346 Average annual Fall of Rain at Kendal. 



in Cumberland, and terminating in the Derbyshire hills. On 

 the north of the town is the mass of mountains in the lake 

 district; and the only opening into the valley in which the 

 town lies is to the south The winds in this district being 

 chiefly from the south-west and west, and being loaded with 

 aqueous vapours from the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, 

 they are arrested in their progress before they pass this 

 natural boundary, and occasion an extraordinary deposit of 

 rain. That this place will be the one where an unusual 

 quantity of rain will be taken in the rain-gauge, is obvious 

 from its being bounded on the north by mountains of a 

 greater elevation than any south of it till we arrive at the 

 Welsh mountains. Many other local circumstances might be 

 pointed out, to account for the quantity of rain taken in this 

 neighbourhood ; but, perhaps, this is the chief cause of so 

 much more being measured here than in any other place in 

 England where a rain-gauge has been kept. 



Remarks by J. S. M. — The situation of Kendal, nearly in 

 the centre of the basin of the Kent, which flows rapidly to 

 the sea, is a circumstance, additional to those noted by Mr. 

 Marshall, which seems peculiarly to favour the great de- 

 position of rain there. Its geology assists greatly in prevent- 

 ing the climate being rendered hurtful to its inhabitants. On 

 one side of the basin of the Kent, in which Kendal is situ- 

 ated, is limestone of the carboniferous order ; on the other, 

 the eastern side, the greywacke rocks. Both these kinds of 

 rocks are very fissury, and open in their joints ; and they 

 consequently afford a rapid passage downwards to the de- 

 scending rain. Little moisture, therefore, remains on the 

 surface to evaporate and render the climate unusually humid. 

 The river Kent, which receives all the waters of the basin, 

 has a considerable descent to the sea, and speedily hurries off 

 to the ocean all superfluous waters that have fallen from the 

 atmosphere. From such causes, and, perhaps, from others 

 that might be named, the climate of Kendal is far from un- 

 healthy, though, perhaps, no where else in our island a 

 greater quantity of rain falls within the year. At few places 

 can more aged persons be found than at Kendal. 



It is curious to observe that, while at Epping, near Lon- 

 don, the average quantity of rain that falls at that place in the 

 year is about 20 in., at Kendal nearly 60 in. is the average 

 annual quantity. Should less than 50 in. fall at Kendal, a 

 great failure happens in the hay crop and other crops, as 

 happened in 1826, in which year only 43 in. of rain fell. 



