Venue & Location
Morris Hall is nestled at the head of Bellstone Court, hidden behind a row of shops on the west side of Bellstone. The Hall is accessed through an archway, only a short walk from the retail town centre and ten minutes walk from the train station.
The building is Grade II listed, Arts and Crafts-style and was erected from 1932 by local businessman James Kent Morris. Originally called Bellstone Hall, it is noted for its high-quality craftsmanship, incorporating historic timbers from the demolished Lymore House and stone from the garden of Charles Darwin's childhood home. After Morris' death in 1935, the Hall was renamed in his honour.
Address
Morris Hall, Bellstone, Shrewsbury, SY1 1JB
By train
10 minutes' walk from Shrewsbury station.
Parking
Barker Street, Bridge Street & St Austin's Street - Pay & Display (free after 6pm)
Accessibility
Disabled toilet but 20 steps from courtyard to front entrance with good handrail
Interior Space
Morris Hall is not only a beautiful building on the outside, its equally a stunning and impressively spacious interior offering an extraordinarily atmospheric and creative environment, whether for large dynamic groups, or for smaller gatherings. The marvellous acoustics are well-suited to musical and theatrical performances.
Building History
Morris Hall takes its name from James Kent Morris (1872-1935) of the Morris Company of Shrewsbury. Morris saw the need for a local meeting hall and plans were drawn up by a W Harris of London in 1932.
The new hall was designed to appear as two attached sections: an older, medieval hall to the north, and a Tudor house to the south. This looking back to past English architectural styles was typical of the Arts and Crafts movement of the late C19 and early C20. Stone was re-used from the demolished Bellstone House, and all the timber framing was reused from other historic buildings. Morris stated that some of the timber came from nearby Lymore House in Montgomeryshire, which in 1931 had been dismantled and sold for building materials, and that the stone for the walls flanking the external steps had come from the garden of Charles Darwin’s childhood home.
The hall was opened by Morris on 2nd March 1933 and was initially named Bellstone Hall. Morris died in January 1935, and in March 1936 a re-naming ceremony was held where the new name, ‘Morris Hall’ was declared by the former Labour Party leader George Lansbury (1859-1940).
For a fuller history, see the Historic England entry HERE.