Historical Background

Alma Cottage

There was a settlement at Kirkby Malzeard in the Stone Age. Bronze Age relics have been found in the area, and traces of Roman occupation. The Viking name of Kirkby, which is very common in this part of the country, indicates a settlement near a church, and to this was added "malassart", a Norman French word meaning a poorly cleared area in the forest.

In 1174 the lord of the manor of Kirkby Malzeard, Roger de Mowbray, backed the wrong side in a rebellion against the king, and as a punishment his castle at Kirkby was demolished. It now exists as a few mounds on private ground to the east of the churchyard.

There are many listed and other special buildings in the village, including St Andrew's church, the Shoulder of Mutton (probably the oldest inhabited building) , Lawnwith House, Mowbray House, the Old School and the Mechanics Institute. Just a few mounds and ridges are all that remain to mark the site of Mowbray Castle, a motte and bailey construction which was destroyed in the 12th century. The oldest surviving structure is the 7th century preaching cross in the churchyard, shown in the photo on the right. Pinfolds such as the one on the north side of the High Street date back to the 11th century, though this one has not been used for impounding stray animals since the Enclosures Act of 1789.

St Andrew's Church, a Grade One listed building of special historic and architectural interest, was started in 1150 on or near the site of an earlier wooden church from Saxon times. Parts of the building, for example this arch over the doorway, reveal the church's Norman origins. Courts were held in the church to discuss village and church matters, and the Moot Cross in the churchyard was the meeting place for churchwardens and overseers of the township. Judgments could be severe on any person merely on suspicion of a variety of crimes, including sheltering unmarried mothers and Catholics, adultery and fornication. Much of the fabric of the church was destroyed by fire in 1908, though the basic structure survived and was restored.

In 1307 King Edward I granted a market charter to the community, making it a township of trading importance. Sheep were driven over the moor roads from Pateley Bridge to be sold at the Market Cross, and drove roads brought cattle from as far away as Scotland (see local pubs called The Drovers) until the last market was held in 1816. This means the community's agricultural background can be traced for five thousand years, as farming and dairying continue here right up to the present day.

The Market Cross, or Butter Cross, is a symbol of Kirkby's status as a township, not just a village. The present one dates from 1866. The original cross was pulled down and broken up by the owner of a house next to the cross, who considered it a nuisance. This annoyed the people of Kirkby, who pulled down the railings in front of his property and dislodged the corner stones of his house which encroached on to the road. The house had to be pulled down, and afterwards was rebuilt as the house which now stands nearest to the cross.

A Mechanics Institute was started in 1848 as part of the great movement at that time for the education of the working classes. It was so popular that in 1852 a two-storey stone building was built on the present site. This was achieved by bequests, public subscription and much voluntary effort in cutting and hauling stone from local quarries. The Mechanics Institute, altered in 1936, remains a very popular and vital centre of local life.

The name of one of the village pubs is linked to a famous local character, the incredibly long-lived Henry Jenkins, who is buried at Bolton-on-Swale. The churchard at Kirkby Malzeard contains the grave of another long-lived local man, George Wharton who died aged 111.

In the early 1900s Cecil Sharp, the famous collector of English folk songs and dances, visited Kirkby Malzeard to collect details of their traditional sword dance and calling-on song. The dance has some special features, in particular the formation of the swords into a double interlocked triangle instead of the more usual six-pointed star shape.

A Highside Swordsman shows the Kirkby Malzeard sword lock outside Alma Cottage

The Kirkby Longsword dancers who demonstrated the dance evidently considered the triangular lock as private to themselves, as Cecil Sharp subsequently published his description of the dance in "Sword Dances of Northern England" showing the more common six-pointed lock. Nevertheless, the dance became very popular in the folk dance revival of the early twentieth century and was taught and performed all over the country. You can still see the original dance performed by the local Highside Longsword dancers on bank holidays, at the pubs or by the market cross.

There must have been a building on the site of Alma Cottage from very early in the life of the village, since it is in the main street and very close to the pubs, church and market place. We can't date the present building with much accuracy, but internal building features suggest parts of it are over 200 years old. The name "Alma Cottage" which is often found on Victorian houses, usually refers to the Battle of Alma in 1854.

We know that at one time it was two cottages - you can still see the outline of the second front doorway on the stonework outside, and there are two gable ends visible from the back. These would have been very simple two-up, two-down homes for labouring people, without separate kitchens and bathrooms. We also know that the present dining-room was once used as a grocer's shop. The cottage would have been tenanted rather than owner-occupied right up to the 1980's.

Careful modernisation of the cottage in the eighties revealed the original beams and stone alcoves under the stairs. Also at that time the main bedroom was created out of a room in which it was not possible to stand upright, and the spacious bathroom made out of another bedroom. A large garage was also built at the bottom of the back garden, facing on to Back Lane. Former occupants of the cottage would have had the present boiler shed as an outside privy.

Since we bought the cottage in 1997 our contribution has been to use part of the former utility room to build a downstairs cloakroom with WC and a lock-up cupboard. We've also reshaped the garden, adding a new paved terrace for enjoying the summer sunshine, while keeping trees and plants which go back a long way. And in 2003, we uncovered the original fireplace in the living room and installed a new multi-fuel stove.

This page last updated on 04/09/2009