Saturday 19 May 2018

The Hall, the tram and a story of a discovery

Now I like the way Heather discovered Clayton Hall.

"The Old Lady" ..... Clayton Hall, 2018
By her own admission she knew nothing of the place, but one day saw it from the window of the tram and resolved to find out more.

That involved getting off the tram at the metro stop and wandering the short distance across the New Road, through the small park, and over the moat to the Hall.

And she told me she wasn’t disappointed at breaking her journey.

As many will know this gem, dates from the 15th century with alterations made over the next two centuries and was enlarged in the 18th century.

It was restored in 1900 and is now lovingly looked after by the Friends of Clayton Hall, who call the building “the Old Lady”.*  They manage the excellent museum which is housed in the building, host regular Open Days and offer a service to schools to come and learn about our past.

And they also mount exhibitions of which the most recent was on Bradford Colliery, which stood nearby and only closed in the 1960s.

These exhibitions are more than static displays and the Friends welcome visitors to recount their own memories as well as contributing photographs and other memorabilia.

The recent “Clayton Hall Remembers Bradford Pit" generated a rich seam of stories and documents from people who either worked there, or lived nearby, and when the material is collated it will be stored at the Hall with copies going to the Local History Library in Central Ref.

Peter was impressed with the Hall and the work the Friends do so decided to paint “the Old Lady” and I rather think it is a fine painting.

All of which just leaves me to say that Heather joined the Friends, and can be seen on Open Days along with Kay and the other Friends, welcoming visitors and sharing the history of the Hall and of Clayton.

Painting; Clayton Hall, © 2018 Peter Topping,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

*Clayton Hall, http://www.claytonhall.org/

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