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Wayland Hall

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Municipal building in Watton, Norfolk, England

Wayland Hall
Wayland Hall
LocationMiddle Street, Watton
Coordinates52°34′18″N 0°49′32″E / 52.5718°N 0.8256°E / 52.5718; 0.8256
Built1853
ArchitectEdward Buckton Lamb
Architectural style(s)Gothic Revival style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameWayland Hall
Designated31 August 1983
Reference no.1076779
Wayland Hall is located in NorfolkWayland HallShown in Norfolk

Wayland Hall, also known as Watton Town Hall, is a community events venue in Middle Street, Watton, Norfolk, England: the structure, which also accommodates a local history museum, is a grade II listed building.

History

In the mid-19th century, a group of local businessmen decided to form a company to raise funds for the erection of an events venue in the town: the site they selected was on the north side of what was then the Market Place. The foundation stone was laid by Lady Walsingham of Merton Hall on 26 April 1853. The building was designed by Edward Buckton Lamb in the Gothic Revival style, built in red and buff bricks with stone dressings and was completed later that year. The name chosen for the building, Wayland Hall, recalled the location of the town and its town hall within the ancient Wayland Hundred.

The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with a single bay facing onto the Market Place; there was a three-light casement window flanked by single-light windows on the ground floor, a two-light casement window flanked by shorter single-light windows on the first floor and a gable containing an oculus above. The corners were canted and featured bartizan-type structures on the first floor. Internally, the principal rooms were the reading room on the ground floor and the main hall, which featured a hammerbeam roof, on the first floor.

Petty session hearings were held in the building once a fortnight in the 19th century and one of the rooms was converted into a cinema so that silent films could be shown in 1933. During the Second World War, the US Eighth Air Force used the airfield at RAF Watton as an air depot and the United States Air Force subsequently presented a shield and an accompanying commemorative plaque to the town: these were later installed in the building. In the 1950s, a public library was established in the building and, following local government re-organisation in 1974, the new town council acquired the building, converted one of the rooms into a council chamber and also established its own offices in the building.

A programme of works, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, to convert two of the rooms in the building into a local history museum was completed in March 2018. A room on the ground floor became a research room and a room on the first floor was used as an exhibition area. Items in the collection include a model of a human skeleton, records relating to the manorial court of Watton Hall and memorabilia from RAF Watton. The memorabilia from RAF Watton had its origins in the Wartime Watton Museum which was established in the 1980s but closed when many of buildings on the airfield were demolished to make for the Blenheim Grange Housing Estate. The collection also includes an axe which is thought to be up to 600,000 years old.

References

  1. ^ Historic England. "Wayland Hall (1076779)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  2. "Watton". Kelly's directory of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. 1875. p. 492. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  3. ^ "Wayland Hall". History of Watton. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  4. "Norfolk Hundreds: Wayland". White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk. 1845. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  5. "Wayland Hall Cinema". Cinema Treasurers. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  6. "Full Council Meeting" (PDF). Watton Town Council. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  7. "The Storey So Far". Museum for Watton. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  8. "After years of hard work Watton's museum is ready to open to the public". Watton and Swaffham Times. 9 March 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  9. "Group which has worked hard to bring a permanent museum to Watton receive £61,300 funding boost from Heritage Lottery Fund". Eastern Daily Press. 31 August 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  10. "The History of Wayland Heritage and A Museum for Watton" (PDF). Wayland Partnership News. 1 September 2017. p. 6. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  11. "Ancient hand axe displayed at Watton Museum". BBC. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
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