History
Cound Guildhall
Cound Guildhall was built on the site of the Old Parsonage for St Peters Church Cound. The cellars of the Old Parsonage are underneath the Guildhall and are still accessible by arrangement with the Guildhall Trustees.The main room of the hall was completed in 1883 by the occupant of Cound Hall. It was to be a meeting place for the parishioners of Cound who where at that time mainly workers on the Cound Hall estate, hence it was given the name Guildhall.
On March the 4th 1922 the ownership of the Guildhall was handed over to the Parish Council by Alexander Cowen Mc Corquodale the then owner of Cound Hall. Alexander Cowen Mc Corquodale improved the hall at this time by the addition of a Kitchen, Meeting Room and Toilet. The deeds of the Guildhall stated it should be used "As a village hall for meetings, lectures, social entertainments, library reading room, museum, picture gallery or any other object or purpose which in the opinion of the Council may promote the moral, intellectual, social or physical welfare of the inhabitants of the Parish of Cound.
From 1922 to the mid eighties the hall was used for all the purposes intended including many dances, wedding celebrations and wakes. Maintenance was kept to a minimum and inevitably time and with a change in the parish demographics the hall had started to sink into a decline. The Parish Council was reluctant to raise money to maintain the hall.
By the mid 1990s the Parish Council felt it had served its purpose and considered letting the Guildhall as a commercial premises. This caused some concern within the parish and a group of parishioners decided to take on the responsibility of the hall and took up the challenge by forming as a group of Trustees in September 2004. After several fruitless applications for major funding to rectify all the Guildhall dilapidations it had to be closed in 2006 due to the rotten condition of the floor. Since then the trustees have acquired funding to install a new floor, a new electrical circuit in the main hall and a grant from Arts Alive has enabled the hall to be equipped to show films in conjunction with Flicks in the Sticks. The Guildhall is now entering a new phase of life and with the guidance of the Trustees it will be brought back to be the social centre of the parish.
Tim ROBERTS Chairman - Cound Guildhall Trustees
Cound Guildhall was built on the site of the Old Parsonage for St Peters Church Cound. The cellars of the Old Parsonage are underneath the Guildhall and are still accessible by arrangement with the Guildhall Trustees.The main room of the hall was completed in 1883 by the occupant of Cound Hall. It was to be a meeting place for the parishioners of Cound who where at that time mainly workers on the Cound Hall estate, hence it was given the name Guildhall.
On March the 4th 1922 the ownership of the Guildhall was handed over to the Parish Council by Alexander Cowen Mc Corquodale the then owner of Cound Hall. Alexander Cowen Mc Corquodale improved the hall at this time by the addition of a Kitchen, Meeting Room and Toilet. The deeds of the Guildhall stated it should be used "As a village hall for meetings, lectures, social entertainments, library reading room, museum, picture gallery or any other object or purpose which in the opinion of the Council may promote the moral, intellectual, social or physical welfare of the inhabitants of the Parish of Cound.
From 1922 to the mid eighties the hall was used for all the purposes intended including many dances, wedding celebrations and wakes. Maintenance was kept to a minimum and inevitably time and with a change in the parish demographics the hall had started to sink into a decline. The Parish Council was reluctant to raise money to maintain the hall.
By the mid 1990s the Parish Council felt it had served its purpose and considered letting the Guildhall as a commercial premises. This caused some concern within the parish and a group of parishioners decided to take on the responsibility of the hall and took up the challenge by forming as a group of Trustees in September 2004. After several fruitless applications for major funding to rectify all the Guildhall dilapidations it had to be closed in 2006 due to the rotten condition of the floor. Since then the trustees have acquired funding to install a new floor, a new electrical circuit in the main hall and a grant from Arts Alive has enabled the hall to be equipped to show films in conjunction with Flicks in the Sticks. The Guildhall is now entering a new phase of life and with the guidance of the Trustees it will be brought back to be the social centre of the parish.
Tim ROBERTS Chairman - Cound Guildhall Trustees
