Kendal Mint Cake been making confectionery since 1840 in the Isle of Man. When one of the four sons, Daniel Quiggin, moved to Kendal in 1880, the mint cake company was formed. In the BBC TV programme "Great British Menu", series 5, Lisa Allen visited Quiggin's factory and used Quiggin's Kendal Mint Cake in her Strawberries with Meringue & Kendal Mint Cake Water Ice dessert. In the BBC TV programme "Great British Railway Journeys" (Series 7, Episode 2), Michael Portillo visited Quiggin's factory. Wilson's Mint Cake was founded in 1913, when James Wilson purchased a factory in the Stricklandgate area of the town.
Keighley and Kendal Turnpike and dressed sandstone for masonry and factories that imported coal welcomed the turnpike for access to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Gargrave. At Kirkby Lonsdale the route met a turnpike from Milnthorpe on the coast, and in 1818 the Keighley to Kendal Trust and the Kirkby Lonsdale to Milnthorpe Trust were amalgamated. Beyond Kirkby Lonsdale the turnpike did not prefigure the A65; rather its route is the B6254, passing Mansergh/Old Town, Old Hutton and Oxenholme to reach Kendal. Early travellers to Kendal complained of eight miles of "nothing but a confused mixture of Rockes and Boggs" Horseback was the