Kendal

Today we visited Kendal, the largest town in the Lake District. Whilst not known for its Roman origins, it does have an amount of other history associated with it. It is also, of course, the home of Kendal Mint Cake.

We first headed up the hill to the castle, which is atop a drumlin, and was the home of the Parr family, a very influential family in the 15^th century. The Parr family are probably best known for Catherine Parr, sixth wife of Henry VIII. The castle is now a ruin, and had already been deserted by the Parr family by the time of Catherine’s birth, as they had largely decamped to London by then. So far as we can tell, Anne of Cleves never visited it either. 

Looking down onto the town from the castle it was clear how it earned its nickname “old grey town”. Most of the buildings are made from the local sandstone, grey in colour, and everything looks very monotonous. 

View from the castle

We walked back down the hill into town, and read the various plaques dotted around the place which explained the history of Kendal. This includes the story of Bishop Blaize, martyred in 4th century Armenia by being, literally, combed to death. He is now the patron saint of woolcombers. His connection to Kendal? Well, there's a lot of sheep around here... Much of the town is connected by narrow lanes, or yards as they are known colloquially. We bought some mint cake from original manufacturer Quiggin’s (other imitative brands are available), to sustain us on our travels – it was famously taken to the Antarctic by Shackleton, and to Mount Everest by Hillary. It’s basically mint-flavoured sugar.

Also in Kendal is the third-widest church in England. Who goes around measuring the width of churches, and who is first and second, wasn't divulged. I assume cathedrals are also excluded as many of them are quite wide.

Look at the width on that!

After a lunch at Low Sizergh Farm Shop we drove South West to Cartmel, to see the Priory and the town. Cartmel Priory has the distinction of being (a) founded by William Marshal (yes, him!), and (b) remaining undissolved in the dissolution of the monasteries. They did this via a loophole that William Marshal had presented the altar to the townspeople rather than the church, and the villagers successfully petitioned to be allowed to keep it, as it was their only place of worship.

Inside the church there are a number of gravestones which feature a skull and crossbones motif. This doesn’t mean that they are pirates, but the reason for it is unclear. According to a notice in the church, it was a symbol used in the Crusades as often the only parts of noblemen returned to Blighty were the skull, and maybe the femurs. It came to symbolise mortality, and was often accompanied by an hourglass with wings, signifying the passing of time. The dates on all the ones we found were 18^th century, so we’re a bit dubious about this claim. An alternative explanation proffered at Arthuret church in Longtown was that the remains were plague victims, and should not be dug up. Whilst we think of the Great Plague being in 1665, plague was still a cause of death in the 18^th century, and there were recorded cases in the UK as late as 1918, so this is plausible.

Don't dig me up!

The rest of Cartmel is also very picturesque, and it holds a claim to fame as the birthplace of sticky toffee pudding.

We drove on from there to almost-the-beach, at Grange-Over-Sands, which is in Morecambe Bay. The tide was out – a long way out – so we walked along the promenade and could just about make out Blackpool Tower, 31 km away. After a cuppa it was time to return to the lakes, and we drove up along the side of Windermere, through Bowness and then Windermere, both of which were throbbing with tourists. Tonight, we’re going down the pub.