Berners Hall & War Memorial

The Reading Room, Parish Room, Club Room or Berners Hall, as it is now known, was built in 1888. There is a terracotta date stone over the arched front door with Capt. Hugh Berners initials.

The building was probably designed by J. P. St Aubyn and H. J. Wadling who, at the time, were commissioned for the substantial alterations to St Michael’s church. While the church was being extended and restored the Hall became an alternative place of worship. However, it was likely that a secondary use as the village Reading Room was planned from the outset. It is described as a restrained “Arts and Crafts style”. The building’s design maintains the rhythm of the vernacular in the village, constructed of red brick under a clay tile roof with tile hanging on the attached cottage. There is some ornamentation with finials and a bellcote. The range of windows makes the hall light and airy, suitable for flexible use. There is staging at the eastern end of the hall. Also installed were “warm air pipes” with a coal boiler to the rear of the building. A cottage for a caretaker was attached at the west end with a door through to the hall. This was also used sometimes as overflow accommodation for children from very large families!  

The Suffolk Village Club Reading Room Association was strong at this period. At the opening of the Holbrook Reading Room in 1880, Lord John Hervey said: “I look forward to a time when there will be a club in every village, where people may pass their spare hours in social and intellectual intercourse.”  It is possible that the daily newspaper from the Hall was sent down, a day late, for the men to read among other reading matter. Apart from reading, the rooms were also used for entertainment and games of different sorts.

The Reading Room was described at the time as having “capacity and general arrangements for the purposes for which it was intended, there is not, perhaps, its equal in any small country parish in the county.”

The bellcote, atop the “Gentlemen’s Room”, is intriguing. The small bellcote supports a weathervane on the roof and a hemispherical bell underneath. The bell is fixed to a cross beam under the roof and is cast. The roof is supported by 4 timber uprights held in lead feet within the roof tiles. The question arises: Is this part of the original design or was it added later?

The hemispherical bell in the bellcote was cast by “J Warner & Sons Ltd London 1897”. The bell was rung by means of a hammer device which has severely deteriorated and the bell is no longer operable. This device was located outside the bell on a pivot and was worked by a rope or chain which, at one time, disappeared down an iron tube through the roof and into the Gentleman’s Room below. It can no longer be rung. For small bellcotes, where space is limited, hemispherical bells are suitable. They are smaller and lighter than traditional bells and are designed to produce a great depth of tone with comparatively light weight metal. Their sound carries remarkably well and can be heard loud and clear beyond Nelson’s Avenue.

J Warner & Sons, who’s fame includes the casting of the original Big Ben, also cast two of the bells in our own St Michael’s church.

The date, 1897, on the bell is interesting because it is nine years after Berners Hall was built in 1888. This date coincides with Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee which was celebrated on 22^nd June 1897. Is it too much to speculate that the belfry and weathervane were erected as part of these celebrations?

Berners Hall was used as a meeting place for the numerous Clubs that existed in the village. The Women’s Institute, Woolverstone United Football Club, the Pig Club, the Men’s Club (for cheap beer) among others. There is a separate Gentleman’s Room behind the stage with a cast iron fireplace.

Berners Hall was given to the village by Geoffrey Berners in October 1954. The hall is now held in trust for the village, which is handed down through the Parish Council as Trustees, and the Berners Hall Mangement Committee are responsible for the running and maintenance of the hall.

More information can be found at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1246146?section=official-list-entry