Northumberland Heritage of Village Halls website launched

22nd Mar 2024

The Northumberland Heritage of Village Halls website has launched this week which showcases the findings of our project involving 30 village halls and partnering with Northumberland Archives.

Northumberland’s 150+ Village Halls have for many years been the main venue for communal activities in their villages and hamlets and are central to the shared memories of generations of local people. Many are historically significant buildings with previous lives as village schools, reading rooms, chapels, mechanics institutes, industrial buildings, miners institutes and WW1 barracks.

This website is the culmination of the Northumberland Village Halls Heritage project which started life in 2019 thanks to funding from the National Heritage Lottery Fund given to CAN.

The project worked with volunteers from the 30 halls to preserve, record and share the heritage of their halls for the benefit of the rural communities which they serve. Northumberland Archives were key partners, providing training to volunteers and expert advice on archiving material.

The website shares these findings and will soon contain a map and further research of the halls involved.

Visit the website: www.northumberlandvillagehallsheritage.org.uk