Pontefract Hermitage and Dispensary to be “brought to life” in new digital experience
A project to recreate Pontefract Hermitage and Dispensary as a digital experience is underway.
The site, which includes the dispensary – opened in 1880 – and the 14th century hermitage, will be recreated through the digital experience, allowing a new generation to explore the site.
The dispensary was built in the garden of the hermitage, with the hermitage itself preserved underneath the new building, and access through the building’s cellar remained until its closure in 2011.
Wakefield Council is urging any former staff, patients, or visitors to the dispensary to come forward with any stories or photographs, which could be “crucial” in creating the digital experience.
A drop-in event has been created for anyone with memories or photographs of the dispensary and hermitage, and will take place on September 20 between 11am and 2.30pm at Pontefract Museum.
Coun Hannah Appleyard, Wakefield Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, said: “The Pontefract Hermitage and Dispensary is a unique and hidden part of the district’s heritage and we’re really excited to see it brought to life once again through this digital project.
“To help us recreate such an important part of the town’s history, we’re looking for people who perhaps worked at the dispensary or were a patient there. Or maybe you visited the hermitage. Please come along and share your stories and photographs with us.
“Until the dispensary closed there was access to the hermitage through the cellar of the building, but this is no longer possible. So, your memories are crucial to helping us recreate the site so that it can still be explored by present and future generations.”
Since opening in 1880, the dispensary was used by the people of Pontefract as a hospital over the next century, and later became part of Pontefract General Infirmary.
The hermitage has been grade I listed by Historic England.
According to Pontefract Heritage Partnership, the hermitage comprises two chambers which were chiselled out of the hillside by medieval hermits.
It also contains a spiral staircase which leads to a basin of spring water below the centre of Southgate.
The project is a collaboration between Pontefract Civic Society, digital specialists One to One Development Trust, and Pontefract Heritage Partnership.
It is part of the Our Heritage Our Stories project, with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.