Village Hall, Audit Hall Road, Empingham

Image: © Jo and Steve Turner Taken: 28 Aug 2017

Known as the Audit Hall, it almost certainly started out as a threshing barn of 17th or 18th century. The single storey extension is late 19th century. It was said that before 1924 tenant rents were taken to Prebendal House and that Audit Hall served as the office perhaps giving rise to the name 'Audit Hall'. In 1892 Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby was created 1st Earl Ancaster. It is probable that on the occasion of Queen Victoria's jubilee in June 1887, that he would have held celebrations, the preparations including the conversion of a barn into a ballroom, installing a floor, stopping up doors, re-roofing, adding windows and a fireplace, and building an extension to house cloaks and attendants. The ventilation grills in the walls are Victorian in design and are typical indicators of the installation of a suspended floor, more suitable for the use of dancing. Earl Ancaster sold the Normanton estate in 1924 and the Stamford Mercury of 19th September 1924 reported that 'they had also decided to present the Audit Hall at Empingham to the village.' It was used as a village hall until it was deeded over in 1939 to Empingham Village Hall Trust.

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