• Sitemap
• Text Only
• Full Graphics

You are here: Home > News > Time Capsule To Be Hidden In Wall Of Historic Hall

• Time capsule to be hidden in wall of historic hall

• Date:

  19th May 2008

• Contact:

  Sarah Egerton

• Organisation:

  The Civic Trust

Visitors to Green Flag Award-winning Oakwell Hall Country Park are being asked for suggestions for a time capsule which will be secreted in a wall with the intention that it be opened in 75 years time when the historic hall becomes 500 years old.

The capsule is to be placed inside one of the sections of wall around the hall’s formal gardens that have recently been rebuilt. Staff at Oakwell Hall have already come up with ideas such as a wage slip, a supermarket receipt, a gift catalogue and photographs of people enjoying the hall and country park.  They also hope to include examples of the tools used by the builders, S. Brierley and Sons, in reconstructing the wall. The capsule measures 46cmx15cmx12cm so not everything suggested can be included.  But all will be considered and a selection of the best, and most appropriate, made by staff.

An official ceremony to install the capsule in the wall is to be held in the summer.

Councillor Liz Smaje, Kirklees Cabinet Member for Leisure and Neighbourhood Services, commented: “The rebuilding of the garden wall presented an ideal opportunity to encase a capsule of items that will be a snapshot for future generations of what Oakwell Hall Country Park was like in the year 2008.

“Oakwell Hall was built in 1583 and, undoubtedly,there will be major celebrations to mark it’s 500th birthday in 2083. So that is an appropriate time for the capsule to be opened.”

Suggestions for items to go into the capsule should be sent by the end of June to Emma Crowley at Oakwell Hall Country Park, Nutter Lane, Birstall, WF17 9LG, tel: 01924 326240, email: