Our History

History of the village hall

The new village hall replaces the old Kenninghall Memorial Hall, which used to stand on the housing site immediately adjacent to the new hall. The village acquired the land for the old hall in 1954, and the old hall, which was actually a recycled world war two gymnasium was opened in 1959. It was named the Kenninghall Memorial Hall, to commemorate the sacrifice made by servicemen from the village in the two world wars.

By the end of the twentieth century the old hall had developed structural problems and was reaching the end of its useful life.

A site for a new hall – The Meadow - was purchased by the village in 2003, and at a public meeting the same year, the hall committee obtained village approval to put the old site up for sale with all monies raised to be put towards the building of a new village hall. Fundraising continued for several years, and it was not until 2014 that we were able to sign a contract with the developer Newbury New Homes, for them to acquire the old hall site in exchange for constructing a new village hall on the Meadow.

The new building is called the Kenninghall Village Hall, but we have honoured the spirit of the old building by installing the original commemorative plaque from the old hall into the meeting room in the new hall, and named this room The Memorial Room.