Village of the Week: Calling time on the local pub and a slice of Wensleydale cheese-making history

Kirkby Malzeard, a village near Harrogate of around 900 inhabitants, then is quite an intriguing putting together of ancient language.

It was mentioned in the Domesday Book, which, of course, goes back to 1066 and appeared as Chirchebi meaning church village. Malzeard (meaning "bad clearing" according to Norman French language) was added a fair few decades later.

But, it is very likely that village life of some kind was established long before the Domesday Book.

A local website, Kirkby Malzeard Area, was set up in 2020 as a community venture led by local residents. It features extracts from a 400 page book by Ian Corfield, “Kirkby Malzeard Since 1850” and tells of finds over the years, centuries actually, that tell of a life long before any living record.

Farming has been going on since the Stone Age.

Mr Corfield recalls that axe heads and querns have been unearthed at Azerley and Laverton. In a field called Ellers near Willow House, in the Gate Bridge area, 28 socketed celts, (cleaving tools or chisels), were discovered which were relics of Bronze Age inhabitants.

The body of a Roman centurion was found above Tom Corner in Dallowgill, the spot is marked on the Mosaic Trail walking route.

A sword used by Cromwell’s forces during the Civil War in 1642 was found in a peat bed in Kirkby Malzeard and there were ancient drove roads and tracks cross the higher moors.

Cattle and other animals were brought across these for sale. Drovers came from Scotland via Pateley Bridge and Dallowgill.

Other accounts say there was a castle at Kirkby Malzeard. It was held by the de Mowbray family. A quick look into that dynasty reveals The House of Mowbray was an Anglo-Norman noble house, derived from Montbray in Normandy and founded by Roger de Mowbray, son of Nigel d’Aubigny who was a Norman Lord and English baron.

Anyway, when Roger de Mowbray took part in the Revolt of 1173–74 against King Henry II, he surrendered it, together with Thirsk Castle, to the King and both castles were demolished.

In 1307 King Edward I granted Kirkby Malzeard the right to hold two fairs annually, and a weekly market on Wednesday. From here, Kirkby Malzeard started to develop from a farming hamlet to a much more prosperous place. The fairs and market continued for more than 500 years.

A market cross it seemed had stood for, one assumes but I can’t find a date exact, many years but in 1866, landowner Joseph Helliwell demolished it.

There was understandable an outcry in the village and a legal argument that went on for a year. In the end he was ordered to remove a cottage and part of his house that were encroaching on the Market Place.

A new Market Cross was built having being paid for by public subscription and inaugurated on September 30 1868. Several newspapers and documents relating to the market place and the cross were placed in a sealed bottle when the foundations were laid in what would today be known as a time capsule.

A more recent legal battle in the village has been based around one of the local pubs.

The Henry Jenkins Inn closed in 2011 and is now derelict. The owner marketed it for 11 years but also ended up in a long-running row with a group of residents who made several attempts to nominate the building as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) in their campaign to run it themselves.

David Fielder questioned the group’s ability to buy the building and applied to convert half of the pub into a home after his business associate was granted permission for similar plans for the other half.

In February this year, the then Harrogate Borough Council refused an Asset of Community Value (ACV) listing for a fourth time and a week later the planning inspectorate dismissed the appeal by the owner against Harrogate Borough Council for rejecting planning applications to develop the pub into houses.

Word has it that The Henry Jenkins, was named after a man from Ellerton-on-Swale who died in 1670, allegedly aged 169.

Another fascinating and unexpected snippet about the village concerns an American singer, actor, television producer and businessman who dominated American showbusiness from the 1920s until his death in 1977.

The Highside Playing Fields, which provide facilities for several sports, were created in the 1970s with the help of Bing Crosby. He came shooting in the area in 1975 and donated £1,250 towards the playing fields, and visited them during a cricket match in 1976.

Today the village has around 320 homes and is surrounded by countryside, farms, woodland, streams and the moors a little further away.

Unlike many smaller villages, there are amenities for locals such as a village shop, butcher, pub, garage, fish and chip shop and an antiques shop.

There is also a school, Church, Methodist Chapel and the Mechanics Institute which is a hub for village events.

Last but not least, cheese.

Wensleydale cheese was first made by French Cistercian, monks from the Roquefort region, who settled in Wensleydale in the 1100s bringing their recipe with them.

There has been a creamery in Kirkby Malzeard making Wensleydale cheese for almost 100 years and in the beginning it was owned by Mrs Mason.

Farmer Kit Calvert, of Hawes, stepped in to save the creamery in the 1930s and it was later sold to the Milk Marketing Board.

More recently it was acquired by the Wensleydale Creamery.