St Martin’s Church Hall closure
After over 100 years of “active service” to the people of Caerphilly, St Martin’s Church Hall will be closed for ever at the end of March.
The building started life in 1868 as “The National Schools” – built on land donated by the Baroness Windsor to accommodate the first purpose built school in Caerphilly - comprising two school rooms in what is now the “Lesser Hall” and the “Parish Office”, and the attached school master’s house. It served Caerphilly as a school until 1905, after which it was closed – Glamorganshire county council refusing to pay the teachers from July of that year, until prohibitive repairs were undertaken. Newspaper cuttings from late 1905 state………..
“Educational affairs at Caerphilly have reached a serious crisis. Owing to the action of the Glamorganshire Education Authority, it is possible that on the 8th January some 200 children of Caerphilly will be without accommodation, but in order to avoid a calamity which they have deliberately brought upon themselves, the local education authority are now engaged in an elaborate effort to steal the voluntary schools from the trustees and to open them as council schools”.
There followed a long battle between the Rector and churchwardens on the one hand, and Glamorganshire Education Authority on the other……which resulted in the Parish of Caerphilly being allowed to retain the building for wider educational and community purposes, as agreed by the House of Lords in 1913, and accepted by the Windsor Estate which was by now in the hands of Baroness Windsor’s grandson – the first Earl of Plymouth.
The Hall, as we now call it, has been very well used since that time. In 1920, the “Main Hall” was added, built on what used to be the school playground. This was to accommodate the Sunday school, which was averaging about 400 children each week at that time, and it continued to operate as such until the 1970’s. I remember going to Sunday School in the Hall myself – does anyone else??
The building has been used for all sorts of things since 1913 - Scouts, Guides, Mothers Union, Ladies Guild, Ladies Fellowship, Band of Hope, Temperance Society, Mother and Baby Group, Drama Group, Dancing classes, and various Youth clubs and Sports clubs, to name but a few. Do you have any memorabilia about any of these that you could share with us?
The Hall was sold to Caerphilly County Borough in November 2011, as part of its long term development plan, but has continued to be used as a community centre to the present time. Now, the plan is to demolish it, to make way for what could be a lovely amenity area, adjacent as it is to Caerphilly Castle. But before it goes, we plan to celebrate its life with an exhibition on 8th March 2014. This will run from 1pm to about 5pm, and include also some entertainment and an auction of its contents, as well as “bric-a-brac” from its long life. Please watch out for posters giving more details, and come along to be part of the celebration.
The Lesser Hall and Parish Office – original School buildings / “The Hall” today – the Main hall on what used to be the playground, with the Lesser hall beyond