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The ruins of Kendal Castle dominate the town from Castle Hill, which offers great views of the hills and the town itself, across to Castle Howe – possibly the site of Kendal’s first castle. No one’s sure exactly when Kendal Castle was built –it was probably constructed after 1183 for the first Baron of Kendal, Gilbert Fitz-Reinfrid. There are the remains of a good-sized stone curtain wall, surrounded by a deep ditch, or moat. Inside are what is left of the great hall, kitchen complex and cellars. Most buildings would have been made of wood and no trace of them is visible. The most famous owners of Kendal Castle were the Parr family, whose most famous daughter, Catherine Parr, was the last wife of Henry VIII. However, it is thought that Catherine never visited Kendal. The castle and its surrounding park were seized by the Crown in 1553 from Catherine’s brother, William, who was declared a traitor for supporting Lady Jane Grey. By 1572, the fortress was reported to be ‘ready to fall down with age’. Further decay inevitably followed, until the town council acquired the castle and opened it to the public in time for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. These days, the site is frequently used for recreation by local families and visitors. There are various paths to it.
Kendal
The English Lake District, English Lakes, or sometimes simply ‘the Lakes’ are in Cumbria in North-West England. It is an ancient mountain area, eroded by glaciation which left behind the lakes when the ice retreated. The Lake District National Park includes all of the land in England higher than 3000 feet (910 metres). The highest point is Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England at 3208 feet (978 metres).
The National Park was established in 1951 and covers an area of 885 square miles (2292 sq kilometres). It is the largest and most visited national park in England and the second largest in Britain, after the Cairngorms. It also contains the deepest and longest bodies of water in England, Wastwater (258 feet or 79 metres deep) and Windermere (11 miles/18 kilometres long).
The Lake District can be beautiful, even pretty, but also bleak. This is serious walking and climbing country and real care has to be taken in places. The popular walks can be quite busy during the peak tourist season but, despite that and having some relatively large towns, you can easily find solitude up on the high fells. The Lake District is also renowned for being the wettest part of England – but, then, if it were not, it would be called something else, wouldn’t it?
Principal settlements in the Lake District are Ambleside, Bowness, Coniston, Grasmere and Keswick. The town of Kendal provides a good base just outside the national park area. The National Park Authority has its offices there – unsurprisingly, because prices within the Park boundaries can be horrendous.
The Lake District is a World Heritage Site.
Murley Moss
Oxenholme Road
Kendal
‘Ninekirks’ is more properly St Ninian’s, Brougham. It is a remote church accessible only by foot, along a track to a bend in the River Eamont to where the church nestles in the middle of a field inside a walled enclosure. It is a lonely, beautiful and evocative spot. The present church was built in 1660 by Lady Anne Clifford on the site of an earlier one and is a rare example of a 17th church. It is very simple – most of the fittings, including the box pews, date from this time. The completion date, 1660, is carved over the simple altar. However, this was a medieval site, possibly Roman. There was a Celtic monastic settlement here, by tradition founded by St Ninian, at the end of the 4th C. It is felt a settlement grew from this, but had been abandoned (or moved closer to Brougham) by the end of the 13th C. The church was dilapidated by the 17th C. Though the church is redundant, services are still occasionally held in it.
Post code is approximate. To get there – locate a small car park on the north side (eastbound) of the A66 more or less opposite Whinfell Park. It’s easy to miss – heading east from Penrith, start looking on your left ahead after the turn for Brougham Castle (on your right).
Brougham
Penrith
Penrith Castle was built by Ralph Neville (1364-1425), 1st Earl of Westmorland, possibly on the site of a Roman fort. Neville was granted the manor of Penrith in 1396 and, as warden of the West March, he was responsible for the defence of this area against the Scots. The castle was built shortly after Neville’s appointment; his son, Richard, 5th Earl of Salisbury (1400–60), made it his headquarters, probably building the so-called ‘Red Tower’, the remains of which dominate the ruins today, as well as improving the entrance defences. After the death of Richard Neville (‘the Kingmaker’), 16th Earl of Warwick and 6th Earl of Salisbury, in 1471, the castle came into the hands of Richard, Duke of Gloucester (1452–85), later King Richard III. Richard was Sheriff of Cumberland and resided at the castle from time to time. He improved the residential wing, adding large windows and other luxuries. By the mid-16th century, the castle was partially decayed, though it was used briefly during the Civil War in 1648 as headquarters of the Parliamentary General John Lambert. Afterwards, it fell into further disrepair. It now sits opposite Penrith Railway Station, in Castle Park, with a bowling green and tennis courts nearby.
Penrith
Though substantial in their day, not much remains of the Roman baths at Ravenglass, but the ruins are amongst the tallest Roman structures surviving in Britain. The bath house served a nearby fort which guarded the important Roman port.
Follow a tarmac track just outside Ravenglass.
From the north east corner of St Mary’s churchyard in Kirkby Lonsdale is Church Brow, a promenade high above the River Lune. From there is a lovely panorama over the River Lune and the surrounding hills that was painted by JMW Turner in 1822, a work which so impressed the art critic and social thinker John Ruskin that he wrote, “I do not know in all my country, still less in France or Italy, a place more naturally divine.” He subsequently described the view as “one of the loveliest views in England, therefore in the world.” Hence, it is known as Ruskin’s View. You can walk to the river down the Radical Steps from here, and on to the Devil’s Bridge.
off Market Street
Kirkby Lonsdale
Scafell Pike is England's highest mountain at 3209 feet (978 metres) and its neighbour Scafell is England's second highest (3163 feet or 964 metres). Scafell Pike is in fact one of the three peaks, including Ill Crag and Broad Crag, that border Scafell and, not surprisingly, the two are often confused with one another. The name is Norse, from 'skalli fjall' - 'fell with a broad summit' - and locally it is sometimes pronounced in the old way, 'Scawfell'. There are a variety of routes, the most popular starting from Seathwaite, Eskdale or Wasdale. Scafell Pike was donated to the National Trust in 1919 by Lord Leconfield in memory of the men of the Lake District who fell in the Great War of 1914-18. There is a memorial plaque on the mountain.
Scafell Pike is Britain's third highest mountain and features in the National Three Peaks Challenge - the other two mountains being Snowdon in North Wales and Ben Nevis in the Scottish Highlands.
The fairly remote and sometimes muddy ruins of Shap Abbey will be found some distance from Shap itself, along narrow minor roads adjacent to a farm and beside the river Lowther. It's a lovely spot. Shap was an abbey of the Premonstratensian order, known as 'the white canons' because of the pale habits they wore. It was founded c1200 by Thomas, son of Gospatric, a local baron. It was a small community, quite wealthy, raided by the Scots in the 14th century and dissolved by Henry VIII in 1540. The impressive 15th century tower dominates.
Penrith
Smardale Gill is a steep-side beauty spot and valley in the Eden District of Cumbria with a linear nature reserve and footpath along an abandoned railway track. A circular walk is possible. The valley and footpath includes the preserved Smardale Gill Viaduct, built in 1861, which used to carry the railway. South of the railway viaduct are the remains of a Victorian lime production complex and on the hillsides are sites of medieval and Romano-British settlement. Smardale Gill also features a famous packhorse bridge. The nature reserve is known for the variety of its wildlife, including butterflies and other insects, flowers, mammals and birds. The initial footpath from the north to the southern end of the Viaduct is level and suitable for prams and wheelchairs.
The Smardale Gill Viaduct walk lies on the route of the 192 mile coast to coast walk between St Bees in Cumbria and Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire
The nature reserve is managed by Cumbria Wildlife Trust and the viaduct by the Northern Viaduct Trust. See featured article for links to their respective websites. Post code is very approximate.
Smardale
There is said to have been a church on the site of St Catherine's, Eskdale, for centuries. It's a lovely spot. According to tradition, in the 6th century a hermit lived on Arment Hill, a quarter of a mile to the east. People used to travel miles to seek his prayers and healing. His well is still recognisable and some of the farmers still draw water from it when they bring their children to baptism in the church. The Esk can be crossed by stepping stones at St Catherine's and these old stones are still used by some churchgoers, as well as by those walking along the river. The present church is 14th century, with additions and alterations, and was restored 1881.
Holmrook
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