Kendal Town Hall dated 1893 is located on Highgate at the corner with Lowther Street. The date can be seen carved in the pediment above the elaborate doorway.
Kendal received its first Borough Charter in 1575 from Queen Elizabeth I, allowing the formation of a Town Council, to be made up of 12 Aldermen, and creating self government for the town.
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The building is Grade II listed and is an amalgamation of various building periods. It is built on the site of the town’s White Hall, also known as Leaden or Leather Hall, which was once used as the cloth exchange for the cloth trade in Kendal.
The Grade II listed description of the building by Historic Engand reads as follows;
"SD 5192 NW & NE KENDAL HIGHGATE (East side) 7 & 8/34 Town Hall, Magistrates Court, & 24-4-51 Call Stone G.V. II
Assembly Rooms, known as White Hall, on sloping site; 1825 by Francis (& George?) Webster. 1859 converted for use as Town Hall by George Webster.
1893 (date in pediment) extended by Stephen Shaw. Hammer-dressed, banded, ground floor; 1st floor ashlar, with sill band. Eaves band and cornice. Highgate elevation has open parapet of turned stone balusters with covered urns on plinth blocks at each end; 2 ornate dormers with clock tower between. Steeply-pitched, hipped, graduated slate roofs. 2 storeys with attic to Highgate, and cellars to Lowther Street, elevations. 3-bays (2:1) added to left on Highgate elevation in 1893: Panelled double doors in richly-decorated doorcase with date and cartouche in open and broken pediment; 2 semicircular-headed windows to left with Call Stone on ground between (part of Stricklandgate Market Cross, from which proclamations have been made for over 3 centuries). 1st floor: Sash over door in architrave with splayed feet and swan-neck pediment, all within segmentally-pedimented surround; 2 sashes in corniced architrave to left. Dormer window in pedimented architrave with splayed feet. 2-stage clock tower (above door) has semicircular-headed louvred openings; swan-neck pediment between stages has cartouche with initial 'B' (for Alderman William Bindloss, Mayor, who gave the bells). 2nd stage has large, circular, clock face in open-pedimented surround. Ogee lead roof is surmounted by small lantern with weather-vane. Former White Hall comprises 3 (symmetrical) right-hand bays (1:1:1) of Highgate elevation and 14 bays (3:8:3) on Lowther Street. Highgate: central, panelled double doors and semicircular fanlight with semicircular-headed window to either side. 1st floor: Pedimented Ionic loggia in antis with cast-iron balustrade; sash in corniced architrave to either side. Central Venetian dormer window, in ornate pedimented surround, added in 1893 (replacing mid Cl9 clock tower). Lowther Street: 3 bays to either end have semicircular-headed windows to ground floor and tall 1st floor sashes; lower ground floor to Magistrates Court (3 eastern bays) has recessed, panelled double door in corniced surround with 2 windows to left. 8 central bays have semicircular-headed windows to both floors. Glazing bars to windows on both elevations. Interior: Richly decorated, mainly 1893 fittings. Hall cornice has wreaths to frieze; staircase with spiral curtail to ornamental iron handrail (rear stair similar). Council Chamber has ornate wooden chimneypiece; Assembly Hall has Doric pilasters carrying coved segmental ceiling. Both Court Room and Assembly Hall have galleries supported on cast-iron pillars.
Listing NGR: SD5149392633" SOURCE: (
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"White Hall was a popular local meeting spot, until in 1859, when it was decided that the old Moot Hall (now Thornton’s chocolate shop) needed replacing as the town hall.
The town hall functions were moved to the White Hall, and George Webster was employed to prepare the building for its new lease of life. Webster added some lock up cells in the basement of the building, which eventually became the new police station. These cells are still in use today by South Lakeland District Council as store rooms and offices, and the station entrance can still be seen down Lowther Street. He also added a courtroom to the rear of the building. These Webster designed changes represent the Southern portion of today’s building (i.e. the portion once occupied by the TIC office and back down Lowther Street)"
"The original building had a cupola where the clock tower is today. This was replaced with a clock and tower in 1861, thanks to a hefty financial gift from John Wakefield. Originally the clock faces were lit with gas lamps.
In 1893, the building was again extended, this time on the Northern side, a wine merchants being demolished to make way for extra rooms.
The new part of the town hall was designed and built by Stephen Shaw, and funded by large donations of around £7000, from Alderman William Bindloss and his wife Agnes.
Alderman Bindloss died before the extension was finished, but a room in the new portion of the town hall was named after him in his honour.
The bells that can be heard everyday were also paid for by Alderman William Bindloss and cost a total of £3000. The eleven bells were first rung in 1897 in celebration of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee." SOURCE: (
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