Harrison Jones
Member
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2021
- Messages
- 9
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- 19
Hi all, new here so sorry if this is not relevant here but thought you might want to see some snaps that I took from an explore at Great Barr Hall recently.
I feel like this place doesn't have long left, sadly.
Also, from the smell, somebody has definitely had a shit in there somewhere.
I've also included some pics from the bridge and 2 separate buildings that I found in the same park (not sure what those are, but they're newer than the hall, I think).
Here is a brief history, as requested:-
Great Barr Hall was built in 1777 on top of an older house called Nether House, by Joseph Scott. I won't go through the full history, which you can read on Wikipedia, but it was notable as a meeting place for The Lunar Society, whose members include famous Birmingham names such as James Watt, Josiah Wedgwood and John Baskerville.
Stood fully empty since 2004, the site has fallen into such disrepair that it's in danger of literally falling down. There have been attempts to save the Hall, but every one has failed.
In 2006, Bovis Homes bought the site to develop residential homes, with a promise to restore the Hall as part of the deal. Naturally, they found out that the price to fully restore the Hall was greater than expected (It is suspected that they actually never had any intention to restore the hall) and have since left it to rot.
The homes that Bovis built, the Nether Hall estate, is named after the original house that Great Barr Hall was built on top of; but the end result is that there is now less park, more residents and more anti-social behaviour and vandalism.
In 2012, the hall was sold to a local consortium of residents have who commissioned Lapworth Architects to evaluate and find a long term solution to saving the hall. So far, the only solution seems to have been rejected by Walsall Borough Council, which would have seen more homes built on the park, but the Hall saved.
Critics have cited the previous Bovis Homes failure as a reason that the new proposal cannot be trusted, and that in the end we'd be losing even more parkland.
The park is very popular with locals to walk their dogs or just chill out. It's a very emotive subject for most.
If a solution to save the Hall is not found soon, and judging by it's poor state, then the next generation will only have photos to experience this wonderful building.
Here are the other, non-hall images:
I feel like this place doesn't have long left, sadly.
Also, from the smell, somebody has definitely had a shit in there somewhere.
I've also included some pics from the bridge and 2 separate buildings that I found in the same park (not sure what those are, but they're newer than the hall, I think).
Here is a brief history, as requested:-
Great Barr Hall was built in 1777 on top of an older house called Nether House, by Joseph Scott. I won't go through the full history, which you can read on Wikipedia, but it was notable as a meeting place for The Lunar Society, whose members include famous Birmingham names such as James Watt, Josiah Wedgwood and John Baskerville.
Stood fully empty since 2004, the site has fallen into such disrepair that it's in danger of literally falling down. There have been attempts to save the Hall, but every one has failed.
In 2006, Bovis Homes bought the site to develop residential homes, with a promise to restore the Hall as part of the deal. Naturally, they found out that the price to fully restore the Hall was greater than expected (It is suspected that they actually never had any intention to restore the hall) and have since left it to rot.
The homes that Bovis built, the Nether Hall estate, is named after the original house that Great Barr Hall was built on top of; but the end result is that there is now less park, more residents and more anti-social behaviour and vandalism.
In 2012, the hall was sold to a local consortium of residents have who commissioned Lapworth Architects to evaluate and find a long term solution to saving the hall. So far, the only solution seems to have been rejected by Walsall Borough Council, which would have seen more homes built on the park, but the Hall saved.
Critics have cited the previous Bovis Homes failure as a reason that the new proposal cannot be trusted, and that in the end we'd be losing even more parkland.
The park is very popular with locals to walk their dogs or just chill out. It's a very emotive subject for most.
If a solution to save the Hall is not found soon, and judging by it's poor state, then the next generation will only have photos to experience this wonderful building.
Here are the other, non-hall images:
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