Not much is known about the history of the ruin that stands on the top of Castle Hill.
There are not even any contemporary records to show exactly when it was built or by whom.
The modern consensus is that a wooden motte-and-bailey structure was built by the Normans sometime during the early 1100s.
It was probably constructed by the men of Ivo Taillebois (Ivor Woodcutter), from Caen in Normandy, who was one of region's first barons.
A more permanent, stone structure was put up later and new buildings were added at different periods during the castle's history.
Castle Hill provided a good position for watches to be kept on the surrounding fells.
It also looked over the small settlement of what the Normans called Cherchebi in Stercaland (Kirkby in Strickland).
Local historian and chairman of Kendal Civic Society Dr. John Satchels described life in medieval Kendal as "short and brutal".
He said: "Life would have been more insecure. You were dependant on the success of the harvest for your food supply.You were dependant on being insufficient health to work. You were exposed to every infectious disease and you were infested by lice and fleas".
However life might have been a bit easier on Castle Hill than on the filthy streets of Kendal,
The castle, which acted as Kendal's administrative centre-the Medieval equivalent of the town hall-seems to have been a well organised community.
Flour for the baron, his family and staff would have come from tenant farmers on the castle estates which stretched to Oxenholme.
There was a deer park and fish were reared in ponds on Castle Hill and at Heversham.
There was even a pigeon coop in the courtyard which provided birds for the table.
A system of fines-paid not in cash but in farm animals-operated to penalise erring tenants.
However , the structure was derelict by the late 16th century following its abandonment as a residence by the then owners, the Parr family.
The old Kendal legend that Katherine Parr, Henry VIII's last wife was born at the castle is probably untrue, said Dr Satchels.
"It is far more likely that she was born at other family homes in London or Northamptonshire," he said.
The building was taken back by the Crown, which had no interest in maintaining or repairing the structure.
Civil servant Edward Bradyll was sent by the treasury to supervise the sale of the ruin's assets in 1578, but found most of the lead and glass in the decaying building had already been taken by scavengers.
In a written report, Bradyll told the government that, "the said castle was in utter rein and decay not repairable and in all worthy to be sold for fowerscore punds" (£80).
It has now been derelict for about 400 years and the ruin and its lands have had many owners during that time.
Lady Henry Cavendish-Bentinck sold the castle to the corporation of Kendal in 1987 to mark Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee and it has remained in public hands ever since.
Over the last 100 years the ruin and the hill it stands on have been used as a recreation area by local people. The recent archaeological work, carried out as part of the Kendal Castle Centenary Project, has revealed two collapsed vaults and the southern and western boundary walls of the main hall.
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