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Sheltered several miles inland from Morecambe Bay, CARTMEL grew up
around its twelfth-century Augustinian priory and is still dominated by
the proud Church of St Mary and St Michael (daily: June-Sept 9am-5.30pm;
Oct-May 9am-3.30pm; tours Easter-Oct Wed 11am & 2pm; free), the only
substantial remnant to survive the Dissolution. A diagonally crowned
tower is the most distinctive feature outside, while the light and
spacious Norman-transitional interior climaxes at a splendid chancel,
illuminated by the 45-foot-high East Window . You can spend a good half-hour
scanning the immaculate misericords and numerous tombs, chief among them
the Harrington Tomb in the Town Choir, to the south of the chancel - the
weathered figure is that of John Harrington, who rebuilt this section in
1340. Everything else in the village is modest in scale, centred on the
attractive market square , beyond the church, with its Elizabethan
cobbles, water pump and fish slabs.
Trains stop at Cark-in-Cartmel, two miles southwest of the village
proper; the #530/#532 bus from there or from Grange train station (originating
in Kendal) runs to the village. On Market Square, Market Cross Cottage (tel
015395/36143; no credit cards; £50-60) is a cosy, seventeenth-century
B&B . Up a notch, the celebrated Cavendish Arms on Cavendish Street (tel
015395/36240, ; £50-60, £60-70 at weekends), just off the square, is a
sixteenth-century inn which retains many of its original features. This
is also the best of the pubs , offering good (if pricey) food.
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