Kendal Westmorland Family History Guide

Kendal is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Westmorland.

The parish contains also the townships of Kirkland, Nether-Graveship, Natland, Crook, Hugil, Kentmere, Over Stavely, Nether Stavely, Fawcet-Forest, Whinfell, Selside and Whitwell, Patton, Grayrigg, Dillicar, Lambrigg, Docker, Scalthwaiterigg and Hay and Hutton-the-Hay, Skelsmergh, Strickland-Roger, Strickland-Kettle, Long Sleddale, New Hutton, Old Hutton-with-Holmescales, Helsington, and Underbarrow-with-Bradley-Field.

The chapelry of St. George was constituted in 1848, and that of St. Thomas in 1837. There are also within the parish the chapelries of Crook, Burneside, Grayrigg, Helsington, Hugil, Kentmere, Long Sleddale, Natland, Stavely, New Hutton, Old Hutton, Selside, Underbarrow, and Winster.

Parish church: Holy Trinity

Parish registers begin: 1558

Nonconformists include: Baptist, Christians, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Independent/Congregational, Inghamite, Presbyterian Unitarian, Primitive Methodist, Roman Catholic, Sandemanian, Society of Friends/Quaker, United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, Wesleyan Methodist, and Wesleyan Methodist Reform.

Manufactures of Kendal cottons, woollens, knit worsted stockings, fiannels, hats, serges, linseys, railway wrappers, horse cloths, carpets, trouserstuffs, woollen cords, ropes, clogs, bobbins, combs, and fish hooks, wool-cards, and leather. Also Brewing, tanning, iron and brass founding, and the making of agricultural implements.

Adjacent Parishes

• Firbank
• Underbarrow
• Heversham
• New Hutton
• Natland
• Skelsmergh
• Selside
• Old Hutton
• Grayrigg
• Howgill, Yorkshire
• Helsington
• Orton
• Burneside

Parish History

Kendal

Beeton’s British Gazetteer 1870

KENDAL, or KlRBY-KENDAL, a municipal and parliamentary borough, market and post town, and parish of England, in Westmoreland, on the Ken or Kent, 18 miles S.W. from Appleby.

The town is built on the side of a hill which rises from the right bank of the Ken. Its principal buildings are the parish church, which is of great size and dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and which has been recently restored; the churches of St. George and St. Thomas, numerous chapels for nonconformists, a town-hall, court-house, house of correction, theatre, assembly-rooms, mechanics’ institute and library, dispensary, grammar school, and various other schools.

This is one of the oldest manufacturing towns in the kingdom, some Flemish woollen weavers having here taken up their abode in the reign of Edward III. Manf. Kendal cottons, a sort of coarse woollen cloth; linseys, knit worsted stockings, flannels, hats, serges, fish-hooks, wool-cards, and leather; there are also some marble-works. Mar. D. Sat. Pop. of mun. and parl. bor. 12,029. It is a telegraph station, and a station on the Lancaster and Carlisle line of the London and North-Western Railway.

Source: Beeton’s British Gazetteer 1870. Ward, Lock & Tyler, Paternoster Row, London.

Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

KENDAL, a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a ward in Westmoreland. The town stands on the river Kent, and on the Kendal and Windermere railway, at the termination of the Kendal and Lancaster canal, 21 miles N of Lancaster. Its name is a contraction of Kentdale; and its former name was Kirkby-Kendal, or more fully, Kirkby-in-Kentdale, signifying “the church town in the valley of the Kent.” The stretch of valley around it is fertile and ornate-in good association with the famous “Kendal green” of olden times; and is encompassed by hills of considerable height.

A barony, including the town, was given, by William the Conqueror, to Ivo de Talebois; and passed to the Bruces, the Rosses, the Parrs, the Thwengs, the Lumleys, the De Coucys, the Copelands, the Beauforts, the Crown, and the Lowthers. The title of Baron Kendal was borne by the early owners; that of Earl of Kendal was borne by John, Duke of Bedford, brother to Henry V., by Prince Charles, third son of James II., by Prince George of Denmark, and by other distinguished persons; that of Duchess of Kendal was conferred, by George I., on the German lady, Madame Schulenberg; and that of Baron Ross and Parr of Kendal continues to be borne by the Earl of Pembroke.

A strong castle was founded on the summit of a steep green eminence, on the E. side of the town, by one of the earliest barons; was completed in the early part of the 13th century; and appears to have resembled several strong baronial fortresses of the time of William the Conqueror. It was the birth place of Queen Catherine Parr, and of her brother, the Marquis of Northampton; it is supposed to have been dismantled by some body of royal troops, in consequence of the Marquis of Northampton’s effort on behalf of Lady Jane Grey; and it is now a ruin, comprising only four broken towers and part of the outer wall.

The town was settled by Flemings in 1337, and became, in their hands, famous for the manufacture of woollens, and of “Kendalgreen” buckram. It was fearfully devastated by the plague in 1598, visited by James I. in 1617, and occupied by some of the rebels of 1715 and 1745. It was the death place of Romney the painter; and it numbers among its natives Richard de Kendal the grammarian, Bishop Potter, Dean Potter, Sir G. Wharton, Walker the astronomer, and Hudson and Wilson the botanists. It was freed from villeinage by one of its early barons, and was made a borough by Elizabeth. Wordsworth describes it as “A straggling borough, of ancient charter proud, and dignified by battlements and towers of a stern castle, mouldering on the brow of a green hill.”

The town stands chiefly along the right side of the Kent; and it has a principal spacious street, about a mile in length, and a number of smaller intersecting streets and lanes. Its appearance, to a considerable extent, is exceedingly irregular, and still answers, in some degree, to the poet Gray’s account of it in 1769: “All the houses, excepting the principal streets, 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 hill , without intent or meaning.”

The interior aspect, nevertheless, is pleasant. The houses are built of mountain limestone; and, though mostly rough and greyish, they look clean and comfortable. The building stone has been called marble; and it so far deserves the name as to be quarriable in large blocks, of a light whitish colour, susceptible of good polish, and extensively used for making chimney pieces. Three neat stone bridges span the river.

The town hall, or Whitehall, is an edifice of 148 feet by 37, built in 1825, at a cost of £6,000; has, on its chief front, an Ionic portico and a receding balcony; and contains a news room, a ball room, and a number of other apartments. The county house of correction, at the N. end of the town, has capacity for 33 male and 10 female prisoners; and was maintained in the year 1864 at a cost of £601. The market house was erected in 1855. The Bank of Westmoreland, the Odd Fellows’ hall, and the Old Maids’ hospital, all in Highgate, are pleasing edifices. The museum, in the New road, contains a good collection of small antiquities, limestone fossils, and objects of natural history.

The parochial church dates from about the beginning of the 13th century; measures 180 feet by 99; has a remarkably fine interior; includes three chapels, formerly belonging to the Stricklands, the Bellinghams, and the Parrs; is surmounted by a strong tower, 72 feet high; was restored in 1852, 1864, and 1869, at a cost of more than £11,000; has a memorial window to Major Yeates, inserted in 1865; contains some brasses and epitaphs; and was the scene, in the 17th century, of a curious adventure, worked by Sir Walter Scott into his poem of “Rokeby.” St. George’s church, near Stramongate bridge, is a handsome recent structure, with two slender towers, surmounted by low spires. St. Thomas’ church, at Strickland-Gate, is also a fine recent structure, with a tower.

There are numerous dissenting chapels; and one of them was originally a theatre. The Roman Catholic chapel is a neat edifice. The free grammar school was founded in 1525; is a plain building; has £38 a year from endowment, and six exhibitions at Oxford; and numbers among its pupils Bishops Law and Potter of Carlisle, Dr. Shaw, the oriental traveller, Ephraim Chambers, the first English Encyclopedist, Dr. Fothergill, and some other distinguished men. Pyper’s national school has £80 a year from endowment; Sleddall’s green coat school, £25; Sande’s hospital and blue coat school, £328; and a variety of charities, including the endowed schools, £1,418.

There are literary and scientific institutes, Christian and mechanic institutes, working men’s newsroom and library, and other institutions.

The new cemetery, at Parkside road, was opened in 1855, and has two chapels. A small cemetery in Castle-street, is used only by dissenters, and has a small chapel. St. Leonard’s hospital, or the Spittle, was anciently an institution of note; was given, by William de Lancaster, to “Conyngesheved” priory; and passed to the Lowthers. An old chapel stood on Chapelhill, and was converted into a dwelling house. Another old chapel stood at Stramongate bridge, near an old house bearing the inscription “Pax hac domo.”

The town has a head post office, a railway station with telegraph, two banking offices, and three chief inns; is a seat of petty sessions, county courts, and quarter sessions, and a polling place; and publishes two weekly newspapers. A weekly market is held on Saturday; fairs for cattle and horses are held on 22 March, 29 April, and 8 and 9 Nov.; fairs for wool and cheese are held in June, July and Aug.; and hiring fairs are held on Whit-Saturday and at Martinmas.

Manufactures of woollens, linseys, railway wrappers, horse cloths, carpets, trouser stuffs, woollen cords, ropes, clogs, bobbins, combs, and fish hooks are carried on. Brewing, tanning, iron and brass founding, and the making of agricultural implements also are carried on. A pumping apparatus at a brewery here was constructed in 1865, with the longest suction pipe in the N of England, forcing water a distance of 720 feet and up an incline of 80 feet, and delivering a steady stream of 2 inches in diameter into a tank with capacity for 14,000 gallons of water.

The town, as a borough, both municipal and parliamentary, comprises all Kendal and Kirkland townships, and part of Nether-Graveship township; and it is governed by a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors, and sends one member to parliament. Borough income, in 1861, £1,110. Real property, £41,170. Electors in 1868, 454. Pop. in 1851, 11,829; in 1861, 12,029. Houses, 2,590. The township of Kendal, as already noted, lies all in the borough. Real property in 1860, £37, 896; of which £26 were in quarries, £1,934 in gas works, and £7,088 in railways. Pop. in 1861, 10,418. Houses, 2,216.

The parish contains also the townships of Kirkland, Nether-Graveship, Natland, Crook, Hugil, Kentmere, Over Stavely, Nether Stavely, Fawcet-Forest, Whinfell, Selside and Whitwell, Patton, Grayrigg, Dillicar, Lambrigg, Docker, Scalthwaiterigg and Hay and Hutton-in-the-Hay, Skelsmergh, Strickland-Roger, Strickland-Kettle, Long Sleddale, New Hutton, Old Hutton-with-Holmescales, Helsington, and Underbarrow-with-Bradley-Field. Acres, 68, 360. Real property, £92,708. Pop. in 1851, 18,333; in 1861, 18,600. Houses, 3,777. The surface is very diversified; includes much fertile land and many orchards; and extends away to some of the Lake mountains. An ancient camp was on Helsehill; and many features of interest will be found noticed in our articles on the townships.

The parochial living and that of St. George are vicarages, and that of St. Thomas is a p. curacy, in the diocese of Carlisle. Value of the parochial, £521; of St. George, £190; of St. Thomas, not reported. Patron of the parochial, Trinity College, Cambridge; of St. George, the Vicar of Kendal; of St. Thomas, Trustees. The chapelry of St. George was constituted in 1848, and that of St. Thomas in 1837; and both are wholly within the borough. Pop. of St. G., 3,144; of St. T., 2,092. Houses, 683 and 460. There are also within the parish the chapelries of Crook, Burneside, Grayrigg, Helsington, Hugil, Kentmere, Long Sleddale, Natland, Stavely, New Hutton, Old Hutton, Selside, Underbarrow, and Winster.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Bankrupts

Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.

Backhouse George, Kendal, Westmoreland, ironmonger, March 27, 1821.

Parish Records

FamilySearch

Westmorland Historical Directories

Administration

• County: Westmorland
• Civil Registration District: Kendal
• Probate Court: Court of the Bishop (Consistory) of the Commissary of the Archdeaconry of Richmond Western Deaneries – Kendal
• Diocese: Chester
• Rural Deanery: Kendal
• Poor Law Union: Kendal
• Hundred: Kendal Ward
• Province: York