Bid to restore historic parkland hall gets £467,000 funding boost

The campaign to restore a historic parkland hall has received a near £500,000 lottery funded boost. Bolton Council and charity Banana Enterprise Network have been jointly awarded funding of £466,662 by The National Lottery Heritage Fund for their ‘Rock Hall Revival’ project, which aims to develop the hall in Moses Gate Country Park, Farnworth.

The grant will contribute to the development stage of the restoration project which will cost approximately £725,000. The project will preserve the heritage in Farnworth by redeveloping Rock Hall and enhancing the natural environment of the Moses Gate Country Park.

The redeveloped hall will include a café, multi-use community spaces and interpretive displays. The park will also be improved, including a new sensory space.

The project will focus on heritage themes of Rock Hall and Moses Gate, including the industrial history of the site and craft skills associated with the hall and park. Funded activities during the development stage will include free community heritage activities, some urgent repair work, further design work and public consultation, leading to the preparation of final architectural plans for the restoration and expansion of Rock Hall.

This will enable planning consent to be granted. The funding will also pay for legal and planning application fees leading up to the acquisition of the building by Banana Enterprise, from Bolton Council via a community asset transfer.

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Rock Hall was built in 1807 by the Crompton family of paper-makers. TB Crompton was a pioneer and developed a unique paper drying process, which he patented. The hall, which is owned by Bolton Council, closed in 2014 and has been unused since then.

Banana Enterprise will be using