Kendal Castle is a medieval fortification to the east of the town of Kendal, Cumbria, in northern England. The castle, which is atop a glacial drumlin, was built in the 13th century [1] as the Caput baroniae for the Barony of Kendal. By the 15th century, the Parr family owned the castle.
The earliest reference to a castle at Kendal occurs in 1216 and might refer either to the surviving stone castle at Kendal or the older castle in the town, Castle Howe. [2]
The castle was built in the late 12th century as the home of the Lancaster family who were Barons of Kendal. The best-known family associated with the castle was the Parr family; including Queen Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII of England. Her family had lived at Kendal since her ancestor Sir William Parr (c. 1350–1405) married the heiress of Kendal, Elizabeth Ros, during the reign of Edward III of England. By the time Catherine Parr was born, the family had long deserted the castle which was already falling into disrepair. Catherine's father Sir Thomas Parr preferred to live in the centre of court in London. Her grandfather Sir William Parr (1434–1483) seems to be the last of the Parrs to have lived at Kendal Castle. [3] Queen Catherine Parr was once thought to have been born at the castle; however, modern research has shown that it was in great disrepair by the 16th century and she was most likely born in Blackfriars, London. [4] [5]
The Parr family had their properties, including Kendal Castle, confiscated by the Crown in 1566. [6]
Poet John Keats visited the ruins on a walking tour of the Lakes in the summer of 1818. He and his companion Charles Brown stayed the previous night at Endmoor. They then walked on to Windermere. [7]
The castle is roughly circular, and is bounded by an 26-metre (85 ft) wide ditch. The curtain wall was roughly circular, with three mural towers unevenly spaced around the circuit, and a gatehouse on the north side of the castle; in the interior, to the east of the entrance was a hall with a tower further to the east. An assessment by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments of England in the first half of the 20th century suggested that the hall was built in the 14th century. [8]
A small excavation led by J. E. Spence and involving pupils from Heversham Grammar School was carried out on the site of the gatehouse in 1951. [9] Barbara Harbottle led excavations at the castle in 1967–69 and 1971. [10] A geophysical survey was carried out at the castle in 2001 and identified a possible ditch. [11]
The site, which is open to the public, is maintained and managed by Westmorland and Furness Council. On 1 April 2023, Local Government Reorganisation merged South Lakeland District Council, Eden District Council and Barrow Borough Council with Cumbria County Council to form a new unitary authority for the area.
Catherine Parr was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until Henry's death on 28 January 1547. Catherine was the final queen consort of the House of Tudor, and outlived Henry by a year and eight months. With four husbands, she is the most-married English queen. She was the first woman to publish in print an original work under her own name in England in the English language.
Sizergh Castle is a stately home with garden and estate at Helsington in Cumbria, England, about 4 miles (6 km) south of Kendal. Located in historic Westmorland, the castle is a Grade I listed building. While remaining the home of the Hornyold-Strickland family, the castle with its garden and estate is in the care of the National Trust.
Westmorland is an area of North West England which was historically a county. People of the area are known as Westmerians. The area includes part of the Lake District and the southern Vale of Eden.
Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of the Lake District National Park.
The Barony of Kendal is a subdivision of the English historic county of Westmorland. It evolved from one of two ancient baronies that make up the county, the other being the Barony of Westmorland. In 1974, the entire county became part of the modern county of Cumbria and ceased to have an administrative function. At the same time, Kendal borough along with some other rural and urban districts in Westmorland was merged with the neighbouring parts of Lancashire, Furness and Cartmel, and also the Sedbergh Rural District of the West Riding of Yorkshire into the new South Lakeland district of the new county.
The history of Cumbria as a county of England begins with the Local Government Act 1972. Its territory and constituent parts however have a long history under various other administrative and historic units of governance. Cumbria is an upland, coastal and rural area, with a history of invasions, migration and settlement, as well as battles and skirmishes between the English and the Scots.
Brougham Castle is a medieval building about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of Penrith, Cumbria, England. The castle was founded by Robert I de Vieuxpont in the early 13th century. The site, near the confluence of the rivers Eamont and Lowther, had been chosen by the Romans for a Roman fort called Brocavum. The castle, along with the fort, is a scheduled monument: "Brougham Roman fort and Brougham Castle".
Kendal Parish Church, also known as the Holy Trinity Church due to its dedication to the Holy Trinity, is the Anglican parish church of Kendal, Cumbria, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.
Alice Neville, Baroness FitzHugh or Lady Alice FitzHugh, was the wife of Henry FitzHugh, 5th Baron FitzHugh. She is best known for being the great-grandmother of queen consort Catherine Parr and her siblings, Anne and William, as well as one of the sisters of Warwick the 'Kingmaker'. Her family was one of the oldest and most powerful families of the North. They had a long-standing tradition of military service and a reputation for seeking power at the cost of the loyalty to the crown as was demonstrated by her brother, the Earl of Warwick.
William de Lancaster I, or William Fitz Gilbert, was a nobleman of the 12th century in Northwest England during the Anarchy, and the period during which his region was ruled by King David I of Scotland. His position survived the return of English rule under King Henry II, and his most important lordship, which had previously come together under Ivo de Taillebois, would evolve into what was eventually known as the barony of Kendal. According to a document some generations later, he was also referred to as William de Tailboys when younger, and then became "William de Lancaster, baron of Kendal". He died in about 1170.
Hugill is a civil parish in Cumbria, England. Hugill includes the village of Ings and the hamlets of Grassgarth, and Reston plus a large part of the village of Staveley and the west bank of the River Kent north of Barley Bridge. It was formerly a part of the Barony of Kendal. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 416, increasing at the 2011 census to 446. Approximately 60% of the population live in Staveley or the Kent valley.
Burneside Hall is a converted medieval pele tower in Burneside, Cumbria, England.
Kentrigg is a northern suburb of Kendal, Cumbria, England. By road, Kentrigg is located 1.2 miles (1.9 km) north of the centre of Kendal and 1.4 miles (2.3 km) southeast of Burneside. It contains the Carus Green Golf Club, which separates it from Burneside just to the northwest. Across the River Kent to the east is the Shap Road Industrial Estate, north of the district of Mintsfeet and the Mintsfeet Industrial Estate which marks the southeastern side of Kentrigg.
Gilbert fitz Roger fitz Reinfried, or Gilbert the son of Roger fitzReinfrid, was an Anglo-Norman feudal baron whose administrative career in England began in the time of Henry II (1154-1189), for whom his father Roger fitzReinfrid had been steward. Gilbert's career continued during the reigns of Richard I, King John, and Henry III.
Brocavum is the Latin name of a Roman fort at Brougham near Penrith, Cumbria. The fort survives as earthworks, but no excavation of these has been carried out so far.
The history of medieval Cumbria has several points of interest. The region's status as a borderland coping with 400 years of warfare is one. The attitude of the English central government, at once uninterested and deeply interested, is another. As a border region, of geopolitical importance, Cumbria changed hands between the Angles, Norse, Strathclyde Brythons, Picts, Normans, Scots and English; and the emergence of the modern county is also worthy of study.
Sir James Leyburn, also Laybourne, Labourn, etc., was a senior representative of one of the powerful families within the Barony of Kendal. He was at different times a Justice of the Peace for Westmorland, Escheator for Cumberland and Westmorland, and Commissioner for the survey of the monasteries of Lancashire. He was caught up in the troubles at Kendal during the Pilgrimage of Grace (1536-1537). As an assistant to Sir Thomas Wharton, Deputy Warden of the West March, he took an important part in the Battle of Solway Moss (1542). He was one of the two MPs for Westmorland in 1542 and 1545.
The Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, founded in 1866, is a local historical, antiquarian, archaeological and text publication society and registered charity covering the modern county of Cumbria.
John de Lancaster of Grisedale and Stanstead was an English knight, and a parliamentary baron in the Peerage of England. He was the first and last in his line to be called to parliament, as he had no heir. He was therefore the only "Lord Lancaster" or "Baron Lancaster" apart from the separate titles which belonged to a branch of the royal family descended from Edmund Crouchback. His father's family had many lordships in northwestern England, including Grisedale ; while his mother's family made him an heir to important lordships in other parts of England, including Stansted Mountfitchet in Essex.
Lowther Castle Stead is a medieval site in Cumbria, possibly a ringwork castle. It lies just east of the River Lowther. The castle was probably established in the 11th or 12th century as part of the Norman conquest of the region, and it was out of use by the mid-14th century. A medieval village and church were also established nearby.
