Category: Heritage

A blue plaque for Joseph Bramah

We celebrated Joseph Bramah at Wentworth Castle Gardens on Tuesday 12th September, during Heritage Open Days.

Joseph Bramah (1748 to 1814), from Stainborough, was one of Britain’s most important inventors and the father of hydraulic power. Amongst many other things, he invented a lock that could not be picked, a beer pump, a flushing toilet, hydraulic presses and devices for pulling up trees.

Barnsley Museums have the original 1791 continuous fire pump made by Joseph Bramah for Wentworth Castle, the first of its kind. It can be seen at Experience Barnsley at Barnsley Town Hall.

Barnsley Civic Trust and
National Trust Wentworth Castle Gardens.
Heritage Open Day: Free Entrance to Wentworth Castle Gardens
#BarnsleyHeritageMonth

Victorian Society visit August 2023

Barnsley Civic Trust welcomed Victorian Society members for a tour, guided by Allen Parks, of some of the Victorian and Edwardian buildings in Barnsley town centre and nearby conservation areas.

We explored the iconic NUM Miners Hall with Paul Darlow and this time called in at the home of Barnsley Civic Trust Chairman John Love for tea with Victorian cakes produced in Barnsley!

50 Buildings Talk on June 8th

— Views arising from the preparation of the book.

Many of us have views on notable buildings in Barnsley, new or old.

Here’s a chance to hear from Keiron Dunn, author of ‘50 Buildings in Barnsley’, a book in the “50 Buildings of” series.

Keiron is a former planner in Barnsley and intends to share his views on Barnsley’s buildings and the changes that have taken place over the years.

What do we think about:
—The merits of knocking things down, or retaining our heritage?
—Why some people love a new building and others hate it?
—The town centre after all the pain?

Keiron has another book in preparation and he would be interested in reflecting our ideas on Barnsley’s buildings.

Come along to participate in the discussion or to hear the views expressed. All welcome.

A short Barnsley Civic Trust annual general meeting will take place before the talk

Talk: Introduction of electricity to Wentworth Castle in 1886

The introduction of electricity to Wentworth Castle was one of the earliest.

Based on their research in the Wentworth Castle archives, National Trust volunteers Adrian Hughes and Janet Johnson will present a talk on the installation of electric lighting on site in 1886 – a fascinating topic bound to be illuminating. All welcome. 

7pm Thursday 11 May: Masonic Hall, Cockerham Lane, Just off Huddersfied Road near Barnsley Town Centre.

September will see the unveiling of Barnsley Civic Trust’s Blue Plaque to Joseph Bramah at Wentworth Castle Gardens in association with National Trust. 

Wentworth Castle —as well as Joseph Bramah— is an important part of Barnsley’s heritage and this talk arranged with the National Trust marks this importance.

Bramah Lecture 2023

‘Elsecar Forging Ahead — Industrial Archaeology, Aristocrats and Heritage Rediscovered‘ is the theme of this year’s Bramah Lecture given by Dr John Tanner at the Cooper Gallery in Barnsley starting at 7pm on Monday 27 March.

South Yorkshire Industrial History Society has organised the lecture which is sponsored by Barnsley Council. It’s great that the Bramah Lecture is going ahead this year. The doors will be open from 6.30pm with tea/coffee available.

Due to limits on numbers at the Cooper Gallery, please call on 01226 775678 to book a place. The event is free but you’re invited to make a donation on the day.

Award-winning Barnsley Archives

Barnsley Archives has been named the ‘Record Keeping Service of The Year’ at the Archives & Records Association national conference on 1 September 2022. It is well deserved!

Barnsley Civic Trust had a timely illustrated presentation by Paul Stebbing, Archives and Local Studies Manager, at our meeting on Thursday 13th October.

We found out about the award-winning Barnsley Archives, what they have achieved over the years, and about their exciting plans for the future.

The Archive Service has launched a new 360° interactive tour which allows you to virtually walk around their Barnsley Town Hall search room: https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=ju4s96wzNT5

List it or Lose it?

Barnsley’s has great historic buildings and places but many have been lost to development. Do you know of important and cherished buildings and places in Barnsley that are not protected? There’s now an opportunity to protect those that survive by putting them on the Local Heritage List.

For more information see our page on local listing: https://barnsleycivictrust.org.uk/listing

Local Listing heritage project

Do you know of important and cherished buildings, monuments and structures in Barnsley that are not protected?

‘Local Listing’ can help give them some protection against demolition, removal or harmful modification. [Only those of national significance can have statutory listed building status.]

There’s a talk on 1st December to tell us about how we can protect Barnsley’s heritage through ‘Local Listing’.

It’s by Sarah Cattell from South Yorkshire Archaeological Service; Sarah is leading the South Yorkshire Heritage Listing Project.

The project is anxious to use the local knowledge of societies like the BCT to identify the buildings and built structures that we think ought to be listed.

All are welcome whether or not you are BCT members. The talk is at 7.00pm on Wednesday 1st December at the Masonic Hall in Cockerham Lane, off Huddersfield Road, Barnsley S75 1AT.