Causey Hall, Halifax

Causey Hall, a Grade II listed building on the statutory list of buildings of architectural or historic merit, is situated adjacent to the vast medieval Grade I-listed St John's Parish Church and lies within Halifax Town Centre Conservation Area. It is a long, thin building of gothic style, built in stone with ornate window dressings and eaves details, under a slate roof. The Wakefield Diocese Church Organisation Society is the custodian Trustee of the Hall, on behalf of the managing Trustees, St John's Parochial Church Council (PCC), and it is used as the Parish Hall and offices.

Causey Hall (a recent name, taken from Causewayside which runs behind the building) was built as a Parish School. It opened in 1857 and accommodated 400 pupils. The ground floor, at the same level as the church and churchyard, was originally part-open providing a covered playground, there being insufficient land for an adequate outside yard (it also provided dry play space in wet weather). At first floor level (which is actually street level at the back) the main hall of the school remains, now flanked with service accommodation (full catering kitchens etc) where previously there would have been classrooms for girls and boys. Wings of two-storey accommodation off the back of the school, entered directly from Causewayside, originally provided houses for the church verger and the schoolmaster.

The Parish School, which was latterly an infants' school, closed in the 1960s, and was converted by the PCC to provide a community hall. A number of organisations rented space in Causey Hall or used the main hall for social events from time to time, but the rental income this provided was insufficient to cover the maintenance costs for the building, which had begun to fall into disrepair.

Heritage Works was approached by Calderdale Council and the PCC to explore the possibility of undertaking a refurbishment of Causey Hall and to convert it to new, viable uses, as well as offices and support accommodation for the Parish Church. Funded by the Architectural Heritage Fund, Heritage Works undertook an Options Appraisal study, and appointed Purcell Miller Tritton to undertake a full condition survey and propose a repair strategy and options for reuse. This led to the PCC agreeing to grant Heritage Works a long lease of Causey Hall, to facilitate a regeneration project. An emergency works package was put together, funded by Single Regeneration Budget and an AHF loan, and initial works were completed in February 2008.

Phase 2 development commenced in December 2009, to refurbish areas of the ground floor, making it suitable for rental as office space. Architectural work has been undertaken by Carl Andrews of Soul Architects.

New railings - part of the Phase 2 development (funded by THI)

Lime Mortar Training at Causey Hall

On 24 March 2009, Calderdale Council organised a Lime Mortar Training Day at one of the Trust's properties, Causey Hall in Halifax. Twelve contractors from local building firms attended a one-day training day run by Mark Womersley from Womersleys Ltd, suppliers of traditional and eco building materials. The course was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund as part of the Halifax Townscape Heritage Initiative, with the intention of raising awareness of historic building techniques amongst local builders. Many builders still believe that lime mortar is difficult to use compared to cement mortar, and many are still dubious about its effectiveness. This training day explained that lime helps the building to ‘breathe’ whereas modern cement traps moisture in the wall, causing stone decay and damp problems.

The organisers felt that the venue was the perfect location for the training course because it has adequate indoor and outdoor working space and it would be the ideal location for further courses.

One of the builders who attended the course was pleasantly surprised how easy the mortar was to work with and was grateful for the opportunity to try out something new. He would certainly send colleagues along if this or any other traditional skills courses were to be run in the future.

Press coverage:

• See article in the Halifax & Calderdale Evening Courier 28 November 2007 "£140,000 church hall restoration is a goer"