Shop And Adjoining Public Convenience

Shop and adjoining public conveniences, No. 2, Police Yard, west side, Kendal

This town house, or possibly a rear wing of the adjoining properties at nos. 27 and 29 Market Place, dates from probably the late 17th century, was remodelled in the early 18th century, subdivided by the mid 19th century, and underwent further alterations in the 20th century. It is now part store and retail office with part public conveniences and offices above. The building is constructed of random rubble, graduated with slate roofing.

The structure has a single-depth plan on a north-south axis running parallel to the yard and at right angles to the rear of nos. 27 and 29 Market Place. It is laterally subdivided at the centre, with a stair turret and lean-to extension to the rear of the southern portion. The building stands three storeys over a basement. Originally there were eleven windows in closely spaced groups of six to the left and five to the right, though many were blocked in the 18th century and others subsequently altered.

The south end exposes a basement (formerly used as a lock-up in the 19th century), which has a small window and a square-headed doorway with a board door. At ground floor, the southern portion features a doorway in the 4th bay with a panelled reveal and recessed 20th-century door, approached by dog-legged steps with iron railings. To the left is a 12-pane un-horned sash window with exposed box, flanked by blocked windows, all beneath a continuous timber lintel made from a reused beam. To the right is a large rectangular 20th-century window. The northern portion contains 20th-century openings for the public conveniences. At first floor of the southern portion, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th windows are blocked, while the 4th and 6th are wooden cross-windows each with one casement opening. A continuous timber lintel crosses all these windows. The northern portion has a blocked window with a similar timber lintel extending to the right, followed by 20th-century toilet windows with two tie-plates above. At second floor, the southern portion has its 1st, 2nd and 3rd windows blocked; the 4th and 6th are wooden cross-windows (the 4th fixed), and the 5th has altered joinery. The northern portion has four windows: the 1st and 3rd are wooden cross-windows, the 4th is a 6-light window with similar joinery, and the 2nd is blocked. A timber wall plate forms the lintel to all windows of both portions. Non-blocked windows mostly have stone slate sills. A ridge chimney stands at the centre and a gable chimney to the left. The south gable wall has two windows on each floor: those to the basement are altered 19th-century insertions, while the others are top-hung casements in original openings with stone slate sills. Those to the left at ground floor and both at 1st floor level have crude stone slate cornices, while those at 2nd floor level have stone lintels and remains of a continuous slate cornice. The added lean-to to the left has steps up to a recessed panelled door with an overlight. The rear west side of the southern portion features a gabled full-height stair turret with quoins, one window with a flat arched head and another above with stone slate sill and cornice, though it is otherwise blind (the northern portion is concealed by adjoining buildings).

Interior (southern portion): The ground and 1st floors were formerly partitioned to create two rooms with a corridor on the west side of the first floor, but partitions have since been removed. At ground floor, 18th-century panelling survives only on the east side and south end of the south room. At first floor the panelling is complete except for one partition: it consists of raised fielded panels with moulded surrounds, dado rail, and cupboards built into two former window openings on both floors. Those at ground floor are round-headed and open-fronted with pilastered architraves and dentilled cornices, while those at first floor have panelled doors on H-hinges. Moulded plaster cornices run around the room with entablatures of former pilasters over fireplaces. The 2nd floor is partitioned into three rooms with plain plastered walls. A fireplace at the south end of the ground floor has a shouldered surround and Adam-style frieze. Fireplaces at both ends of the upper floors have bolection-moulded surrounds: that at the north end contains an ornamented Victorian grate, and that at the south end contains a Georgian ducks-nest hob grate. Casement openings at 1st and 2nd floors are furnished with unusual coupled latches. The stair turret contains a fine half-turn staircase with moulded string and handrail, barley-sugar balusters, and square newels with pendents. The former lock-up has a stone bench on two sides with manacle rings. A large cellar beneath the main room, approached by steps below the staircase, has a chamfered beam.

(Northern portion: altered at ground and 1st floors. The 2nd floor was inaccessible at the time of inspection but was previously recorded as having a roof of reused timbers assembled into A-trusses and numbered "IIII" (the northernmost) and "V", suggesting continuation of a series from nos. 27 and 29 Market Place.)

This represents a locally rare survival of a late 17th and early 18th-century town house. Its historical interest is enhanced by having served as Kendal's first Police Station. The building forms a group with nos. 27 and 29 Market Place and with no. 28, Finkle Street.