button to main menu  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Castle Howe, Kendal
Castle Howe
locality:-   Kendal
civil parish:-   Kendal (formerly Westmorland)
county:-   Cumbria
locality type:-   motte and bailey
locality type:-   castle
coordinates:-   SD51249240
1Km square:-   SD5192
10Km square:-   SD59


photograph
CDE12.jpg (taken 3.6.2015)  
photograph
CDE13.jpg (taken 3.6.2015)  

evidence:-   old map:- OS County Series (Wmd 38 8) 
placename:-  Castle Howe
source data:-   Maps, County Series maps of Great Britain, scales 6 and 25 inches to 1 mile, published by the Ordnance Survey, Southampton, Hampshire, from about 1863 to 1948.

evidence:-   old map:- Speed 1611
placename:-  Mount, The
source data:-   Map, hand coloured engraving, The Countie Westmorland and Kendale the Cheif Towne, scale about 2.5 miles to 1 inch, by John Speed, 1610, published by George Humble, Popes Head Alley, London, 1611-12.
image  click to enlarge
SP14Mk.jpg
"S The Mount"
hillock 
item:-  Armitt Library : 2008.14.5
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old map:- Ogilby 1675 (plate 38) 
source data:-   Road strip map, hand coloured engraving, continuation of the Road from London to Carlisle, scale about 1 inch to 1 mile, by John Ogilby, London, 1675.
image
OG38m252.jpg
In mile 256, Westmoreland. 
Hillock with an unidentified feature on top, to the left. 
item:-  JandMN : 21
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old map:- Bowen and Kitchin 1760
placename:-  Mount, The
source data:-   Map, hand coloured engraving, A New Map of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland Divided into their Respective Wards, scale about 4 miles to 1 inch, by Emanuel Bowen and Thomas Kitchin et al, published by T Bowles, Robert Sayer, and John Bowles, London, 1760.
image
BO18SD49.jpg
"The Mount"
no symbol 
item:-  Armitt Library : 2008.14.10
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old map:- Jefferys 1770
source data:-   Map, 4 sheets, The County of Westmoreland, scale 1 inch to 1 mile, surveyed 1768, and engraved and published by Thomas Jefferys, London, 1770.
image
J55192H.jpg
"Mount"
hill hachuring 
item:-  National Library of Scotland : EME.s.47
Image © National Library of Scotland

evidence:-   old map:- Jefferys 1770 (Wmd) 
placename:-  Mount
source data:-   Map, 4 sheets, The County of Westmoreland, scale 1 inch to 1 mile, surveyed 1768, and engraved and published by Thomas Jefferys, London, 1770.
image
J5SD59SW.jpg
"Mount"
hill Hachuring; small hill 
item:-  National Library of Scotland : EME.s.47
Image © National Library of Scotland

evidence:-   descriptive text:- West 1778 (11th edn 1821) 
placename:-  Castle Law Hill
item:-  law
source data:-   Guide book, A Guide to the Lakes, by Thomas West, published by William Pennington, Kendal, Cumbria once Westmorland, and in London, 1778 to 1821.
image WS21P188, button  goto source
Page 188:-  "Before you leave Kendal, visit the Castle-law-hill. This is an artificial mount, that overlooks the town, and faces the castle, and surpasses it in antiquity, being one of those hills called Laws, where in ancient times distributive justice was administered. From its present appearance, it seems to have been converted to different purposes, but though well situated as a watch upon the castle, it could never be a proper place to batter it from, as has been reported.[1]"

evidence:-   old text:- Camden 1789 (Gough Additions) 
placename:-  Castlehow Hill
source data:-   Book, Britannia, or A Chorographical Description of the Flourishing Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by William Camden, 1586, translated from the 1607 Latin edition by Richard Gough, published London, 1789.
image CAM2P152, button  goto source
Page 152:-  "... opposite to it [Kendal Castle] is a large exploratory mount called Castlehow hill; whether Roman or not is uncertain: it is flat at top, surrounded by a ditch crossed by another. Round the base a deep foss and high dike strengthened by two bastions on the east side. Dr. Stukeley calls it Saxon. Immediately below it is a spot called Battle place. ..."

evidence:-   descriptive text:- Baker 1802
placename:-  Castlebow Hill
source data:-   Perspective road map with sections in Lancashire, Westmorland, and Cumberland, by J Baker, London 1802.
pp.25-26:-  "[Kendal] ... Another similar eminence, ornamented with an obelisk, is called Castlebow Hill."

evidence:-   old map:- Baker 1802
source data:-   Perspective road maps with sections in Lancashire, Westmorland and Cumberland, by J Baker, London 1802.
image
Bk03Vg13.jpg
item:-  private collection : 3
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old text:- Capper 1808
placename:-  Castle Law Hill
source data:-   Gazetteer, A Topographical Dictionary of the United Kingdom, compiled by Benjamin Pitts Capper, published by Richard Phillips, Bridge Street, Blackfriars, London, 1808; published 1808-29.
image CAP126, button  goto source
"[Kendal] ... an artificial cone-shaped mount, called Castle Law hill. ..."

evidence:-   descriptive text:- Otley 1823 (8th edn 1849) 
placename:-  Castle Law Hill
placename:-  Cassy Co Hill
source data:-   Guide book, A Concise Description of the English Lakes, the mountains in their vicinity, and the roads by which they may be visited, with remarks on the mineralogy and geology of the district, by Jonathan Otley, published by the author, Keswick, Cumberland now Cumbria, by J Richardson, London, and by Arthur Foster, Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, 1823; published 1823-49, latterly as the Descriptive Guide to the English Lakes.
image OT80P175, button  goto source
Page 175:-  "ANCIENT MOUNDS.- ... The observant traveller through Lunesdale cannot but be struck with several artificial mounds, ... It is remarkable that a majority of them are situated near our old parish churches: for instance, at Halton, Melling, Arkholme, Kirkby Lonsdale, and Sedbergh.[1] For whatever purpose they were originally designed, whether as places of defence, or 'moot-hills' where justice was dispensed; in latter days they appear to have been put to more ignoble uses. ..."
"[1] At Kendal is a mound of a similar description, called Castle-Law-Hill, modernized in common parlance to Cassy-Co-Hill. It has been said - but without any apparent grounds - that it was thrown up by Oliver Cromwell from whence - a distance of some half-a-mile - to batter down the old Castle on the other side of the town, which he would scarcely have deemed necessary, as even in his days it was in a state of delapidation."

evidence:-   site plan:- Curwen 1913
placename:-  Castle How
source data:-   Site plan, lithograph, Castle How, Kendal, Westmorland, published for the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society by Titus Wilson, Kendal, Westmorland, 1913.
image  click to enlarge
CW0105.jpg
On p.30 of The Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire North of the Sands, by John F Curwen. 
printed at upper left:-  "CASTLE HOW / KENDAL"
item:-  Armitt Library : A782.5
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old print:- Curwen 1913
placename:-  Castle How
source data:-   Print, halftone photograph, Kendal Castle How, from the bailey, Kendal, Westmorland, published for the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society by Titus Wilson, Kendal, Westmorland, 1913.
image  click to enlarge
CW0106.jpg
Tipped in opposite p.30 of The Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire North of the Sands, by John F Curwen. 
item:-  Armitt Library : A782.6
Image © see bottom of page

hearsay:-  
Norman motte for a castle, built on a ridge to the west of present day Kendal.

notes:-  
motte and bailey

Perriam, D R &Robinson, J: 1998: Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria: CWAAS:: ISBN 1 873124 23 6

button to lakes menu  Lakes Guides menu.