By Sharon Sutton
Cannon Hall Parkland and Museum near Barnsley is a shining example of a Georgian garden. We’re lucky enough to have a historically significant collection of plants. We have pears, rhododendrons, and both the oldest manna ash tree and the oldest Magnolia tripitala tree in England.
Next to the garden is the North Range, a glass house and boiler room dating to 1775. Our records show it was originally used to grow vines, peaches, nectarines and cut flowers.
Fast forward several hundred years and Cannon Hall was sold to the local authority in 1951, and the house was converted into a museum in 1957.
Time taking its toll
By the early 2000s the landscape at Cannon Hall needed some care and attention.
From 2017 to 2021, we set about restoring the gardens through our £3.4 million Parks for People project, mainly funded by the Heritage and Big Lottery Fund (now the National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery Community Fund).
At the end of our project, we had beautifully renovated walled gardens, but something stuck out like a sore thumb. There was this derelict range of buildings and a dilapidated glass framework with trees growing through it. The roof had been leaking for about 40 years. There was even a six-foot deep pit just full of water. It looked pretty horrendous!
Restoring the North Range
We had trialed running horticultural workshops to engage people with our plant collections. We had to run these in the kitchens inside the Hall but this was just not suitable.
We began to think, ‘what we need is a purpose-built room to do dirty, hands-on learning. Wouldn’t it be great to get some funding to renovate that old building at the back of the garden?’
The idea was born to convert the historic building of the North Range into a training room. We would use it for horticultural classes as well as hiring it for commercial activities.
We looked for a funder that might be interested and the Wolfson Foundation came to the fore. We applied and received £50,000 from their funding for historic buildings and landscapes. We were ecstatic about this! Even though it was nowhere near the full cost of the project, we knew that when we got Wolfson involved, we’d be able to get other funders involved too.
A thriving restored building
After a long process, made slower by the Covid-19 lockdowns, we finished the restoration in March 2022.
Wolfson’s funding for historic buildings has allowed us to lovingly restore the North Range. It is now being used by a variety of groups. We’ve trialed lots of different activities with different partners and have hosted at least 200 people so far.
‘At the heart of what we’re trying to do in the North Range building is combine horticulture and culture.’
We applied for a grant for the Community Renewal Fund, a government fund to support people back into work after a gap in employment. We came up with an 8-week course based out of the North Range. We partnered with Barnsley College, Northern College and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to run horticultural classes and skills workshops and to introduce the group to our historic plant collections.
We also applied for funding from NHS who were running a pilot green social prescribing scheme with the University of Sheffield. People are referred to health and wellbeing activities in their community. So, people come to the North Range for art and green wellbeing sessions, often using materials from our gardens.
For 2023, we will develop a programme of free activities and paid-for sessions. It’s imperative that this building can pay its own bills, so commercial activities will help us to stop the North Range from becoming derelict again.
Horticulture and culture
The surprise for me was that we can boost people’s wellbeing through the activities we do in the North Range. People tell us it’s a safe, informal space where they can come and not feel intimidated.
At the heart of what we’re trying to do with the activities here in the North Range is to combine horticulture and culture.
I believe we have to treat gardens and landscapes with the same care and love as you would a piece of ceramic, or a painting.
It’s all heritage, it’s all a collection to be enjoyed and experienced.
Sharon Sutton is Project Manager (Parks for People) at Cannon Hall, part of Barnsley Museums.
Our grant to Cannon Hall is just one example of our investment in Barnsley and we continue to encourage applications from this area. Projects funded include science equipment for schools, refurbishments to hospices and museums as well as the conservation of historic buildings.
