The Eldon Street High Street Heritage Action Zone launched in March 2020. Now, as the programme draws to a close, Heritage Action Zone officer Dr Tegwen Roberts reflects on the difference it has made to Barnsley Town Centre, and the amazing response it has had from local communities.

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The Eldon Street High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) was a major partnership project between Barnsley Council and Historic England, which ran from March 2020 to June 2024 and was led by Barnsley Museums. We published our first HSHAZ blog in November 2020 At the time we reported that the HSHAZ would offer grants to help property owners on Eldon Street to repair their historic buildings, restore historic features (including traditional shop fronts) and bring empty floor space back into use. We also reported that the HSHAZ would work with local people to record and celebrate the amazing stories of Eldon Street. However, despite our enthusiastic stance, we were worried. The COVID pandemic and national lock-downs had severely impacted the first 9 months of the scheme, and we were unsure as to how much of the original programme would be achievable in the aftermath of that.

We needn’t have worried. The scheme has gone on to achieve over and above what it set out to, and, with the support of local partners, businesses, schools, artists and different council teams, the HSHAZ programme has had a huge and positive impact on Barnsley Town Centre. Eldon Street is now recognised as a place with a multi-layered and important heritage, and is starting to live up to its historical role as the gateway to Barnsley Town Centre. In this blog we will set out some of the key milestones from the past 2 years, and link to some of the inspiring and creative content that has been created as part of the programme. The second 2 years of the HSHAZ will be covered in a following blog as it’s impossible to fit everything in!

You can find out more on the HSHAZ page of the Barnsley Museums website. Barnsley Archives also has a series of new Eldon Street pages with historic photos and plans of some of the street’s key historic buildings. 

Year 1: Going Digital

The project funding was agreed a few weeks into lockdown and the national announcement of the HSHAZ programme was delayed for 6 months. However, we didn’t sit still. We decided to explore what we could do digitally to keep engaging and reaching out to people, working with local artists.

We worked with the brilliant Barnsley Council Arts and Events team to create a HSHAZ animation for an online mayor’s parade (the first ever digital parade in Barnsley) in July, and a series of beautiful Bright Nights windows in historic buildings on Eldon Street during November (by local art collective Creative Recovery) when social distancing was still advised and social gatherings were not permitted.

We worked with colleagues and digital volunteers in Barnsley Archives to start researching the stories of Eldon Street, and created an online exhibition with Barnsley Civic (created by ArcHeritage and Graham Walker, working with Patrick Murphy and Mark Mark Productions). The exhibition included a 3D model of the original reading room and audio plays that brought the early years of this landmark building to life. The launch was hosted by the Yorkshire Post and had over 10,000 views in the first 48 hours, generating comments and feedback from Barnsley people across the world.

Take a virtual tour of The Civic in 1878 and 2021

We also worked with Blackbird publishing to create an online creative community consultation pack, and started social media conversations with Barnsley bus trips on twitter and Eldon Street online jigsaws to find out what local people felt about Eldon Street, and what they wanted for the future, even though we couldn’t meet in person at the time.

Read more about our community consultation during lockdown

Year 2: Art and Archives

As we moved into the second year of the scheme, as well as working behind the scenes with building owners to plan repairs to their properties, we started to work on becoming a visible presence on the street. We looked for opportunities to use art and artistic interventions to change perceptions of the HSHAZ area, and to interpret and share some of the amazing stories we were uncovering with the support of Barnsley Archives.

‘Crate It’ by local artists Lenny and Whale created bright and cheerful temporary artwork which reflected some of the fascinating history of Eldon Street, whilst also improving the look of the temporary anti-terrorist measures (large concrete blocks) put into the town centre during the Glassworks development. The artwork took inspiration from the packing cases that travelling performers would have used, and featured names of artists who performed on Eldon Street in past. This included an acrobat from the grand wooden circus, built by famous circus master Charles Adams, which stood on Eldon Street in the 1870s. It also featured a tribute to Italian painter Tommaso Juglaris who won a design competition to paint the stage at the new Public Hall before it opened in 1878, and George Dinnie, the World’s Strongest Man, who came to the Public Hall in the early 1900s.

Barnsley, an unnatural history

We were delighted when Simon Armitage, England’s Poet Laureate, took up a residency with the HSHAZ. The internationally acclaimed poet spent time in Barnsley Archives, drawing inspiration from some of the many historic documents relating to Eldon Street. He was particularly interested in the natural history stories connected to Eldon Street, including the work of the Barnsley Naturalists Society and their almost-forgotten museum which was housed on the top floor of the Barnsley Civic, and the animals connected to the many circuses, fairs and markets that have been held in and around Eldon Street over the years. During the residency he produced a series of new works inspired by Eldon Street and it’s stories. These were performed by Simon and his band, LYR, at the Parkway Cinema in September 2022 (this will be covered in the second part of this blog).

Sunset neon at Bright Nights

A stunning  lightwork ‘sunset’ was also created as part of Simon’s residency, by local artist Patrick Murphy, for Bright Nights (2021). The multi-coloured neon piece uses Simon’s words and evokes the history of Eldon Street as a party street, and the much-loved Benj Harral’s ring shop, where generations of Barnsley people bought their engagement and wedding rings. The light work also served a dual purpose, by illuminating and drawing attention to a dark and run down alleyway off Eldon Street that was in urgent need of improvement. This was a priority for the scheme as a linking route between Eldon Street and the wider town centre, including Mandela Gardens and the Civic. It was intended as a temporary installation, but it has made such a positive impact, and been so popular (including with the neighbouring properties) that it has now been made permanent. More about the alley in the second part of this blog!

Alternative history tours

The HSHAZ worked with Barnsley street theatre company Mark Mark Productions to create the ‘Barnsley Unnaturalists Wonders of Eldon Street’ an alternative history tour of the HSHAZ area. The tours encouraged the audience, shop owners, and even unsuspecting passers-by, to journey through the incredible history of Eldon Street and the Victorian Arcade through a world of story, song, street theatre, dance and magic. These tours proved very popular, with all ages. Over the course of the project 12 miles of heritage tours have been delivered, and thousands of people have engaged with the Wonders of Eldon Street.

Eldon Street Brides

The Eldon Street Brides are the creations of artists Becky Newbould and Gemma Whelan, also known at the WE Great Ladies. They were commissioned as part of the Eldon Street High Street Heritage Action Zone and undertook 12 micro-residencies with independent businesses on Eldon Street and the Victorian Arcade. The Brides were inspired by the stories of Eldon Street shops like Benj Harral jewellers and Frank Bird outfitters who sold wedding rings and wedding suits to generations of loved-up Barnsley couples. As they chatted to people, they also added the stories they heard to their dresses, to create a living story-book of Eldon Street.

Women Business Owners

During the second year of the HSHAZ we also supported two student placements with the University of Sheffield. One of the projects, by history student Hannah Harrison, was researching women business owners on Eldon Street in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hannah’s findings were turned into an animation by local artists Monkie, working with script writer Gemma Whelan and Barnsley young carers (the Next Big Thing) who voiced the characters. The animation and an accompanying Women Business Owners of Eldon Street blog were published for international women’s day in 2021.

During the summer the HSHAZ also supported the Love Barnsley Art Festival led by Barnsley Civic, including an installation by Barnsley artist Liz West, Hymn to a Big Wheel, which was located in the newly opened Glassworks Square, framing Eldon Street through multiple coloured panels, encouraging people to look in different ways at the street and it’s historic buildings.

As the end of the second year drew to a close, we were already planning for years 3 and 4, including an ambitious capital works programme working with local property owners, and work with local schools in partnership with Fusion, Barnsley’s Local Cultural Education Partnership. More about that in the next HSHAZ blog.

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