The Witham Hall - Past

From the Opening Ceremony Programme 1st May, 1981 Henry T. M. Witham, Esq., of Lartington Hall was “distinguished for his kind and generous spirit and his active benevolence.” One of the ways in which his character was revealed was his concern for the Victorian working-classes of Barnard Castle. He keenly supported a Dispensary Society which gave medical assistance to people who were too poor to afford doctors’ bills, and in 1832 he and the Society founded the Mechanics Institute to give “the labouring classes” of the town and district an opportunity to “improve themselves” and to pursue knowledge for their own pleasure. The Institute had no premises of its own, but lecturers, meetings and a supply of books were organised. Those for whom the service was intended, however, did not fully appreciate it, and “many of the middle classes stayed aloof”, too. In 1844 Henry Witham expressed a wish that some suitable premises should be built for the Institute. In November of that year he died and it was decided that such a building would be a fitting memorial to him. The result, raised ten years later by public donations, was the front part of the present buildings, consisting of a large room upstairs for meetings and lectures, with two rooms adjacent to it for the use of “the library keeper”. Downstairs there were a library and a reading-room (which still remains) and the dispensary, in the room opposite. Behind this, in the yard, was a room which could be used for any “country patient” for whom surgical treatment was necessary. Later a caretaker’s cottage (now demolished) was built behind the dispensary. In 1860 the present spacious hall was added for public meetings and entertainments. It was known as the Music Hall. Beside the stage is dressing accommodation with access to the side-street. Many and various functions have taken place in the Hall: in the 1860’s there were Balls with dancing from 9 p.m. to 4-30 a.m., and at various periods the attractions have included film shows, Chinese Jugglers, election meetings, a succession of Teesdale Musical Tournaments, a free tea for poor widows, lectures, a performance of “The Messiah”, plays produced by local performers and professionals, and more Dances, for which a sprung-floor was installed. Recently it has been a furniture showroom. The whole of the Witham Hall, while still retaining much of its original purpose, now enters a new lease of life.