2023 marks the 90th anniversary of Barnsley Town Hall which officially opened on 14th December 1933. Michael Hardy our Digital Curator looks back on the building that has dominated the town centre townscape for the last nine decades.
It’s quite appropriate that I’m writing this blog whilst sitting in a small office in Barnsley Town Hall, just a few days before the anniversary of the building opening to the public for the first time. From my desk I can see the back of the unknown solider (Barnsley War Memorial) and in the distance the twinkling Christmas lights of Regent Street. Over the last 10 years it is a vantage point that has allowed me to witness many happy couples leaving the town hall on their wedding day, several parades and remembrance events and not forgetting the occasional protest.
Before I explore the history of the building, let me first show you how the town centre looked before construction of the new civic building began.
This photograph c.1928 shows that nearby land was already starting to be cleared to make way for the new town hall. As you can see, the land to the right was also awaiting the construction of the Technical College which opened on 10th October 1932 and incidentally had the same architects. The photograph also shows that the war memorial pre-dates the town hall. The unveiling ceremony took place on 25th October 1925 and, as you would expect, a lot of the Barnsley population attended the event.
We’ve searched The Barnsley Chronicle archive to compile this article (the entire newspaper archive can be viewed for free when you visit Barnsley Archives and Local Studies). There was ongoing discussions in the letter section about the memorial being moved to Locke Park but thankfully that idea didn’t come to fruition. There was quite a lot of other discussion about the town hall starting as far back as 1910. It wasn’t just George Orwell who was critical about £200,000 being spent on the building! Lots of local people thought that it was a waste of time and money. However, those views started to diminish once they saw the ‘Pride of Barnsley’
It is understandable that people had concerns about how dramatically the town centre was changing. Lots of shops and local businesses had to make way for the new building, one of which was S. Krakauer the jeweller.
Above is a view of Market Hill in the early 1900s. Krakauer were a Jewish family who ran a shop at 8 Market Hill, which was one of the buildings that the council bought to make way for the new town hall. You can read more about them in our previous blog about the Clocks of Barnsley.
Out with the old, in with the blueprint
Before the ‘original’ town hall at St Mary’s Gate was built in 1833, local government met in the Moot Hall on Market Hill. The headquarters was moved to the Court House on St Mary’s Gate at a cost of £1,300. Most of the money came from public subscription, apart from £500 which came from the Poor Rate. The final meeting held in the ‘old’ town hall was in early October 1933 when Richard John Soper was made an Alderman of the Town Council
Barnsley Archives holds several collections relating to the town hall, including blue prints which were recently conserved. You can see more views of the town hall over the years in this Flickr album
Going slightly further back in time, amongst the 1000s of plans held by Barnsley Archives, we found this one dated April 4th 1911 showing how the town centre looked before plans to build a new headquarters. In 1914 the council obtained power in its local act to acquire land to build a new town hall and at this time plans were drawn up, and tenders had been submitted at an estimated £30,000. These plans were rejected and it wasn’t until 1923 than plans were finally approved.
The Building of a town hall
The foundation stone was laid on 21st April 1932 by the Mayor of Barnsley, Councillor Robert Jonas Plummer. In an event attended by over 100 people including workmen on the nearby Technical College. It was the first time that the public had chance to see plans for the building including a version without the clocktower which at this point was ‘omitted for reasons of economy’
Made out of Portland stone the architects were Messrs. Briggs and Thornley of Liverpool and the contractors for the foundation were Messrs and sons of Sheffield. The four story building, 200 feet in length and 110 feet in depth cost £188,037.
The Official Opening
‘I am pleased with what I have seen this morning’ was the quote used by The Barnsley Chronicle as H.R.H The Prince of Wales was handed a golden key to officially open Barnsley Town Hall on Thursday 14th December 1933. Although the Prince was in Barnsley in his capacity as Patron of the National Council of Social Service, it was the opening of a new civic building that made all the headlines during his two hour visit to Barnsley. After making a brief visit to the Barnsley Boys Club the Prince was greeted by huge crowds on Market Hill, he was met outside the town hall by Coun. Joseph Jones who presented him with a golden key to officially open the building. Speeches were then given before luncheon was served.
Rather fittingly the first meal on the menu was the Barnsley Chop. This was specially prepared for the royal luncheon by well known butcher and inventor of said chop, Albert Hirst. It was cooked on the day by Janet Warburton, a cook from the Royal Hotel (just over the road on Church Street, now The White Bear). During the Prince Of Wales’ time at the Town Hall he was presented with a model of the miners’ safety lamp, which had been made at nearby Ceag (who had become world renowned for their safety lamps). The Chronicle states that, after leaving the Town Hall, the Prince and his entourage drove through Wombwell before their tour continued in Rotherham.
Town Hall staff
Amongst the records which relate to Barnsley Town Hall, Barnsley Archives has the full set of Town Hall Committee Minutes, the closest meeting to the opening of the town hall was dated 12th December and includes details of the appointment of Town Hall staff. When the building first opened there was a small flat where the superintendent lived, the first tenant was W Thornton who was paid £200 per annum in this role but lived in the Town Hall rent free. The above document also shows that there were 12 cleaners (all women) a lift attendant, telephone operator, a page boy and a boiler attendant.
Royal Visits
HRH Prince of Wales was the first Royal to visit the Town Hall but he wasn’t the last!
Similar sized crowds met King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during a visit in 1937. Read our blog from earlier this year about the Coronation Celebrations in 1937.
One of the visits that some of you reading this blog may remember, and one which Barnsley Archives has lots of information and photographs for is from 1954 when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip came to Barnsley as part of a tour of South Yorkshire
In this video you can see Prince Philip trying to find a pen to sign the book!
The distinguished visitors book, signed by the royal couple in 1954
A Museum in The Town Hall
Having a museum within the town hall, what a great idea! This is an extract from The Barnsley Chronicle in October 1933 when Mr Edwin Bayford from the Barnsley Naturalists spoke quite passionately about the idea about a Municipal Museum being part of the new Town Hall. Although Mr Bayford didn’t quite get his wish, The Barnsley Scientific and Naturalist Society did have a museum space for a short time on the top floor of The Barnsley Civic. Flash forward eighty years later to the creation of Experience Barnsley Museum in 2013.
Not only did funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England transform the Town Hall into a museum that you see today, it also allowed for much needed conservation work. When the Town Hall opened in the 1930s there was still nearby coalmines and the pollution of which left its mark on the building. The project for Barnsley’s first social history museum allowed the Portland stone to be cleaned.
Here’s a short video clip of the ground floor of the town hall as the transformation to create a museum had just begun. There’s plenty more photographs of the construction of the museum in this Flickr album
Civic Cases
These two images show how large parts of the town hall were transformed as part of the Experience Barnsley project. The enquiries desk in the main entrance has now become a display case showcasing objects from the Light Dragoons. In the right of the picture is Joseph Bramah’s fire pump from 1781 which has been in the entrance to the town hall since 2012.
When you visit the Town Hall and Experience Barnsley don’t forget to explore the civic cases on the first floor.
One of the objects is a mace is of solid silver and was presented to the Corporation of Barnsley on the 6th May, 1902 by representative inhabitants of the Borough to commemorate the Coronation of King Edward the VII
Town Hall Clocks
The oldest internal photograph we could find of the Town Hall was a picture taken of the clock in the tower just after it was installed on 19th September 1933. The Chronicle reported that when the building first opened there were 80 clocks which were synchronised – no excuse for being late to meetings!
#BarnsleyTownHall90
We could fill this blog and our online gallery with lots of photographs of events that have taken in and around the town hall in the last nine decades but we would love to hear your memories and see your photographs. Get in touch on our socials @BarnsleyMuseums or email experiencebarnsley@barnsley@barnsley.gov.uk
I will get the ball rolling! My first visit to the town hall and the Mayor’s parlour was in 1992 during a school visit with Athersley North Infant School.
On V.E Day in May 1945 there were celebrations across Barnsley, during WW2 the town hall was in darkness – it was believed that the enemy used the town hall to locate nearby Sheffield. On VE night the floodlights were switched back on and the town celebrated. Edward Swift and Doreen Lymer first met & three years later they got married, thanks to Nicola for sharing this wonderful story with us.
In the last twelve years of working for Barnsley Museums and Archives I have seen plenty of huge crowds forming outside the town hall, from The Discovery Centre windows I’ve seen countless Mayor’s Parades, Remembrance events, and Tour De Yorkshire. It was a glorious summers day in 2012 when the Olympic Torch relay came to town. Someone who remembers that day more than me is Dave Allemby who appears in our podcast.
More recently, a memorable event was when we brought a Spitfire to Barnsley as part of the WW2 exhibition in 2019. We always enjoying seeing your photos from this event and other visits to the museum.
We can’t mention town hall crowds without a reference to the Mayor’s Parade! This is one of our favourites from Barnsley Archives, a huge dragon in 1976
It’s hard to think about how the town hall would have looked without its iconic tower, in recent times the building has been lit up as a sign of remembrance for global events.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this brief lookback of the last 90 years of Barnsley Town Hall, please share your photographs and memories with us!
While researching this blog we found a Christmas carol published in the Barnsley Chronicle in the same week that the town hall opened. We recorded a version using lots of lovely festive photographs from Barnsley Archives.
In 2024 we created a new video as part of the Fusion Festival of Joy
Barnsley Museums Blogsite 