46 WESTMORLAND AGRICULTURE, 1800— 1900 



During the six days, August 23rd to 29th, 1910, the County Council 

 took a census of the traffic passing over the principal roads from 8 a.m. 

 to 8 p.m. each day. On the main line of road, from Kendal to Shap, 

 354 motor cars and i ,237 other vehicles passed Longpool ; on the Appleby 

 to Kendal road there were 70 motor cars and 788 other vehicles. At 

 Eamont Bridge 470 motors and 885 other carriages passed from the 

 direction of or going to Kendal, and to and from Penrith the numbers 

 were 656 motors and 1,579 other vehicles. At the foot of the House 

 of Correction Hill, Kendal, 827 cars and 1,396 carriages passed, while 

 on the Bumeside road the numbers were 92 and 497 respectively. The 

 traffic passing Windermere Station, L. & N. W. Rly., was 1,236 motors 

 and 4,666 other vehicles, or an average of 65 per hour for each day of 

 12 hours. At Waterhead, Ambleside, the traffic was 1,062 motors, 

 2,609 other vehicles, and 1,773 cycles ; while at Rothay Bridge the 

 number of cycles which passed was 2,603, or ^^i average of 433 per day. 



Large quantities of tar and other bituminous material is now used 

 in the construction of the main roads, where the gradient permits, to 

 keep down the dust and prevent the rapid wear caused by the fast motor 

 traffic. Calcium chloride is another substance applied to the surface of 

 roads with a view to dust prevention. 



The Carhsle and Newcastle Railway, incorporated 1829, was opened 

 in 1838, and although far removed from the county, affected its markets 

 as far south as Kendal. In April 1838, for the first time, two wholesale 

 egg merchants attended Kendal market and bought up all the eggs at 

 4^d. per dozen. They packed them in carts and took them by road to 

 Carlisle, where they were transferred to the railway and taken to New- 

 castle, whence they were shipped by steamer to London. In 1846 the 

 Lancaster and Carlisle Railway Wcis formally opened, the first sod having 

 been cut on Shap Fell in 1844. This was followed by the opening of 

 the Kendal and Windermere branch in the spring of 1847. These two 

 railways were afterwards absorbed by the London and North- Western 

 Railway Company. The effect of these new means of communication 

 was almost immediately felt by agriculture, offering, as it did, increased 

 facilities for reaching the ever-growing markets in the Lancashire manu- 

 factirring towns. Within a few months of the opening, the opportunity 

 was seized upon by the Westmorland agriculturists, and in September, 

 1847, a Fortnightly Cattle Fair was established in Kendal on alternate 



