Huddersfield Civic Society members chose a wet day to visit Barnsley! Allen Parkes from Barnsley Civic Trust took them on an informative tour, aided by a red and white ‘Remaking Barnsley’ umbrella. Fortunately Paul Darlow took everyone into a dry NUM Miners Hall for a fascinating show of banners and stories. A wet Saturday 22 July.
A Blue Plaque for Lady Mary …
Another blue plaque for Barnsley …
Organised by the Royal Society of Biology and the British Society for Immunology with the National Trust Wentworth Castle Gardens, the unveiling of the blue plaque for Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu took place on Saturday 15 July at Wentworth Castle Gardens.
Dr Lynda Partridge, Royal Society of Biology, unveiling the plaque to Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu. Allen Parks, Barnsley Civic Trust, said a few words to mark the occasion.
BCT events
Coming up this year with Barnsley Civic Trust …
Town Tours
We have two tours of Barnsley Town Centre coming up for visiting groups, looking at significant buildings, both historic and new:
Saturday 22 July: Huddersfield Civic Trust visit for tour of Barnsley Town Centre
Sunday 20 August 20: Yorkshire Victorian Society tour of Victorian buildings.
We also intend to repeat the tours for Barnsley Civic Trust members and Barnsley residents.
Blue Plaques
Two Barnsley Civic Trust Blue Plaques are being unveiled in the next few months.
Tuesday 12 September: Blue Plaque for Joseph Bramah, Engineer and Inventor, at Wentworth Castle, in association with the National Trust Wentworth Castle Gardens. This is one of the national Heritage Open Days and access to Wentworth Castle Gardens will be free of charge.
Thursday 14 September: Blue Plaque for Ernest Harold Jones, Artist and Egyptologist, with a talk by Joann Fletcher.
Saturday 15 July: There is also the unveiling of another Blue Plaque at Wentworth Castle to commemorate the achievements of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. This is a Royal Society of Biology and National Trust event with talks.
Barnsley Civic Trust would be interested to hear of nominations for Blue Plaques especially where funding can be provided by a sponsor.
Further Talks
Thursday 19 October at the Miners Hall (NUM Offices). Paul Darlow will give a talk on the fascinating history of the mining of coal under Barnsley Town Centre and the surrounding area.
Thursday 16 November: History of the Barnsley Trinity Players, a presentation on the history of the theatre group by Phil Johnson.
Talks are open to members and non-members
Watch this space for details of other talks and activities.
Barnsley Civic Trust 2023 agm
Barnsley Civic Trust’s 2023 AGM is on Thursday 8th June, at 7.00pm at the Masonic Hall in Cockerham Lane, Barnsley S75 1AT.
A talk on 50 Buildings of Barnsley, by Keiron Dunn, follows. 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. Come along, join the discussion and give your views!
If you love Barnsley, how it looks, its heritage and its buildings, then please attend and try to encourage others who might share these views.
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.
2023
Wishing you all the best for the New Year. Here’s a photo from our Beautiful Barnsley by Civic Trust group. Do follow us and join the group. We’re looking forward to more blue plaques and talks in 2023.
Barnsley Civic Trust
Barnsley Civic Trust is an independent, non political, voluntary organisation made up of people who live, work or have a business in Barnsley.
We speak up for local people and help local people have a voice and influence local developments.
Making Barnsley a better place to live, work or visit .
2022 annual general meeting
Barnsley Civic Trust held a short AGM on Thursday 13 October before an interesting and stimulating presentation by Barnsley Archives’ Paul Stebbing.
A Committee was elected with Allen Parks (secretary), Bill Gaunt, John Love (chair), Linda Burgess, Peter Roberts, Phyllis Barnes (treasurer) and Rebecca Battye. If other members would like to join the committee, please let us know.
Some minor changes were made to update the constitution to make the running of the organisation more straightforward. These included the numbers on the committee and the quorums required for the committee and general meetings.
John Love outlined some of BCT’s activities in the last year as well as future ones planned. These include blue plaques, working on a schools project with Eldon Street Heritage Action Zone, commenting on the design of proposed development, supporting the Local Heritage Listing project, and a programme of talks. A new facebook page had been launched: Beautiful Barnsley by Civic Trust for anyone to post images to celebrate Barnsley at its best.