The Old Laundry was part of a huge house once standing in what is now known as the "new" churchyard at Hall Waberthwaite. The site has a long history. There is written evidence of a domestic building there in 1600, which was either demolished or completely remodelled in 1877 when John Benn Postlethwaite built Waberthwaite Hall. That huge mansion fell into disrepair and was finally levelled in 1953 and the site, laundry and gardens of the house were donated to St John's Church.

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Over the years the building has been used for  many things but we don't know exactly what its original use was. In the smaller room a bread oven was added to the existing fireplace - we don't know when, and in the second room it was obvious that it had had been used for washing clothes. This explains why the building has traditionally been called The Laundry. The old water pump, sandstone slab and floor and roof vent were still in place in 2022 when work finally started.

Over the years the space was also used for storing equipment used by the grave digger including the wooden bier used to carry coffins and for social events.

The Ordnance Survey maps of 1863 show a track running in front of the building. By 1899 this seems to have been rerouted to where it is today (possibly when John Benn Postlethwaite created his pleasure grounds).