The chapel was first built in 1338 and consecrated and made parochial in 1587 upon condition that the inhabitants keep it in repair, maintain the curate and contribute to the repair of the mother church. In 1717 the Curate read prayers and a homily every Sunday. In 1696 George Jepson of Over Staveley left 2 estates in land to a preaching minister who should keep school in Staveley, and although in 1717 repairs had cut into the return of these estates it was then hoped that they would yield £10 or £12 p.a. clear. 'The present Curate does not preach but teaches school in the chapel (there being no schoolhouse) but hath no salary', L.A.S. Butler, ed., The Cumbria Parishes, 1714-1725, from Bishop Gastrell's Notitia, with additions by Bishop Porteus, 1778-1779, Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, Record Series, vol. 12 (1998), 122.