Kendal’s Smallest Windows

Just outside of England’s Lake District in Cumbria, a medieval building, known as the Castle Dairy in Kendal, has two minuscule windows that provide just enough light for the 700-year-old rooms. The Castle Dairy may be the oldest continuously inhabited building in the historic market town, and it’s believed someone has lived there since the early 14th century.

Originally built as a farmhouse, the building’s subsequent uses are unknown, though it was possibly used as a private residence. The name “dairy” may have been a corruption of “dowry” and it has been inferred that the property was once a widow’s home.

While some of the original windows were once bricked up, over the years many of them have been reopened. On the upper floor, there is a small chapel with one of the small windows while the other miniature window looks out from the other side of the house.

One local story claims that the floor contains remnants from a Roman road, which once ran along the banks of the river Kent.