Biddlestone Chapel

What a lovely little find this Chapel was. Parking up next to a small gate on the side of the road we headed up a pretty little grassy track for about 300m before it opened out on to this little chapel tucked away in a copse.

There wasn't another soul in sight we had a bit of a mooch around the grounds. Views from the chapel were lovely in all directions seeing fields, trees and hills all around.

The chapel was all locked up as it appears it's no longer in use. There were boards out the front however, with contact telephone numbers. Not sure what for.

Found some history on the chapel on t'internet.

Biddlestone Chapel was built in or about 1820 for the Roman Catholic Selby family of Biddlestone Hall, the architect probably being John Dobson who designed the now demolished Selby mansion in a severe Greek revival style. It is constructed on the site of a 13th-century pele tower, which was attached to the hall, and incorporates some of its fabric. Alterations were made to the interior of the chapel in 1862 by William Selby. The Biddlestone estate was sold in 1914, and the chapel became the responsibility of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. During the Second World War the basement was converted into an air raid shelter.[5] The chapel became redundant in 1992, and transferred to the ownership of Historic Chapels Trust in 1996. The Trust carried out a programme of restoration and repair in 2008. The rest of the hall was demolished circa 1960. Source - Wikipedia..

And a big thanks to Ashley Lightfoot for supplying the below interior shots!.

And to finish off, a little footage from Red5 Drone!

Apparently the chapel still does services, but just on special occasions.

Then just on the other side of the road hidden in the trees are the gravestones of the Selby family. Thanks to Colin Richardson for these pictures.

We had another quick visit while staying in Alwinton in February 2020. The church had survived the storms, but a lot of nearby tree damage.