Walking tour of Kendal.

Hello, thanks for joining me today. I'm in Kendall in Cumbria. This is the River Kent. In this video, we're going to have a look around this old gray town. The town center is just over there beyond where the church is. So, I'm going to start the video by going for a little walk along River Kent. See what we can find along there. Then, we're going to come back through the town center itself. We're going to explore some of these passageways called ginels that run off the main street and see what there is to see in this Cumbrian town. That's the bridge where we were a moment ago. As I pan around this way, you can just see the meetinghouse exhibition center, home of the Quaker tapestry. And then as we head forward, we can see along the river Kent. Now up on the hill just out of picture is Kendall Castle. I've already done a video on that. There was another castle on the other side of the town and that's possibly subject of another video. So we have this town guarded by two castles on each side potentially guarded from the Scots heading south. The other thing interesting thing about Kendall is in the 14th century Flemish weavers came to the town and they helped to build Kendall into the prosperous town which it became. I'm going to head along here and we'll continue along beside the river. They've been doing quite a lot of work along the river I've seen from recent visits. So, as you can see here, this wall, this quite new but traditional looking wall also has these big floodgates. So, potentially where I'm walking now, I could be up to my knees in water, but it'd have to flood quite a lot to get the water up to this height. You can see some of the former factory buildings. Some of them are still in use up there on the hill. That is Kendall Castle, which was subject of my last video. So, I'm going to continue on up here. As I say, I'm going to follow the river. We can just see the main clock tower in the town. So that's where we're going to come back along there. We'll come back by coming through the town center, but we'll walk along the river first. We continue along the river away from the road. There's a few interesting things to see. There's the road bridge just there that originally was a wooden road bridge, but as we just discussed about floods, it kept getting washed away. And that's one of the main roads in the town to take people from the town center to the mills on the other side. Now, if we just look ahead here, we can see through the Harris fencing. There's a temporary bridge. So, that must be for the people doing the work and on the current flood prevention that's going on here in the town. So, you can just see that there. And then, like I say, we're looking back on the bridge we've just looked at, and you can see the the hills in the distance. I'm going to continue along here. What I'm going to do further up here, I'm going to cross the river and we're going to have a look at one of Kendall's previous interactions with water and then I'm going to come back and continue along the river. I've now been walking along the river a while and now I'm going to go over the river. So, here we get some views of River Kent. So that way is looking downstream. And if I swing around, you can see looking upstream. Get it silhouetted that way. So what we're doing now, as I said, we're going to cross the river. There's just a couple of things on this side I wanted to show you, but most of this video will feature on that side. So as we walk along this bank along here, you can see if you look that way, you can see more of the flood prevention work going on. So it's a bit limited. So what I can show you, there's a couple of things I want to point out. As we look downstream on the River Kent, we can see the flood prevention work. That's what all that um red and white fences along the road. And it seems the road at the moment is currently a one-way street. And then this scaffolding here, this is carrying various pipes. So, we're going to go down here. And it's says Kendall Castle. Kendall Castle. We're not going to Kendall Castle because as I mentioned earlier, I've already made a video on Kendall Castle. But what we are going to have a look at is I can get across here because it's currently one way as we cross the road. So, we can't quite walk on the river bank as what I intended. So, I'm not going to do much on this side. But, there is one thing I do want to show you. This road here, this is P Street. The reason it's called Par Street, is because if we were going up to the castle, we would be going to the home of the P family, that is the Par family of Katherine Par, Henry VII's sixth wife and I believe the only wife to outlive him. But if you want to see my exploration of the castle, then have a look at the video where I did explore the castle. What we're actually heading for, you can see we're going uphill. It looks like we're going to go over an old railway line, but we're not. I'll show you what it is when we get there. I think to the untrained eye, you would naturally think, "Yeah, this is an old railway line." I probably would have done if I hadn't have looked. It looks like an old railway. Have a look down here. Still looks like an old railway. It's actually the old Kendall Canal. And as I mentioned, there were various mills along here. So what they did the canal prior to the railway arriving at Kendall, this would have been the main way to transport the produce from the mill out of Kendall down towards Lancaster. So let's just go and have a quick look at this. We're not going to explore the whole canal. Maybe a video for another day, but let's go down into the old canal. I'm now just walking down the steps off the road onto this old canal. So like I say, it feels very much like an old rail. I did once go for a walk along there. So that way it's looking towards the end. You can just see the bridge. That's the bridge I was on a moment ago. And then if I wanted a long walk, could go all the way off down there. It's a very pleasant walk, but it's too long for today's video. So maybe another day we'll go for a walk exploring the old Kendall Canal. I just wanted to show you this other bit of Kendall's interaction with water. We're now going to go back to River Kent, go to the other side, and explore the town center. Beside the river again, this is the Never Bridge looking upstream where we were not long ago. Go. The bridge we crossed is just around the corner a little bit. My plan is now to follow the bank. You can just see the parish church up towards the parish church and the abbbert hall and then we'll end up on the main high street. And like I say, I know there's these ginels. So, I'm quite keen to explore some of these these narrow alleyways and uh we'll see what we can find there. So, as I say, we're going to go along the river. We can't see a great deal here cuz there's quite a few trees. I believe this is called Connell's Walk. We'll go a bit further and I'll show you what I find. Having walked a little way along the river, I have now come to the parish church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. It's a very wide church. I believe it's 10 ft 103 feet wide and it's one of the widest in the country. Unfortunately, the only problem making a video like this in the evening is I'm very unlikely to go inside. And if I made this in the day, I probably would have got inside, but there'd have been a lot more people around. So, I deliberately chose this video to do this during the evening. What I'm also going to show you, if I go, we're going to leave the river bank now. So, we're just sort of behind the church. See the river bank there? You can see I was walking along there where the red and white fence was, the temporary red and white fence. We're going to go up here. Actually, if I go over here is the Abbott Hall. Now, this was built on the site of previous Abbott's lodging, but what we have here is a much newer mansion. Just let you have a look at that. And then I'm going to continue on up between the Abbott Hall and the parish church. And that's where we'll eventually arrive at the main center of or the main street that runs through the middle of Kendall because this would have been the main trunk road when traveling north from London to Scotland. Now the main roads bypass it and you don't pass through on the railway cuz the west coast main line is up at Oxen home on the hill above. There is still the branch line to Windermir which passes through Kendall. So we'll walk up here now. So we're now quite literally between the church and the Abbott Hall. It says Abbert Hall. Um believe they do various art exhibitions inside if you want to visit it. We're coming to show you the front of the parish church and for that matter also show the front of the Abby Hall because there's the church and then on this side we can now see I'll show the front of the hall again. It would have been nice to have gone inside and featured the church. Maybe another day I'll come here. Love to go up the tower. See the views you'd see. If I go through here, should I get a better view of the parish church? That's a good little pub. That one there, the Ringo Bells. Had a meal in there on it. Pleasant little pub. Is quite small inside, but it's pleasant. So, there we are. This is the Kendall Parish Church. The main street is just over there. I'm going to try and find one of those gins to show you now. So, we'll leave the parish church behind us. We're going to head out onto the main road through the center of Kendall. This is Church Walk this path which I've just been following. And uh I can see where I want to go to this. Um it's called Kirk Barrow Lane. You're probably thinking, well, you can't see a lane. It's just there between these two buildings. So let's go and have a look. So yeah, get across the road. And there's a bit of information on the Kurt Barrow Lane. So I'll pause on that. Let you have a look at that. So, the Ringo Bell's pub is just over there. So, that's a very pleasant pub if you wish to stop and have a drink. We're now going to go up here. Now, I've never been up here before, so I'm not really quite sure what to expect. Reminds me a bit of Strong Nest in Ornne. There's lots of narrow lanes like that here. Oh, there was a cat sniffing around up here. Wonder if this cat realizes he's going to be on or she's gonna be on YouTube just staring at me. So this quite interest I love these paths. They're quite good fun. Yeah, you're never quite sure what you're going to find. So straight ahead there's what looks like a low door. I think it goes down lower. Um I'm going to continue on up here cuz that's private. The cat has disappeared. Now becomes some steps and it widens out a bit. Maybe soon we sh more. We're now kind of above some of the other houses. You I just like these roads that people perhaps wouldn't necessarily walk down. Um it's just exciting. See where they go. There's a junction here. I could go up there, but I'm not going to. Continue along Kirk Barrow Lane and see where it takes us. And then maybe whether I'll find a different lane to take me back or I'll just end up going down another one of the roads. I'm not too sure at this stage. It's perhaps not quite as interesting was interesting though. People do actually live along here. So it's um they must have somewhere behind to park their cars. Once we get out into a more usual kind of road, then I'll I'll stop this tape. Um, and oh yeah, there we are. Look at that. There's a car. And on that side there's a cat. [snorts] I'm not going to go up there and disturb that cat. Um, I'm going to go down here and find my way back to the town center. But I just want to show you one of those narrow lanes of Kendall. There's loads of them, but that's the one I wanted to show. I emerged out of Kirk Bar Lane onto a normalish housing estate. Love the name of this one. Look at that mint cake. If the camera will focus. There we go. Mint cake muse. And I've been eating Kendall Mint Cake today. It's sort of my um food I always buy for energy when maybe doing longer walks. We're now walking along Cross Lane. But those houses on that side are called Mink Cake Muse. So in the town of Kendall Mint Cake, it's nice to um see some houses named after what I think must be one of my favorite foods when I'm going out. Another interesting thing, we're not going to go there on this video, but the next place up the railway line towards Windermir, Bernie Side, [snorts] there's an independent paper company, and that's where they make the poppies. So, whenever you've worn a poppy formance day, it was made there. I'm going to try and find my way back to the main street. Now, I'm now making my way back towards the main street down another one of these little lanes. I'll see if this one has a name. And then what I'm going to do, I'm just going to let the camera roll as I walk up most of the main street and um I'll just keep the good bits in. I'll put some captions in. We're just coming out and you see over there that is the Abbert Hall. So we haven't really got far along the main street. In fact, Kurt Barrow Lane is literally just up there where I was a moment ago. So this is now the main street. Very quiet of an evening. Um, that could well be something to do with that. Um, England are playing at the time of filming in the World Cup. So, I think that's where everyone else is. I hope England does well, but um I'm not particularly worried about watching the match. I'll find out later how well we did. So, I'm going to show you Kendall instead. Right. Do you want me to pull off? Right now we are in the very center of Kendall. You can see the clock tower which I understand to be a town hall. We'll have a look at that in a minute. I've seen the next road I want to take you up. So, we've got a bank here. Fairly sort of typical looking grand bank. This one, Colin Croft. It's supposed to be a little cobbled street. It might have been tarmaced over, but Oh, yeah. It becomes cobbled up there. So, I thought before it does get too dark to make any videos um to film in Kendall, I thought this be a nice street to take you up. I just another interesting little back street. You're never quite sure what you're going to find when you go up these little back streets. Looks like it's mainly residential, but you can see these are old industrial buildings. See there's like an um a loading up there. So once this would have been a hive of activity. I say Kendall was a very industrial town. It was also a market town. My plan is to finish at the market square. Coming to a bit of a tea junction here. Looks like it was some sort of garage once. Now it's been converted into flats. They look caner those buildings. That might be an old chapel. That one. Um, what if I can get out up here? One way to find out. Let's keep going. Let's go up here. Sort of looks like a dead end, but at the same time, oh, no, look, here we are. This building, we can we can go up through there. And there's a bit of information here about Colin Croft. I'll let you have a a read of this. It's a pottery warehouse. So we're now going to continue into here and we're going well underneath it and up. This is really quite fascinating. You got obviously the Lake District on your doorstep and went to Boness earlier and it was heaving with people but here just a very nice downsworth town. Reminds me of the bridge in Amblesside Kendall's version. I like the places where the tourists don't go. So, we continue up here. Now, there's a gate. Can we get out? Might be locked in. That' be a bit annoying. Or is there another way around? Let's have a look. Look back at where we've come. That someone actually lives there. Imagine that. Living and you've got people quite literally walking underneath your kitchen. I think we can get out. Interesting. Cobbles. Yeah, that that gave the impression I was locked in, but we can get out. So, that's that's all right. That was fascinating. That's the kind of thing I like to explore. Now, I'm on a slightly less interesting street. If you're coming here by car, so there's a car park up there. I came by train. There's railway station here. So, it's fairly easy to get to. I'm just think this will take us back down. I get across the road. Oh, I know where I am. Yeah, weather spoons. Um, I'm not going to go and have a pint, but that's where I am. That's Weather Spoons there. That is a rather interesting building. See, it's got a chimney. Well, it was the town's laundry building, so it was where everything, you know, you could things were washed and that's why we had like a steam powered laundry. And that's why there's a great big chimney. I wonder if that's the tallest chimney on a Weather Spoons. Um, like I say, it's a very nice pub. I'm not going to go and have a drink in there now. Um, I have had quite a few pints in that pub. It's a pretty It's one of my favorite Weather Spoons. That one is continuing on now. We're heading for the town center. You should be able to see the town hall up there with its clock. And then there's a pub next to Weather Spoons called the Clock Tower. Funny that the clock tower has chimneys, but the Weatherspoon's chimney is a fair bit taller. And I just walked into a bolard cuz I was showing you where we are going. So, we're going to head down here. We're now heading for the town center. It's very busy in that pub because like I say, the football's on. Um, find out later on. I was almost thinking it'd be fun if we got a cheer on video if we scored. We just come down All Hallow's Lane. There you go. Halo's lane. And this is the town hall built in 1893. Quite an impressive building. >> And I'm now heading for the marketplace. And that's where I'm going to finish another bank building there called the Kendall Bank. It's now gotten quieter again. Seems to have gone past the area of the town where most of the pubs are. I'm quite hot having walked around. But I am quite tempted actually to go back to the Weather Spoons and have a pint. And like I say, be nice if we could score. So, we're now heading. Here's the war memorial just in front of us there. And um I believe this is the marketplace. So, this is where I'm going to finish this tour of Kendall. I think I've shown you most of the interesting parts of Kendall. Admittedly, I didn't take you up to the castle because I've already done that in another video. It's about half an hour after that last take. I've just been to Weather Spoons and had a pine. England still hasn't scored. So, I'm going to head back to hotel and see what happens with the game. But for those of you who watched this video, hope you enjoyed it. Thank you very much for joining me. and from Kendall Town Center. Please do feel free to like, share, and comment. Subscribe. Bye.