St Mary's January 2019 Parish Magazine

Star Coffee House,
Institute and Hall
(continued)
With the building of the Institute the
Trustees had to look for income
streams, in addition to the
membership fees, in order to service
the loan that had been taken out to
build the Institute and also to cover
running costs and repairs of the two
buildings.
John Bailey, in his book “Finedon
otherwise Thingdon” said that the
Coffee House had been built and
paid for by Mr Mackworth Dolben and
then a trust was set up to run the
building. Sources indicate that the
Institute building was built by the
Trustees using a loan to finance it. If
this building was financed in the
same way as the later brick building
then it was financed with a bank loan
that was arranged through either Mrs
or Miss Mackworth Dolben, who both
had great interest in the Star complex
and in the temperance movement.
These ladies opened the gardens at
Finedon Hall, as a fund raiser to start
the repayment of the loan, even
before the Institute had been officially
open in 1884.
Along with the anticipated increased
membership and the accompanying
extra fees the Trustees looked for
ways of using the space in the
Institute building to generate a
regular income. Within the Institute
building there was a large downstairs
room that is often referred to as the
Star Hall, the name that was later
transferred to the newer brick built
hall. This earlier Star Hall became a
regular venue for a number of
different functions and meetings, but
it is one particular usage that I will
concentrate on now. It was the use
of, or requests to use, this room that
caused the Trustees to have conflict
with the principles of temperance,
and also the beliefs of their main
benefactors the ladies Mackworth
Dolben.
In October 1886 Mrs Bland, of
Wellingborough, had been allowed to
rent the hall for dancing classes.
The Northampton Mercury of 18 th
December 1886 reported that an
Invitation Ball had been held in the
Star Hall on the previous Monday
evening in connection with the
dancing classes, and a portion of the
Dolben Brass Band had also been in
attendance. Unfortunately nothing
further of the dancing classes was
reported in the newspapers, and by
the time the Resolutions Book picks
up the story of the Institute in
October 1887 there is no mention of
dancing classes being available.
What happened to them? It is
possible that interest just faded, or
there may be an indication of what
happened when attempts were made
in the 1890s to re-introduce this
attraction.
The Trustees rejected a request from
Mr Wallington and company in
November 1891 to hire a room for
dancing classes. There was
obviously some conflict between the