07 – Grove Square

The former St Margaret’s Parish Rooms & Sunday School, St Margaret's Hall, was marked out as one of the town's important heritage buildings on September 10 2006.  The civic society decided to officially unveil the plaque during its Heritage Open Day Walk, Ilkley Entertainments. Members of the party of walkers performed the unveiling cere­mony.   The apartment block Grove Square - as it is now known - on Regents Road, has been better known to many Ilkley residents as the home of a Youth Club and as Bodies Health Club.  It has been converted to 11 apartments by Burley Developments, which sponsored the blue plaque.

The Early History of St Margaret's Church, Ilkley by J F Hewitt (Click here), originally a series of four weekly parts published in The Ilkley Gazette and beginning on Friday 31st May 1929, as part of the Church's Golden Jubilee celebrations.  The following early history summary includes extracts from those articles.

Prior to the Hall being built there were half hour services on the second and fourth Sundays, however it appears they were carried on under difficulties as there was no building which was large enough for the whole school to meet in. Mrs. Ottley held the class for young ladies at Belmont, some classes were held in the vestry, and then Dropping Well House was rented and used.  There is also mention of classes being held in private houses. However, the building of St. Margaret’s Hall did away with these difficulties.

A parochial hall on such lines was discussed in Mr. Ottley’s time, but it was not taken up until Canon Dank’s second vicariate, the wiping off of the building debt (£5,000) on the church taking precedence of any other building scheme. After this was completed, they at once set to work on the terms of the building of St. Margaret’s Hall.

The appeal document for the new hall states that “at present 200 scholars are being taught, every Sunday, in hired rooms which are so totally inadequate in size and accommodation, that not only are teachers and classes oppressed by want of space and air, but we are literally unable to retain our elder scholars in the school.”

The land for the Hall, part of the old cricket field, was purchased for £400 by St. Margaret's Church from fund raising and events.  The architects were Messrs. J. & E. Critchley, Bradford and Ilkley and the plan can be located at the West Yorkshire Archives under reference BMT-IL-6-1-1/389.

On 18 September 1889 Rev. W. Danks cut the first sod.  The Wharfedale and Airedale Observer gave a very extensive report of the Corner Stone Ceremony performed on the 16 November 1889, including this sketch of the plan.  Click on the sketch to read the full report or here.  The ceremony of laying the corner stone was performed by Mr. F. S. Powell, M.P (using a specially engraved silver trowel at a cost of £3 18s.), in glorious weather, and in the presence of a large number of spectators.  The proceedings commenced with luncheon at the Middleton Hotel, to which upwards of fifty of the more prominent members and friends of S. Margaret’s sat down, with speeches and toasts.

The following tradesmen completed the building: Masonry, Mr. D. Featherston (Whitton Croft, Wells Road): Joinery, Mr. E. Stephenson (6 Little Lane): Plumbing; Mr. Joseph Lawson (25 Brook Street); and Plastering Mr. Richardson, all of Ilkley: Slater – R. Nelson: Painter - J. G. Boden

The new building, in the gothic style, consisted of main hall, gallery, and ante rooms. The vestibule was 14 feet by 30 feet, and a staircase leading to the gallery. On each side were ante rooms, measuring 16 feet by 16 feet and each fitted up with an improved lavatory. The main hall was 54 feet by 40 feet, capable of accommodating nearly 600 people. The platform, or stage, was 24 feet wide by 14 feet deep cover and communicated with two other ante rooms - 1 measuring 22 feet by 16 feet and the other 19 feet by 16 feet. The gallery was capable of accommodating 200 people. Branching off this were two rooms which could be used either as classrooms or ante rooms, both measuring the same as the other anterooms 16 feet by 16 feet. The building was lighted by Suggs patent sun burner and ventilator, and fresh air is supplied by Tobin tubes. The total frontage was 67 feet.

The building was formerly opened by Mr. Frederick W. Fison 25 September 1890. The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligence carried a summary of the opening on 27 September 1890. Click here to read the report.

Mr J. F. Hewitt in his articles wrote: The cost of the Church Hall scheme seems to have become a point of parochial controversy. When the building was opened, the costs had risen to £3,062, of which only £1,571 had been raised. The debt remained with the church for some years. On December 5th 1896, William Danks wrote to Rev. Irton Smith about the project. He starts “ It has been mentioned to me that there is some irritation among the St. Margaret’s People and the debt so that the question is occasionally put “Whose fault is it?” He goes on to explain that “the Enterprise was deliberately chosen by the Parish Council against my wishes in 1886” and that a more extravagant design had then been approved. Canon Danks cautiously states “I do not write this for publication”, but the Editor feels that no damage would be done to the reverend gentleman’s reputation by disobeying the injunction!

Adverts over the next 10 years indicate the various purposes, beyond a Sunday School, that the Hall was used for:

Wharfedale Airedale Observer 27 January 1893

Wharfedale Airedale Observer 20 October 1893

Wharfedale Airedale Observer 24 November 1893

Wharfedale Airedale Observer 27 July 1894

Wharfedale Airedale Observer 22 November 1895

Wharfedale Airedale Observer 07 February 1896

Wharfedale Airedale Observer 21 January 1898

Wharfedale Airedale Observer 03 June 1898

The varied use of the hall continued into the twentieth century: 5 May 1900: Ilkley Orchestral Society's Fourth Concert | 2 Feb 1901: Annual meeting of Ilkley Nursing Fund | 17 Mar 1902: Ping-Pong Tournament held by Ben Rhydding Cricket and Hockey Club | 26 April 1909: Wharfedale Association of Girls Clubs Annual Exhibition and Competition | 31 Dec 1909; Ilkley Unionist Meeting - Prelude to the Demonstration Next Week | 14 Feb 1911: Mr. G. K. Chesterton at Ilkley - Decay of Ballads.

Ilkley Leeds Mercury 27 October 1906

The Sheffield Daily Telegraph 17 May 1915

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