History of Hellesdon Parish Hall

Hellesdon Parish Hall is an iconic building, purchased for £395 in 1924 from Boulton and Paul of Norwich. It was one of their prefabricated buildings on a wooden frame. The walls and floor were made of wood and the roof was made of corrugated iron. Walls and flooring are still substantially intact but the roof was replaced in 1993 with a modern composition material and the wooden window frames with modern PVC.

Registered as a charitable trust in 1983, Hellesdon Parish Hall has been a long standing treasure within the local community holding many memories for lots of people.

Administered under a local group of Trustees for the benefit of the community, it has served as a well-loved social centre right to the present day.

Did you know...?

Hellesdon Parish Hall is an exact replica of Shackleton’s Hut.

Shackleton’s Hut was a pre-fabricated building that was taken by hand by his team and built in Antarctica as a base for Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic Exploration, in 1907-1909. The Shackleton building is now designated as a Historic Site and Monument & represents a symbol of Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. The design of Shackleton’s Hut was replicated and used by Boulton and Paul when designing Hellesdon Parish Hall. The same timber structure was designed and later built on this site in 1924. It is the same size as the original exploration hut, impressive when you stand and think that the team carried the materials all of the way to Antarctica!

The Hellesdon Parish sign is located outside the Hall, and it has a history of its own.

The north facing side of the sign represents the story of King Edmund, King of the East Angles. It is believed that Edmund was martyred on this site. He was captured, whipped and tied to a tree, and shot at with arrows. He was later beheaded. His head was thrown into a thicket of brambles, in Hegelisdun Wood (soon to be known as Hellesdon). His head was later found which was being guarded by a wolf. King Edmund’s body is believed to have been buried in a small chapel, which now stands on the site of St Mary’s Church.

The sign on the southern side represents the new golf course, named Royal Norwich, which was once in Hellesdon.