WE ARE so used in these days to having the correct time at hand, but in days gone by, when most people did not carry watches, the clock on the Town Hall in Kendal showed and struck the hours for all to see.

But that was no help when they did not live or work within sight or sound of it.

In the 1870s T & E Rhodes, the jewellers in Highgate, had charge of the official time in Kendal but after an unpleasant incident at the General Post Office, Edward Rhodes contacted the local Member of Parliament and the upshot was a suggestion that Kendal should have a time gun and that it should be fired at 1 o’clock, the normal dinner time for working men.

The first gun, loaned by the War Office, arrived in May 1873 and was mounted in the Serpentine Woods on a pedestal in which the gunpowder and fuses were stored.

It was fired by electricity through a telegraph wire, the insulators of which can still be seen high up on the wall on the corner of Highgate and Finkle Street.

As the years passed, each gun and its replacement wore out, the second one being displayed in Abbot Hall Park.

The fourth (and final) gun, weighing only about a hundredweight, was bought in 1930 and continued the sounding of the hour, but was no longer really needed.

It escaped the wartime scrap metal drive during 1940 but sadly was stolen during the night in 1950, being taken away in a handcart or perambulator and as far as we can tell, was never seen again.

Kendal Civic Society has published a booklet giving the whole fascinating story of the Time Guns.