A campaign to buy the Hall, some exciting ideas for its future use as a community centre and a look back to its beginnings
The Hall has stood for over four centuries and has pretty much been all things to all people.
It began as the home of a wealthy entrepreneur who walked with royalty and was rewarded for his service with a knighthood, became a farmhouse for almost half its existence and has briefly served as a restaurant, night club and even a suite of offices.
Along the way there were those who wanted to turn it into an art gallery and museum, a student hall of residence and even a motel.
And now there is an opportunity to give the Hall a new future.
After the closure of the last restaurant venture in 2011 the building has been empty, lacking a buyer or a purpose.
But a group of local people have come together to save the building by buying it and offering up for community use.*
There is in their words a “lack of accessible and affordable space for community meetings, exhibitions, rehearsal and social events for small, community-orientated enterprises, particularly start-ups.”
The Hall would offer just such accommodation and in doing so save what is an important and historic building becoming a “community hub, creating a vibrant and welcoming space for a wide range of people to meet, mix, work and play, serving the people of Chorlton and South Manchester.”
Now that is quite an attractive idea not only because it will provide an important use for this empty building but also because it puts the Hall back at the heart of the area.
As a start and part of a rolling programme the organisers are committed to a series of heritage activities which will promote the history of the Hall and engage local people by calling on their collective memories of the place.
These will build into a permanent exhibition and sit alongside a series of heritage walks through Chorlton and Withington explaining the evolution of the Hall and its place in the story of south Manchester.
And later in the year will see the publication of Hough End Hall the story which will be the first book devoted entirely to the history of the Hall.
It will describe the building, and the people who lived, worked and played there over its 400 years will contain pictures and photographs along with paintings by Peter Topping.
In many ways this is the most fortuitous moment for such an exciting project. There is a growing interest in our heritage and already the campaign has encouraged people to share their pictures, memories and stories of their Hough End Hall.
At the same time the arrival of the metro link will open up the hall and the immediate vicinity to a wide audience, some of whom are drawn here by the small and quirky independent shops along Beech Road and Burton Road others by the cafes, restaurants and bars of Chorlton and neighbouring Didsbury and many more by the rich cultural events ranging from Chorlton Book Fortnight, Chorlton Arts Festival, the Didsbury Show and the Edge Theatre Company.
A new vibrant community centre in the historic Hough End Hall will play its part in continuing to make this part of south Manchester a vibrant place to live and visit.
And in the fullness of time we might yet see the treasures of the old Hall including Sir Nicholas’s 400 year old bed and furniture return to its original home.
Now that would really be historic.
Pictures; the Hall in 2014, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, the Hall in the mid 1960s from the collection of Roger Shelley, https://www.flickr.com/photos/photoroger/ and cover for the book Hough End Hall to be published in late 2014
* Hough End Hall: lets make it ours! https://spacehive.com/HoughEndHall_lets_make_it_ours#Project promoter
**Hough End Hall the Story, Simpson Andrew, Topping, Peter to be published later this year
 |
| Hough End Hall, 2014, |
It began as the home of a wealthy entrepreneur who walked with royalty and was rewarded for his service with a knighthood, became a farmhouse for almost half its existence and has briefly served as a restaurant, night club and even a suite of offices.
Along the way there were those who wanted to turn it into an art gallery and museum, a student hall of residence and even a motel.
And now there is an opportunity to give the Hall a new future.
After the closure of the last restaurant venture in 2011 the building has been empty, lacking a buyer or a purpose.
 |
| Hough End Hall, mid 1960s |
The Hall would offer just such accommodation and in doing so save what is an important and historic building becoming a “community hub, creating a vibrant and welcoming space for a wide range of people to meet, mix, work and play, serving the people of Chorlton and South Manchester.”
Now that is quite an attractive idea not only because it will provide an important use for this empty building but also because it puts the Hall back at the heart of the area.
As a start and part of a rolling programme the organisers are committed to a series of heritage activities which will promote the history of the Hall and engage local people by calling on their collective memories of the place.
These will build into a permanent exhibition and sit alongside a series of heritage walks through Chorlton and Withington explaining the evolution of the Hall and its place in the story of south Manchester.
And later in the year will see the publication of Hough End Hall the story which will be the first book devoted entirely to the history of the Hall.
 |
| A book on Hough End Hall |
In many ways this is the most fortuitous moment for such an exciting project. There is a growing interest in our heritage and already the campaign has encouraged people to share their pictures, memories and stories of their Hough End Hall.
At the same time the arrival of the metro link will open up the hall and the immediate vicinity to a wide audience, some of whom are drawn here by the small and quirky independent shops along Beech Road and Burton Road others by the cafes, restaurants and bars of Chorlton and neighbouring Didsbury and many more by the rich cultural events ranging from Chorlton Book Fortnight, Chorlton Arts Festival, the Didsbury Show and the Edge Theatre Company.
A new vibrant community centre in the historic Hough End Hall will play its part in continuing to make this part of south Manchester a vibrant place to live and visit.
And in the fullness of time we might yet see the treasures of the old Hall including Sir Nicholas’s 400 year old bed and furniture return to its original home.
Now that would really be historic.
Pictures; the Hall in 2014, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, the Hall in the mid 1960s from the collection of Roger Shelley, https://www.flickr.com/photos/photoroger/ and cover for the book Hough End Hall to be published in late 2014
* Hough End Hall: lets make it ours! https://spacehive.com/HoughEndHall_lets_make_it_ours#Project promoter
**Hough End Hall the Story, Simpson Andrew, Topping, Peter to be published later this year
No comments:
Post a Comment