Milton Hall

Milton Hall is a market hall, built in 1870 for the Fitzwilliam estate. It was renovated in 1931 to create assembly rooms with additions to the rear and was disused at the time of listing in 1986. The building is constructed of rock-faced sandstone with a Welsh slate roof.

The building has a single storey, with five bays facing east onto Wath Road and nine bays facing south onto Fitzwilliam Street. Each principal elevation has a central, slightly projecting, pedimented entrance bay. These bays contain a pair of double doors under a semi-circular fanlight with radial glazing bars, set within deeply recessed round-arched openings with impost bands. The remaining bays have round-arched windows with glazing bars. A simple plinth and eaves band unify the elevations. The north elevation showcases seven round-arched windows with iron casements and glazing bars. The roof is triple-spanned and hipped, with a central ridge higher than the flanking ridges, and this central ridge retains ventilators.

Milton Hall was commissioned by the sixth Earl Fitzwilliam as a market hall, replacing a previous open-air market. In 1931, the seventh Earl Fitzwilliam renovated the hall as a concert hall and assembly rooms, renaming it Milton Hall to celebrate the 21st birthday of Viscount Milton. The Fitzwilliam family had invested in coal mining and iron working in Elsecar from the late 18th century, developing it as an industrial village alongside housing and community facilities. The survival of many of these buildings makes Elsecar an important example of coal mining, paternalistic Christianity, and industrial growth and decline across three centuries.