Kendal Yards

Kendal is no ordinary town.

Historically the High Street was the main road from London to Glasgow (the A6).
When we first knew the town in the 1950s it was packed with crawling heavy trucks making it a most unpleasant place in which to shop.
Once the M6 Motorway was completed the town was transformed and indeed the central area is now pedestrianised.
Its most interesting architectural feature is the
Yards. All along the main street these narrow alleys go off either down towards the river or up the hillside. Many of them are entered through arches or down stone stairways. A large number are shown in one of my favourite books : Kendal in the 19th. Century, a book of drawings by the famous Alfred Wainwright. From this it is clear that all the Yards are numbered and many have interesting names.
The photo above shows just a glimpse of one but it would be an interesting photographic project to record all of those which have survived.