E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Kendal Green.
Green cloth for foresters; so called from Kendal, Westmoreland, famous at one time for this manufacture. Kendal green was the livery of Robin Hood and his followers. In Rymer’s Fœdera (ii. 83) is a letter of protection, dated 1331, and granted by Edward III. to John Kempe of Flanders, who established cloth-weaving in the borough. Lincoln was also famous at one time for dyeing green.
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“How couldst thou know these men in Kendal green, when it was so dark thou couldst not see thy hand?”—Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV., ii. 4.
