Kirkby Malzeard & Laverton

Kirkby Malzeard Chapels

The First Ebenezer Chapel 1803-1881
The first Ebenezer Chapel, or New Connexion Church as they were known, was opened in Kirkby Malzeard in 1803 and although it ceased to be used as a chapel in 1881, the building is still standing, and was converted into a house.

The entrance was in the gable end, now the storeroom for Kirkby Stores. Mr W. T. Wilson was allowed to block the doorway up in 1949. Above the doorway is a large stone with the following inscription:
This house was opened May 22nd 1803
With a sermon from 93rd Psalm, Verse 5
Holiness Becometh Thine House, O Lord for ever
By Watson Wild
The first Ebenezer chapel was really too small for the strong following in the late nineteenth century as the chapel would have held no more than 50 people.

The ‘New’ Ebenezer Chapel 1881-2023
Once it was decided that the original chapel had outgrown it’s capacity, the search for a location to build a new chapel began. Several options were considered until an agreement was reached with a local landowner, Mr R. Raw who made the current site available at a reasonable figure – £30! The position was seen as ideal being slightly raised and centrally positioned in the village, and the new building would be able to accommodate 180 people.
As many worshipers/friends of the chapel worked in the local quarry, the stone required to build the chapel only cost £23 16s 3d, and the total cost of completing the chapel was £283 6s 1d, whilst donations and fund raising events raised £316 7s 10d. The surplus £33 1s 9d, plus £100 which had been invested in a savings bank, meant that they were able to fund the Sunday School extension.

A report of the stone laying ceremony featured in the local ‘Ripon Gazette and Times’, August 21st 1880, where the writer tells how many people contributed to the Building Fund. Also reference is made to ‘the beauty of the village, it’s well trimmed gardens, and it’s air of affluence pervading the locality’.
At the opening ceremony 80 children from the school assembled at the chapel, and formed a procession through the village singing hymns and carrying flags and banners. When they returned to the chapel they gathered round the spot of the stone laying ceremony was to take place. Also, a large number of onlookers from the local area and Ripon were in attendance. Prominent attendees included Rev. Dr. J. C. Watts, ex. President of the new connexion conference and classical tutor at Ranmoor College, Sheffield. Also Rev. J. R. Welham, circuit minister for Ripon.

Interestingly, a report in May 1881 shows that the chapel trustees decided that the pew rents should be as follows:
Middle of Chapel – 4/- per seat per annum for one sitting, but 7/- for 2 sittings each Sunday. A few pews at the front were allowed for free sittings.
Sides of the Chapel – 2/6- per seat per annum.
The rents had to be paid in advance. However, 2 months later, the Trustees decided that the rents were too high, so they reduced them, but abolished the free seats! The pew rents were abolished in 1922.
Over time, the congregation has dwindled, resulting in the chapel being unviable, and it’s doors were finally closed in 2023. We await to see what happens to the building, but it’s hoped a suitable use is made of it.
Thanks go to Ruth Verity for donating some of the old chapel documents where this information was gathered.

Primitive Methodist Chapel formally The Ranters Chapel
The original Primitive Methodist Chapel backed onto South Back Lane, nearly opposite the entrance to Longswales Lane in the garden of Well House. This was discontinued in 1852, and knocked down.

Chapel on the left
The new position for the chapel had already been found, so both chapels must have been running simultaneously, as it opened in 1829 when the building to the right of Kirkby Motors was built. It originally had an outside staircase going up the gable end to reach the rear seats.
It seems that the ground floor only consisted of tiered seating which could seat around 100 worshippers, but no records shows that it was ever full, although it did have an organ and a choir.
The building was sold in July 1962 and became a private residence.