Shakespeare's Oak - Kendal Green, Cumbria UK - William Shakespeare on Waymarking.com

Kendal Green was one of the areas for drying the cloth that Kendal became famous for. The local wool was turned into a green cloth, which had to be dried on frames with hooks to keep it under tension - 'tenter hooks'. Shakespeare mentions this in Henry IV, part 1. The area was named Kendal Green on the day the oak was planted. Today it is an open green space.

On the garden wall of the nearby house is a plaque recording the amazing events in 1864 when the Mayor, 3 bands and 5000 people came to plant this oak tree and commemorate the birth of England's most famous playwright. Given the size of Kendal at the time, it must have been a large proportion of the population (only 27,000 in 2001). It would have been a real spectacle. The folk of Kendal must have been big Shakespeare fans!

In one of the yards in the town centre the Shakespeare Theatre was built in 1828 to provide a space to perform Shakespeare's works. The plays must have worked their magic because 36 years later 5000 people wanted to celebrate his 300th birthday. Shakespeare mania! Strange to think of these events today - what would get 5000 people to a tree planting now? A celebrity or pop star I suppose, so Shakespeare was still a "pop idol" in the Victorian age!

The Shakespeare Theatre was closed in 1930 and became near-derelict in the 1990s. It was re-opened in 1995 as a church and community centre. At the entrance to the yard is The Shakespeare Inn, which was first offered to let in 1858, and was described as “a Kendal house known by the name of The Shakespeare Tavern with brew house, stables and hayloft”.

The tree still stands proudly today and is looked after. A slightly twisted trunk rises up, from which several large limbs reach into the sky.

Location Type: Historic Marker Property Type:: Public Date of event:: 1864 Location notes:: Free access at all times, park adjacent on road If other, please explain:: Not listed URL for Additional Information:: Not listed

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