About Kendal, England (courtesy of Wikipedia)

Kendal is a market town and civil parish within the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. It is 39.5 miles (63.6 km) south of Carlisle, on the course of the River Kent, and has a total resident population of 27,521.

Historically a part of Westmorland, Kendal today is known largely as a centre for tourism and as the home of Kendal mint cake. Its buildings, mostly constructed with the local grey limestone, have earned it the nickname the Auld Grey Town.

Kendal is listed in the Domesday Book as part of Yorkshire with the name Cherchbi.[1]. For many centuries it was called Kirkbie Kendal, meaning "village with a church in the valley of the River Kent". The earliest castle was a Norman motte and bailey (now located on the west side of the town) when the settlement went under the name of Kirkbie Strickland

A chartered market town, the centre of Kendal is structured around a high street with fortified alleyways (known locally as yards) off to either side which allowed the local population to seek shelter from the Anglo-Scottish raiding parties known as the Border Reivers. The main industry in these times was the manufacture of woollen goods, the importance of which is reflected in the town's coat of arms and in its Latin motto "Pannus mihi panis", meaning wool (literally 'cloth') is my bread. "Kendal Green" was hard-wearing wool-based fabric specific to the local manufacturing process, and was supposedly sported by the Kendalian archers who were instrumental in the English victory over the French at Agincourt.

The site of several (ruined) castles, the most recent one constructed in the late 12th century, Kendal has a long history as a stronghold of one kind or another. Rumours still circulate that King Henry VIII's sixth wife Catherine Parr is believed to have been born at Kendal Castle, but these are unfounded.

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