CHRISTIAN MALFORD VILLAGE HALL – PART 1

Background:

In the immediate years following World War 1; the War Office held public auctions to sell of surplus war time equipment - in the 1920s the Government began the sale of its surplus huts. The pre-fabricated nature of the buildings made them ideal for dismantling and relocation. Although, they were always intended to be temporary; their longevity is evident by the sheer number of Armstrong Huts (Article published 22 Jun 24) purchased from the War Office by local communities as public buildings from the 1920s right through to the present day – our Village Hall is well over 100 years old; it will celebrate its ‘Centenary’ of being a key part of our community in Christian Malford in December 2025!

It is said that the buildings came from a temporary Field Hospital built on Salisbury Plain though we have no evidence of this. The ‘Armstrong Hut’ was basically an accommodation block but could easily been an integral part of a Field Hospital as accommodation or as a ward.

1925:

The planning application build a Village Hall, in Christian Malford, was made to Chippenham Rural District Council on 2 October 1925 (Article published 21 May 24). The Village Hall was officially opened (Article published 2 Jun 24) some 76 days later 17 December 1925 – life was so much simpler 100 years ago!

1928

The initial conveyance of the land to the village was dated 14th of July 1928; here Walter Pickford, who farmed Thornend Farm, gave away by ‘deed of gift’ to the trustees of Christian Malford Village Hall the initial land and building. (This was a small plot; just the building and a few feet to the rear, it did not include the store section of land, toilet block or the lawn area to the rear). The trustees named were the Reverend Canon Frederick Douglas Stephens, Walter Pickford, Geoffrey Arden Hughes and Archibald Pitman. The gift of the land and building by Walter Pickford to the Trustees of the Village Hall came 21/2 years after the village hall was opened; so, the Pickford family may well have funded the purchase of the building from the War Office