\n Kirkby Malzeard is around six miles from Ripon and four miles from Masham, close to the countryside of Nidderdale and the Yorkshire Dales.\n<\/p>\n
\n Visitors and residents often describe it as an “attractive” and “peaceful village”, with traditional stone cottages, historic buildings and a strong community feel.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, one of the most unusual chapters in its history came during the 1970s, when American singer and actor Bing Crosby developed a fondness for the area.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Hollywood star, famous for songs including White Christmas and a film career spanning several decades, first visited in 1975 as part of a group shooting grouse on the Dallowgill and Swinton moors.\n<\/p>\n
\n During the visit, Crosby saw work taking place on a new pavilion at Kirkby Malzeard\u2019s Highside playing fields.\n<\/p>\n
\n Impressed by the community project, he donated \u00a31,000 towards the pavilion from the fee he received for a television appearance, according to the Kirkby Malzeard local history group.\n<\/p>\n
\n Other accounts have put his total contribution to the playing fields at \u00a31,250.\n<\/p>\n
\n Crosby returned in 1976 and visited the playing fields during a cricket match, where he reportedly tried the pitch and pavilion.\n<\/p>\n
\n The singer even recorded his own song about his time on the Yorkshire moors, titled An Ode to Yorkshire, accompanied by pianist Joey Bushkin.\n<\/p>\n
\n His connection gives Kirkby Malzeard an unexpected link to the golden age of Hollywood, but the village\u2019s story stretches back much further.\n<\/p>\n
\n It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Chirchebi, a name meaning \u201cchurch village\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n In medieval times, Kirkby Malzeard was home to a castle controlled by the powerful de Mowbray family.\n<\/p>\n
\n Roger de Mowbray joined the revolt against King Henry II in 1173 and 1174, leading royal forces to besiege the castle.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mowbray eventually surrendered Kirkby Malzeard Castle and his stronghold at Thirsk to the king, after which both castles were demolished.\n<\/p>\n
\n Little remains to show that the quiet village once contained a fortress, but its medieval importance can also be seen in its former market rights.\n<\/p>\n
\n King Edward I granted Kirkby Malzeard permission to hold a weekly Wednesday market and two annual fairs in 1307.\n<\/p>\n
\n The markets later disappeared and were revived at different points, while the village\u2019s market cross became the centre of another dispute centuries later.\n<\/p>\n
\n In 1866, local landowner Joseph Helliwell demolished the cross.\n<\/p>\n
\n The decision caused an outcry and led to around a year of legal action, after which he was required to remove buildings that were encroaching on the marketplace.\n<\/p>\n
\n A replacement cross was paid for by public subscription and officially opened in September 1868.\n<\/p>\n
\n St Andrew\u2019s Church is another reminder of Kirkby Malzeard\u2019s long history, with parts of the building dating from the 12th century.\n<\/p>\n
\n The village also has Creets Bridge, which carries the road across Kex Beck and was built in 1749.\n<\/p>\n
\n For generations, Kirkby Malzeard has been associated with another famous Yorkshire name: Wensleydale cheese.\n<\/p>\n
\n A creamery operated in the village for almost 100 years, passing through several owners, including cheesemaker Kit Calvert, the Milk Marketing Board and, more recently, Wensleydale Dairy Products.\n<\/p>\n
\n That tradition faced a major change in 2025 when owner Saputo announced that the Kirkby Malzeard operation would close and that cheese-packing work would be transferred to Nuneaton.\n<\/p>\n
\n But despite all of its historical connections, it’s still its links to Bing Crosby that are one of the most unusual in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kirkby Malzeard is around six miles from Ripon and four miles from Masham, close to the countryside of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-712956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}