The House of the Resurrection, formerly Hall Croft, soon after the arrival of the community to Mirfield in 1898

After a brief time located at Radley in Oxfordshire, where Gore was the vicar, the rural location hadn't proved a great success and Gore wished that the Community should find a new home for the Community's mother house and college and that should be "where the industry is". In 1898 at the suggestion of the Bishop of Wakefield they secured a home in the "Industrial North" at Mirfield called Hall Croft, a somewhat tawdry stone built mansion in quite considerable grounds built in 1871 by the late Mr Hague Cook a wealthy local mill owner who had made wealth by supplying uniform cloth to both sides during the Franco-Prussian war. Quite amusingly the Bishop himself had refused it as his bishop's palace previously and the diocese now needed it disposed of!

A service being held in the quarry in the early years at Mirfield.
By the time of the play being held below it could seat 3,000

In the grounds of the mansion was the former Hall Bank quarry, not only was this to supply some of the raw materials for later expansion on the site but part of the quarry formed an amphitheatre like bowl. It didn't take too much rudimentary reworking to install a stage to one side with the cliff behind forming a natural backdrop and stepped seating up the bank at the other side. All this came to be known as the Quarry Theatre where for many years to follow not only would open air sermons and other religious activities take place there but public meetings and plays would also regularly be staged. A young Mirfield boy by the name of Patrick Stewart was to make one of his first public performances here too before boldly going on to far greater things! It was said that the acoustics were so good that you could speak from the stage in just ordinary tones and be heard everywhere by the three thousand or so people seated around the quarry.

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