Calverley Old Hall activities and events

Thanks to funding from National Lottery Players, the project at Calverley Old Hall has become a catalyst for engagement work with the local and wider community.

Our overarching theme is Crafting Cultures - using traditional craft skills, including building crafts, textiles and food, to connect communities, cultures and heritage. Through these activities we will:

Explore and discover the history and context of Calverley Old Hall through research, learning and creative activities that engage with a wide range of people and explore cross-cultural links and influences.
Return this ancient manor to prominence and popularity, setting Calverley Old Hall within a regional and national context.
Provide accredited training and meaningful work experience opportunities that encourages long term involvement in our heritage and improves life chances for people.
Present a programme of events and open days that inspire a range of audiences, and encourage its future use as a venue for small creative events, meetings, and workshops.

SWAP Week 3 - lime plaster panels - group 600x400.jpg

Over the coming months, we will hold activities and training sessions both on-site and online, as this fascinating project develops. All the events will be advertised via our website, email newsletter, social media platforms, posters and other local networks. To sign up to our newsletter, please email us. Follow our Engagement projects across Landmark Trust including Calverley Old Hall, on social media here: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

Coming soon

Community garden ideas

We are creating a brand-new garden at Calverley Old Hall for the community to use, and we need your help.

We would like to ensure that the garden becomes a real asset to the community and is valued for years to come. With this in mind, we have set up a way for our neighbours to share their design ideas with us.

Find out more and share your ideas

Volunteer limewashing

Join us in May for your chance to help us limewash the 15th century chapel at Calverley Old Hall. We are looking for volunteers to come along, learn about limewash and how to apply this traditional material. You'll then get the chance to have a go yourself, adding your efforts to the huge restoration project at Calverley Old Hall.

Find out more

Past events

Calverley Old Hall lunchtime webinars

In November and January we held two free webinars about the work taking place at Calverley Old Hall. Viewers were given the chance to learn more about designing for a historic building with Karen Lim from Cowper Griffith Architects and the restoration's sustainability with Diane Hubbard of Green Footsteps Limited. If you missed either of the webinars, recordings are available to watch now.

Watch the webinars

Photo credit: Cowper Griffith Architects

Work Experience Placements at Calverley Old Hall

Throughout 2023 we offered six one-week long work experience opportunities for those aged 18 and above. Participants worked with Dobson Construction Ltd, our main contractors, on the active site at Calverley Old Hall. The placements involved a hands-on range of activities and provided an overview of working on a heritage restoration project. The main focus of each week was bespoke to each placement’s interests, with weeks offered with a focus on joinery, stone masonry, site management, and landscaping.

Participants who took part in the work experience said:

“I was not expecting to learn so many new skills, everyone was very friendly and explained things clearly.”

“Having only visited sites for meetings it has been invaluable being able to see a working site over the course of a week. It will help me going forward no end.”

Hard Hat Tours

With the success of our previous Hard Hat Tours, we were pleased to be able to open the doors of Calverley Old Hall once more for a limited number of tours in September. This gave people the opportunity to explore the Old Hall in the midst of its restoration.

Calverley Old Hall Open Day

Our recent Open Day offered the rare opportunity for visitors to see Calverley Old Hall's restoration progress mid-way through and see the amount of work it really takes to restore such a nationally important building. Visitors also had the chance to get hands-on with helping us to screen print the curtains which will be used in Calverley's community room post-completion.

Get Involved: Calverley Old Hall Continuing Professional Development Workshops

As part of the restoration project, we hosted a series of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) workshops based on site at Calverley Old Hall. This included two sets of 'Care and Repair of an Old Building' workshops. The workshops were aimed at helping homeowners of historic buildings learn more about how to care for their property and improving the skillset of professional tradespeople who wish to learn more about traditional working practices.

Set in stone: Calverley Old Hall Stone Carving Workshops

As part of our National Lottery Heritage Funded restoration project, we ran a programme of events including a series of creative stone carving workshops run by professional stone craftsman, Patrick Walls.

The group produced their own small carvings and designs to form a sculpture which will be displayed in the garden at Calverley Old Hall once the restoration is complete.

Calverley Christmas wreath-making workshop

Working in collaboration with a local florist, we offered people the chance to learn how to make a festive Christmas wreath, in the beautiful surroundings of Calverley Old Hall. 

Traditional weaving workshops

In October and November 2022, we ran a series of workshops in collaboration with weaving artist Agnis Smallwood, to design and produce a final woven textile artwork inspired by Calverley Old Hall. The final piece will be displayed in our community space in the building once the restoration project is complete.

Working with Lime Masterclass

On Thursday 17 November 2022 we ran a Working with Lime Masterclass. The tutor, Kevin Woods, has over 30 years experience working on historic buildings, and has obtained heritage skills gold accreditation. The course was a Lime masterclass and included preparation, pointing, galletting, lime mortar mixing, placement of mortar and aftercare. Participants worked on the active site of Calverley Old Hall, so this was a unique opportunity to contribute towards the restoration of this amazing building whilst learning new skills to help them in their own work.

Calverley Old Hall September Open Day

On Saturday 24 September 2022 we hosted our first Open Day since the restoration project began. We ran bookable hard hat tours of the current restoration site throughout the day, led by Landmark’s historian, Caroline Stanford. We were also joined by historical re-enactors, Frei Compagnie, who showed visitors historic food, weapons, and armour, and performed re-enactments in the garden. Live music on site was provided by Leeds Waits, which helped create a fantastic atmosphere for all.

Keep an eye out on this webpage for future Open Days throughout and after the restoration of Calverley Old Hall.

Local resident hard hat tours

On Friday 23 September 2022 we opened the site to our neighbours by running hard hat tours of Calverley Old Hall. It was a chance for our closest neighbours to visit the building site to see what is happening behind the Heras fencing they walk and drive past each day. Tours were led by Project Manager, Linda Lockett, with support from Hannah Thompson, Project Engagement Officer, and staff from our main contractors Dobson Construction Ltd.

If you are a local resident of Calverley and the surrounding villages, and would like to be invited to our local resident events, please contact [email protected] to sign up to our project mailing list.

Sector-based Work Academy Programme

Our first major activity to complement the capital works taking place at Calverley Old Hall is our Sector-based Work Academy Programme, a Department of Work and Pensions initiative to help people re-train or develop their skills ready for paid work.
Running for six weeks in June and July 2022.

Find out what's been happening

For the latest updates from the Calverley Old Hall project:

Calverley Old Hall updates

Thanks to National Lottery players