Kendal
Kendal is a sizeable town standing on he banks of the River Kent, and the consistent use
of local stone for the buildings has given the town a uniform appearance and earned it the
nickname Auld Grey Town. Kendal, which is now famous for its popular Mint Cake
(which was carried to the summit of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sirdar
Tensing on the 29th May, 1953), was granted a market charter in 1189.
Kendal's Church of the Holy Trinity dates back to the 13th century, and, with its 80 foot tower, peal of ten bells and five aisles, is one of the largest parish churches in England. On the eastern bank of the River Kent is one of Kendal's two castles; the birthplace of Katherine Parr, Henry VIII's sixth and final wife.
Youth's wisdom did not floor me
I took my pick in Kendal town
Like Harry the Eighth before me"
Following the death of her brother without heirs in 1571 the castle sadly fell into decay. On the western bank of the river is Castle How, the site of an earlier castle that was built in 1092.
Kendal was once known for it's archers, who fought at Crecy and Poitiers in the Hundred Years War with France. Later the town gained recognition around Europe for its wool and textile industry, to the extent that William Shakespeare describes knaves dressed in 'Kendal green' clothing in King Henry IV part I. The booming textile industry unsurprisingly gave rise to the town's motto: 'Cloth is my bread'.
At the Kendal Museum of Natural History and Archaeology visitors can see, in addition to the exhibits, the former office of Alfred Wainwright, author of the charming and incredibly detailed series of 'Pictorial Guides' to the Lakeland fells.