11-05-50 Burton in Kendal

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Not quite a century…

A large number of Martins Bank’s sub-Branches come from amalgamations with other banks, and the very existence of a particular branch is sometimes down to expansion plans from the nineteenth century or earlier. Most of the banks we have today in the UK come from similar backgrounds, with hundreds of smaller Banks amalgamating, or taking each other over, and a national network of outlets is the result.

The sub-Branch at Burton in Kendal comes from the joining together of the Bank of Liverpool with Messrs Wakefield Crewdson and Company’s Kendal Bank in 1893, which already has a comprehensive coverage of South Westmorland, with branches at ARNSIDE, MILNTHORPE, and KIRKBY LONSDALE, all within about ten to twelve miles of each other.

Transportation methods being what they are in those days allows small towns and villages the luxury of a number of services, including banks, that sadly have all but disappeared from most of those places today. Indeed in the 2020s we have the issue of mass closure of Bank Branches even in larger towns and cities. Burton opens just one day a week, and in World War Two it is amongst a number of branches “closed for the duration” as Martins staff are called up to fight. The branch re-opens in 1946, survives the merger with Barclays in the 60s, and remains open until early 1980. Not bad.

In Service: 1890 until 26 February 1980

Image: Barclays Ref 0030/0488

Continuing our look at Martins Branches “then and now”, we are grateful to Michael C L Hodgson Estate Agents of Kendal for the modern day view of Burton Branch, below. The building, a private residence since 1980, has was up for sale at the time of this photograph in 2016. The owners are aware of the history of their property, not least the oddity of the old Bank safe being situated in the BATHROOM, of all places!