The Church of Holy Trinity and St George is in New Road,

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of th ...

, Cumbria, England. It is an active Roman Catholic parish church in the diocese of Lancaster. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. The church was founded by the parish priest, Thomas Wilkinson, and designed by local architect George Webster. Architectural historians regard the church as the best of the three designed by Webster in the town.

History

In the 18th century the Roman Catholics of Kendal met in a house in Stramongate, which was replaced by a chapel on the same site in 1793. This church was a replacement for that chapel. The chapel and the church were founded by the priest of the parish, Thomas Wilkinson. The church was designed by the local architect George Webster, and cost £4,000 (equivalent to £ in ). The foundation stone was laid in October 1835, and the church was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

on September 15, 1837. The church is sited near the River Kent and was flooded on a number of occasions. In 1908 the level of the floor was raised above the flood level. Electricity was installed in 1927. The original

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

was made by John Davis of Liverpool, but was damaged by floods in 1927 and replaced by a harmonium. This was in turn replaced in 1935 by a two-

manual Manual may refer to: Instructions * User guide * Owner's manual * Instruction manual (gaming) * Online help Other uses * Manual (music), a keyboard, as for an organ * Manual (band) * Manual transmission * Manual, a bicycle technique similar to ...

organ of unknown date made by the Orchestrelle Company. The organ was moved from Whitbarrow Lodge, Levens, and renovated by Henry Ainscough of

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

. It was renovated again between 1961 and 1966, probably by Rushworth and Dreaper of Liverpool. In 2000 this organ was replaced by an electronic organ, and in the same year an electronic bell system was installed. During the following year, extra seating was placed in the gallery where the organ had been sited. In 2002 the entrance to the church was improved by creating a new vestibule and narthex.

Architecture

Exterior

The church is constructed in limestone with a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

roof, and is in Early English style. Its plan consists of a six-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

nave without aisles, a west porch and narthex, and a chancel. At the west end, the central portion projects forward and is gabled. This portion is flanked by octagonal buttresses, and there are stepped buttresses at the corners of the west front; all the buttresses are surmounted by

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...

s. Steps lead up to a pointed doorway with a hood mould. Above this are three stepped

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

s, and there is a single lancet window on each side bay. In the gable is a statue of

Saint George and the Dragon In a legend, Saint Georgea soldier venerated in Christianitydefeats a dragon. The story goes that the dragon originally extorted tribute from villagers. When they ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving up a human tr ...

, which was carved by Thomas Duckett, an employee of Webster. On the apex of the gable is a cross

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

. Along the sides of the nave are six lancet windows. At the east end are three stepped lancets, and single lancets on the sides of the chancel.

Interior

Inside the church is a west gallery carried on a four-bay arcade with slender columns. On the sides of the chancel are two large niches, each with a crocketed gable containing a statue by Thomas Duckett. The statue on the left depicts '' Ecce Homo'', and that on the right Saint George. The chancel rail is in cast iron and contains panels with pierced trefoil heads. The octagonal

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

is wooden and panelled, and the stone

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

is also octagonal. On each side of the doorway is an octagonal marble holy water stoup, made by Sylvester Mooney and dated 1837. In the porch are four squares of 17th-century Flemish glass. The stained glass in the east wall is by Hardman & Co. The central window contains the kneeling figure of Wilkinson offering the church to Christ. The flanking windows represent Saint Cuthbert and Saint George. The glass in the side windows of the chancel are by H. Barnett, and depict

Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...

and

Saint Anne According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...

. In the south wall of the nave is more stained glass by Hardman, and also glass by Mayer of Munich.

Appraisal

The church was designated as a Grade II* listed building on 30 January 1985. Grade II* is the middle of the three grades of listing, and is granted to "particularly important buildings of more than special interest". The architectural historians Matthew Hyde and Nikolaus Pevsner regard it as "much the best" of the three churches designed by Webster in Kendal, and remark on its "wide and brightly lit interior".

References and notes