The Woolpack

Today's the day ........................... for some town history

This building was once an inn - The Woolpack Inn - to be precise.

It took its name from the packs of wool, each containing about 60 fleeces, brought into Kendal on packhorses for making cloth. In the late 18th century, new turnpike roads allowed the town to develop as a coaching centre - and in 1781 the Woolpack was rebuilt with a new front and sash windows.

The archway over the yard entrance was built high enough to allow stage coaches and broad-wheeled eight-horse wagons, which replaced packhorses, to pass beneath. The inn closed in 1997.

No prizes for guessing what it is now .............................