Huntingdon Hall is a Grade II*

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historical ...

theatre and concert venue located in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It was built in 1773 and opened on the 31st of October of that year as the Countess of Huntingdon's Church by her first cousin Walter Shirley. Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntingdon, described the building as 'exceedingly handsome' in a letter to her friend John Hawksworth. In his book ''Worcestershire'',

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, '' The Buildings of England'' ...

describes Huntingdon Hall as "an odd plan... a three-bay chapel with a hipped roof and behind it, transversely, a large oblong part apsed at both ends."

History

Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon (24 August 1707 – 17 June 1791) was an English religious leader who played a prominent part in the religious revival of the 18th century and the Methodist movement in England and Wales. She founded an ...

was an English religious leader who founded the

Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion is a small society of evangelical churches, founded in 1783 by Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, as a result of the Evangelical Revival. For many years it was strongly associated with the Calvini ...

. The connexion was (and still is) a small society of English churches which split with the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

. The Countess established several churches for the Connexion across England, such as the New Connexions Free Church in

Ely Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral ** Ely Rural District, a ...

and Jarvis Hall in

Steyning Steyning ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. It is located at the north end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles (6.4 km) north of the coastal town of Shoreham-by-Sea. The smalle ...

, West Sussex. Hastings died in 1783, but the movement she founded had lasting influence; in 1804 Huntingdon Hall was established as a church of the Connexion. The Hall operated as a chapel until closing in 1970. It reopened in 1987 after a renovation by the City of Worcester Building Preservation Trust. Since its re-opening, Huntingdon Hall has been used as a theatre and concert venue; today, the hall is one of two theatres run by the Worcester Theatres Charitable Trust, the other being the

Swan Theatre The Swan was a theatre in Southwark, London, England, built in 1595 on top of a previously standing structure, during the first half of William Shakespeare's career. It was the fifth in the series of large public playhouses of London, aft ...

. The building can seat 350 people.

References

External links

The website of Worcester Theatres
{{coord, 52.19176, -2.22212, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Grade II* listed buildings in Worcestershire Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion 1804 establishments in England Former churches in England Buildings and structures in Worcester, England