Detailed Information

Originally opened as Settle’s 400-seat Music Hall, the building was the idea of local philanthropist the Rev. James Robinson, secretary of the Settle Choral Society, who envisioned that “the building should be such as to answer all the purposes of public instruction and entertainment”.

Charles S. Stratton, otherwise known as General Tom Thumb and one of P.T. Barnum’s most famous acts, performed at Victoria Hall in 1866 on a European tour to a packed-out hall, along with his wife and her sister.

By 1879 the hall was home to the Settle Amateur Dramatic Society. Increased stage productions likely fueled the desire for an Act Drop curtain, and in 1882 local artist, performer, and Settle Amateur Dramatic Society member Edmund Hanby painted the act drop that still exists in the theatre today.

The scene painted on the act drop is that of the Settle market place in the 1820s, the source being an 1822 artwork by George Nicholson. Identifiable elements include The Shambles (left), the Old Tollhouse (pictured center and later demolished to make way for the town hall), and Castleberg Rock (in the distance and exaggerated).

The hall was renamed “Victoria Hall” around November 1892.

From 1919 until 1939 the hall also operated as a cinema, initially as The Picturedome and later as the Kirkgate Cinema.

In 1921 the building was bequeathed by the Robinson family to the Craven District Council.

In the year 2000 the hall was refurbished under the management of the newly-formed Settle Victoria Hall Ltd (a UK charity).

This is a stub entry with more recent information coming soon.