History of the War Memorial Hall
On 13th May we welcomed Belinda Booth to speak about the history of our hall, part of a Heritage Project which started in 2019.
The story begins in 1866. Adam and Robert Howitt were two of the original founders when it was known as the New Church following a division in the church on the Butts. In 1889 the building was sold to the Charity Commission and the dissenting members returned to the Presbyterian Church.
The hall was then bought by Thomas Clutterbuck of Bridge End for £200. Known as The Squire, he was a local philanthropist who had funded a library and reading room in 1880, later moved to the hall in 1889.
It was also leased as a drill hall to the 2nd Northumberland Volunteer Artillery. On Thomas’s death in 1900 the hall was left to his nephew, in the hands of trustees. In 1904 the Warkworth Civilian Rifle Club was formed and a miniature rifle range was discovered in the basement, along with a secure armoury.
In 1906 the hall, said to be worth around £600, was sold to the trustees for £175. Its running and upkeep were to be in the hands of the villagers, which led to a series of fundraising events being held there.
During WW1 fundraisers were held and a War Memorial and heroes fund was established. On Thursday 11th September 1919 the hall was the setting for a Welcome Home Celebration Banquet. The War Memorial honouring the 22 men from Warkworth who died in the war was unveiled at the bottom of Beach Road in 1925, and moved to its present location in Dial Place in the 1960s when the new bridge was built.
The longest running group to use the hall is the WI, meeting there from 1922 to the present day. The British Legion met from 1928 until 2021 when the Branch closed. In the 1930s dances were very popular. During WW2 the hall was requisitioned by the military and used as an evacuation centre.
The hall continues to be well used to this day, although a lack of funds has hampered some of the proposed refurbishments. Belinda’s talk, based on her splendid research, opened our eyes to the rich history of a building which is part of our everyday lives and therefore taken very much for granted. But like the rest of our village surely it deserves to be valued and cared for so that it can be enjoyed by future generations.