The Cloth Hall
From the fifteenth century, many Penistone parish inhabitants made a living from making woollen cloth but it did not expand rapidly in the West Riding until the eighteenth century. A Cloth Hall was planned by the architect and master mason John Platt in 1763 and cost £800. The Wordsworth name topped the list of subscriptions and it was built in that same year in the market place area, by Penistone church. It later proved to be a failure
with the decline of the woollen industry in the 1860s and was turned into shops. Only the central part was used as a public shambles
and market. The current arched windows might well have been open arches into the central area of the building.
The corner shop was a post office (excepting 1856-1864) from their inception until 1895. Up a flight of stone steps, the upper room was used by a Barnsley magistrate on alternate Thursday market days until 1845.
The 'White Bear' beerhouse was opened in the eastern part of the building by Ben White in 1861 and it became the British Legion in 1926. It had an entrance at the ginnel side of the building. Some time around the mid 1960s (not sure of date), the British Legion moved to its current location opposite the old jailhouse, the 'lock-up'. The current occupants of the old cloth hall are Clark's chemists, who celebrated their centenary in 1999 with special window displays. One of these is shown above.
Historic details and the wood carving illustration on this page came from the 1953 Penistone Almanac. Other details from David Hey's 'A History of Penistone', ISBN 1-903425-21-2.
