Gloucestershire’s Only Village Hall with a Thatched Roof

Located in a village within the south Cotswolds lays an intriguing building available to anyone within the community. What is its intrigue you may ask? Well, this hall is the only village hall in Gloucestershire with a thatched roof.

It sounds like something out of a fairy tale but this community building has been part of South Cerney since the 1920s when it was converted from an ancient barn to a village hall. The barn was between two hundred and three hundred years old before the conversion.

The hall was officially opened on Saturday 6th June 1925 in South Cerney which is a large village within the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire and is located three miles from Cirencester. Its famous thatched roof has remained largely unchanged ever since. The hall is Grade II listed and is stunning to look at from the outside but it is far more than just its thatched roof.

With an overall capacity of 120 the hall hosts many activities including Pilates, Children’s/Adult’s parties, club meetings, art groups and much more.  These activities cater for all ages and abilities.  New bookings are always welcome. In recent years a new Sports/Community facility has been built in another part of the village and this beautifully complements the long established Hall.

Half of the roof was rethatched in 2012 and the second half was rethatched recently at a cost of £25,000. The Parish Council has been vigilant with its finances and carefully planned for this eventuality by putting aside an annual sum so that when it came to rethatching, there was enough in the kitty to facilitate this.  

South Cerney Village Hall is being highlighted today as part of our lead up to the national Village Halls Week beginning January 20th in 2020! We want this to be the biggest celebration yet and by highlighting different village halls throughout the county we hope this will inspire others to showcase their buildings during the week. For more information, click here.