Hillsborough House - Hillsborough Library

Hillsborough Library

In 1906 the house opened as Hillsborough library, although there were suggestions that it could be an art gallery and museum. The surrounding 50 acres (200,000 m2) of land purchased by the council became Hillsborough Park. Hillsborough’s first librarian was Henry A. Valantine; his salary amounted to £111. In 1929 a single storey extension was added to accommodate a new junior library. In the 1940s and 1950s a maternity and child-welfare clinic was located on the first floor. In 1978 the building was found to have dry and wet rot and was closed for repairs. The rooms on the library’s upper floors are used by local councillors and Members of Parliament for surgeries. Former politician Roy Hattersley, who was brought up in Hillsborough, had this to say in his autobiography A Yorkshire Boyhood: “The library remained our constant joy. It was part of our lives, a home from home housed in what had once been a mansion owned by a local worthy”.