The Working Men's Institute

Lots of people sitting out in the market square today.  One of the distinctive buildings in Kendal's Market Square is the Working Men's Institute.   I've wondered at the history and could not see a plaque. I'm surprised because the Civic Society have put plaques on every Kendal building that deserves one as far as I can see. I probably did not look hard enough
Anyway a Cumbria County Council report on the Conservation area tells me:-  Shops with Working Men's Institute above. C17, largely rebuilt c1760 for Thomas Ashburner as the New Play House; used as first Wesleyan Meeting House in Kendal in late C18/early C19. Bought by Trustees of Working Men's Institute in 1843 and refronted for them in 1865 by Thompson & Webster. Restored 1979