Jenkin Chapel

Jenkin Chapel stands alone on the western slopes of the Pennines, four and a half miles north-east of Macclesfield. It sits where three old packhorse routes meet, tracks once used by salt carriers and later by drovers moving cattle and sheep. Built in 1733 from local stone by the people who also paid for their own minister, it was enlarged with a tower in 1755. The chapel belongs to the Church of England, linked to the parishes of Holy Trinity in Rainow and Forest Chapel near Macclesfield Forest. Its name may come from a Welsh trader called Jenkin or from a fiery preacher who once spoke here. The building looks more like a Georgian farmhouse than a church, with two storeys of nave, a single-storey chapel and vestry, and a three-stage tower topped by a saddleback roof. Inside, box pews, an octagonal pulpit and a carved reading desk face each other across the chancel. The chancel is panelled and separated by turned balusters, with a small stone font beneath an oak cover. A gallery at the west end displays the Stopford family coat of arms, while grave slabs on the floor recall the Turner family who lived at nearby Saltersford Hall. The chapel is open every day, and Evensong is held at three o’clock on the third Sunday of each month from Easter to Christmas. Special services include Carols by Candlelight in December and the Big Sing in summer. It appeared in Alan Garner’s novel Thursbitch and in an episode of the television programme Hunted. The surrounding moorland and the old salters’ ways offer quiet walks back in time.