In pictures
The Osborn Hall has had many lives. Formerly Rydal’s School Hall and Chapel, then its Dining Hall, it later became the Learning Resource Centre (LRC) at Rydal Penrhos.
A Grade-II Listed building, the Hall was completed in 1900, with a soaring beamed ceiling, parquet floors, wood panelling, and a minstrel's gallery.
The keystone bears the initials of Thomas G Osborn, founding headmaster of Rydal, and his wife, Jessie Osborn, who moved to Colwyn Bay in 1882 to send the family's eldest daughter to Penrhos.
In 1925, a beautiful memorial window was added, commemorating Tom Dixon OR, who died at the age of seventeen, and donated by his parents. By 1950, a second window had been added in memorial to the Rydal boys who died in the World Wars.
Since 2001, the Hall has also held Penrhos’s ‘Endeavour’ window. Donated by an Old Girl, Dora Edon, in memory of her parents, the window was designed by Mary Edwards, Head of Art at Penrhos, and honours Penrhos’s long tradition of outdoor pursuits.
The window depicts Endurance, represented by Francis Chichester, the sailor, Exploration, represented by R. F. Scott and Roald Amundsen, and Endeavour, represented by Edmund Hilary in his conquest of Everest.
Memorial window to Tom Dixon
In 1999, as progress in information technology called for the School to develop its offerings to pupils, the Hall was converted to become the School's Learning Resource Centre (LRC). A mezzanine floor was added to hold a computer suite and careers area with reference material.
Artist's impression of the LRC, with mezzanine floor
Times have changed since the nineties. While the School still has a dedicated desktop computer suite in the IT Department, pupils now carry out the majority of their online research on their iPads, while printed reference material for careers is now outdated. Guides to university applications, careers, and admissions tests have now moved online, while the School's reading room has returned to its original home in the Watkinson Library.
In September this year, work began to remove the mezzanine floor and restore the Hall to its former glory.
Our Archivist, Christine Bramhall, has captured the process in photos.
You can also watch a time-lapse video of the renovations, here. •
Beginning – Looking down the Hall from the internal doors
Looking along the mezzanine towards the internal doors
Work begins as ceiling tiles are removed
Beams are removed
Light emerges at the entrance as the flooring frame is removed
Sections of the stairs are cut up
The mezzanine struts are cut up and removed
Only three beams remain
The central part of the mezzanine is cut up
The old side staircase is partially removed
Waste metalwork amasses in the Quad
The final beam is removed
Thank you to a fantastic demolition team – Mike, Bryan, and Conor
