough
of Gainsborough, "a discreet widower, well advanced in years." Then we find
at the age of sixteen Katherine was left a widow, lovely and wealthy. How
long she continued a widow is uncertain, but she was probably under 20 years
of age when she became, for a second time, the wife of a mature widower,
John Nevill, Lord Latimer, and again undertook the office of step-mother.
Some two years later, at the age of thirty, that prediction of her brilliant
destiny became true, for on the 12th day of July, 1543, she married her royal
master, King Henry the eighth.
Her brother William, who was born in 1515, was created Lord Parr and
Roos, of Kendal, in 1539 ; Baron Hart, of Northamptonshire, in 1544 ; then
in the same year Earl of Essex by right of his wife Anne, who was a daughter
of the late Earl, and finally he was advanced on 17th February, 1547, to the
further title of Marquis of Northampton, and from hence that portion of the
barony which he held received the name of the Marquis fee.
On the 18th of August, 1553, William was attainted of treason for
espousing the cause of Lady Jane Grey, was condemned as a traitor, and
Kendal Castle was seized by the Crown. However, his life was spared, and
in the following year, by special charter, bearing date January 8th, Philip and
Mary granted back to William without his honours, " the whole demesne,
Manor, Castle, and park of Kendal and all those demesne lands without the
walls of the said park and the mill and burgages in the Vill or burgh aforesaid."
It seems to have been left to Queen Elizabeth in 1559 to grant back to him
" for favouring the Protestant religion " all his honours and former possessions
including the lordships of this town, and we know that he kept court here in
1561. William died without legal issue in 1571, and from this time the noble
building seems, after long years of neglect, to have rapidly gone to decay.
The deer park, which with the fourteen others around Kendal that at this
time were so celebrated for their fallow deer, suffered first, being disparked
in the year 1566.
A survey made July 12th, 1572, thus mentions the domestic buildings, of
which only a very few traces remain : — " The out walls embattled 40 feet
square  Within the same, no building left, saving only on the north
side is situate the front of the gatehouse, the hall with an ascent of the stairs to

KENDAL CASTLE. 437
the same with a buttery and pantry at the end thereof; one great chamber and
two or three lesser chambers, and rooms of ease, adjoining the same, all being
in decay both in glass and slates and in all other reparations needful. Under
the hall are two or three small rows of cellars. In the south side is situated a
dove-cote. The walls are circular, guarded by three towers, and a keep, with
a large square area in the centre, being all in a state delapidation. In its
doors and window jambs, and in a few quoins we find the red sandstone, but
the main work is built with unhewn blue rock from the hills."
About the year 1575 the slating was taken off most of the roof as being
then dangerous, but in Henri Fissher's (of Kendal) inventory taken on
November 5th, 1578, we read that the Castle was still partly slated. There is
a State paper, addressed by Edward Braddyll to Lord Burghley, then Lord
High Treasurer of England, dated April 10th, 1578, setting forth that the
" Castell at this present " is of less selling value by £25 than it was at the last
survey sixteen years ago. This is certified into Her Grace's Exchequer by the
"others of 24 substantiall men ofthe baronye," who say that "the most parte
of the rouffs of the said Castell are falne downe, the tymber and sclayte pitifully
broken, the gutters of lead, iron in windowes and doors pilfered and stoln
away. And if your Honors take not order of that which remayneth there will
be lytle lefte to sell within short tyme."
The remains were scarcely then sufficient to tell how vast the place was —
" Where the great lord inhabited : now grass,
Thin grass, and king-cups grow within the path." — Coleridge.
Camden (155 1 — 1623) says " The Castle over against the town is ready to
drop down with age," and neither of his learned editors who, in most instances,
added materially to his description, have, in this instance, added a single
observation. Grose has altogether overlooked it.
After the death of Lord Parr, Queen Elizabeth made an exchange with
the Marchioness, giving her other lands instead, and in 1581 the Queen
granted " a part of the demesne lands belonging to the Castle, by the name of
the park of Kendal, with divers edifices and other premises to Ambrose, Earl
of Warwick,

OO 00

THE EAST VIEW OF KENDAL- CASTLE, IN THE COUNTY OF WESTMORLAND.

fy consent of J?le*»nfJI. crtiM fiz/nuu/f W/lwmrf^CaricaJter " "

5
ta
§

:41tA,i&~,» *£, ffd,*^. *>tG,l,Jmntmt»a*./'F*H^,r.tU~k*,.

1. JZirtt/a./ ¦'C/vH.-n.

KENDAL CASTLE. 43g
The curiously long-credited story that it was blown down by Oliver
Cromwell from Castle How is, of course, quite erroneous.
During Charles II. reign the Castle and lands appear to have been in the
hands of Sir Francis Anderton. His son and heir, Sir Charles Anderton,
settled them to the use of himself for life, and then in tail male. The two
eldest sons died without issue. Laurence became a monk and was thus
accounted dead in law, so Francis the next brother assumed the title, but he
being engaged in the rebellion of 1715, the Crown seized the estate. There
upon Laurence, to reclaim the property, renounced his faith, turned a
protestant, and so finally enjoyed both title and estate. He sold the latter,
however, in 1723 to John Huggins in open market. Huggins died in 1735, and
the estate fell to his brother William, who devised it to his two sons-in-law,
Sir Thomas Gatehouse and the Rev. Dr. James Musgrave, in 1761.
The accompanying illustration (page 438), drawn by Buck in 1739, shows
the Castle pretty faithfully as it appeared in those days.
Dr. James Musgrave sold the property in 1765 to Thomas Holme and
James Dowker, both of Kendal, and Benjamin Hall, of Cartmel. These
gentlemen, after selling part of the lands, divided the remainder amongst
themselves, and the Castle falling to the share of Dowker, came eventually to
Mrs. Thomasin Richardson, his daughter, who planted that circular belt of
trees, which is now such a thriving and pleasing skirting to the masonry. At
her death it was purchased by Alderman Thompson.
When the Poet Gray visited the ruin, in 1769, he says — "Almost the
whole inclosure-wall remains, with four towers, two square and two round, but
their upper parts and embattlements are demolished ; it is of rough stone and
cement, without any ornament of arms, round, inclosing a court of the like
form, and surrounded by a moat, nor ever could it have been larger than it is,
for there are no traces of outworks." To this West replied, in 1779, saying —
" Had Mr. Gray ascended from the end of Stramongate Bridge, which was
the only way to it in its glory, and is the easiest at present, he would have
observed a square area that had been fortified with a deep moat, and connected
with the Castle by a draw-bridge, where was probably the base-court."
Again, Whitaker in his Antiquities of Richmondshire, writes that — "The
fragments of two towers, part of a curtain wall, and a portion of the great hall

44°

KIRKBIE KENDALL.

with some gloomy vaults beneath alone remains. It appears to have had no
outworks and no detached gateway, no external protection save the deep foss
and there is no sign of well or spring, but one of these it must have had."
And so by degrees did this ancient pile fall gradually to decay, and I can
find no record of any endeavour to save it from total destruction, until the
January of 1813, when the owner strengthened the foundation, and took
many other wise precautions to stay the fall. In consequence of the generous
gift of £1000 made by the Directors ot the Savings Bank to the Corporation,

The Camp of the Kendal Volunteers.
they were enabled to approach Lady Henry Bentinck, and obtain about thirty
acres of the Castle Estate for the very reasonable price of £2,400. Afterwards
an additional thirteen acres on the south slope was purchased from Fleming's
Trustees for £1,420 14s., Miss Fleming generously contributing £200 towards
the amount. The whole of the estate was thrown open to the public as a
memento of our Queen's Diamond Jubilee on June 22nd, 1897.
As far as we know it to-day, we should find it difficult to conceive a more
picturesque ruin as viewed from the town, encircled by green trees and with the

KENDAL CASTLE.

441

glow of a mid-day sky shining through its now broken apertures and rugged
outline ; it makes a fair picture indeed. But in days gone by, when the' Castle
was at its best, a thickly-clustered pile of both round and square towers, joined
together by flanking walls, it must have been doubtless imposing, almost
impregnable and worthy even of proud little Kendal herself.
The Ruins ^e m*nS aS seen to"day consist of an encircling or enciente
wall built of the intractable Silurian stone of the neighbour
hood, four towers, and some small remains of domestic buildings. It is said
thaf the enclosure was entered by means of a draw-bridge, and in the moat

':^<--i'--&$g£mk&$M> s^£*&i!''.-:'<'l£y-a

can still be seen two huge masses of stonework, as depicted on Buck's view of
the Castle, dated 1739. The curious feature of this enciente is that it does not
return at the southern end into itself, the diameter of the eastern segment
being some 20 feet longer than the western segment. The battlements are all
gone, and with them a considerable portion of their height ; the rampart walk
has disappeared, and only in three or four places does the inner face of the wall
remain. Where this is not so, a thin and modern wall has been raised on the
foundations of the outer. The original walls are all of vast thickness, consist
ing of rough stones thrown, as it were, promiscuously together and grouted
with a cement concrete, which has in couse of time grown as hard as the
stone itself.

442 KIRKBIE KENDALL.
To the north-east we notice a square tower, open at the gorge, and which
projects out some 18 feet from the curtain wall. The front of this tower
measures about 28 feet, and it has only loop holes in the sides for light and
defence. To all appearance now it has had three floors with external sets off
on the front at each level, but according to Buck's view it would appear to
have had four stages. The basement is a receptacle for sewage, draining into
the moat by a very large opening.
There is no defence between this tower and the projection at the south, so
that the inmates, in perilous times, must have trusted to the depth of the moat
and their own prowess to protect themselves. Coming to the south, we see a
modern wall which has been built on the foundation of the old wall of
defence, which was nearly three yards in thickness. The postern gate, if ever
there were one, may have been located here.
On the western side is a small drum tower, 18 feet in diameter, of no
internal projection, and about half disengaged on the outside ; it is a bastion
rather than a tower, the upper storey of which probably contained a garde-robe
accessible from the rampart walk.
At the north-west there is the oldest drum tower of all, of about 22 feet in
diameter, and projecting about equally without and within the enciente wall.
The walls are six feet thick, and it contains on the ground floor a vaulted
chamber, which is entered from the inner court by a narrow doorway which
was shut from the inside against cheeks. Clearly there have been upper
floors, indeed a large window opening still remains, but there is no visible
appearance of any stairway leading up to them.
The domestic buildings already referred to in the Survey of 1572, were
situated close by the northern tower. But during the last 300 years great
destruction has taken place. The gateway has gone altogether, but two or
three small vaulted cellars are yet to be seen, and one has a fireplace in it.
The position of the buttery and pantry is gathered from the singular drain or
sink shoot that is noticeable at the entrance of the projecting tower, and this
would point to the dais of the banqueting hall being placed at the western end,
with the great chamber behind it.

" We pass ; the path that each man trod
Is dim, or will be dim, with weeds:
What fame is left for human deeds
In endless age ? It rests with God." — Tennyson.

445

INDEX.

Abbot Hall, 123 — 119, 140, 150, 160.
Ale, 130, 178, 370, 424.
All Hallows Lane, 20, 35, 59, 80, 127.
Anchorite House and Well, 158 — 168, igg,
307-
Assembly Rooms, 43.

B.

Bagmire Hall, 314.
Bakers, 112, 187.
Banks : —
Liverpool, 35, 37, 103, 326, 399.
Maude, Wilson & Crewdson, 37, 103, 326,
399-
Savings, 125, 332.
Wakefield, Crewdson, & Co., 103, 326, 3gg.
Westmorland, i2g.
Lancaster, 326 — 287.
Bank House, 143 — 102.
Barracks, 311.
Baths and Washhouses, 80 — 20.
Battle Place, 85.
Bells, Town, 43, 45, 127.
Benefit Societies, 81, 82, 26g, 28g.
Black Drop, 99, 165, 394.
Black Hall, 345.
Black Hole, 299.
Blindbeck, 155 — ig, 6g, 126.
Blindbeck House, 151.
Blue Buildings, 35g — ig, 118.
Book Club, 109, 282.
Branthwaite Brow, 380.
Brathwait, Richard, 179.
Bridges : —
Blindbeck, 155.
Miller, 380 — 18, 2r, 59, 97.

Bridges — Continued.
Nether, 196 — 18, 22, 23, 68, 187, 195, 199,
4°g.
Stramongate, 4og — 18, 19.
Brownsword House, 326.
Bull Baiting, 35.
Butcher's Rows, 18, 34, 35, 60, 72, 78, 119.

Caledonian Rooms, 302 — 62.
Canal, 382 — 19, 70, 380.
Captain French Lane, i4g — 85, 160.
Capper Lane, 157 — 131, 160.
Castle, 42g — 5, 112.
Crescent, 415.
Dairy, 417—5.
Hill, 5, 20, 382.
How Hill, 85—5.
Lodge, 385.
Mills, 384—5, 380, 409.
Street Cemetery, 414.
Catcastle, 85.
Cauld-stean, 295 — 50, 304.
Cemetery, 200.
Cemetery Lane, 198 — 20.
Central Buildings, 374.
Chapel Close, 82, 310, 382.
Chapels and Sects : —
Baptist, 119.
Christian Brethren, 408.
Congregational, 382 — 59, 106, 129, 188
307, 322, 344.
Friends' Meeting, 400—22, 184, 311, 323.
Glasites, 102.
Independent Methodists, 34.
Inghamite, 86—102, 114, 355. 4°8-
Morisonian, 139 — 106, 323.
Mormons, 34.
Plymouth Brethren, 407 — 96, 142, 323.

44°

INDEX.

Chapels and Sects — Continued.
Presbyterian, 321—83, 106, 139, 302, 305,
345. 382.
Primitive Methodist, 346 — 415.
Roman Catholic, 394 — 77, 182, 190, 332,
361, 435.
Sandemanians, 102.
Unitarian, 306 — 83, 229.
Unitarian Baptists, 118, 307.
Wesleyan, 354—142, 304, 345.
Charters Royal, 45.
Church Missionary Society, 297.
Churches : —
All Hallows, 310 — 130.
Holy Trinity — Bells, 253 ; Decoration of,
214 ; Early History of, 203 ; Festivities
at, 216; Glass, 245 — 167, 213, 227;
Lectureships, 213 ; Masses at, 160 ;
Monuments, 247 ; Musical Festivals,
241 ; Organ, 239 ; Organ Gallery, 220,
226, 239; Pews, 238 — 101, 149, 213, 221,
233 ; Plan of, 212 ; Pulpit, 237 — 101 ;
Rectors and Vicars, 205, 260 ; Registers,
259; Size of, 211; Tower, 209, 217;
Yard, 21, 222.
St. George's old, 297 — 144, 227, 415.
St. George's, new, 415.
St. Thomas's, 335.
Clock, Town's, 293 — 43, 291.
Clothing, 10.
Coaches, 14, 141, 186, 276, 288.
Defiance, 32.
Flying Machine, 14, 15, 276.
Good Intent, 32, 278, 280.
Independent, 32.
Lord Exmouth, 63.
New Times, 27g.
North Briton, 32.
North Star, 62.
Robert Burns, 32.
Royal Liverpool, 32.
Royal Mail, 269, 275.
Royal Pilot, 280.
Royal Union, 280.
Telegraph, 275.
Union, 32, 27g, 280.
Coal, 131.
Cock Fighting, 39, 172, 173.

Collin Croft, 130 — 73, 157.
Collin Field, 191 — 130.
Colonel Square, 125.
Conservative Club, 104, 142, 143, 145.
Cordwainer's Hall, 30.
Corporation, 45—30, 35, 38, 62.
Cottons, Kendal, 324 — 41, 49, 133, 135.
Cripplegate, 80.
Cross Bank, 69, 107, 142, 146.
Cross Gutter, 131 — 161.
Cross Houses : —
Highgate, 145.
Kirkland, 191.
Stramongate, 400, 401.
Stricklandgate, 351.
Cuckstool, 410.
Curfew, 38.

Dalton, Dr., 25, 404.
Dockwray Hall, 360 — 288.
Dockwray Hall Mills, 362 — 35.
Doctress Wood, 149.
Dodding Green, 405—77, 179, 394.
Doodleshire, 413.
Door Mutes, 151.
Drainage of Town, 57.
Dyer's Beck, 334.

Economical Library, 109.
Elections, Municipal, 55.
Elections of 1818, 19, 62, 67, 68, 69.
Entry Lane, 289.

Fair, 6, 7, 343.
Far Cross Bank, 424 — 20, 157.
Female Labour, 18.
Fisher Tarn, 58.
Flag, Town's, 294.
Floods, 21 — 22, 23, 97, 415.
Fold, The, 344—185, 304, 355, 382.
Fowl Ing, 424.
Free Library, 297, 301.

Galleried Houses, 7, 132, 340, 342, 344.

INDEX.

447

Gas Works, ig8 — 20.
Glebe House, 174 — 160.
Goose Holme, 18, 22, 57, 58, 387.
Gough, John, 25, 309, 349, 407, 424.
Gray, the Poet, 12, 287.
Grandy Nook Hall, 313.
Guilds, 6, 114, 115.
Gulfs, 97, 121. H.
Home, The, 157.
Hornbook, 138, 170.
Horncop Hall, 361.
Hospitals : —
Dowker, 121-^120, 185.
Memorial, 87.
St. Leonard's, 424.
Sandes, 133—132, 174, 182, 314.

Inns : —
Albion, 102.
Angel, 39—49.
Bear, 181.
Bear and Ragged Staff, 149.
Ben Hurd's, 328.
Bird-in-Hand, 100, 156.
Bishop Blaize, 114 — 49.
Black Bull, 59, 79, 156, 3g2.
Black Cock, 181, 315.
Black Horse and Rainbow, 77 — 7g, 425.
Black o' Moor, 335.
Black Swan, 81 — 310.
Blue Anchor, 157.
Blue Bell, 128, 407.
Boot and Shoe, 157.
Bottle and Glass, 417.
Bowling Green, 85.
Bridge, 409, 114.
Brown Cow, 339.
Bull Head, 392.
Butcher's Arms, 31, 71.
Canal, 380.
Castle, 415.
Castle and Griffin, g6.
Cock and Dolphin, 188 — 413.
Commercial, 31 — 18, 33, 3g, 62, 67, 6g, 71.
Cordwainer's Arms, 34g.

Inns — Continued.
Cross Keys, 188, 190.
Crown, 269—32, 82, 322.
Crown and Mitre, 65, 66, 129.
Dog and Badger, 181.
Dog and Duck, 82, 377.
Dolphin, 79 — 82.
Duke Charles, 401.
Duke of Cumberland, 423 — 49.
Dun Horse, 391.
Dyer's Arms, 144.
Elephant, 323.
Ewe and Lamb, 181.
Exchange, 66.
Farmer's Arms, 416.
Fat Lamb, 157.
Fish, 332.
Football, 304 — 82, 305.
Forester's Arms, 80.
Fountain, 368.
Fox's, ss.
Fox and Goose, 32, 66, 67, 71, 82.
Gardener's Arms, 315.
George and Dragon, 309.
Globe, 302 — 82.
Golden Ball, 80.
Golden Fleece, 72 — 31, 49, 76, 82.
Golden Lion, 305 — 81, 150.
Green Dragon, 326.
Greyhound Frigate, 49, 332.
Half Moon, 377, 378.
Hammer and Pincers, 181.
Hammer-in-Hand, 181.
Hare and Hounds, 130.
Hie Coomber, 190 — 188.
Hole in the Wall, 305.
Holly Hill, 33.
House ot Lords, 339.
Hyena, 315.
Jolly Anglers, 102.
Kent, 380.
King's Arms, 274—32, 35, 62, 67, 69, 129,
150, 376.
King's Head, 8i, 391.
Labour-in-Vain, 335.
Lamb and Flag, 181.
Lord Nelson, 373.
Lords and Commons, 353, 360.

44«

INDEX.

Inns — Continued.
Lowther Arms, 420 — 49, 82.
Malt Shovel, 131.
Mason's Arms, 393.
Moulder's Arms, 102.
Nag's Head, 3gg — 22, 49.
Nelson, 108.
New Crown, 423.
New Inn, 140 — 4g, 81.
New Ship, 81.
Oddfellow's Arms, 360.
Old Ship, 155.
Pack, 305.
Pack Horse, 326 — 49, 178, 416.
Peacock, 289.
Prince of Wales' Feathers, 417.
Pump, 367 — 20, 58, 81.
Queen's Head, 181.
Queen Catherine, 128.
Queen Victoria, 128, 398.
Railway, 420 — 22.
Recruiting Sergeant, 393.
Rifleman's Arms, 85.
Ring o' Bells, 176 — 49, 157, 160, 174, 224,
240.
Rising Sun, 182.
Rock, 149, 150.
Roebuck, 65, 75, 129.
Rose and Crown, 285 — 81, 270.
Royal Oak, 31, 71, 82, 95, 109, in, 157.
Rule and Square, 157, 315.
Sawyer's Arms, 354.
Seven Stars, 345 — 81, 121.
Shakespeare, 132 — 97, 185.
Shoulder of Mutton, 393.
Slip, 300.
Star, 114.
Strickland Arms, 354.
Sun, 80, 121.
Tanner's Arms, 103.
T' Bell Neak, 353.
Three Tuns, 78, 99.
Turk's Head, 371.
Unicorn, 108, 376.
Union, 354.
Victory, 38.
Vintnor's Arms, 146.
Weaver's Arms, 416.

Inns — Continued.
Wheat Sheaf, 41, 178 — 161.
White Hart, 60—70, 81.
White Horse, 342.
White Lion, 287 — 82, 109, 129, 274, 361.
White Sergeant, 3g2.
White Swan, 150, 407.-
Woodman, 161.
Woolpack, 323— 4g, 313.
Insignia, Town's, 51. J
Jenning's Yard, 118 — gg.
K.
Kendal, Derivation of, 3.
Fell, 356.
Green, 363.
„ Health of, 148.
,, Heath, 12.
„ Height above Sea, 3
„ Plan of, 16, 17.
Kent, River, 21 — 3, 5, 12, 13, 23, 29, 90, 415.
„ Lane, 380.
Kilner- Hall, 77.
Kirkbarrow, 182 — 149, 160.
Kirkland, 69, 101, 153.

Lamps, Street, ig.
Lead Hall, 368.
Leaden Hall, 41.
Leather Hall, 41.
Library, 332.
Link Boys, 198.
Literary and Scientific, 332, 396, 407.
Little Roods, 158, 184.
London Missionary Society, 323, 382.
Lound, 23.
Lowther Street, 381 — 18, 59.
M.
Market, 303—6, 7, 340.
„ Cross, 295 — 18, 4g, 50, 78.
Maude's Meadow, 57.
Maypole, 161 — 18.
Mechanics' Institute, 108 — 104, 143.

INDEX.

449

Mint House, go.
Monument, 85.
,, House, 83 — 321.
Moot Hall, 292 — 50, 290, 310, 342.
Museum, 331—38, 43.
„ Todhunter's, 371 — 121, 368, 434.
Musical Festivals, 87.

N.

Natural History Society, 349.
Netherfield Works, ig7.
New Biggin, 2g— n, 18, 35, 45, 66, 340.
New Inn Yard, i3g — 185.
New Shambles, 378.
Newspapers : —
Agreeable Miscellany, 371.
Kendal Chronicle, 178, 283, 330, 372.
Diary, 371.
Herald, 285.
Times, 128, 373.
Weekly Courant, 371.
Weekly Mercury, 285, 371.
Lonsdale Magazine, 284.
Westmorland Gazette, 283 — 270, 372.
Westmorland Journal of Useful Know
ledge, 270.
Night Watch, 115.
Numbering of Houses, 21.

Oddfellows' Hall, 108.
Old Shambles, 71 — 18, 31, 35, 78.
P.
Pack Horses, 328 — 141, 145, 186, 319, 323.
Pear Tree, 86.
Philharmonic Society, 343.
Pigeon Cote, 39.
Pillory, 296.
Police Station, 45.
Poorhouse Lane, 189.
Population, 25.
Post Office, 375—97, 102, 146, 184, 272.
Prince Charlie, 39.
Prison, 336.
Public Penance, 2ig.
Pumps, 186, 188.

R.
Race Course, 87 — 89, 356.
Railway, 421 — 19.
Rainfall, 23 — 24, 25.
Ralphford HaU, 393.
Redman's Yard, 270 — igo.
Roads, 18.
Robbin's Coffee House, 60.
Romney, George, 270 — i8g, 251, 376.
Rosemary Lane, 406. S.
Sandes Avenue, 20, 352.
Scale Hall, 41.
Schools : —
Blue Coat, 137 — 108, 120, 122, 133, 174,
Z33-
British, 414.
Castle Street Infant, 142.
Church Sunday, 186 — 107, 160.
,, Infant Day, 186.
Congregational Sunda}', 382.
Fell Side Sunday, 313.
Friends' Day, 402 — 34.
,, Sunday, 401.
Grammar, i6g — 60, 98, 139.
Green Coat Sunday, 185.
Grey Coat Sunday, 185 — 186.
Industrial, 385 — 105.
Jenning's Yard Sunday, 107, 119, 185, 186,
233-
Kirkland Girls' Sunday, 186.
Lough's, 123.
Miss Duncan's Girl, ng.
Morisonian Sunday, 140, 185.
Mrs. Knipe's, 120.
National School, 82 — 233.
Presbyterian Sunday, 323.
Primitive Methodist Sunday, 347.
Redhead's, 330.
Roman Catholic Sunday, 3g7.
Science and Art, 385 — 185.
St. George's Day, 416.
,, Sunday, 416.
St. Thomas's Sunday, 186, 336.
Wesleyan Sunday, 356.
Wilson's, 123.
Scout's Scaur, 88.

450

INDEX.

Sepulchre, 311.
Serpentine Woods, 38, 78, 357.
Skeat Hall, 368.
Sleddall, Thomas, 54.
„ Almshouses, 385.
„ Hall, 416.
Speed's Plan, 16 — 12, 360.
Sprint, River, go.
St. George's Hall, 3g8 — 356.
Stirzaker, Richard, 33, 34, 72, 225, 275.
Stocks, Kirkland, 174.
„ Market, 302.
Stone Cross, 191.
Sunny Brow, 20.
Syke, 310.
Symonds, Rev. Dr., 60.

Tan Yards, 102, 108, 113, 176, 189.
Telegraph, 20.
Thatched Houses, 8, 157.
Theatres : —
Crown Inn, 269, 321.
Market Place, 304 — 319.
Old Shambles, 321.
Shakespeare, 132 — 142, 321.
Woolpack Yard, 319^88, 132.
Thorny Hills, 19.
Time Gun, 38.
Tinder Box, 193.
Tithe Barn, 191.
Tobacco, 95, 181, 374.
Todd's Plan, 17, 18, 102, 155, 191, 399.

Tokens, 98.
Tolson Hall, 41.
Town Hall, see Moot Hall and White Hall.
Town View, 142, 336.

U.

Umbrella, 7, 340.

Victoria Jubilee Bridge, 20.
w.
Watchfield, 195 — 20, 75, in, 165, igo.
Water Crook, 3, 85.
Waterloo House, 373.
Well Syke, 150, 158.
Westmorland Chimneys, 346.
House, 32—36.
,, Windows, 400.
Wharton, Dr., 12, 184.
White Hall, Highgate, 41—35, 62, 79, 95,
105, 106, 127, 292.
Stricklandgate, 345.
Wiggins, Jimmy, 64, 67, 370.
Wigs, 144.
Wildmangate, 416.
Windmill, 102.
Workhouse, 357 — 18, 310, 327.
,, Kirkland, 189.
Workman's Institute, 304 — 355, 392.

45i

SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES.

Abbatt, E. J., Cliffside, Kendal (2 copies).
Anderson, Lionel, Greenbank, Kendal.
Argles, Mrs. T. A., Eversley, Milnthorpe.
Arnold, H., Arnbarrow, Milnthorpe.
Armstrong, W. B., Highgate, Kendal (3 copies).
Atkinson, R., 36, Finkle Street, Kendal.
Bagot, Captain, M.P., Levens Hall, Milnthorpe.
Bank of Liverpool, Limited, Kendal.
Baron, H. W., Castle Park Terrace, Kendal.
Barrow-in-Furness Public Library.
Bateson, Thomas, J. P., Bank House, Kendal.
Bolton, John, Hollin Garth, Kendal.
Braithwaite, J. H., Layer Breton, Kendal.
Braithwaite, Cecil, Colhehurst, Watford, Herts.
Braithwaite, Rev. H. M. 72, Shaw Street, Liverpool.
Braithwaite, Harold B., Highgate, Kendal (2 copies).
Braithwaite, Mrs., Hawesmead, Kendal.
Braithwaite, J. M., 31, Wildman Street, Kendal.
Brown, Mrs., Bank Top, Kendal.
Bryce, Mrs., Burneside, Kendal.
Busher, John, Park Villas, Kendal.
Butterwith, Charles, Kendal.
Cannon, Mrs., Lome House, Victoria Park, Manchester.
Carlisle Public Library, Tullie House.
Chaplin, A., Bookseller, Keswick.
Clark, John, Broughtoii-in-Furness.
Cockill, Dr., Lindum Holme, Kendal.
Conder, Edward, Newcourt, Colwall, Herefordshire.
Cooper Miss, Brantholme, Windermere.
Cornish, J. E., 16, St. Ann's Square, Manchester.
Cowper, H. S., F.S.A., Hawkshead, Lancashire.
Cragg, Jno. W. T.,'8, Mayfield, Kendal.
Crewdson, Mrs. Frank, Summer How (2 copies).
Crewdson, W. D., Helme Lodge, Kendal.
Crewdson, Howard, Levens, Milnthorpe (3 copies).
Cropper, James, Ellergreen.
Crofton, H. T., 36, Brazehose Street, Manchester.

452 subscribers' names.
Curwen, Eldred, Withdeane Court, Brighton.
Curwen, A. Darcy, Horncop Hall, Kendal.
Darbyshire, Alfred, 17, Brazenose Street, Manchester.
Davies, C. S., Highgate, Kendal.
Derby, Earl of, Witherslack Hall (2 copies).
De Rome, M., Airethwaite, Kendal.
De Rome, Theodore, Beechwood, Kendal.
Dickson, A. B., Abbott's Reading, Haverthwaite.
Dixon, J. W., Fowl Ing, Kendal.
Edmondson, Miss, Allerdale House, Keswick.
Everson, Richard, 82, Highgate, Kendal.
Farrer, Miss, 40, Stramongate, Kendal.
Farrer, Mrs., Ingleborough, Lancashire.
Fawcett, James, Aynam Cottage, Kendal.
Fenton, Sir Myles, K.B., South Nutfield, Surrey.
Formby, John, Far Close, Arnside.
Friends' Book Society, Kendal.
Gandy, James, Heaves, Milnthorpe.
Gaythorpe, Harper, F.S.A. (Scot.), Barrow-in-Furness.
Gawith, Mrs., Greenbank, Kendal.
Gibson, Anthony Metcalfe, Coldbeck, Ravenstonedale.
Gill, Edward, Finkle Street, Kendal.
Gott, Thomas Atkinson, Sunnyside, Kendal.
Gray, Henry, Goldsmith's Estate, East Acton, London.
Grayson, F. C, 70, Highgate, Kendal.
Greenwood, R. H. Bankfield, Kendal (2 copies).
Greenall, G. B., Thorny Hills, Kendal.
Greenall, Charles, Thorny Hills, Kendal.
Hamilton, John, Portway, Frome.
Hardy, G., 4, Park Crescent, Wigan.
Harrison, James, Newby Bridge, Ulverston.
Harrison, James, Sandarea House, Kendal.
Harrison, Edward, Glenburn, Gillingate, Kendal.
Harker, John, M.D., Hazel Grove, Carnforth.
Harker, W. E., 40, Grainger St., West, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Hargreaves, W. B., Bank of Liverpool, Barrow-in-Furness.
Hargreaves, J. E., Beezon Lodge, Kendal.
Hartley, Mrs., Holme Garth, Morecambe.
Hawkesbury, The Lord, Kirkham Abbey, York.
Higginson, John, The Hollies, West Park Road, Blackburn.
Hodgson, A. N. W., 3, Highfield, Kendal.
Hogg, J. H., 71 Stricklandgate, Kendal.

subscribers' names. 453
Hudson, Mrs., Larch How, Kendal.
Hudson, C. Frith, Beetham, Milnthorpe.
Hunt, Arthur, Longlands, Lancaster.
Illingworth, J. R., 3, Beechwood, Kendal Green, Kendal.
James, Miss, i Windsor Street, Barrow-in-Furness.
Jefferys, J. H., Castle Green, Kendal.
Jenkinson, Mrs., Busher Lodge, Kendal.
Jennings, Thomas, Highgate, Kendal.
Jones, Ernest, 4, Thorny Hills, Kendal.
Kent, J. G., c/o Deighton & Co., High Street, Worcester.
Kirkby, Bryham, 5, Walker's Mount, Batley.
Langley, Mrs. H., Bolton-le-Sands, Carnforth.
Littlewood, J. H., Lynn Garth, Kendal.
Little, William, Chapel Ridding, Windermere.
Long, William, Cleabarrow, Windermere.
Lowther, Hon. W., M.P., Kensington Gore, London.
Mackereth, Miss, Grosvenor Hotel, Kendal.
Magrath, Rev. Dr., Queen's College, Oxford.
Manning, Philip, Highgate, Kendal.
Markham, F. W., Morland, Penrith.
Martin, John, 64 Highgate, Kendal.
Martindale, R. B., Lindisfarne, Kendal.
McKay, George J., J. P., Kimberley House, Chatteris.
Miller, R., Cavendish Park, Barrow-in-Furness.
Milne, Alexander, 2, Bankfield, Kendal.
Monkhouse, John, Hawthorn Villa, Kendal (2 copies).
Monsarrat, Rev. H., Kendal.
Moser, Miss, The Schools, Shrewsbury.
Moser, Herbert, Underfell, Kendal.
Moss, Rev. A. M., 12, Greenside, Kendal.
Musgrove, W. H., Thorny Hills, Kendal.
Museum Library, Kendal.
Nanson, E. Lonsdale, Somerset House, Whitehaven.
Nelson, Rev. G. H., Sandford Orcas, Sherborne.
Noble, Miss, Beckfoot, Penrith.
Noble, W. J., Recorder of Newark-on-Trent, 1, Paper
Buildings Temple, London.
Noble, Samuel Clarke, 94 Stricklandgate, Kendal.
Noble, H. Percy, M.B., B.S. (Lond.), 34, Queen Anne
Street, London, W.
Parkin, John C, 128 Highgate, Kendal.

454 subscribers' names.
Parker, W. R., M.D., Stricklandgate, Kendal.
Paull, Clement, Hazelglen, Sanderstead, Surrey.
Pease, Mrs. Gurney, Woodside, Darlington.
Pease, Howard, Ascot Hall, Dudley.
Pennington, R., Solicitor, Lincoln's Inn Field, London.
Pollitt, Frank B., Kendal.
Public Library, Storey Institute, Lancaster.
Public Library, Kendal.
Radcliffe, R. D., M.A., F.S.A., Old Swan, Liverpool.
Reed, Marmaduke, 5, Ghyllside, Kendal.
Reiss, George, 15, Market Place, Kendal.
Rhodes, Robert, 19 Highgate, Kendal.
Rhodes, John, Bank View, Kendal.
Richmond, Robert, Thorny Hills, Kendal.
Rishton, Edward, Roe Buck Inn, Highgate, Kendal.
Roberts, Henry, 36 Stramongate, Kendal.
Robinson, Miss A., Burnham House, Sunningdale.
Robinson, John, M. Inst. C.E., 8 Vicarage Terrace, Kendal.
Robinson, Mrs. W., Greenbank, Sedbergh.
Robinson, Robert, C.E., J. P., Darlington.
Rook, J. B., Kent Street, Kendal.
Roper, W. O., F.S.A., Beechfield, Yealand Conyers.
Routledge, Mrs., Abbey Street, Carlisle.
Rushforth, George, Netherdene, Kendal.
Senogles, Thomas, South Road, Kendal.
Sewell, Frederic R., Brandlingill, Cockermouth.
Shepherd, Arthur, Shaw End, Kendal (2 copies).
Silverthorne, A., C.E., Westminster Chambers, Victoria
Street, London, S.W.
Simpson, Mrs. J. Holme, Romanway, Penrith.
Simpson, James, Jun., 33, St. Chrysoston Street, Liverpool.
Somervell, John, Broom Close, Kendal.
Somervell, W. H., Brantfield, Kendal.
Stalker, John, M.S. A., Sunny Cote, Kendal.
Stevenson, Rev. Wm., New Road, Kendal.
Strickland, Sir. Gerald, Sizergh Castle, Kendal.
Swainson, J., Stonecross, Kendal.
Swinglehurst, Addison, Helme Bank, Kendal.
Swinglehurst, Henry, Valparaiso.
Tebay, John, Camden Place, Kendal.
Thompson, Robert W., 5, Woodside Terrace, Kendal.
Thompson, William, Moresdale Hall, Kendal.
Thompson, J., 51, Hamilton Square, Birkenhead.
Thornton, W. B., 14 and 15, Coleman Street, London, E.C.

subscribers' names. 455
Thurnam & Sons, Carlisle.
Trench, Rev. Canon, Kendal (2 copies).
Ullock, Miss, Quarry How, Windermere.
Wakefield, Miss, Nutwood, Grange-over-Sands.
Wakefield, Mrs. W., Birklands, Kendal.
Walker, William, Oak Lea, Whitehaven.
Watson, John, Thorny Hills, Kendal.
Watson, J. Proctor, Castle Carrock, Carlisle.
Whitwell, Miss R. M., Fairfield, Kendal.
Whitaker, James, Kendal.
Williams, Rev. G. H., The Grammar School, Kendal.
Wilkinson, Charles, Villa Delavaud, Pau, France.
Wilman, John D., King's Arms Hotel, Kendal.
Wilson, Thos. R., Lindale, Grange-over-Sands.
Wilson, Charles B., Castle Lodge, Kendal.
Wilson, Edward W., The Cottage, Kendal.
Wilson, Norman, 5, Bankfield, Kendal.
Wilson, Titus, Aynam Lodge, Kendal (6 copies).
Wilson, Frank, Ulva, Onslow Villas, Highgate, London.
Wilson, John F., Southfield Villas, Middlesbrough.
Wilson, T. Newby, The Landing, Lakeside, Ulverston.
Wilson, Forster, Monument House, Kendal.
Winder, J. C, Fulwood, Preston.
Winder, J. Smallwood, Heathfield, Kendal.

tm^-M^mMM