Mexborough and Swinton Times April 6, 1928
Cortonwood Welfare Scheme
A Beautiful Lay-Out.
The Last Word In Recreation Facilities.
This building is to be formally opened tomorrow, Saturday by Councillor J. A Hull, financial secretary of the YM.A.
A new chapter in the life of Brampton Bierlow is to be unfolded tomorrow (Saturday) with the opening of a Welfare scheme. The ceremony is to be performed by Councillor Joseph A. Hall, financial ‘secretary of the Yorkshire Miners’ Association. In addition to ordinary spectators—residents of the district and other interested people —there will be a representative company present.
The scheme provides social and recreational facilities of both the indoor and outdoor type. The central features an institute building, the usefulness of which will best be appreciated in the winter, while around the institute are spread playing fields and recreation grounds. The whole scheme is self-contained and provides attraction for old and young. The development of the scheme has been watched with pride and interest, and as each new feature has come into being the desire and to possess and enjoy the new facilities has increased. It will mean much to the community, among whom it will stand as an emblem of social unity and a shrine of common Fellowship and enjoyment.
A Lost Parish?
To appreciate fully what a boon this new scheme will be to the district one has to know the place and the people. Brampton has changed out of all recognition during the past ten years— change so completely that it has lost its identity. The new village is now more commonly called Cortonwood, a designation that takes in the old and the new and comprehends the groups of people who together form the new colony that has settled in the neighbourhood of Cortonwood Colliery. This go-ahead mining undertaking has been considerably expanded in the last decade, and in all probability will find steady work for the men employed there for many years to come.
The district is almost entirely of post-war growth. Ten years ago it it is doubtful whether the population totalled 400–to-day it will not be far short of 4,000. Cortonwood is due South from Wombwell, and is just outside the boundary of the urban district. It forms only a part of Brampton Bierlow, a parish that extends from Elsecar at one end and almost to Broomhill at the other, and forms a wedge-shaped segment where it divides the urban districts of Wath and, Wombwell. The district enjoys the full use and convenience, of the Dearne Light Railway, but the Brampton Parish Council are not parties to the undertaking, a fact upon which the ratepayers of the district lose no – opportunity of reminding themselves. The district is traversed by Knoll Beck Lane, a section of the main road between Wombwell and Rotherham, and it is around both sides of this thoroughfare that the new township (has clustered.
The first instalment of houses was erected by the Rotherham Rural District Council at the instance of the Brampton Parish Council, but later the industrial Housing Association entered the field and built some 200 houses for the Cortonwood Colliery Company.
A Garden City.
The township has being planned on the latest “Garden City” principles. The houses are of attractive design, and various none of the monotony associated with many municipal housing schemes. Wide streets intersect the estate and expansive gardens, which the residents generally take a keen delight, go to promote domestic and social happiness.
Road Improvements.
Wombwell has from time immemoral been recognised as the shopping and business centre for the parish of Brampton Bierlow, but until quite recently there was between the two places ” a great gulf fixed.” Forming the boundary between the two parishes is the Knoll Beck and the steep declivity rising from this little water-course has always been a ban to Brampton’s development. The road offered no terrors to the pack horse drivers that used to make the Bull’s Head Hotel at Brampton a regular calling place, but the tortuous hill surmounted by the bridge across the Sheffield Navigation Company’s Canal on the Wombwell boundary offered a great hindrance to traffic of the modern type. It was a trial indeed to get a vehicle from the Cortonwood Colliery to Wombwell. By the construction of a road bridge to carry the Dearne District Light Railway track over Knoll Beck Valley obstacles to traffic in the form of a railway crossing and two steep hills were removed, and free movement was facilitate. Where until comparatively recently a winding lane suitable only for horse-drawn vehicles there now traverses the heart of the village of Cortonwood a most imposing boulevard—one of the finest thoroughfares in the district. Generally, Cortonwood is now one of the most attractive residential districts one could find anywhere, and, moreover, the situation is open and healthy.
So much for the conditions under which the people of Cortonwood live. There still remained to be provided all the amenities necessary to modern life. Even working-class people have their hours of leisure, and it is vitally necessary that their spiritual, physical and mental aspirations should be catered for.
Provision for the religious needs of the pario12 was recently supplemented by a handsome new Wesleyan Hall; the new Welfare scheme will go a long way towards meeting what still remained to he provided for. When the institute and all that goes with it has been opened for public use Cortonwood will lack little than can appeal to a healthy and progressive people.
An Up-To-Date Scheme.
The people of Cortonwood are late in launching their scheme, but it may be said right away that procrastination iliac lost them nothing. Indeed they will be well compensated for their patience, for in choosing the nature and design of their Welfare scheme they have profited by tale experiences of others. Redundancies have been cut out and any modern touches have been added. Moreover, they I’ve got much greater value for the money available than would have been possible three, four or five years ago.
The modern idea of town planning has been given generous expression at Cortonwood, and it is obvious that the Welfare scheme was contemplated in the first frame of things. The scheme is located in the centre of the township at the point where the communal life of the place will converge. Here the ancient and modern has been happily blended, for in the construction of the institute nothing that makes the Brampton Bull’s Head Hotel such an interesting figure in local history has been disturbed. The contrast between the old and the new is pleasing, the one accentuating the charms, of the other.
A Beautiful Building.
The institute is not a massive place as modern buildings go, but it may be described as a triumph in modern architecture. Erected by the well-known firm of William Johnson and Sons, Wombwell, the building is one of turrets and sharp gables. Appearance has not been sacrificed to though in its appointments the building, represents the last word in convenience. Its bright red brick facings, red tile roof, high doors and dormer windows make it a pleasing spectacle.
Cricket.
As part of the scheme the trustees have acquired the old Brampton Cricket field and the institute provides the amenities necessary in connection with the summer game. Overlooking the cricket pitch is a covered pavilion and a spacious verandah, while the lofty scoring box, from the windows of which glorious views of miles of countryside in the Pea me Valley can be obtained is one of the striking architectural features.
The Institute.
The accommodation is provided on two floors. On, the ground floor is the billiards room, fitted with two full-sized. tables, a reading room, two games rooms, committee rooms, a kitchen for the use of the steward and a dressing room opening by swing doors on to the pavilion, and so ,arranged that it can be divided into two sections for home and visiting teams. On the ground floor are the sanitary conveniences. Upstairs is one large room designed to accommodate large gatherings and fitted with a maple spring floor for dancing. From this room access is gained to the verandah by three swing doors
Attractive Colour Scheme.
The whole building is handsomely decorated and lavishly appointed, the colour scheme being a specially attractive feature.
The billiards room (45 feet by 24 feet) is in turquoise blue with a deep frieze of dead white to facilitate lighting, the reading room (12 by 20); is in neptune green, the games room (19 by 12) and (16 by 20) in Japanese blue, the committee rooms in light brown, the kitchen in old gold, and the passages and staircases in carmine with a deep lade of permanent green.