Cartmel life in the 1990s captured on the streets

The giant man of clay, priced at £500, was part of a display at a new craft shop in Cavendish Street.

A comic figure, with mice peeping from his pockets and doves on his shoulders, had been photographed by tourists with shop owner Steve Wright standing alongside.

He said: “It has proved to be quite a talking point.”

TREE: A view of Cartmel Priory, possibly taken in 1980

The shop, next to the Cavendish Arms, had also made a small piece of history.

It was the first new shop building open in the village for 17 years and was created as part of a redevelopment of a barn and stables.

The shop specialized in Cumbrian-made crafts, with prices ranging from £1.99 to £700 for pieces of hand-crafted sculpture.

In 1996 workers scraping pebble dash from a Cartmel building discovered what was believed to be a medieval wooden door with its latch still intact.

Numerous theories about its origins were being unearthed as villagers got their first look at the narrow door and a stone mullioned window also uncovered at The Larch Tree shop.

The most bizarre account was of the doorway being used as a ‘killing door’.

STREET: An undated photograph of Cartmel from our archives

Shop staff member Jenny Miles said three people had theorised that the door was made narrow to allow only one person through at a time, so defenders could pick them off easily.

But South Lakeland District Council planning officer Lilian Hopkins thought it was more likely to be a defensive connecting door.

Ms Hopkins, who visited the site along with two English Heritage representatives, said it appeared to date back to the monastic time of Cartmel Priory, which ended in the 1500s.

“The building is part of an L-shaped building range. There are other early features in other parts,” she said.

“The consensus of opinion is that it was a door into the cross passage on an early building.”

Ms Hopkins said the existing shop entrance appeared to be Tudor.

"The one they have uncovered is distinctly earlier."