Description

1/0/10162 MAIN STREET
13-FEB-09 ESHOLT
4
MEMORIAL INSTITUTE

II
Memorial Institute building, 1920-21, by Pearson & Burrill of Bournemouth.

MATERIALS: Constructed of local re-used stone and rendered, with stone dressings and entrance porch, and a stone slate roof in diminishing courses.

PLAN: A single storey rectangle with dormers in the roof space, a wing to the left side projecting forward at right angles and an entrance porch in the angle, and a lean-to block at the right end.

EXTERIOR: the elevation facing the road has a single large multi-paned window with a concrete cill and wooden mullion and transom at ground floor and two multi-paned casement dormers above. The projecting wing to the left has similar windows on the side and in the gable end, with applied timber work on the gable. In the angle of the two wings is a stone ashlar porch approached from five splayed steps; this has a small window to each side of a panelled door. There is a shaped stone parapet above and original small iron and glass lamps to either side. The memorial stone above the door reads IN MEMORIAM/followed by the names of four men/1914 1918. To the right end of the main wing is a lean-to toilet block with a single small multi-paned window to the front. The rear elevation has two large windows, similar to that at the front, towards the left, with two dormers above. To the right the roof line is extended down to cover a verandah supported on wooden posts with splayed capitals and a low picket fence with Arts and Crafts inspired panels. A central gap has an open gabled roof and leads to double doors with small paned half glazing. The lean-to to the left has a single small window as at the front. From the front, the left return has the projecting wing set back to the right, with three small windows along its side, the gabled end of the main block, similar to the gable end of the wing, and a chimney stack rising from the join of the two sections of roof.

INTERIOR: The main entrance leads into a small porch area with doors to the main hall and the kitchen area to the left. The main room occupies the whole of the main block and has a wooden floor, half height tongue and groove panelling and a suspended ceiling. Above the suspended ceiling is the original roof structure with 4 trusses supporting a boarded roof and lit by the dormer windows. In the wing is a kitchen area, with modern fittings, divided from the main hall by a folding wooden and glazed screen, original. To the right of the kitchen is a cupboard housing the boiler, the original of which is in a display cabinet in the kitchen. At the far end of the hall is a door to the toilet block, rebuilt from a smaller original. On the rear wall is a framed stone inscribed THIS STONE WAS LAID BY/ THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SEWAGE COMMITTEE/ CITY OF BRADFORD./ (ALDERMAN RICHARD JOHNSON J P)/ 30th JUNE 1920. Also on the rear wall is a metal plaque reading PARISH OF ESHOLT/ ROLL OF HONOUR/ EUROPEAN WAR/ 1914 1918, with a list of 53 names in 3 columns.

SETTING: the Institute building is set towards the front of a large plot which contains to the rear a crown bowling green, seating areas and gardens.

HISTORY: the architects practice of Pearson & Burrill was probably a successor to that of J L Pearson, a noted architect in Bournemouth with links to the north of England, whose son continued in the same profession. The original drawings are held at the Institute, dated to 1920. The Memorial Institute is said to have been built by local inhabitants re-using stone from either a local mill building or local dwellings. The four names over the door are those who fell in the Great War and the list of names within is of those who served. An opening ceremony was held on 12th November 1920.

A small gents toilet block on the end of the building was taken down in the late C20 and replaced with a larger block for women and men: women previously used a small closet off the kitchen, now a storage space. The building is otherwise unchanged apart from the suspended ceiling.

RESONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION
The Memorial Institute at Esholt is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architecture: It is a well designed if modest building, fit for purpose and with a pleasing and coherent aspect, successfully using local materials
* Intactness: the building remains substantially unaltered and retains original features including all its windows, doors, roof structure and internal folding partition screens
* Historic Interest: As a poignant reminder of the impact of the First World War on a local community, the building continues to play an important role in village life and embodies the involvement of local communities in the world events of that period.

Reasons for Listing

The Memorial Institute at Esholt is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architecture: It is a well designed if modest building, fit for purpose and with a pleasing and coherent aspect, successfully using local materials
* Intactness: the building remains substantially unaltered and retains original features including all its windows, doors, roof structure and internal folding partition screens
* Historic Interest: As a poignant reminder of the impact of the First World War on a local community, the building continues to play an important role in village life and embodies the involvement of local communities in the world events of that period.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26672313

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2