Historian Arthur R. Nicholls describes Kendal’s prison in later years

THE new enlarged prison, built in 1789, lasted for some 112 years and served its purpose well.

Kendal grew apace and, with it, criminal activities, so much so that the building was rebuilt and enlarged in 1816.

The following year the Quaker prison reformer, Elizabeth Fry, paid a visit and was suitably impressed with the improvements that she saw.

She advised that a workroom should be installed to provide suitable work for idle hands to thwart the devil. This was carried out in 1829 and became an asset to the work of the prison.

No-one enjoys being kept in captivity and there were escapes and attempts to escape over the years.

A notable incident occurred in 1878. One of the prisoners, James Wallace, there for debt, found the gatehouse unlocked one night. As everything seemed quiet and under control, the warder had slipped out to go into town on a private errand.

Wallace took the key from its place in the lodge, opened the door and walked out to pay a visit to his home in Woolpack Yard.

To his and the warder’s surprise, they bumped into each other. Wallace could see that it would be unwise to try to escape further so he accompanied the warder quietly back to the prison and returned to his cell as if nothing had happened.

Neither Wallace nor the warder said anything to anyone about the incident as both would have been severely punished if it had got out.

Kendal Prison became the Westmorland County Gaol when the prison in the county town of Appleby closed. Kendal Prison was used less and less; in 1889 it held only 27 men and three women. It closed as a civil prison in 1894 but was retained to accommodate military prisoners until the end of the Boer war in 1901.

The closure of the prison was not appreciated by everyone. Some felt more secure knowing that it was there and efforts were made to keep it open but they failed.

The prison had served its purpose and was sold by auction in 1907 to Robert Pennington as a source of building material. He was in no hurry to demolish the building, taking some 20 years on the task. He actually used it as the venue for the reception at his daughter’s wedding!

The residents living opposite the prison disliked their address being linked to the prison and unofficially named their side of the road “Belle Hill”. The road itself was later named Windermere Road, the name it owns today.

There are few signs remaining today of the prison. Apart from the piece of the exterior wall near the corner of Queen’s Road, a door from the prison was placed in Kendal Museum.

A stone bath from the Appleby Gaol, used to clean and disinfect incoming prisoners, went to the same museum where, because of its weight, it could only be placed above a strong floor joist.