Eldon Street
14th June 2022
Eldon Street is one of Barnsley’s most important historic high streets. It was built in 1840 and quickly became home to houses, shops, theatres, railways stations and even a circus! The Eldon Street High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) is helping to breathe new life into Eldon Street by renovating its beautiful old buildings and celebrating the stories that make this street so special.
There are many exciting engagement opportunities taking place over the coming months to encourage local people to reconnect with Eldon Street. Work is underway on a number of properties and a new cultural programme ‘Teenage Wildlife’ has been launched in collaboration with the Civic, collecting photos and memories of teenage life on Eldon Street over the past 70 years.
We’re thrilled to be working with Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, on the project ‘Barnsley, an Unnatural History’ inspired by the animal stories of Eldon Street, both real and mythical. As part of this, we’re offering children and young people from schools across the borough the chance to get involved in a unique poetry competition. The children’s work will be showcased over the weekend of 24th Sept to coincide with the release of poems created for Eldon St by Simon. Watch out for more news about this later in the year on Barnsley Museum’s website or social media.
As part of the HSHAZ’s innovative Enterprise Scheme, young people from Barnsley College are going to be selling hand crafted items at Barnsley Youth Market. Plans are also underway for students involved in the College’s Volunteering Programme to bring their design flair and artistic eye to dress shop windows on Eldon St and in the Victorian Arcade.
Local people of all ages have also been enjoying our highly acclaimed Eldon St alternative history tours. Created and led by the brilliant Markmark Productions, they bring to life some of the rich stories and characters of the street. Get a flavour of the tour in Historic England’s new HSHAZ Cultural Programme film available here: https://historicengland.org.uk/get-involved/high-street-culture/
Find out more at Barnsley Museum’s blog space https://barnsleymuseums.art.blog/ space and follow us on social media @EldonHAZ on Twitter and Barnsley Museums on Facebook for more updates.
