Horwich Public Hall

Public Hall

Horwich Public Hall was built in 1878 and was intended as a social hall and alternative to the public houses. Peter Martin, a local cotton magnate who owned several cotton mills in the area and who lived at 'The Street' Heath Charnock funded the building on Lee lane at his own expense. Provided that it is opened free from debt and with certain conditions. The general public being asked to subscribe and that it should not be used for denominal purposes but be governed by a representative committee revise every 5-7 years. The Public Hall officially opened on the 2nd April 1879, Peter Martin died just 2 moths later on July 12th 1879. His widow Mrs. Mary Tetlow Martin presented the building for the towns use in 1882 in honour of her late husband and also her late daughter Mary Alice Martin

The Public Hall was once a great social centre and the building had a number of uses partly due to its great size and location. The ground floor once housed a great billiard room, reading rooms, chess and draughts room along with a coffee room. A polished pitched pine staircase leads upstairs to a large assembly room which was often used for concerts and such. In connection with Queen Victoria's jubilee of 1887 the Horwich Local Board promoted a scheme of a free lending library within the Public Hall. The library officially opened November 14th 1887 and can be seen on some of the older photographs on the extreme left hand front corner of the ground floor. Also gone are the 3 cottages which stood where the lawned area and flower beds are now displayed. One of these 3 cottages was used as a police station during the 1850's. The Hall is also home to a bowling green at the rear of the property along with other various offices and outbuildings including stables and who could forget the turret and weather vane.

Horwich Public Hall is still used for council matters in the town but sadly lost its social popularity when the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway company opened the Mechanics Institute in December of 1888.

Public Hall

Public Hall

Latitude: 53.60122

Longitude: -2.54899