06/07/2026
Some rather odd chapels stand in the quieter corners of England, and they don’t come much odder then this one at Mugginton in the Derbyshire Peak District.
This is the Halter Devil Chapel, sometimes shortened to the Devil’s Chapel, and yes that is the name it was consecrated as. Why? Folklore gives us the only reason.
One early July morning in 1723, Francis Brown stumbled into one of his fields to halter a horse ready to collect a load of coal. He was hungover, the hangover from hell you might say, the result of a days long bender during which his farming and business duties had all been neglected.
In the half-light of the early hours he struggled to even focus on the horse, then an electrical storm broke which sent thunder and lightning down, spooking the horses and sending them galloping around the field. In his half-drunk rage he blurted out -
“I’ll halter the devil if I have to!”
…and a huge jet black head appeared in the halter, sporting a pair of horns! Brown screamed and staggered back, then fell to his knees as he sobbed his apologies to God. He’d actually been trying to halter one of his cows!
Francis Brown changed his ways from that day one, building a chapel that stood just outside the Mugginton parish and which was actually named the Halter Devil Chapel. Within a year the building was being used as a dairy by the neighbouring farm and only cleared out for a few hours on Sundays!
The chapel was eventually consecrated and actually celebrated its 300 year anniversary a couple of years ago. Services are still held on the second Sunday of each month - what an origin story!
