Kendal by Roger Bingham / Cumbria Reading Detectives

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Kendal by Roger Bingham Find!

The full title of this book is "Kendal A Social History" and as the author explains his aim was 'to record widely the diverse life story covering a thousand years and more of an important northern town within the matrix of general English history. How people lived, died, behaved and misbehaved, prospered and suffered, bossed and grovelled, helped and harmed each other, worshipped, made war, worked, educated and enjoyed themselves'. It makes fascinating reading and I have certainly learned a lot about Kendal and its people and how the surrounding landscape helped to make the town, as Roger Bingham says, an 'important' northern settlement.

The river Kent, said to be the fastest flowing river in England, runs through the town and until the bed was lowered in the 1970s parts of the town regularly suffered severe flooding. But without the river Kendalians could not have earned their bread as Kendal had probably been a mill town long before the first mill was mentioned in 1186.

Kendal's real wealth was built on wool and cloth and in fact the town's motto is 'Pannus Mihi Panis' which translates as 'Wool is my Bread'. Many of Kendal's place names derive from the wool trade such as Dyer's Beck, Tenter Fell, Prickly Fell and Shearman House. 'The Fleece Inn refers to raw materials, the Woolpack to its transport, the Rainbow to the emblem of the dyer's guild, The Globe to that of the mercers'. A local poet, Richard Braithwaite of Burneside, better known as Dapper Dick, wrote in 1615:

......though it makes course cloth

and such has ne're did alnage take

yet 'tis commodious to the commonweale

and fit for Sale, although

unfit for seale......

He went on to describe the initial cloth making processes when he wrote:

Each plies his work, one carves, another spins

One to the studdle goes, the next begins

to ravell for new wefte, thus more delay

but make their webb-up 'gainst each market day.

Open this book at any page and the reader will find themselves drawn in to the lives of the people and the town. Discover the history of its markets, its schools, the castle, its industries, its famous sons and daughters but most especially the ordinary Kendalians whose lives throughout the passing centuries have formed the town in which we live and work today.

Kendal's Coat-of-arms

The Town's coat-of-arms, which first saw the light of day on a Speed map printed in 1610, reflects these historical influences. It has a gold background depicting a cowhide whilst the teasel (a prickly plant which dries like a sharp hairbrush) and bale hooks found in each of the sections of the shield represent the wool trade. The motto, pannus mihi panis, is often interpreted as 'wool is my bread' which would underline the importance of the industry which, for centuries, supported the people of this busy town.

4 October 2009 from Mary Rossall

1 Comment

Julia | October 4, 2009 4:38 PM | Reply

So Kent has reached Cumbria!
Thank you for your piece about the errant river. I hope it's behaving itself now!

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