Kendal

1) The name of a fabric made in Kendal or ‘Kentdale’, which was green in colour and is mentioned in Acts of Parliament as early as 1389.

Shakespeare spoke of three misbegotten Knaues in Kendall Greene and the OED quotes 'threadebare kendall grene' and 'gaye kendall greene'. In Yorkshire, the product was quite commonly referred to just as ‘kendal’, seldom as kendal green. 1438 j togam de Kendale , Pontefract

1529 to John Firth a Kendall jackett, Halifax. It was also called kendal in Kendal: 1543 Thomas Gennyngs for Kendall of the last yere xxs , Bradleyfield. The precise meaning of Kendal as a place-name is less obvious than might be thought, for it did not refer to the present borough of Kendal in earlier centuries but to the dale or valley of the river Kent: the original name of the town was Kirkby Kendal and it was not until much later that the affix came to be used of the town itself. It is not always clear to an outsider when the name ‘Kendal’ applies to the borough, the valley, the Barony of Kendal, or Kendal Ward, the wapentake which covered the greater part of the south of the county.

dates 1438 1529 1543

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