Kentmere
Encyclopedia
Kentmere is a valley
, village and civil parish in the Lake District National Park
, a few miles from Kendal
in the South Lakeland
district of Cumbria
, England
. It is historically
part of Westmorland
. The parish has a population of 95.
. The reservoir is now the source of the River Kent
which gives Kendal its name. Access to this part of the valley is available via the Roman
High Street
, over Nan Bield Pass, from Troutbeck
over Garburn Pass (Byway open to all traffic), or along an old bridleway up from the village. The valley is sandwiched between Troutbeck on the west side and Longsleddale
on the east. It can only be accessed by road by travelling through Staveley
which sits at its mouth where the river meets the Gowan beck
coming in from Ings
. A walk described by Wainwright
in his Far Eastern Fells series as the Kentmere Round involves a 12 miles (19.3 km) all-inclusive round trip. In the past there were drove roads up over the horseshoe in the north to the village of Mardale
which is now under the water of the Haweswater Reservoir
. In the past it was a tradition of the valley's inhabitants to travel from Kentmere to Mardale village church as part of the Easter Sunday celebrations.
The River Kent
begins above the reservoir in the heights of Bleathwaite Crag. It collects beneath Kentmere Common in the reservoir which was built in 1848 to control the flow of water to the lower pastures. Lingmell
Gill
also feeds into the reservoir. Beside the reservoir sits a disused quarry and a cottage formerly used for maintenance of the river. The river opens out into a transitory lake called Kentmere Tarn just south of the confluence with Hall Gill. The lake has at times in the past completely disappeared into marshland and in 1840 it was purposely drained to provide reclaimed farm land, but in the past 100 years the "mere
" has reappeared again. It is currently 1 mile in length. An archaeological excavation there uncovered an 'extended' log boat dated to c.1300 AD (D.M.Wilson, A Medieval Boat from Kentmere, Westmorland, in Medieval Archaeology (1966) 10. 81-88). Other tributaries within the valley include Ullstone Gill, Nunnery beck, Nuttera beck, Park beck, and Hall beck. A waterfall known as Force Jump is situated just north of the village, and there are two bridges at the Staveley end of the valley. The first is called Barley Bridge and includes a dramatic weir. The second straddles the Kent further up the valley and is known as Scroggs Bridge.
A little further down the valley is the village of Kentmere, which includes Kentmere Hall and the church of St Cuthbert's. The parish of Kentmere is divided into four quarters:
Over Staveley and Hugill
are also situated within the Kent valley, along with the small settlements of Elfhowe and Browfoot.
Near Kentmere Hall stands the "Brock Stone" or Badger Rock, a large free-standing rhyolite
boulder. It is one of many challenges popular with climbers in the area. It is said that: "Kentmere valley has the greatest number of recorded [climbing] problems in the Lake District (over 125)"
The main rocks and minerals to be found in the valley are green slate
and granite
. There has been some record of opal
being found too though it has never been mined. Much of the local stone has been used since pre-history as the raw material for field boundaries using a local technique known as dry stone walling. Just below the reservoir is a Geological Conservation Review
site known as Jumb quarry. The site is significant due to its volcanic rock which displays "bird‘s-eye tuffs
", which contain lapilli
(fragments of lava that erupted from a volcanic centre and probably fell into standing bodies of water). The lapilli are believed to have been spherical originally, but were squashed into elliptical shapes as a result of intense pressure during the formation of the Caledonian Mountains
.
The valley has evidence of habitation going back to roughly 4000 BC, when the valley and surrounding hillsides were almost entirely covered with forest. A major archaeological research project conducted in the valley by a local archaeology group between 1983 and 1999 surveyed and recorded hundreds of archaeological features, as well as excavating two sites - a (radiocarbon dated
) pre-Viking and Viking
period upland settlement at Bryant's Gill, south of Rainsborrow Crag (on private land, not publicly accessible), and part of a medieval platform site and farmstead near Kentmere Hall The results of this survey and excavation project are to be made publicly available via a new Lake District and Cumbrian archaeology website in 2012.
The valley's rich archaeological heritage also includes the remains of at least five large prehistoric compound or curvilinear sites incorporating the remains of round huts and small stockyards. One of these sites is on a public footpath at Tongue House in the northern part of the valley (see photograph).
Kentmere Hall is famous for its tower house
; a fortification built for status in the 13th - early 14th centuries AD - ostensibly to guard against raiding parties from Scotland
. Similar towers occur elsewhere in Cumbria
and other northern English and southern Scottish counties. Kentmere Hall's tower has 5 feet (1.5 m) walls, tunnel-vaulted ceilings, a crenellated roof with turrets and a spiral staircase; all built out of local stone. The farmstead to the east of it shows signs of many building phases and changes, in common with many other significant Lake District valley bottom medieval and post-medieval buildings such as Dalegarth Hall in Eskdale
.
The manor, having been handed down to the eldest son, the rest of the valley was divided between the younger sons of the Gilpins for generations. What remains of the original estate is now a farm in possession of a private owner. Other important parts of the manor include Green Quarter on the eastern slopes of the valley where there is a Bed and Breakfast house, called Maggs Howe, that once was home to a branch of the Gilpin family.
The present church, dedicated to St Cuthbert
, was built to the east of Kentmere Hall. As is often the case with Medieval churches, there is an ancient Yew
tree situated nearby which has been estimated to date back to the time of William I; indicating that worship had been taking place there at an early stage in the village's history. Written records of the chapel don't begin until 1692 making earlier history difficult to establish. A graveyard for the church was dedicated in 1701, and the Lord of the Manor paid the curate "a rate of 2s. levied for every 13s. 4d. paid to the lord of the manor". In 1757 this was supplemented with money paid out of Queen Anne's Bounty
roughly £400-800. The chapel was remodelled in the 19th century and again in the 1950s. The roof remains of 16th century date.
mills and for Waterfoot factory which dredged the bottom of the Kentmere Tarn in the 1950s searching for diatomite. A water mill was established by the first lord of the manor in 1272. The records state that he had "Liberty granted to erect a mill on the banks of the River Kent at Ulventhwaite, upstream of Croft Head" they also stated that the mill was used to cut the sleepers for the Kendal and Windermere Railway
in 1860. The Mill was restored in the 1970s and is now a Pottery studio producing handmade ceramics. Also, at the Staveley end of the valley, is a photographic paper
manufactory known as Kentmere Ltd. A fishery is situated beside the reservoir and every year trout and salmon are released into the River Kent for the benefit of anglers because the river's native population has been diminished.
The area has had a history of mining. This appears to have been predominantly for the green slate
available in the valley.
gy nature of the valley, that the local dry stone walls and stone for housing were taken from the slopes around the valley, even as far back as the Bronze Age
. There are two main open cast mines in the valley. The first is Jumb quarry, situated within a few 100 yards of the early settlement at Tongue House, suggesting that the two may have been coexisting in some form or other. However the general proliferation of rock in this part of Kentmere means the early inhabitants may easily have taken their building material from almost anywhere in the valley, so it is by no means certain.
The second is situated at Steelrigg near Staveley
. Both produced green slate.
There were also at least six underground mines in the valley. And at the height of production in 1914 Steelrigg employed five men below ground and nine above. The quarry fell out of use in 1923 and 1925 and employed only four men with no active mining listed between 1921 and 1926. Mining was resumed in 1927 and continued until at least 1938.
Jumb quarry was in continuous use throughout the same period, employing 10 men below ground and five above at its height in 1934.
The two quarries changed hands on a number of occasions, with three companies listed in the pre-war
period; James Stevenson & Co., Kendal, Tilberthwaite Green Slate Co Ltd., Kendal, and Buttermere Green Slate Quarries Ltd., Station Buildings, Keswick. Throughout this time the agent for the quarries was local man J.J. Thomas.
By 1945 a company recorded as being the Kentmere Green Slate Co. Ltd. having its offices in the St. Georges Buildings, Blackhall, Kendal owned both sites.
. Their notable descendants include George Biddell Airy
the Astronomer
and Henry Airay
, who was born in the valley and became Provost
of Queen's College
, Oxford
in 1599. He bequeathed 40 shillings a year to ensure a monthly sermon was held at St. Cuthberts. Postman Pat
the cartoon character lived in Greendale which is claimed by his creator to be based on Kentmere and the neighbouring valley of Longsleddale.
. Alexander Lewius Peace; (sometimes known as Richard) was the family's first ancestor to come over to England with William the Conqueror after the Norman Invasion
of 1066. He was named after one of two brothers; Walcheln and Josceln De Gulespin, or De Gylpin who took their name from the place in Normandy where they lived. Then around the time of the signing of the Magna Carta
Richard de Gilpin, known as "Richard the Rider" accompanied the Baron of Kendal to Runnymeade because his secretary as the Baron was unable to read or write himself. After their return, Richard achieved renown for killing the Wild Boar of Westmorland
a ferocious animal that had been terrorising the local villages. As a reward for his bravery, the Baron gave him the land in and around Kentmere, about 4000 acres (16 km²), described as "a breezy tract of pasture land" by the French
Chronicler Froissart. From this time onward, the Gilpin's crest
included a sable boar on a gold background. Many areas near and surrounding Kentmere still sport the name of Gilpin given to them by descendants of this family.
Richard's achievement and his ancestry were immortalised by minstrel
s of the period in a song known as "the Minstrels of Winandermere" after Windermere
which is less than 10 miles (15 km) from the valley.
The estate of Kentmere was increased during the reign of Henry III
by a grant of the Manor of Ulwithwaite to Richard, the grandson of the boar-slayer.
The family later became famous for their alliance with the neighbouring de Bruce family who went on to become ancestors of the Kings of Scotland.
Bernard Gilpin
also known as the "Apostle of the North" was a youngest son of the Gilpins of Kentmere Hall during the 16th century, and grew up there. In his adulthood he stayed there on occasion, preaching at the church. Concerning Bernard Gilpin; Thomas Cox states:
Bernard's oldest brother was George Gilpin
who was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I to form an alliance between the Dutch States
and the English against the Spanish Armada
. He was minister to the Hague during her reign. He carried with him an autographed letter written by the Queen stating:
The second brother William Gilpin took residence in the mill in 1578 after marrying Elizabeth Washington of Hall Head (the great-great aunt of George Washington
)
Kentmere hall remained in the hands of the Gilpins for 12 generations. It was lost during the English Civil War
when Cromwell's troops destroyed the hall leaving only the fortified tower standing. The head of the household at that time left the land in trust to a friend and fled the country. When returning the gentleman's heir was unable to lay hold of the official deeds to the estate and so possession was lost. In 1660 ownership of the Hall passed to the Philipson family.
were found by Reverend Charles Farish, whose mother was Elizabeth Gilpin (née Washington). He claimed they dated to the 13th century. However, the style is somewhat affected for the 13th century and everything but the first verse must be regarded with a suspicious eye.
(note; Charles Farish was a friend of William Wordsworth
. In his book Poetical Works vol. 1 a footnote to Guilt and Sorrow; or, Incidents upon Salisbury Plain states that some of its lines were taken "From a short MS. poem read to me when an under-graduate, by my schoolfellow and friend Charles Farish, long since deceased. The verses were by a brother of his, a man of promising genius, who died young."—W. W. 1842 in a statement by the editor of the volume the footnote goes on to say that: "Charles Farish was the author of The Minstrels of Winandermere" as a result there is some debate as to authorship of the song commemorating Richard Gilpin's achievements).
Motto: Dictis Factisque Simplex (Latin
; "Honest in Word and Deed").
Valley
In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...
, village and civil parish in the Lake District National Park
Lake District National Park
The Lake District National Park is located in the north-west of England and is the largest of the English National Parks and the second largest in the United Kingdom. It is in the central and most-visited part of the Lake District....
, a few miles from Kendal
Kendal
Kendal, anciently known as Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish within the South Lakeland District of Cumbria, England...
in the South Lakeland
South Lakeland
South Lakeland is a local government district in Cumbria, England. Its council is based in Kendal. It includes much of the Lake District.The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972...
district of Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is historically
Historic counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
part of Westmorland
Westmorland
Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...
. The parish has a population of 95.
Geography
The narrow valley spans about 3 miles (4.8 km) in length and begins with a bowl of hills known as the Kentmere Round; a horseshoe of high fells which surrounds Kentmere ReservoirKentmere Reservoir
Kentmere Reservoir is a water storage facility situated in the Kentmere valley in the county of Cumbria, England. It is located 10.5 km north-northeast of the town of Windermere...
. The reservoir is now the source of the River Kent
River Kent
The River Kent is a short river in the county of Cumbria in England. The river originates in hills surrounding Kentmere, and flows for around 20 miles into the north of Morecambe Bay. The Lake District National Park includes the upper reaches of the river within its boundaries.The river passes...
which gives Kendal its name. Access to this part of the valley is available via the Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
High Street
High Street (Lake District)
High Street is a fell in the English Lake District. At 828 metres , its summit is the highest point in the far eastern part of the national park. The fell is named after the Roman road which ran over the summit.-History and Naming:...
, over Nan Bield Pass, from Troutbeck
Troutbeck, South Lakeland
Troutbeck is a village in South Lakeland district in Cumbria. It is north of Windermere town, to the west of the A592 road. It is a conservation area and includes the National Trust property of Townend.-Village Amenities:...
over Garburn Pass (Byway open to all traffic), or along an old bridleway up from the village. The valley is sandwiched between Troutbeck on the west side and Longsleddale
Longsleddale
Longsleddale is a valley and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of the English county of Cumbria. It includes the hamlet of Sadgill. The parish has a population of 73....
on the east. It can only be accessed by road by travelling through Staveley
Staveley, Cumbria
Staveley is a village in the District of South Lakeland in Cumbria, England. It is situated northwest of Kendal where the River Kent is joined by its tributary the Gowan.-Geography:...
which sits at its mouth where the river meets the Gowan beck
River Gowan, Cumbria
The River Gowan is a short river in Cumbria, running easterly through the village of Ings before joining the River Kent at Staveley....
coming in from Ings
Ings, Cumbria
Ings is a village in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. It lies on the course on the River Gowan and A591 road, to the east of the lake, Windermere....
. A walk described by Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright MBE was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, published between 1955 and 1966 and consisting entirely of reproductions of his manuscript, has become the standard reference work to 214 of the fells of the...
in his Far Eastern Fells series as the Kentmere Round involves a 12 miles (19.3 km) all-inclusive round trip. In the past there were drove roads up over the horseshoe in the north to the village of Mardale
Mardale
Mardale is a glacial valley in the Lake District, in northern England. The valley used to have a hamlet at its head, called Mardale Green, but this village was submerged in 1935 when the water level of the valley's lake, Haweswater, was raised to form Haweswater Reservoir by the Manchester...
which is now under the water of the Haweswater Reservoir
Haweswater Reservoir
Haweswater is a reservoir in the English Lake District, built in the valley of Mardale in the county of Cumbria. The controversial construction of the Haweswater dam started in 1929, after Parliament passed an Act giving the Manchester Corporation permission to build the reservoir to supply water...
. In the past it was a tradition of the valley's inhabitants to travel from Kentmere to Mardale village church as part of the Easter Sunday celebrations.
River Kent
The River Kent is a short river in the county of Cumbria in England. The river originates in hills surrounding Kentmere, and flows for around 20 miles into the north of Morecambe Bay. The Lake District National Park includes the upper reaches of the river within its boundaries.The river passes...
begins above the reservoir in the heights of Bleathwaite Crag. It collects beneath Kentmere Common in the reservoir which was built in 1848 to control the flow of water to the lower pastures. Lingmell
Lingmell
Lingmell is a fell in the English Lake District, standing above the village of Wasdale Head. It is an outlier on the north-west flank of Scafell Pike, England's highest mountain.-Topography:...
Gill
Gill (stream)
Ghyll or Gill is used for a stream or narrow valley in the North of England and other parts of the United Kingdom. The word originates from the Old Norse Gil...
also feeds into the reservoir. Beside the reservoir sits a disused quarry and a cottage formerly used for maintenance of the river. The river opens out into a transitory lake called Kentmere Tarn just south of the confluence with Hall Gill. The lake has at times in the past completely disappeared into marshland and in 1840 it was purposely drained to provide reclaimed farm land, but in the past 100 years the "mere
Mere (lake)
Mere in English refers to a lake that is broad in relation to its depth, e.g. Martin Mere. A significant effect of its shallow depth is that for all or most of the time, it has no thermocline.- Etymology :...
" has reappeared again. It is currently 1 mile in length. An archaeological excavation there uncovered an 'extended' log boat dated to c.1300 AD (D.M.Wilson, A Medieval Boat from Kentmere, Westmorland, in Medieval Archaeology (1966) 10. 81-88). Other tributaries within the valley include Ullstone Gill, Nunnery beck, Nuttera beck, Park beck, and Hall beck. A waterfall known as Force Jump is situated just north of the village, and there are two bridges at the Staveley end of the valley. The first is called Barley Bridge and includes a dramatic weir. The second straddles the Kent further up the valley and is known as Scroggs Bridge.
A little further down the valley is the village of Kentmere, which includes Kentmere Hall and the church of St Cuthbert's. The parish of Kentmere is divided into four quarters:
- Kentmere Common,
- Green Quarter,
- Hallow Bank, and
- Crag Quarter.
Over Staveley and Hugill
Hugill
Hugill is a civil parish in the South Lakeland district of the English county of Cumbria. It includes the village of Ings and the hamlets of Grassgarth, and Reston. The parish has a population of 416....
are also situated within the Kent valley, along with the small settlements of Elfhowe and Browfoot.
Near Kentmere Hall stands the "Brock Stone" or Badger Rock, a large free-standing rhyolite
Rhyolite
This page is about a volcanic rock. For the ghost town see Rhyolite, Nevada, and for the satellite system, see Rhyolite/Aquacade.Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic composition . It may have any texture from glassy to aphanitic to porphyritic...
boulder. It is one of many challenges popular with climbers in the area. It is said that: "Kentmere valley has the greatest number of recorded [climbing] problems in the Lake District (over 125)"
The main rocks and minerals to be found in the valley are green slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
and granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
. There has been some record of opal
Opal
Opal is an amorphous form of silica related to quartz, a mineraloid form, not a mineral. 3% to 21% of the total weight is water, but the content is usually between 6% to 10%. It is deposited at a relatively low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock, being most...
being found too though it has never been mined. Much of the local stone has been used since pre-history as the raw material for field boundaries using a local technique known as dry stone walling. Just below the reservoir is a Geological Conservation Review
Geological Conservation Review
The Geological Conservation Review is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee and is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological and geomorphological features of Britain...
site known as Jumb quarry. The site is significant due to its volcanic rock which displays "bird‘s-eye tuffs
Tuff
Tuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered...
", which contain lapilli
Lapilli
Lapilli is a size classification term for tephra, which is material that falls out of the air during a volcanic eruption or during some meteorite impacts. Lapilli means "little stones" in Latin. They are in some senses similar to ooids or pisoids in calcareous sediments.By definition lapilli range...
(fragments of lava that erupted from a volcanic centre and probably fell into standing bodies of water). The lapilli are believed to have been spherical originally, but were squashed into elliptical shapes as a result of intense pressure during the formation of the Caledonian Mountains
Caledonian orogeny
The Caledonian orogeny is a mountain building era recorded in the northern parts of the British Isles, the Scandinavian Mountains, Svalbard, eastern Greenland and parts of north-central Europe. The Caledonian orogeny encompasses events that occurred from the Ordovician to Early Devonian, roughly...
.
Early human history
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
) pre-Viking and Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
period upland settlement at Bryant's Gill, south of Rainsborrow Crag (on private land, not publicly accessible), and part of a medieval platform site and farmstead near Kentmere Hall The results of this survey and excavation project are to be made publicly available via a new Lake District and Cumbrian archaeology website in 2012.
The valley's rich archaeological heritage also includes the remains of at least five large prehistoric compound or curvilinear sites incorporating the remains of round huts and small stockyards. One of these sites is on a public footpath at Tongue House in the northern part of the valley (see photograph).
Significant sites
Tower house
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation.-History:Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountain or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces...
; a fortification built for status in the 13th - early 14th centuries AD - ostensibly to guard against raiding parties from Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Similar towers occur elsewhere in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
and other northern English and southern Scottish counties. Kentmere Hall's tower has 5 feet (1.5 m) walls, tunnel-vaulted ceilings, a crenellated roof with turrets and a spiral staircase; all built out of local stone. The farmstead to the east of it shows signs of many building phases and changes, in common with many other significant Lake District valley bottom medieval and post-medieval buildings such as Dalegarth Hall in Eskdale
Eskdale, Cumbria
Eskdale is a glacial valley and civil parish in the western Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It forms part of the Borough of Copeland, and has a population of 264....
.
The manor, having been handed down to the eldest son, the rest of the valley was divided between the younger sons of the Gilpins for generations. What remains of the original estate is now a farm in possession of a private owner. Other important parts of the manor include Green Quarter on the eastern slopes of the valley where there is a Bed and Breakfast house, called Maggs Howe, that once was home to a branch of the Gilpin family.
Cuthbert
- People :*Cuthbert , Anglo-Saxon saint, bishop, monk and hermit*Cuthbert of Canterbury , Archbishop of Canterbury*Cuthbert Bardsley , Anglican Bishop of Coventry*Cuthbert Brodrick , British architect...
, was built to the east of Kentmere Hall. As is often the case with Medieval churches, there is an ancient Yew
Taxus
Taxus is a genus of yews, small coniferous trees or shrubs in the yew family Taxaceae. They are relatively slow-growing and can be very long-lived, and reach heights of 1-40 m, with trunk diameters of up to 4 m...
tree situated nearby which has been estimated to date back to the time of William I; indicating that worship had been taking place there at an early stage in the village's history. Written records of the chapel don't begin until 1692 making earlier history difficult to establish. A graveyard for the church was dedicated in 1701, and the Lord of the Manor paid the curate "a rate of 2s. levied for every 13s. 4d. paid to the lord of the manor". In 1757 this was supplemented with money paid out of Queen Anne's Bounty
Queen Anne's Bounty
Queen Anne's Bounty was a fund established in 1704 to augment the incomes of the poorer clergy of the Church of England. The bounty was funded by the tax on the incomes of all Church of England clergy, which was paid to the Pope until the Reformation, and thereafter to the Crown.In 1890, the total...
roughly £400-800. The chapel was remodelled in the 19th century and again in the 1950s. The roof remains of 16th century date.
Industry
The valley used to be known for its bobbinBobbin
A bobbin is a spindle or cylinder, with or without flanges, on which wire, yarn, thread or film is wound. Bobbins are typically found in sewing machines, cameras, and within electronic equipment....
mills and for Waterfoot factory which dredged the bottom of the Kentmere Tarn in the 1950s searching for diatomite. A water mill was established by the first lord of the manor in 1272. The records state that he had "Liberty granted to erect a mill on the banks of the River Kent at Ulventhwaite, upstream of Croft Head" they also stated that the mill was used to cut the sleepers for the Kendal and Windermere Railway
Kendal and Windermere Railway
The Kendal and Windermere Railway is a railway in Cumbria in north-west England. It was built as a railway from the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway at Oxenholme via Kendal to near Windermere, opening fully in April 1847. The engineer was Joseph Locke and the partnership of contractors consisted of...
in 1860. The Mill was restored in the 1970s and is now a Pottery studio producing handmade ceramics. Also, at the Staveley end of the valley, is a photographic paper
Photographic paper
Photographic paper is paper coated with light-sensitive chemicals, used for making photographic prints.Photographic paper is exposed to light in a controlled manner, either by placing a negative in contact with the paper directly to produce a contact print, by using an enlarger in order to create a...
manufactory known as Kentmere Ltd. A fishery is situated beside the reservoir and every year trout and salmon are released into the River Kent for the benefit of anglers because the river's native population has been diminished.
The area has had a history of mining. This appears to have been predominantly for the green slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
available in the valley.
Mining
Official records of mining in the area go back at least as far as 1898. Before that it is likely, due to the particularly cragCliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
gy nature of the valley, that the local dry stone walls and stone for housing were taken from the slopes around the valley, even as far back as the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
. There are two main open cast mines in the valley. The first is Jumb quarry, situated within a few 100 yards of the early settlement at Tongue House, suggesting that the two may have been coexisting in some form or other. However the general proliferation of rock in this part of Kentmere means the early inhabitants may easily have taken their building material from almost anywhere in the valley, so it is by no means certain.
Staveley, Cumbria
Staveley is a village in the District of South Lakeland in Cumbria, England. It is situated northwest of Kendal where the River Kent is joined by its tributary the Gowan.-Geography:...
. Both produced green slate.
There were also at least six underground mines in the valley. And at the height of production in 1914 Steelrigg employed five men below ground and nine above. The quarry fell out of use in 1923 and 1925 and employed only four men with no active mining listed between 1921 and 1926. Mining was resumed in 1927 and continued until at least 1938.
Jumb quarry was in continuous use throughout the same period, employing 10 men below ground and five above at its height in 1934.
The two quarries changed hands on a number of occasions, with three companies listed in the pre-war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
period; James Stevenson & Co., Kendal, Tilberthwaite Green Slate Co Ltd., Kendal, and Buttermere Green Slate Quarries Ltd., Station Buildings, Keswick. Throughout this time the agent for the quarries was local man J.J. Thomas.
By 1945 a company recorded as being the Kentmere Green Slate Co. Ltd. having its offices in the St. Georges Buildings, Blackhall, Kendal owned both sites.
Literary mentions
- "Kentmere... This place hath its name from the river Kent, which springs there, and from a mere or lake therein called Kentmere; which river gives name not only to this particular district, but to all the south-west part of this county, called Kendale. It springs about 3 miles [5 km] north from the chapel, and from thence runs southward through Kentmere, Staveley, StricklandStricklandThe English surname Strickland is derived from the Norse word Stercaland, which is found in Westmorland to the south of Penrith. It did not become a family name until after 1179, when Walter de Castlecarrock married Christian de Leteham, an heiress to the local estate that now includes the villages...
, the township of Kendal, by NatlandNatlandNatland is village and civil parish about two miles south of Kendal in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, close to the village of Oxenholme. At the time of the 2001 census the population was 747....
, HelsingtonHelsingtonHelsington is a civil parish in the South Lakeland district of the English county of Cumbria. It includes the village of Brigsteer and Sizergh Castle and Garden, a property owned by the National Trust. The parish has a population of 288....
, LevinsLevens HallLevens Hall is a manor house in the county of Cumbria in northern England. The first house on the site was a pele tower built by the Redman family in around 1350. Much of the present building dates from the Elizabethan era, when the Bellingham family extended the house...
, and from thence into the sea. It receives in its course two small rivers, Sprit and Mint. The former springs in Long Sleddale , and runs in at Burneshead. The other springs in Fawcet Forest, and its course meets with Grayrigg water which springs above the hall, and falls into Kent about a mile above Kendal. Kentmere is bounded on the East by the chapelry of Long Sleddale, on the South by the chapelries of Staveley and Ings, on the West by the top of Garburne Fell, and on the North by PatterdalePatterdalePatterdale is a small village and civil parish in the eastern part of the English Lake District in the Eden District of Cumbria, and the long valley in which they are found, also called the Ullswater Valley....
in the parish of BartonBarton, CumbriaBarton is a hamlet and civil parish in the Eden district of Cumbria, England. The parish is on the edge of the Lake District National Park, and had a population of 232 according to the 2001 census. It includes the small hamlet of Barton and the village of Pooley Bridge...
and Mardale in the parish of ShapShapShap is a linear village and civil parish located amongst fells and isolated dales in Eden district, Cumbria, England. The village lies along the A6 road and the West Coast Main Line, and is near to the M6 motorway...
."
-
- Joseph Nicolson and Richard BurnRichard BurnRichard Burn was an English legal writer.-Education and career:...
: The history and antiquities of the counties of Westmorland and Cumberland. 1777. Transcribed by Anne Nichols
- Joseph Nicolson and Richard Burn
Kentmere families
For a valley of its size, Kentmere has produced more than its fair share of famous families. Most notably the Gilpin family who were the main land owners in the village. Secondly the family of Airy who are first officially recorded in the 14th century, although in 1692 a history of the Barony of Kendal recorded that the church of St. Cuthbert, which is known to be of Norman date or earlier, was "reported to have been built by one Airay of this dale" but this may refer to the re-roofing in the mid-16th century. The Aireys still have descendants of the same name in the valley today, although many of them were driven out during the Civil War, when they removed to LincolnshireLincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
. Their notable descendants include George Biddell Airy
George Biddell Airy
Sir George Biddell Airy PRS KCB was an English mathematician and astronomer, Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881...
the Astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
and Henry Airay
Henry Airay
Henry Airay , was an English Puritan preacher and author.-Biography:Airay was born at Kentmere, near Kendal, Westmorland. His date of birth is uncertain. His father was William Airay, a favored servant of Bernard Gilpin, "the apostle of the North"...
, who was born in the valley and became Provost
Provost (education)
A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....
of Queen's College
The Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College, founded 1341, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Queen's is centrally situated on the High Street, and is renowned for its 18th-century architecture...
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
in 1599. He bequeathed 40 shillings a year to ensure a monthly sermon was held at St. Cuthberts. Postman Pat
Postman Pat
Postman Pat is a British stop-motion animated children's television series first produced by Woodland Animations. It is aimed at pre-school children, and concerns the adventures of Pat Clifton, a postman in the fictional village of Greendale .Postman Pat's first 13-episode season was screened on...
the cartoon character lived in Greendale which is claimed by his creator to be based on Kentmere and the neighbouring valley of Longsleddale.
The Gilpin family
The valley is famous for the Gilpin family who were given the valley and much surrounding land after an act of bravery by a member of the court of King JohnJohn of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
. Alexander Lewius Peace; (sometimes known as Richard) was the family's first ancestor to come over to England with William the Conqueror after the Norman Invasion
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
of 1066. He was named after one of two brothers; Walcheln and Josceln De Gulespin, or De Gylpin who took their name from the place in Normandy where they lived. Then around the time of the signing of the Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
Richard de Gilpin, known as "Richard the Rider" accompanied the Baron of Kendal to Runnymeade because his secretary as the Baron was unable to read or write himself. After their return, Richard achieved renown for killing the Wild Boar of Westmorland
Wild Boar of Westmorland
The Wild Boar of Westmorland is a legend concerning Richard de Gilpin and the villagers and pilgrims visiting the ruins of the Holy Cross at Plumgarths, and the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin on St...
a ferocious animal that had been terrorising the local villages. As a reward for his bravery, the Baron gave him the land in and around Kentmere, about 4000 acres (16 km²), described as "a breezy tract of pasture land" by the French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
Chronicler Froissart. From this time onward, the Gilpin's crest
Crest (heraldry)
A crest is a component of an heraldic display, so called because it stands on top of a helmet, as the crest of a jay stands on the bird's head....
included a sable boar on a gold background. Many areas near and surrounding Kentmere still sport the name of Gilpin given to them by descendants of this family.
Richard's achievement and his ancestry were immortalised by minstrel
Minstrel
A minstrel was a medieval European bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories of distant places or of existing or imaginary historical events. Although minstrels created their own tales, often they would memorize and embellish the works of others. Frequently they were retained by royalty...
s of the period in a song known as "the Minstrels of Winandermere" after Windermere
Windermere
Windermere is the largest natural lake of England. It is also a name used in a number of places, including:-Australia:* Lake Windermere , a reservoir, Australian Capital Territory * Lake Windermere...
which is less than 10 miles (15 km) from the valley.
The estate of Kentmere was increased during the reign of Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
by a grant of the Manor of Ulwithwaite to Richard, the grandson of the boar-slayer.
The family later became famous for their alliance with the neighbouring de Bruce family who went on to become ancestors of the Kings of Scotland.
Bernard Gilpin
Bernard Gilpin
Bernard Gilpin , was an Oxford theologian and then an influential clergyman in the emerging Church of England spanning the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth I...
also known as the "Apostle of the North" was a youngest son of the Gilpins of Kentmere Hall during the 16th century, and grew up there. In his adulthood he stayed there on occasion, preaching at the church. Concerning Bernard Gilpin; Thomas Cox states:
- ""Kontmire or Kentmeire, a small Village, famous only for the Birth of that eminent Person Bernard Gilpin, the Son of Edwin Gilpin, EsqEsquireEsquire is a term of West European origin . Depending on the country, the term has different meanings...
; educated in Queens College, Oxford, where he proceeded Master of Arts, and was made FellowFellowA fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
thereof... This his Eminence in Learning recommended him to be chosen one of the Masters of Christ-Church, when it was first founded for a DeanDean (religion)A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.-Anglican Communion:...
, CanonsCanon (priest)A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
, and Students by King Hen. VIIIIHenry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, but he did not continue long there, his Mother's Uncle, Cuthbert TunstallCuthbert TunstallCuthbert Tunstall was an English Scholastic, church leader, diplomat, administrator and royal adviser...
, Bishop of Durham, sending him to travel.. Preaching he made his chief Business; and that the Gospel might be both thoroughly believed and practiced, he frequently preached as well in the remote Towns as near, insomuch that he was called, The Northern Apostle. His Alms also were so frequent, equal, and constant, that he was called The common Father of the Poor; and because a good Education of poor Children is one of the greatest Charities... he abounded in good Deeds, so he was careful not only to avoid all Evil, but all Suspicions of it, so that he was accounted a Saint by all that knew him, for Enemies he could have none. He died March 4, 1582, in the 66th Year of his Age, and came to his Grave like a Shock of Corn in its Season. He was buried in the Church of Houghton, and by his Will dated Octob. 17, 1582, he left Half his Goods to the Poor of his Parish, and the other Half for Scholars and Students in Oxford. He hath written several Things, but has nothing in print but a Sermon on St. Luke 2. 41, 48, preached before the King and Court at GreenwichGreenwichGreenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
on the first Sunday in Epiphany in 1552"- Magna Britannica et Hibernia.Volume 6: Westmorland by Thomas Cox (Vicar of Bromfield, Essex) 45 pages, printed in 1731
Bernard's oldest brother was George Gilpin
George Gilpin
-Life:George Gilpin is sometimes called the Elder, to distinguish him from the eldest son of his elder brother. He was was the second son of Edwin Gilpin of Kentmere, Westmoreland, by Margaret, daughter of Thomas Layton of Dalemain, Cumberland, and elder brother of Bernard Gilpin.In 1553 George...
who was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I to form an alliance between the Dutch States
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and the English against the Spanish Armada
Spanish Armada
This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...
. He was minister to the Hague during her reign. He carried with him an autographed letter written by the Queen stating:
- "Having charged Mr. Gilpin, one of our councilors of State, to deliver this letter, it will not be necessary to authorize him by any other confidence than what is already acquired by a long proof of his capacity and of his fidelity and sincerity, assuring you you may trust in him as in ourselves."
The second brother William Gilpin took residence in the mill in 1578 after marrying Elizabeth Washington of Hall Head (the great-great aunt of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
)
Kentmere hall remained in the hands of the Gilpins for 12 generations. It was lost during the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
when Cromwell's troops destroyed the hall leaving only the fortified tower standing. The head of the household at that time left the land in trust to a friend and fled the country. When returning the gentleman's heir was unable to lay hold of the official deeds to the estate and so possession was lost. In 1660 ownership of the Hall passed to the Philipson family.
"Minstrels of Winandermere" lyrics
- Bert de Gylpyn drew of Normandie
- From Walchelin his gentle blood,
- Who haply hears, by Bewley's sea,
- The Angevins' bugles in the wood,
- His crest, the rebus of his name,
- Pineapple-a pine of gold
- Was it, his Norman shield,
- Sincere, in word and deed, his face extolled.
- But Richard having killed the boar
- With crested arm an olive shook,
- And sable boar on field of or
- For impress on his shield he took.
- And well he won his honest arms.
- And well he knew his Kentmore lands.
- He won them not in war's alarms,
- Nor dipt in human blood his hands.
Lyrics according to William Partridge Gilpin
The following lyricsLyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
were found by Reverend Charles Farish, whose mother was Elizabeth Gilpin (née Washington). He claimed they dated to the 13th century. However, the style is somewhat affected for the 13th century and everything but the first verse must be regarded with a suspicious eye.
- At Crookbeck were his footsteps seen,
- The holy pilgrim he affrays;
- O waly, waly Kendal Green,
- And waly, waly Bowness braes!
- Ev'n when they kiss'd St Mary's ground.
- Them still their flutt'ring hearts misgave;
- They cast an eager glance around,
- Mistrusting every foam tusk'd wave.
- For the wild boar is raging nigh,
- Bark'd are the trees about Boar-stile,
- At Underbarrow is his sty,
- Oh waly sweet St. Mary's Isle!
- But hark at Kendal rebecks sound,
- And Bowness Millbecks echo wakes,
- In Crookebeck ford he felt the wound,
- In death his burning thirst he slakes.
- The gallant hero washed his spear,
- A tear unhidden left his eye,
- His faithful dog was bleeding near,
- The river stream'd with mingled dye.
- And well he won his honest arms,
- And well he won his Kentmere lands;
- He won them not in wars alarms,
- Nor dipt in human strife his hands...
(note; Charles Farish was a friend of William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
. In his book Poetical Works vol. 1 a footnote to Guilt and Sorrow; or, Incidents upon Salisbury Plain states that some of its lines were taken "From a short MS. poem read to me when an under-graduate, by my schoolfellow and friend Charles Farish, long since deceased. The verses were by a brother of his, a man of promising genius, who died young."—W. W. 1842 in a statement by the editor of the volume the footnote goes on to say that: "Charles Farish was the author of The Minstrels of Winandermere" as a result there is some debate as to authorship of the song commemorating Richard Gilpin's achievements).
Gilpin coat of arms
Or, a boar statant sable, langued and tusked gules. Crest: A dexter arm embowed I armor proper, the naked hand grasping a pine branch fesswise vert.Motto: Dictis Factisque Simplex (Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
; "Honest in Word and Deed").
Gilpin family tree
- Walcheln De Gyplin or De Gulespin, brother Josceln. (possibly the same as, or descended from Walchelin de Ferrieres, Lord of Saint Hilaire de Ferriers, near BernayBernay, EureBernay is a commune in the west of the Eure department about fifty km from Évreux in northern France. The city is in the Pays d'Ouche and the Lieuvin...
, in Normandy). - William de Guylpyn descendant married the daughter of Thomas Airy (Airey), a bailiff in 1375
- Bert (or Richard) de Guylpyn. son of William. Married A. Fleming. Came over from Normandy.
- William de Guylpyn - son of Richard. Married R./Elizabeth Lancaster.
- Richard de Gylpyn - "Richard the Rider" descendant, and first to live at Kentmere Hall.
- Richard de Gilpin - grandson of second Richard. Granted additional land by Henry IIIHenry III of EnglandHenry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
married Dorothy Thornborough? - William Gilpin - son of Richard. Died 22 August 1485
- Edwin Gilpin - son of William. married Margaret Layton/Laton.
- - Eldest son George Gilpin - minister to the Hague during Queen Elizabeth I's reign.
- - Second son William Gilpin - married Elizabeth Washington the sister of George Washington'sGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
Great-grandfather. - - Third son Bernard Gilpin (the "Apostle of the North") born 1517
- Martin Gilpin - son of William, married Catherine Newby, died 18 December 1629.
- Bernard Gilpin - son of Martin, born in Kentmere Hall 1552, married Dorothy Airey 1572, died 21 April 1636.
- William Gilpin
- Martin Gilpin
- Francis Gilpin
- Samuel Gilpin
- Arthur Gilpin
- Randolph Gilpin
- Allen Gilpin
See also
- Staveley, CumbriaStaveley, CumbriaStaveley is a village in the District of South Lakeland in Cumbria, England. It is situated northwest of Kendal where the River Kent is joined by its tributary the Gowan.-Geography:...
- Bernard GilpinBernard GilpinBernard Gilpin , was an Oxford theologian and then an influential clergyman in the emerging Church of England spanning the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth I...
- River KentRiver KentThe River Kent is a short river in the county of Cumbria in England. The river originates in hills surrounding Kentmere, and flows for around 20 miles into the north of Morecambe Bay. The Lake District National Park includes the upper reaches of the river within its boundaries.The river passes...
- High Street (Lake District)High Street (Lake District)High Street is a fell in the English Lake District. At 828 metres , its summit is the highest point in the far eastern part of the national park. The fell is named after the Roman road which ran over the summit.-History and Naming:...
- Wild Boar of WestmorlandWild Boar of WestmorlandThe Wild Boar of Westmorland is a legend concerning Richard de Gilpin and the villagers and pilgrims visiting the ruins of the Holy Cross at Plumgarths, and the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin on St...
External links
- Index of sites pertaining to Kentmere
- Mindat.org Kentmere listing
- Jumb quarry GCR site
- Kentmere Hall
- Kentmere Hall Cumberland - watercolour attributed to John Harden 1772-1842
- Kentmere Pottery Gallery
- a photographic journey along the river Kent
- photographs of important sites in Kentmere
- photographs of Kentmere from different points
- The Kentmere Round walk
- Kentmere Bouldering (PDF)
- Maggs Howe
- The Gilpin's family history
- the Gilpin coat of arms
- George Biddell Airy and family history
- St. Cuthbert's Church Kentmere
- Houghton Feast, an ancient festival which Gilpin expanded
- -- online copy of the information leaflet available in St Cuthbert's Church
