About Our Hall
History
Hunsdon Village Hall was originally believed to be a house called Harlowes, owned by John Harlowe in the 15th century.
It overlooked Harlowes Green, one of the five Greens in the Parish of Hunsdon. Harlowes Green is now The Crown public house car park and a small green on which stands the War Memorial.
By 1806 the building was being used as the village school, with Mrs Calvert of Hunsdon House assisting Mrs Cornery, the schoolmistress. The Calverts were instrumental in enlarging and adding to the building about that time, to improve the features of the school. The two adjoining cottages were probably added by the Calverts in about 1817 when they were undertaking major renovation to the school building, to make a more attractive centre for the village.
When a new school was built further up the road, Hunsdon Village Hall was bequeathed to the village by a Declaration of Trust dated 3rd August 1927. Hunsdon Parish Council is the Custodian Trustee of the Village Hall, now a registered charity.
Current Day
Over the years the Hunsdon has grown and changed with parts of the village being developed and extended. Sadly many of the original shops and public houses have closed and been redeveloped or turned into private dwellings. The village still has a Village Shop and Post Office which the community fought to save. It also has two Public Houses the Crown and The Fox and Hounds, the latter being an award winning Gastro Pub.
The Village Hall is still geographically at the middle of the village and remains a central meeting point and community hub for the community. The original building is Grade II listed and externally has changed very little from the days of the original Village School.
Internally it has been brought up to modern day standards and the main hall sports a semi sprung wooden floor which is ideal for both sports such as Carpet Bowls and Badminton as well as Discos Parties and dancing. The main hall also has a full width hall enabling shows plays and the annual pantomimes.
New Annex
In 2010 the Village Hall Trustees commissioned a builder to replace the dilapidated 1960s timber building at the rear of the hall which served as a toilet block and small GP consulting room. After many years of fundraising, several successful grant bids and a mortgage on one of the two attached cottages, the hall now has a modern spacious annex extension.
This new annex incorporates modern accessible toilets, three badly needed storage rooms, a larger and better Doctors Consulting room and a second meeting room. The latter now allows dual concurrent use of the hall, when the main hall is in use.
In addition the rear of the hall has a part paved, part grassed enclosed and self contained garden where users of the hall can enjoy the space when the weather permits.