Dunster Memorial Hall is owned in trust by Dunster Parish, and is a registered charity (no.1015500) which is managed by a group of Trustees elected at an Annual General Meeting, which is open to all Dunster residents.
The Hall is currently the home of Dunster Museum, Dunster Doll Collection and Dunster Snooker Team, all operating within the umbrella of the Memorial Hall management structure. All the people involved in managing and running the Hall are volunteers.
There is a function room on the first floor of the Hall which is used by various local groups for meetings and activities. For more information about use or hiring of the room, download the terms & conditions here (pdf) and then contact us to discuss your requirements.
If you are interested in joining the Snooker Team, contact us and we will pass your message on to the team captain.
History of the Memorial Hall
In 1921 Alexander Luttrell gave the Dunster Memorial Hall to the people of the village for meetings, activities, parties and events in remembrance of those from the village who served and those who lost their lives in the First World War. A wooden Memorial plaque in the foyer listing all the WW1 names dates from
this time, and a brass plaque on the front of the building also lists those who served in World War Two.
Though substantially renovated and refurbished in 1921, much of the building itself is considerably older. In the mid-18 th C it was a malthouse, and may have been before that the Swan Ale House, which was owned by the Strong family for many years. In 1834, then known the ‘Middle Malthouse’, it was sold to Robert
Withycombe, who was landlord of the Red Lion Inn opposite (now Reeves Restaurant), and in 1841 the building was still being used as a malthouse, the tenant running the business then being Robert Harvey, who was the miller at Dunster Mill.
We don’t know when malting in the building ended, but by the early 20th century it was being used as a timber store by J.Hine & Son, a Dunster building company. Photographs of the High Street from that time suggest that the building may have been in a dilapidated state.
In April 1919 the Annual Parish Assembly discussed how Dunster should commemorate those who fought, and those who died, in the Great War. Alexander Luttrell, then owner of the Dunster Estate, offered to donate the old malthouse building to the parish on trust, and refurbish it as a War Memorial Hall for public use, if the parishioners could raise £500 towards the costs. This was gladly agreed.
Plans were drawn up by Alexander Cuthill, the Luttrell’s Agent & Surveyor, and the work carried out by the Estate employees, many of whom had just lately returned from the war. A grand opening ceremony held on 7 January 1922 was attended by over 400 people – you can read a transcript of the West Somerset Free
Press report of the event here (pdf)
The Hall quickly became the focal point for most village activities – parish meeting, whist drives, WI meetings, jumble sales, guides, brownies, cubs and scouts, wedding breakfasts, funeral wakes, school pantomines, amateur drama, youth club discos, bingo – it all happened here!
In 1970 relatives of the late Mrs Mollie Hardwick donated her collection of over 400 dolls to the village. Mrs Hardwick, a former school headmistress, had lived in the village since her retirement, and had for many years invited visitors into her cottage to see her collection, raising funds for charity – so the dolls were
already a Dunster “visitor attraction”.
The Reading Room on the first floor of the Hall was adapted to house the collection, and income from visitor admission fees provided a much needed boost to Hall funds. By this time changes in people’s lifestyles and expectations was starting to have an effect on the traditional Hall bookings. The financial
position was given a further boost in 1976, what the National Westminster Bank opened a sub-branch in the ground floor room at the front of building, which opened one day a week until 1990.
By 2000 Memorial Hall usage had declined further, with income from doll collection visitors being the main source of income. In 2007 the refurbished Dunster Tithe Barn opened, following a five year restoration project which turned the run-down buildings into a magnificent centre for community events and
functions. This proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the Memorial Hall as a “village hall”. Discussions were held about finding a new purpose for the building, and finally, in 2012, it was decided that it should become a museum and community resource centre dedicated to the village and people of Dunster.
A period of intense fund-raising activity culminated, in 2019, with the construction of the mezzanine gallery in the main hall, where the doll collection is now housed, effectively doubling the display space in the building.
The Memorial Hall trustees gratefully acknowledge the financial support received from the EU Rural Development Fund, Tesco Community Grants and Somebody Else, as well as the time given by over 100 volunteers, most of them Dunster residents, at various stages of this recent project.