The Barkway Reading Room

This article describes the development of Reading Rooms, from their introduction in the 19th century.

In the 19th century there was a national movement involving the building of countless reading rooms. Reading rooms were essentially imposed upon the working classes by the upper classes, mainly the church and local landowners. Their establishment reflected contemporary attitudes to philanthropy, recreation and self-help and confirmed the great class divide. Little research has been carried out on the whole subject. However, as an example in rural Norfolk at their peak there were one hundred and sixty village reading rooms identified, having varying location and architectural styles, membership profile and differing methods of financing, including fund-raising social events.

In Barkway the Newsells estate, owning much property in the village went with the national trend and built both a bathhouse at the southern end of the village, and of course the Reading Room. Both establishments were free for local men. A trust was set up in 1895.

Reading rooms were seen as offering an alternative to the public house for working men and membership was mostly restricted to males. In the twentieth century, as other diversions appeared and the countryside became more democratised, reading rooms gradually declined. They were an important part of village life and have left interesting evidence of former lifestyles and attitudes.

The primary purpose of all Reading Rooms was to provide a place where men could go as an alternative to the public house, often being provided with newspapers and books. In their early days they were exclusively for men. It was not until the end of the First World War that women began to use them.

Interestingly there is a collection of memorabilia in the Reading Room originally belonging to the Barkway Excelsior Society – a sort of local insurance company. There are a few details on the running of the society, one being that their meetings were held in the Chaise and Pair opposite.

In 2018 the Parish Council began to consider what the future should be for our Reading Room, following its move to the pavilion for their meetings, and there being little other use. The newly formed History Group proposed using it for their headquarters, and the Council agreed. Since that time a successful museum has been set up in there, with many gifts and loans from local people.