Volunteering at Calverley Old Hall

At the Landmark Trust volunteers often help us with our major restoration projects and we are incredibly grateful that they give up their time to help us. Our latest blog post is written by Calverley Old Hall volunteer Martin Alexander, as he recalls his memories of Calverley and his involvement with the project to revive this incredible building.

Martin (second from left) and other volunteers at Calverley Old Hall 

Raised in Calverley 

Having been born and raised on the same street as the Old Hall in the 1960s and 70s, I would often pass it on my way to sing at St Wilfrid’s Parish Church as a choirboy, and wonder just what this jumbled and dilapidated pile was where people were still living. It was mysterious.

My curiosity grew when I became Head Boy and would lead the other male sopranos around the village after the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve, singing carols. 

Clara Drive was where the posh folk lived and to get there from the main road we had to walk down an unlit tree-covered path called The Cutting. According to legend this was where Walter Calverley had allegedly been seen galloping away from the Old Hall towards Esholt after murdering two of his three sons and looking to kill his third, before being thrown from his horse and captured.

Of course, controlling the other choir boys was a thankless task, as someone at the back would inevitably make scary noises and send the rest of the pack running and screaming with their cassocks and surplices flapping wildly in the darkness.

But my curiosity was piqued, so I asked my father if his friend, the renowned local historian Ted Garnett, could tell me about the Calverley Murders. He did more than that.

I was invited to join a rare tour of the building when it was still occupied, and before the fire in 1977 which gutted the north wing. My teenage self found the place and the story utterly fascinating – and still do today.

The north section of Calverley Old Hall (now the Community Space) after the fire in 1977

Getting involved 

Fast forward to 2022 and now retired, I approached the Landmark Trust to ask if they needed any help with their work on the Hall, which they’d been busy restoring to its former medieval glory.

Hannah, their Project Engagement Officer, asked for some admin help, so I got stuck into recording the comments on forms left by visitors to the ongoing work.

This led to me joining her on the hard hat tours we did together whilst the Hall still resembled a building site. These proved very popular as folk were eager to see inside and examine the progress being made.

Martin in action at one of our Open Days

The discovery of remarkable Tudor wall paintings in one of the upper rooms brought national publicity as work transforming the building from derelict and close to demolition into a unique Landmark Trust building progressed.

The Landmark Trust decided to ask a small group of local people to join creatives Sarah Oldknow and Tom Bailey to work on a project which would help to launch the opening. But what would we do?

Reimagining the Calverleys 

After much deliberation we hatched a plan. This focused on the people who were there at the time of the infamous murders in 1605, many of whom history did not record.

So we created them.

The wife, servants, cook, stable-boy, priest, friends and relations who had to cope with the situation that led up to Sir Walter’s crime, his demise, the aftermath of his death and how it affected them.

We sewed, we wrote and discussed, we recorded their voices and slowly the ideas formed into “Reimagining the Calverleys”.

I concentrated on writing and creating Luke, a fictional priest. Being a Catholic in Protestant England meant fines and imprisonment were never far away. He conducted services in the family’s private chapel, watched on as the arguments between Walter and his wife worsened and when the fateful day arrived, castigated himself for not doing more to intervene as he was frankly scared of the implications - and almost lost his faith.

Finally, he came to realise it was all part of God’s plan for the future of the family and the community.

Calverley Old Hall cost £5.1m to resurrect. One of the biggest and riskiest plans the Landmark Trust has ever undertaken. But now they are finally taking bookings so people can once again live, eat, celebrate and sleep under its protection - which this amazing site has provided since 1320. Seeing the Hall resurrected and to have been a small part of that has been such a joy for me, as it’s been a part of my life all my life.

Next year, I’m hoping to help guide on the Open Days planned for 2025.

I’m hoping Ted will be with me in spirit.

Martin getting stuck in helping to plant up our community garden with some of our other volunteers

Read more about the repair and restoration of Calverley Old Hall.

The repair and conversion of Calverley Old Hall is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, and a host of other supporters, we have been able to rescue and restore this Grade I listed building for future generations.