This is a sad photograph, of the aftermath of a deliberate arson attack in the 1960s on the old Moot Hall, which had stood at the corner of Kendal Market Place for about 400 years.

Some may have vivid memories of that Sunday afternoon and standing watching the fire brigade trying to put out the fire before the whole building was destroyed.

The old Moot Hall was a great loss. It was built in about 1591, not long after the Charter of Queen Elizabeth I was granted to the town in 1575 giving, for the first time, the right to appoint 12 Aldermen.

It was the original town hall, largely rebuilt over the years with the addition of a clock turret, bell cote and flagpole. When the new town hall was opened in the 1850s, the Moot Hall was acquired by Brunskill’s the Drapers, for the next 100 years, and will long be remembered for its whizzing aerial cash system.

After the fire, the replacement building was a poor substitute for the historic Moot Hall, with a metal cage to represent the bell cote, but at least the old Venetian window of 1759 was saved and is still to be seen on the western wall.

The town clock had been given to St Thomas’s Church years before.

Thornton’s Chocolates now occupy the site.