FAMILY
floor is still there - that will be lovely for dancing on,” Steve says. The team are hoping to turn the upstairs space into a salon which could host dances, recitals, conferences and weddings with the potential for it to be used by the wider local community.
Crowning the building will be a restored four-metre diameter glass cupola, which once allowed light into an enormous upstairs chamber of 100 square metres, but which is currently boarded up. Former history teacher Alex is piecing together its heritage,
‘‘the captain of the first Royal Navy warship sunk in 1939 was born in Wath, while botanist William Keble Martin, who published The Concise British Flora in 1965, was parish priest at Wath’’
ensuring the work is sympathetic to its past as well as creating exhibits and research rooms depicting local history.
“The involvement of the building in the social and economic life of the area is immense,” he says. “During the General Strike of 1926 there was a soup kitchen here and when Queen Elizabeth was crowned in 1953, Wath celebrated with a stage built here and a pageant put on, telling the story of the nation. This will be a great opportunity for children to come and learn about world events and the part Wath played in them.” The restoration team hope that wider Wath will also become a destination for fellow heritage- lovers, to discover more of the abounding history hidden within Wath Hall’s walls. For example, the captain of the first Royal Navy warship sunk in 1939 was born in Wath, while botanist William Keble Martin, who published The Concise British Flora in 1965, was parish priest at Wath. “We would also love to develop a cultural quarter,” says Steve. “We have a 250-seater theatre
Soup Kitchen Volunteers at Town Hall 1926
next door in Montgomery Hall with an annual folk festival which is nationally famous, but a lot of people don’t know about it.” Alex adds: “It’s not just the building but everything that could happen around it. We would also link with RSPB Old Moor, the Swinton pottery kiln and Wentworth Woodhouse - it’s a gateway to the culture of the area.”
There is still a lot of money to raise - around £235,000 - before the venue can be finished to a habitable standard. The team would like to raise over and above this, to realise their dream of restoring the cupola. The trust will be selling shares to buy the Hall and raise the early
working capital and hope to attract lottery funding to create the phased development plan, realising their grand ambitions.
The Heritage Lottery Fund has already financed structural surveys and admin costs, suggesting confidence in the venture. Alex finishes with a poignant message: “The area has been hit hard in recent years, but Wath used to be called the Queen of Villages. We’re confident that we can regain that crown.”
Visit
www.wathhall.co.uk for more information and updates on the project.
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