Does Prudhoe Walled Garden have a community based future?
Prudhoe Hall was built in 1876 by the Liddell family and its history is well known locally. It was the home of the Liddell’s, a wealthy coal mining family, until 1904 when they sold it to someone named Colonel Swan. He went on to sell it in 1914 to the Northern Counties Joint Poor Law Committee, and it became a residential ‘colony’ for the ‘feebly minded’ – people with learning disabilities or mental handicaps (Conservation Plan 2013). It remained a mental hospital for the next 90 years and “by the 1970s Prudhoe had become the fifth largest mental hospital in the UK, with a staff of nearly 1000 and nearly 1500 beds for patients” (Prudhoe Historic Characterization document).
More details about the site and its history can be found in the Prudhoe Historic Characterization that was produced by English Heritage and English Partnerships in the late noughties, and in the Prudhoe Hospital Conservation Plan which has been submitted as part of a recent planning application to Northumberland County Council.
Along with a Victorian Hall, the site includes a Walled Garden that was probably built c.1870, to supply the house with produce. Both the Hall and the Walled Garden are Grade II listed. The whole site is currently owned by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and they are in the process of negotiating a lease with local developer, Gentoo (http://www.gentoogroup.com/for-customers/find-a-home/) to develop the site. Both HCA and Gentoo are supportive of the local community obtaining the Walled Garden as a community asset.
This website provides some information about the community’s progress towards its goal of obtaining the Walled Garden as an asset for community use.
Prudhoe Walled garden pre-FEASIBILITY study NOW COMPLETE!
Prudhoe Community Partnership commissioned Social Regeneration Consultants (SRC) to undertake a pre-feasibility study to investigate community options for the walled garden and explore the potential for community-led opportunities to take forward. The full report can be downloaded below.
Have a look at the News page to find out more about recent activities in this project.
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